It's in the mail

Well, not the whole manuscript, but the 12 sample pages and synopsis I sent for my private read-and-critique session at the LaJolla Writers Conference. Scary stuff. My printer was moving about as fast as fudge moves through your arteries and I made it to the post office at 6:55 p.m.--five minutes before closing time! One employee was asking another if someone who usually closed the place five minutes early had gotten in trouble and wasn't doing it any more. As I left, I said, "I, for one, am very grateful you were open that last five minutes tonight."

Now, I can spend the next month revising to my heart's content so I can take a couple of printed manuscripts with me to the conference...you know, just in case. :-)

I ran the sample past a test audience the other day--my daughter's 12-year-old friend who is quite smart and witty. She told Emilie she loved it and and couldn't wait to read the rest, then wanted to know if she could show it to her parents. They are journalists and editors, and that was a little scary. Haven't heard any reaction from them, and I'm not really sure whether they read it or not...plus I had Emilie retrieve the pages from them this afternoon because for a few scary moments, I thought I didn't save all the recent changes I made before I printed it out. I had just pulled the wrong version, so no worries, but if they didn't read it yet, they won't be for at least now!

Moms, brothers, daughters, and close friends are one thing, but when the audience starts getting a little broader, but still known, it's kinda freaky! I think it might be easier to deal with the rejection of strangers!

So, that's the status of Trading Faces for the moment.