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

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

One Year, and…France again?

I ended my 11/16/2010 post with “Until next time, beloved France!”

“Next time” has come sooner than I expected. I wanted to visit Italy this year, the Amalfi coast. I’ve not yet been south of Rome, and I’d hoped to go in May but I didn’t return to work (after surgery on my hand) until late May. Hi-everybody-I’m-back-and-now-I’m-taking-vacation wouldn’t be beneficial to my employment, or my hand, for which I still attend physical therapy, twice weekly.

My friend and travel companion, with whom I traveled to Provence last fall, organized a trip to Paris this October for a group of friends, and piggy-backing this trip better fit my timing. The group will stay only one week, but my friend has enthusiastically agreed to stay on a second week. We’re throwing ideas around now, for that second week – up into Nord & Picardie or down to Bordeaux are two of them.

Past trips to France provided the stories in my recent submissions to Travelers’ Tales. What will it be this year?

- 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

Next

I used to collect sets of books with beautiful bindings; leather, cloth, it didn't matter as long as I loved the bindings. I visited many used bookstores in southern California, sometimes as a break from studies, other times as a stress reliever, still others for just plain fun. My insides would churn with excitement when I'd enter a store with book sets I wanted, and could afford. My dream was to one day have a room, a library, where I could be surrounded by beautiful books.

Living in apartments for years, I had no library; there weren't even any built-in bookcases. In fact, I never had room for more than three store-bought bookcases crammed onto one wall at a time. Not exactly the library I'd pictured, yet, when someone asked why I didn't get rid of some of the books, I said, "Because some day having a room to put them in is a dream I'm not willing to give up, yet."

I still don't have the library I've always pictured, but I'm closer -- I now have a room that I can say I own, the study, we call it, and one complete wall is lined with those books. I'm sitting in the study right now, looking out at the sun beginning to creep over my little Tuscany.

And I'm not willing to give up on Half Italian, yet, or accept being overlooked by the industry simply because I'm unknown.

I'm not sure what's next, maybe a third and final submission to Travelers' Tales.

- 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

Memorial Day Eve: Little Old French Ladies

Today I made a second submission to Travelers' Tales, a tribute to senior citizen women of France, recounting several experiences being lost or otherwise hindered on the road in France, and helped out each time by a little old French lady.

We'll see where this submission goes; in the meantime, I consider my recount of these great memories a precursor to Memorial Day, tomorrow.

- PJ

8/8 (remember that?) and moving forward

During my recent recovery from surgery another agent response came in the mail, one of the remaining two I wrote off last February. It was a standard form response that said my work appeared to have merit; encouraging words, but still a rejection.

I read two books and several short stories while I was on medical leave; short stories I was supposed to have read in high school English class, and didn’t. Freshman reading assignments from the 1971-72 school year are finally complete! The short story is my favorite form of writing. I’m glad I saved my textbook for 40 years; I love the questions for discussion that follow the stories. I also read Julia Child’s “My Life in France” which I enjoyed and recommend. I sent Alex Prud’homme a quick email on his wonderful job with that book, and he gave a friendly response.

And now I’ve made another submission, not Half Italian, but an amusing recount of a day in 2006 when a friend and I got lost in France as we learned to use his first-ever GPS. I made the submission online to Travelers’ Tales. I’ll only hear back if they decide to publish, and that could take a year. But to obtain even one writing credit would help, and by this submission, I’m moving forward, little by little.

- PJ