Hope

The new Writer's Digest (that I bought on our mini-vacation weekend before last) had an article that gave me a great deal of hope. It was called "Life After Almost: The Next Best Thing to a Book Deal - An Encouraging Rejection."

Two of my favorite quotes:

- "I'd guess that most agents add a personal and encouraging touch to no more than 5 percent of the queries they read...By itself, a personalized rejection is actually a good thing: It means you've got the writing chops or some other compelling factor on your side that will likely lead you to eventually becoming a published author."

-"If you're a writer who has received personal attention or an 'encouraging' rejection from even one reputable agent, this is a good indication that publishing has become a numbers game for you. It's now just a matter of finding the right agent or editor at the right time. I'd strongly urge you not to get even a little bit discouraged until you've received 50 - maybe even 100 - rejections on the project in question."

So with some help from the world's best writing buddy (aka Jennie Anderson) I've resolved to send out some more query letters for Rell. I have a long way to go to reach 50, I'd better get to work.

New Printer

Yay!! We've been wanting to buy a new printer for months now, and now that we know where our next go round of bill paying money is coming from we finally did it. We looked at Consumer Reports for a good model, did some comparison shopping with the stores and found a new Canon Pixma MX860 for a good deal!

It can fax, copy and scan too! No more running to the grocery store to fax at $1 a page. Plus, it has individual color ink catridges that are $13 to replace. I think we're going to like it.

Time Flies

Maybe it's because it is the last month of summer, my favorite season of the year. (Well, anytime it isn't snowing is my favorite season.) Or maybe it's because I'm working more, but the last couple of weeks seem like they almost vanished they went by so quickly. I can't believe it's been almost two weeks since I posted here!

Things to be happy about -

1. We could pay our bills and we know where the money for next months bills is coming from!

2. One of my best friends, Becky Criddle will live about a half an hour from me by the end of the month. (From Arizona! She claims she's missed snow, I think that's a little crazy, but I'm glad she's going to be close)

3. Thanks to the public library I always have good books to read. And even with a couple of library fines here and there it's still significantly cheaper than buying them.

4. As always, I'm married to one of the world's sweetest husbands!