A Meal Alone

I wake up each morning fully intending to work on the DAKAR synopsis or write more on Persnickety. Today, I filled out yet another form from CitiMortgage (aka one more hoop to jump through) and took it to UPS. Mind you, I've been "hoop jumping" for a year now in my quest to get my mortgage reduced thanks to President Obama's "mortgage reduction plan."

I also intended to go shopping for Thursday's Thanksgiving feast, but I hadn't had breakfast, and now it was lunch time... and Cracker Barrel was right down the road (can you hear me giving in to my internal whining?). Before I knew it, I was seated by the window trying to decide if I wanted breakfast or lunch. Wonderful aromas wafted around the room. Breakfast won. I don't mind sitting alone in a restaurant like this. I people watch, take in my surroundings, eavesdrop a little, read whatever is on the wall, and today I played CB's table game where you jump one peg over another trying to end up with as few as possible before you can no longer jump. Today I got it down to two pegs. While I was there I noticed that I was the only "party of one" in the entire room. But, you know what? Lots of people weren't even talking to each other... they might as well have been alone. One table had three people; they were all texting to somebody not with them. What happened to the art of conversation? the gift of laughter? Friendship? Honor? Respect? Sensitivity? Etiquette?

One precious little boy at the table next to me pointed toward me and asked his mommy why I was alone. "Because," she said, "her friends aren't able to be with her today." I was shocked when I heard him whisper "Could we ask her to be with us? We could be friends." She smiled at me and gestured toward the empty chair.

I gathered my things and stopped at their table as I was leaving. Samuel's face lit up as he waited for me to sit. "Thank you so much for the invitation, Samuel, but it's time for me to leave now. I would love to join you the next time I see you, though... OK?"

"We'll be looking forward to it," the dad said.

Needless to say, I drove right past the grocery store. .I was being thankful that I had had breakfast alone and Samuel had noticed. Mr. Gobble Gobble will have to wait.

REJECTION!!!!!

Hope you're not opposed to the color "orange." I chose it for Autumn, pumpkin pie and turkey!

Here it is November already and we're on a fast approach for Thanksgiving Day. Happy turkey day, y'all! I've decided to have a quiet day this year -- just Jeremy and me... and the bird. No additional family or extended family. In year's past when everyone left, I have made a silent, but solemn promise to myself that "next year I'm NOT hosting Thanksgiving; I'll be going to Fiji!" So far, that hasn't happened. Fiji, that is.

In my last post, I had just hit "send" of my query to two possibilities. That was a Friday. On Sunday afternoon, I received my first REJECTION letter. Wow! It zinged me between my eyes, and my stomach dropped to my toes. I was... ummm... "out of sorts" for the rest of the evening.

On Monday morning I was able to pick myself up, dry myself off, and start all over again. In case you don't know it, those are words to a song. It's a lilting melody. But, I digress, or at least stall. So, the first rejection is over. There will be more, I'm sure. We all face rejections in our lives and we deal with them. Maybe the next one won't pack such a wallop.

In my agent/publisher research, I have discovered that many agents/publishers want a synopsis with the query. Some will accept by email; some want snail mail. All their guidelines are different. Oy vey! I get bleary-eyed just trying to find out what they all want. Writing my story was EASY compared to this.