Yay!

The nutritionist was ecstatic yesterday; I'd lost 20 pounds since she saw me in October. She was pleased that I'd lost, especially that it had been semi-gradual, not drastic. She wants to see me again in May, and she wants me to lose another 20 pounds by then.

I still haven't sent out another submission. I will get that done today.

Woof

Yesterday was exciting. Chloe called at 5:30 to say that so far three puppies had been born. After a little bit the loml and I went over to watch and help out if needed. They wound up with seven boxer pups, five fawn and two brindle, four male and three female. The total delivery time was from 3:50 to 8:26. The loml took a persoanl day and stayed home to celebrate.

I haven't submitted anything for several days. I promise I'll get something out this week.

Mmm

Saturday night we went to Rick's Place for the first time for dinner. We both had orange roughy (huge filets) and a double order of green beans and carrots passing on the potato. We passed on the bread too. Then Sunday, after spending an hour cleaning off the dining room table, we went to the arboretum where I had chili, my staple there, loaded with onions. We stayed in the Ginko room after lunch. The loml read and knitted, and I wrote and daydreamed. A very enjoyable afternoon. Then last night I fried a couple of chicken breasts and steamed some cauliflower for dinner. All in all a tasty weekend.

Nothing

So. Jordan is still sick. He had a 102° fever last night, so Chloe is staying home with him again today. That's three of five days that I haven't been needed to pick him up after school. I just wish I was able to be productive these afternoons I've had off. No submissions. No new poems. Nothing.

A day off

The little guy was sick yesterday and Chloe picked him up from school about 10:30, so I didn't have to pick him up after school. Then the loml called and said that there wasn't going to be a chess club meeting after school, so I had nothing at all to do yesterday.

I got sugared yesterday. It's basically a little less violent than waxing. It went fine on my cheeks, but was murder on my neck so Danielle didn't continue with that. It looked as though I had a humongous hickey.

I also got my left, rear blinker fixed, and, while I was there, they also scraped off the tinting on my two front windows (yay. No ticket.).

Today I'd like to send off another submission, but I don't have the money for the postage.

Saxby's

Last night was open mic night at Saxby's. Nicole came all the way from St. Charles for it. I felt a little sorry for her. The New Rivalry was there and the place was filled with about 40 of their friends, none of whom were particularly interested in listening to poetry. Rock music and poems don't necessarily go all that well together. Acoustic guitar music would probably more of a fit. Anyway. Nicole waited till about 15 minutes before closing, when most of the crowd had cleared out, before she went up to perform. She was great! I wish I had her delivery.

Saxby's

Last night was open mic night at Saxby's. Nicole came all the way from St. Charles for it. I felt a little sorry for her. The New Rivalry was there and the place was filled with about 40 of their friends, none of whom were particularly interested in listening to poetry. Rock music and poems don't necessarily go all that well together. Acoustic guitar music would probably more of a fit. Anyway. Nicole waited till about 15 minutes before closing, when most of the crowd had cleared out, before she went up to perform. She was great! I wish I had her delivery.

Handicapped parking

Well the back doctor was glad that my back pain seems to have stabilized, and I guess it is good that it's not getting any worse. I just wish it would get better. She authorized a handicapped parking sticker?/placard?/hangy-down-thingie for me for six more months. That was one good thing to come from the visit. She said that she didn't think there would be any point to getting an MRI becauseno matter what it might show the treatment would still be the same, continued exercise. I guess I'm just sad that what I seem to have to settle for is the status quo.

Before I left to head for the hospital yesterday I got the new version of my manuscript completed. There are fewer poems in it now, but I think I've gotten rid of the ones that were the weakest, a good thing. Looking at the new version I wonder how I could ever have thought the old version was suitable for sending out. Ah well. Live and learn. What it may all boil down to is just that I was in too big of a hurry to start submitting and I didn't wait long enough and edit enough to come up with a better product. Ah well.

Now I've got to get back to the grind of preparing more submissions (magazines and journals, not the manuscript again (not yet)) to send out.

Also I need to call Danielle to set up an appointment for a haircut, shave and beard trim (she has said that this time she wants to do something called "sugaring" (?) instead of shaving. As though I'm not sweet enough already.

Snip, snip

Yesterday I edited the table of contents for my manuscript; I deleted 11 titles and reordered the rest. Now today I just have to make the actual manuscript match the table of contents.

I go to see my back doctor this afternoon. I hope I can find out what my problem is. Maybe she'll let me get an MRI. I hope she'll let me get a handicapped parker sticker again.

Sigh

I'm reading The Poetry Home Repair Manual by Ted Kooser, and I'm realizing that I need to go through and re-edit my manuscript. I'll get right on it.

Whew

It turns out that I was able to send my submission to Oracle via e-mail. Wow. I have a lot of stuff in the pipeline. After sending that off I spent most of the day proofing my manuscript again. I also got rid of the caps at the start of each line, so it looks more modern.

