Another trip: destination Omaha

Mom and Dad set off for Omaha bright and early this morning. They plan to drive the 12-hour trip straight through. They're heading up for the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder's meeting. There are also special discounts at this time at Borsheim's, a cool jewelry store--huge--owned by Warren Buffett. William and I will hold down the fort again, taking care of cats and plants, etc. It'll be fun to play house again.

I went to writing group and showed them the Prologue and first two chapters of SEA CHANGE. Luckily, they all really liked it. For two of them, it's their favorite thing I've written, which is kind of surprising as it was the first big thing I wrote. I would have thought I'd get better with each piece I wrote and subsequently people would like them better! However, I'm still glad they like SC. It is the one I thought was a closed book (har har) and I had basically thrown it in a drawer. Now it's been my entree into the agent world, making a connection with an agent who actually wants to see the revised version and was willing to give me wonderful suggestions for the whole manuscript.

Little Lige, Wren's son, is doing fantastically in his swimming survival lessons. I saw underwater pictures Wren took of all the kids doing their thing and it's amazing to see them underwater swimming up to the surface to do their starfish float.

I revised more of SC yesterday and it's going well. I brainstormed with Mom again about some of the issues I'm facing with the revision, and it helped me nail down some problems and how to solve them. Out of a list of seven items I got five done yesterday. One of the biggest challenges is going to be writing more Reven diary entries and inserting those as separate chapters. We debated about how to title the diary entries and decided the location she is writing from would be a good way to do it. Of course, then I have to give away what city they're in at the beginning of the story (which is Austin but I never said that in the previous version). I have to find parts of the story, exposition or scenes from Reven's point of view, where I can change them into entries. Michelle the agent suggested I have these interspersed chapters from Reven's POV. Right now there are just a few in italics sprinkled through the book. One scene I have to change to first person and italicize is where Reven goes to visit an art gallery in Paris: a big scene I would be loathe to lose. If I make it into part of her journal I think it will still work. I just have to keep at it and slowly turn this boat around. Metaphorically. There is a pivotal boat scene in the manuscript after all!

I wonder if I'll still be working on this when I get to the Vermont Studio Center in September. I want to have the revision as finished and polished as possible before I give it to Michelle again. I probably have only one more chance to get it right with that agency, so I want to do it right. Who knows, she might give me another chance if she has problems with this next revision, but I can't count on it. She seemed really interested in the story and she obviously read the whole thing from her comments so I hope I'm someone she would seriously consider taking on. It would be so fantastic to have an agent. One huge step closer to getting published!

Work seems to be wearing William out. He has a lot to do and has meetings in-between which keep him from working on his projects. I know he really likes his job, and they like him, so it's a pretty good situation. One of the bosses even mentioned giving him a raise the other day, IF they get the next funding they need. That would be awesome, of course. We're still saving for a house, though chunks of money get taken out of that pool when I have to go to the doctor or order my medicine. It makes me feel bad. William doesn't give me a hard time about it or anything, I just wish we didn't have to touch that money so it keeps accumulating. A friend suggested we pay off our credit card debt before saving for a house, but it's hard to think about doing that when we're so eager to get into a house. It would mean staying much longer with Mom and Dad. Not that we don't love them and love to be with them, but every newlywed couple wants their own little place anyway.

I've been feeling very good. I'm gradually going down on my sleep med, and though I've had some interrupted nights, last night I slept straight through from 12 until 6. I feel better having gotten uninterrupted sleep.

Rereading P.D. James's The Lighthouse. She's an inspiring writer to me. She's so precise. I find myself looking at her structure and breaking down her prose to try to understand how she does it. I hope she keeps writing more books: she's in her 80's and sharp as a whip but I fear she may retire. I've already lost Madeleine L'Engle, I can't bear to lose P.D. James too.

Britney Spears is on my music rotation right now. I'm listening to her and thinking of everything she's been through. Of having your life smeared across the tabloids and never having privacy. I'm not saying she hasn't provoked some of it by flirting with the paparazzi, but no one deserves what she's gotten. And to have your medical diagnosis put out there for everyone to see and debate over: talk about lack of privacy. An interest in how all that affects someone and their family is part of what prompted me to write PHOTOGRAPHIC. I hope I got some of that across in the story. Britney's most recent album Blackout is her best, I think. She's obviously matured as an artist no matter what her personal and health problems have been.