Tuesday, August 31, 2010

well, actually....

In my last post I said something about getting my ms back from Lorimer. If you read any earlier posts on that subject, you'd see that I didn't get anything back from Lorimer. Not even an e-mail reply. Just time lapses with nothing. Then, someone enlightened me that Lorimer does not deign to communicate unless it is to accept something. So, after wasting a few months waiting in ignorance, I finally got the book back into the swing from publisher to publisher. I'm beginning to think of it as a sort of dodgeball game with my ms as the ball being dodged by one and all. Most depressing. However, must keep it in the air if I hope to get it published. And I do hope to get it published. It's hard enough to accept rejection, though, but being totally ignored is worse! At least with rejection, it's possible to know that it's time to move on.
I've told Coteau Books that they have the ms exclusively until February 2011. Then, in March 2011 I intend to send it to the next in the queue. Well, that is if Coteau hasn't decided to publish the book. I can still hope for that! Until February.

Friday, August 27, 2010

the novel's next step

When I got ANGELS IN THE FLAMES back from Lorimer, I was up to my neck in working on the play, so it got put on the back burner. However, next in the queue, so to speak, was Coteau Books, and they take juvenile submissions only between May 1 and August 31. So, yesterday, I printed the whole ms again and sent it off this afternoon. It's a bit late, but I hope it'll be considered--and accepted, ideally.

the last day

Today was the last day of the Vacation Bible School at St. James. I'm so happy that it was a success. I started the ball rolling by writing the play, "The Wolf and the Saint: the Life of St. Francis of Assisi as told by the Wolf of Gubbio". One of the parishioners came forward a couple of months ago, and volunteered to do the crafts and games sections of the VBS. The crafts would be puppets for the show, and the games would work out kids' energy. The parish priest led prayer and praise sessions at the beginning and end of each day, and told a Gospel story every day. Another volunteer coordinated light healthy breakfasts and lunches for the kids when their parents & care-givers dropped them off and picked them up. My husband played the part of St. Francis in the play, and I was the wolf except on the last day. On that day, a boy who suffers from autism and didn't want to participate in much over the week, suddenly volunteered to play the part of the wolf in the performance for the parents. We did only Acts I & IV for them, but the wolf was onstage almost all the way through. It was wonderful to see this little boy take the part and do it so very well. I couldn't have done it better myself--honestly! We did only the two acts because with Acts II and III, it would have been double the length. However, much to my surprise an delight, the kids had enthusiastically requested that we do it all for their parents. Their response was very rewarding for me.

Friday, August 13, 2010

writing the play

Since "Script Frenzy" time last April, I've been working on a play--I may have mentioned this before--probably. Anyway, I keep thinking it's finished. Silly me! It's too long. I just need to cut a page or two here or there, and that's not easy. With a novel, I can just kill off a character. With an article, I can delete a paragraph (usually). But with this play, there's so much I want to tell. I could easily add another Act, but I already have four Acts. I can't kill off any characters because I N E E D them! So, I keep going over the scenes and looking for words that can be chopped out without killing the tone of the play. I've already done as much "death to all adjectives" as I can, but I'm still finding the little ones that snuck in while I wasn't looking. Last Saturday, at the Franciscan Convocation, I had some wonderful help from my TSSF brothers and sisters. They performed the first and fourth acts, and I was able to see that there were still many places that needed tweeking. It was an enormous help! What was especially wonderful was that they seemed to like the play! (Very important that TSSF should like the play, as it is "The Wolf and The Saint: The Life of St. Francis of Assisi as Told by the Wolf of Gubbio". And if anyone knows the life of that saint and his relationship with that wolf, it's TSSF members.) So, I'm still tweeking. Gotta have it done this week because we're having a rehearsal at the church on Thursday morning, and our Vacation Bible School starts on Monday, August 23rd. The play is a major part of the VBS programme. Nose back to grindstone! Butt in chair, and fingers on computer keys! Quite a picture, eh! hehehehe!

last weekend

Last Friday, my dh and I drove down the I-5 (my least favourite highway because of its odd entries and exits left and right) and went to a Franciscan Convocation. We don't go every year, so this was my fourth. The first was in Union (?) Washington, the second was in California, the third was one our fellowship hosted here in BC, and this one in Federal Way, Washington. Next year will be in California again, I think. We missed the big one in Boston. Just too pricey for us. The convocations are much too short! But, I guess if they were any longer we wouldn't be able to afford to hold them or to attend them. So, Friday evening until Sunday lunch is the best we can hope for. As Franciscans, we pray for one another daily, following a list such that each person gets prayed for one day a month. So, when we get to Convocations, we have the opportunity to put faces to many of the names we pray for each month. That helps with the prayers, too, because these faces pop up in our minds each day at prayer time. I have a particularly bad memory when it comes to attaching names to faces (I firmly believe that we should have name tags tattooed onto our foreheads at birth), so these meetings are very helpful. I see that one of my TSSF sisters has started to follow this blog! Thank you!

mid-August already?

Shame on me! Almost a month between blogs! However, here I am with an attempt to catch-up again. You may note that at the bottom of each entry there is now an opportunity for you to respond by email or otherwise. I should mention here that while I have a twitter account, I've never used it. I visit facebook occasionally. I do, however, check my email regularly. And you know how "often" I attend to my blog. :(
This is an experiment, this response option thing. So, let me know if it works, okay?