I did take time out to go grocery shopping. For the first time I rode one of those electric carts. Pretty cool.

I'm going to just take it easy this weekend.

How nice

Well. After sending off e-mail submissions to both Rager Media and the Minnetonka Review yesterday, I received e-mailed responses (Okay - one was an auto-response, but so what. It was still nice to get a response.) from them both letting me know when it would be appropriate to send follow-up e-mails. I really appreciated that. Any kind of a response gets me past that feeling that I'm just dropping my submissions into a bottomless wishing well (No plunk or anything.).

I immediately created a special folder just for such responses so I can follow-up at the appropriate time, if necessary.

Today I'll be sending off a hard copy submission to Oracle, the literary journal of Brewton-Parker College.

I only gained one pound after doing the buffet yesterday, so I'm okay with that. If only I could break that 239 barrier. I seem to have plateaued.

The loml starts her week-long cleansing diet today, nothing but fruits and vegetables. I hope this course she's taking gives her the result she's looking for. I've told her I don't care what her weight is as long as she's healthy. I don't want to lose her. I'm not at all sure that I could cope without her. Afterall she is the loml!

Re-Submission

Well. I didn't submit anything yesterday either, but this morning I submitted my new version of my manuscript to Rager Media. I sent them a very early version of it way back on May 16th, and never heard anything (unless their response wound up in my bulk mail folder and got deleted). I'll keep an eye out for a response this time.

I'm having lunch with Chloe today at Joyce Lee. I'll have to take it easy on the buffet if I'm going to be really serious about my diet (No, not diet, new life style).

I think I'll go off and do another magazine/journal/review submission now.

Bummer

So after driving 24 miles to the VA clinic yesterday morning I was told that the nutritionist hadn't made it in and my appointment was cancelled, please come back on the 3oth, thank you. So to make it up to myself I stopped at the store on the way back home to buy some cayenne pepper (a staple of mine that we'd been out of for a while), and then proceeded to consume 1/3 of it with the last of the chili. Yum.

I didn't work up any submissions yesterday, but I did write another new poem (on a napkin, in the car, how artsy!). Here after going for over two months without writing anything, I've written 15 poms since the start of the new year. Yay.

No wonder

When I look over any of my submissions I'm never satisfied. I always see all the flaws. (Nifty - never and always thinking, so healthy.) I wonder why I'm not hearing anything at all from the places I've submitted to (I know. I know. Preposition error.) I'm not even getting rejections! Say it's shitty. Say it's good. Just say something. Please.

I see my nutritionist today. I hope I do well on the weigh-in.

Red Mountain

Well I didn't read my book last night. I worked on my manuscript. Every day it looks different. I'm not sure it's ever going to be set in stone. It's more of a moving target.

This morning I went through and pulled out 26 poems and submitted them for the Red Mountain Review's chapbook competition. Check out RMR

A good open mic

Last night was open mic night at Saxby's in Plano. I read all 12 of my new poems and was pleased with my performance. It was just me and the group Ferdie. Ferdie always brings in a good crowd, so I was pleased with that too. I have no idea who's going to show up on the 23rd.

The loml wanted to work on cleaning off the dining room table today and kicked me out of the house so I wouldn't be in the way. I went to Saxby's for two large coffees and some writing time. I came up with two poems that I like, one medium (for me) length and one three-liner.

I've had chili on the stove all day. The loml doesn't like it real hot so I took it easy. She just left for Linda's with three cups of it, one for Linda, one for Barbie and one for her. I've had one bowl and I'll stop there and just snack on cauliflower for the rest of the day. I was 239 this morning and I'd like to stay there for the weigh-in before my visit with the nutritionist on Tuesday.

I guess I'll read my book till the loml gets back.

Babysitting

Yesterday I not only mailed out the submission I'd forgotten to take to the post office the day before, I prepared and sent out a second one as well. I'm storing up opportunities for all sorts of future rejection slips.

Today I get to babysit little guy while the daughter takes the loml off to be spaed (probably not a word). I just hope we don't wind up playing the puppy game all day long.

Oops

Yesterday I got all set to send off a new submission (five poems to a university review, not a manuscript to a publisher). I prepared and printed out a cover letter (very brief). I printed the five poems. I handwrote the addresses for the envelope and the sase. And then I forgot to go to the post office. What follow through. So it will get posted today instead of yesterday. No real biggie.

I met for the first time with the folks from the Plano library to discuss this year's National Poetry Month's poetry contest. We'll get the word out to the local high schools by the end of February. The write up in the library's spring newsletter will have been distributed by then too. We'll contact the rest of the schools in March. We'll also get press releases out to all local media then. We'll start accepting entries on March 26th and we'll close the entry process on April 16th. The grade level winners will be notified on the 20th and the award ceremony will be on the 28th.

