Notes From The Tail-End Of Monday

Not much structure to this post. I just thought I’d slap some stuff up here just so it doesn’t seem like I’m letting this bloggy blogg fall into ruin.

• Proposal stuff – Remember how I contacted that editor from the place that’s publishing my first wee book Patrick’s Super Socks? Well…she got back to me and gave me the green light to submit directly to her any and all ideas I have for future books. Now…don’t get too excited. They do early readers and a lot of educational books. My longer works and even the new picture book I wrote don’t apply here. So…that’s right, I’m going to be crafting together a snappy proposal for three different series of early readers I’ve got planned. I’m stoked about two of the ideas. The other one…needs some work. Thomas, what does this mean? Well, if all goes well, I could have upwards of 12 (or more books) in the pipeline to be published. I’ve got that many somewhat planned and could easily kick out some more ideas. Seriously. This full-time job thing is really getting in the way.
• Fires – Two fire calls tonight. One involved a family coming home from vacation to find a section of the wall in their toddler daughters wall had blown out. There was no fire, no scorching and nothing that would indicate a fire. I climbed up on the roof and examined the hole. There was a small, small, hole in the roof where lightning had struck. It blew the bejesus out of the wall. They’re lucky they didn’t come home to find the house burned to the ground. The other fire was in a garbage can at the nearby medical clinic. It was out when we got there, but all the poor suckers waiting for urgent care (@ 9:40pm!) had to wait even longer. We blew the smoke out of the place and called it a night. Hooray for WFD!
• Rejections – Well, I’m thinking the agents are back in town from the holiday week. I got two rejections in the mail, one through e-mail today. Heck, I even got one yesterday (on SUNDAY!) from an agent. It’s kind of got me a little bummed. I mean, sure, I’ve still got a couple full manuscripts out there with agents, but I’m sort of running out of places (and people) to send THE SHORT BUS JOURNAL to. It shouldn’t bug me. It’s just going to be another book that’ll be in my ‘inventory,’ but I had high hopes for it. I guess there’s still a chance someone will fall in love with it. I just wish they’d hurry up already.
• Travis Tunes 2007 – What is Travis listening to in the world of music these days? Well, there’s only one song he cares about right now. It’s called Speak Slow by the twin sister folk/rock group Tegan & Sara. If I try to play any other song in the truck while we’re tearing through town, I get: “Not this one, Daddy. Not this one, either.” Only when I dial up Track 10 on their album So Jealous do I get a smile.

  You wait up for me, I don’t wake up for you.
  Would you like some company or are you sick of me?

  I gotta admit. The kid’s got good taste in music.