Thursday, July 22, 2010

publishers' information

I'm so glad that I'm a member of SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators). There's so much information that comes my way that I would otherwise miss. For example: today there was a post on the listserv for SCBWI/Western Canada that provided a link to Lorimer's guidelines. Now, I have a link for that on this site, but I don't check it every day--not even every week. You may know that I currently have a manuscript at Lorimer's and have been trying to learn the status of that ms, but with no results. So, in today's post I learned that Lorimer does not let writers know if their ms is not being considered. (Not even a "reply" to an e-mail ms status enquiry.) And, although I thought my historical novel would fit with a series they have, I see that they are not seeking historical fiction at the moment. So, now I can send my novel off to the next publisher on my list. And, I can try my hand at writing something that Lorimer (or another Cdn publisher) would like. Meanwhile, I'm polishing my puppet play, "The Wolf and the Saint", to take it to the Franciscan convocation and then produce it at St. James' Vacation Bible School next month.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

computer problems come and go

I am SO impressed! About a week ago, or less, I had a problem with my computer getting stuck on "hibernating" mode. No matter what I did, the laptop continued hibernating until I was convinced it was in a coma. I phoned Dell and jumped through all the hoops suggested by the techie, and nothing worked. Finally, he said he was sending me a box and I would have to phone Purolator to send the computer to Ontario to be fixed. That was Wednesday, I think. Then on Thursday, the box arrived. On Friday I phoned Purolator and within a couple of hours someone arrived to pick up the box. (I waited from Thursday to Friday because I needed to go and buy some packing tape for the box.) So, late Friday, my computer was on its way. This morning (Tuesday) the doorbell rang and the Purolator delivery man handed me my computer. Fixed. I'm amazed at how fast it was fixed and returned to me. Nice to have some good news, isn't it!