I now need to meet with the Sandwich librarian to go over all the details and to come up with the number of posters and flyers we'll need. I also need to make sure that she'll be available when we do our judging, and I'll need to find out when she wants the winners to read there. I have to stay on top of everything now. My continuing mantra: Be present. Be present.

I win

Chess club was good last night, not because I didn't lose a game (these are after all 4th and 5th graders), but because I stayed present and didn't make any stupid moves.

Yesterday was also good because I emailed off two new submissions. I also finally created a file to track all of my submissions. It took a while to find all of the submissions and dates, and it was a little depressing, realizing how many submissions have gone without responses, not even a rejection slip. I just need to stay positive and not get discouraged. Since I'm unemployed right now (right now? for nearly a year now) I need to think of this as my job, this and making the loml happy; these are my jobs.

It was nice

Last night the Poetry Circle got together at Barbara's house in Geneva for some reading and critiquing. Six of us showed up, a good turn out. I had called Nicole, so she was there. Good snacks. Good company. Good critiques. I took seven of my new poems, wound up getting to read five. Now I need to make some edits based on the feedback that I got. I didn't get home till 11:00.

Today Dummer's every other Wednesday chess club gets together after school. I'll pack up my glass chess set and head up there to be challenged by a bunch of precocious 4th and 5th graders. My biggest challenge is myself, just paying attention and staying focused on what's happening on the board. When I lose that focus I can get in trouble. That's my problem in life too. It's hard for me to live deliberately. I need to work on that. My tendency is to just let life happen around me.

Once more into the breach

So I edited the new poems and added them to my manuscript. Next I combined two chapters and deleted two chapters so that I have one 80-page manuscript that has a consistent voice. I printed it yesterday and worked up a cover letter and this morning I shipped it off to a Chicago-based publisher. They say that their review process takes three months; we'll see.

In the cover letter I asked for comments or suggestions ("Don't ever pick up a pen again!"), and even for contacts in the area. Yes. I begged. Very professional.

Yesterday was a good day

The loml and I had a lazy morning, and then at 11:25 we picked up Linda to head for the Morton Arboretum. After lunch in the Ginko room (I had their chili as usual), they went off to take part in the yule log search and subsequent ceremony while I stayed where I was to write. I was fairly productive; I wrote ten short poems. I think this one is the loml's favorite:

Branches above,
Roots below,
They stand across the pond outside the window.
I sit inside and watch the walkers
While a small boy
at a table behind me
Squeels,
again and again,
"Ice cream sandwich!
Ice cream sandwich!"
Outside,
Inside,
Truth explodes all around me,
And the only thing that makes sense to me
Is this:
I love you.

miserable

Last night I woke up at 2:15 with a pain in my gut. It felt like a muscle pain at first, and then I noticed that icould feel what felt like a blocked intestine pushing up under my abdomen. I got up and got some bicarbonate of soda. That didn't seem to help. I finally got back to bed at 4:30, and then I just lay there awake for quite awhile before it started to get better. Maybe I can get a nap this afternoon.

rearranging

I spent yesterday morning and a good part of this morning editing my poetry manuscript. I inserted a section break to get the pagenumbering right, and I added a new chapter. I now have 89 poems split into five chapters.

I checked into the open submission guidelines for the Backwaters Press today, and was dissappointed to see that they require a $25 administrative fee and don't even mention publishing specifics. I might shell out $25 only to find out that they're really a vanity press. I think I'll pass.

new magazines

Yesterday when I picked up the week's worth of mail that was waiting for us after our Christmas trip to Lexington, KY, I found new issues of both The Sun and Poets & Writers.

I immediately sat down and read all of The Sun. I love that magazine. I sent them five poems back in September. I haven't heard anything from them yet. They probably already have enough to last them through 2017.

The classified section of P & W has at least a couple of places to which I can send a manuscript. I need to get on that today and tomorrow.

Not much excitement planned for today, just running one errand - oh, wait - I can't do that because the loml didn't leave me a check. Ah, well.

Journal

I have never been very good at journaling. I can keep it up for a while, but then I eventually tire of it. I become bored and give up on it. This year I've decided that I want to write something every day, not necessarily journaling, just some kind of writing, a poem, a story or even a journal entry. This is my first day.

I started on bupropion hcl today, that in addition to the effexor, risperidone and neurontin I'm already on. We'll see if that addition helps or not. I have my fingers crossed. One possible side effect is dizziness (a big warning label was attached to the container); so far there's no sign of it.

The loml is back working at the local elementary school now that the holidays are over, and I'm back to being on my own during the day (week days when school is in session). Plus, since the son-in-law is back to the night shift and will be sleeping during the days, I'm back to picking up our youngest grandson after school.

There are several errands I want to run, and I need to go to the Plano library to let them know that I'm sponsoring another poetry contest for school kids (3rd through 12th grades) this April (for national poetry month), so I'll end this for now and see how long it will take me to get back to this.