Winding down

A friend says my posts have become less frequent. Yes. I've placed enough writing samples here for agents needing more than provided in my queries. The agent game is over. Now's the final phase, simply trying to get a few pieces published, in newspapers,  pieces to provide enough credibility to get Half Italian's manuscript read. Four UK newspaper submissions remain.

Allow four weeks for email submissions to be read, then two weeks for follow-up to those submissions. That means I send follow-ups next Monday. Off to France on Tuesday. Once home, two weeks later, I make my final submissions.

- PJ

PERSEVERE, she said

I work, once again, on The Other Half. Good stories, but waning enthusiasm interrupts my typing. I have no pending queries with agents; I assume those I made to travel magazines some months back will remain unanswered. Travelers’ Tales I won’t know about until sometime next year.

But I continue. I still believe these stories have general reading appeal. A newly-retired friend, my earliest friend in Los Angeles, was a member of the group on the recent France trip. Over dinner one evening in Paris, he asked to read Half Italian. This Sunday, I’ll put a copy of the manuscript in his hands.

PERSEVERE, she said.

- PJ

Decision making

My mind is on the pending trip to France, and also on this blog's reason for existence.

I won't make any more agent queries for Half Italian until I know if Travelers' Tales accepts any of my submissions. If they do, that's a publishing credit I'll need, and use. But I won't know that until next year.

So for now I'm waiting, similar to last year, when I sent all those agent queries. Whiskey, anyone?

- PJ

Positive Feedback

Well, people seem to be enjoying my September 24 post. (I'd still like for those who tell me they follow to comment; I don't bite.)

This enthusiasm sends me a glimmer of hope, considering the panty liners story was part of a submission.

We'll see if Travelers' Tales feels the same.

- PJ

Panty Liners

My last Travelers’ Tales submission contains a story about my friend and travel companion’s panty liners. Frustrated by laundry’s interruption of vacations, last year he -- yes, he -- decided to experiment, using feminine panty liners as protective underarm shields in an attempt to make his undershirts “last longer.” But the panty liners’ cooperation was minimal, with regard to their adhesive. On our return, they outright protested during airport security inspection in Chicago, twelve hours after he’d attached them, and dropped to the floor in front of a security official as he performed his task. The official stared at the crumpled pads on the floor, then at my friend, and then said, “Uh, you can get rid of those if you want.”

(And that’s just the end of my submission. Its future, or fate, is in the hands of Travelers’ Tales.)

This year, on the internet, my friend found true underarm shields. Like me, the shields await our trip to France. They’ll eventually see parts of Paris I hope I never will. For anyone interested, check back in late October or early November, for a brief performance evaluation.

- PJ

Thinking & Rocking vs. Clicking

Last year at this time I was clicking, counting down to my departure for France, with only one click left. This year, I’m considering when I should end my publishing attempt, and this blog. No rush, but I will be setting a deadline. I did that once, in 1987, with music; when I knew my goal wouldn’t be realized, I quit, and made another career for myself.

Clearly, this situation is not the same. In 1987, I faced a career choice that would affect the rest of my life. Now my decision is: am I wasting my time? What to do, that’s more productive?

For now, I still believe in Half Italian, and I still enjoy this blog. No responses yet to my recent email queries, or the one to France magazine, last June. Who knows what the folks at Travelers’ Tales will think of my submissions? I won’t know that until sometime next year.

Ever heard of “Castle Rock” by Ernie Fields? I wonder how long it took for that to come out on 45?

- PJ

France, coming up

Two months from today I’ll be in France. Arriving the day before, it’ll be my first full day, a pleasant but misleading period when my body sends me an illusion that it accepts the nine-hour time change, without protest. My system sometimes protests, on the second day. Queasiness is unwelcome, particularly six thousand miles from home. Eating light and walking a lot help. At three days, my body is on a new track.

After Paris, it’s looking more like our second week will be Bordeaux (see 6/20 post) which will include visits to St.-Emilion, Dune du Pilat, La Rochelle, and Ile de Re.

Stories come from trips like this, from funny to exasperating, and into my queries they go.

