Random Thoughts

I keep meaning to write, but life happens and I don't take time to jot it down. So, here are just a few random thoughts that I keep intending to post here on the blog.

• While at the writers conference, I was assigned a table for lunch and dinner. Since I was faculty, I was expected to sit at this table, and then people who want to bend my ear can choose to sit at the table (the students get to pick where they sit for meals, the faculty are assigned tables). Since so many folks misunderstand what we do at GRPR, it was funny, yet uncomfortable, to watch writers walk up to my table, read my sign, and then tell me they didn't need me and moved on to other tables. What they don't know is that the really DO need us! We start with the manuscripts and offer content edits and line edits, then write book proposals, help connect them with agents, do their publicity (television, radio, magazines, newspapers, internet, blog tours), and we even have a speakers bureau for novelists. So we have a lot of everything to offer, but others just don't know it. So, I would sit at my table, very lonely, feeling like the last girl to get picked for dodge ball teams or something. Usually, I would eat my entire meal before the last of the conferees came to sit at my table as the last open spots. Okay-it wasn't ALWAYS that bad-sometimes folks from my workshops or my one-on-one appointments would recognize me and come sit with me. But sometimes, it felt very much like getting picked LAST. I just need to network more during the general sessions and encourage people to come look me up at meal time.

• It's seems like a blast from the past to move here to Fulton, KY. People don't lock their cars here (some even leave their keys in the car). House doors aren't locked during daytime, but some do at night. We went to the local grocery story, and it was like going to the J & M market in my hometown of Louisiana, MO. It is owned by a family who actually works there. The store is set up like a grocery, not a supermarket. We kept waiting to be offered little tickets or stickers to save up to earn dishes or something. It is really like living 30 years behind the times here, in many ways.

• Speaking of memories, we were staying with Vickie and Casey, and with our biscuits they served Sugar Cane Syrup. It tasted sort of like Sorghum, but not as strong. Just very good flavor. Now I want to find some! Anyway, the taste reminded me of some tastes we had in my childhood. Mom-did we ever have Sugar Cane Syrup? This is really really good!

• We still have boxes surrounding us, but it is getting better. Russ and I are both working long hours, so the boxes have to come last on our priorities. We do just a few a day. Russ did a lot of work while I was away-scrubbing down the moldy basement walls with bleach water, and painting the basement floor. He also painted the office walls (changed from aqua with a tropical fish border, to a neutral cream). This isn't the home we were going to buy, but at least we are in a place of our own. And we will keep an eye out for a place to buy while we are renting. No hurry!