There are so many things to be happy about this morning. I mean beyond the normal stuff that I tend to forget to be thankful for, like having a roof over my head, plenty to eat, and a job I love. It's just been a good couple of days.
First of all, it's Wimbledon time! I'm mildly interested in tennis all the time, but I start really paying attention in early summer with the French Open. My interest borders on obsession at this time every year. I'm a diehard Anglophile anyway, and that love annually peaks in late June and early July. There's just something exciting and romantic about those beautiful grass courts. I can vividly remember rooting for my tennis crush, Chris Evert, against her fierce rival, Martina Navratilova. Now I have no crush (actually, it's still Chris Evert), but I watch all of the matches that I can. It's definitely high on my bucket list to get to Centre Court for a fortnight.
Another neat thing happened this morning while I was out getting stuff to make breakfast. I had to shop because, other than eggs and bread, I had everything I needed for egg sandwiches. Before shopping, though, I needed to gas up my car. While I was doing that, a guy asks me what happened to my back window. I told him it just fell out. Turns out he works for Safelite and, despite the fact that his company didn't do that type of repair, he took the time to tell me who did. So thanks person whose name I don't know. If I ever need a windshield replaced, you gained yourself a customer today. Looks like I won't have to buy an entire new top for my beloved Ellie.
Since the focus of this blog is generally my writing life, I saved the best for last. As I put on Facebook a couple days ago, I had a positive occurrence this week. As you undoubtedly know if you follow me, I've been querying agents and publishers for over a year with no positive responses. I was (and still am) about to start the process of self-publishing. But I subscribe to a neat blog by a wonderful author named Hope Clark. It's all about helping authors get published and known. I recently followed a link to a small publishing house that was taking queries. With no real hope that anything would come from it, I sent the requested letter and excerpt. Almost immediately, I received an actual email from an actual human saying thanks for the query and that he would get back to me as soon as he could. Even that was different. But then, just less than a week later, I got another email from him saying that he LIKED MY EXCERPT AND WANTED TO READ MORE!
That's known in the business as a partial. I only know that from reading about others' experiences because it's the first time it's actually happened to me. As I keep telling others (and myself), it's not an offer to publish and I need not get excited. I may not even hear from him again. And yet, I am excited. Just as I'm ready to give up on querying and publish it myself, a ray of hope breaks through. Even if nothing comes from this, even just this tiny bit of positive feedback is so meaningful to me. Someone in the publishing business read and enjoyed my writing. How can that not be good?
But I'm not getting my hopes up. Except I am.
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