- PJ

End of Week, and the Pasta

This week’s pasta will get finished tonight. It heats slowly in the oven. Scents drift down the hall, into my study. I sip a whiskey, and write. Tasty until the end, this sauce is. (Forgot to say I chop the carrots and throw them onto the shredded meat, before I “pour the remainder of the Dutch oven mixture over it all.”)

The scent from my kitchen, combined with the view out my window, of that little area on the hill I call my little Tuscany, connect my memory with a calm day in Montepulciano, Italy, 2007, the day I tasted my first cinghiale ragu. My, my, my, my, my.

Work is a little better, these days.

No responses yet to any of the email queries of 8/15 and 6/12.

Cousins have been supportive. Caller ID, too.

- PJ

Queries and Cousins

Yesterday, I visited a book store to check out travel magazines. Today, I made four email queries, similar to my France Magazine query, earlier this summer.

Funny, how the mind works. For months I’ve been saying I need to know someone in the publishing business. My beautiful cousin, Dianne, made a comment on this blog over a year ago about once having to reject submissions made to the publisher for which she worked. She’s been retired for years, but you’d think that comment might have rung a bell in this old head…? Like to welcome her advice?

Hey cousin, tell me if I pass the time to give up!

- PJ

Moving forward

I’ve considered dropping out of sight for a while, since I’ve been out of ideas on how to move forward with Half Italian. That project, after all, is the purpose of this blog.

Life has been jerky, lately. There was a major family blowup. Then, I learned that the surgery center where I had my hand surgery last spring was “out of network,” leaving me with a balance to pay of $19,237.00. It’s your responsibility to check where your doctor sends you, not your doctor’s office, my helpful and supportive insurance company told me -- after the fact. Supposedly this will be resolved to my satisfaction, but I’m still waiting. The visit from the French family helped offset these things, but when life is jerky, it’s draining.

Recently, I spent an enjoyable evening with some people I’ve wanted to meet, and from that evening ideas have come, some offered, some my own.

So for now, I look for places to submit travel articles, like those I recently made to Travelers’ Tales. The research isn’t always fun, but moving forward feels good.

The chocolate cake I made yesterday was…awesome.

- PJ

Final TT submission is complete

I just completed my third and final submission to Travelers' Tales. Since they only respond if they're interested, and since submissions made now are for books to be published in 2012, and since many of their decisions are made last pre-publication minute, I don't expect there'll be much to report. But it feels good to have made these submissions, another step forward.

PERSEVERE, she said.

- PJ

Another submission and an inquiry

I'm finishing a third and final submission for Travelers' Tales. This one I call "Stress Test in France," a recount of a trip to Normandy and Brittany with several mishaps, including me putting contact lens cleanser into my eyes, instead of eye drops.

I also made an inquiry to France magazine, asking if they accept submissions from readers for one-time articles. Nothing on their website suggested they do, but I need writing credits, and have several good one-time stories to tell about traveling in France.

Excluding "Good morning" and "Thank you" my inquiry was 31 words, short enough to be read, don't you think?

- PJ

Goodbye, Half Italian?

I’ve decided to make no more agent queries on Half Italian, for the time being. The queries I made last July, at the beginning of this blog, were not my first. As I said in my 2/15/11 post, I’m at 96 submissions.

The professor I wrote about in my 1/3/11 and 1/6/11 posts didn’t sound over-enthusiastic; perhaps that’s my own feelings of discouragement clouding things. He did say he looked forward to learning more about me and my family, but I don’t know whether that was genuine interest or just being polite. It’s now end of May, the month he said he’d be available to read Half Italian, and I don’t want to bring it up again with him.

Then I remember “PERSEVERE” and “Little by little.” Yes, I did commit to persevering, and little by little means small bits of progress and lots of dead ends. As of now, there’s been no progress; I only have hope for future credits from my recent submissions to Travelers’ Tales. That would be progress.

The writer I mention in my 7/24/10 post wrote an article of her thoughts on giving up, saying she’d stay with it until the end. What’s the end, I wonder.

Is this the end? Is Half Italian’s permanent home to be a shelf in my closet?

Not yet.

- PJ