Lots of living

Crazy year. I was sick, off and on, until summer, from respiratory to digestive. Probably the stress of my family situation, my leaky roof, and last December's sting at work caught up with me. Oral surgery is next, this Friday.

Lots of trips, this year: La Jolla, New Mexico, France, Northern California, and possibly Vancouver.

Crazy weather. Not a typical California summer, we’ve had June gloom, perfect skies, June gloom again, winds, rain, a humid heat wave, and now morning June gloom again.

No luck, yet, on my newspaper submissions. If the US newspapers don't bite, I’ll try the UK, perhaps there’s more interest in articles on France there. After that, I’m done.

So there’s lots going on. At least it’s a full year, if it’s to be my last one to attempt getting published.

I’m using time wisely. 

- PJ

June Gloom

My work requires that I speak to people all over the U.S. and Canada. Yesterday, someone in Quebec told me the temp was 38 degrees, Celsius (about 100 degrees, Fahrenheit) and humid. I’m surprised by how many people in the U.S. haven’t heard of June Gloom, which is now.

June Gloom means gray mornings, clearing somewhat during the daytime, if we’re lucky. But the gray pushes back, late afternoons.

Here’s yesterday afternoon, as June’s Gloom fills the Los Angeles Basin, just over that hill.

It takes longer to reach “the other side of the hill,” the San Fernando Valley, where I live. But here it is, this morning.

 Soon, the days will be clear and sunny, cold June Gloom gone. 

- PJ

Auto-response and France

One auto-email response received; they’ll contact me if they want to publish my submission. If my US options deplete, there’s always UK newspapers and magazines. With France so close, the UK may present greater interest in articles on France.

Speaking of France, opportunity presented itself, in the form of airline seats, using miles, and this morning we booked. Alsace, here we come, in September. This trip will make obsolete the statement I make in Half Italian that I’ve not yet been to Northeast France.

No Amalfi Coast, this year. Flights to Italy seem harder to come by than Paris. No complaints here. 

- PJ

Chopped and sent

All three articles are chopped, the last two submitted to Boston Globe Magazine and The Washington Post. Now the wait, since these are exclusive submissions. I'm restless.

- PJ

Chop, chop, chop

My writing is already somewhat dense, but reduction is needed on the three articles I mention in my last post, if I’m to meet newspaper and magazine word limits. So I’m chopping left and right. A bit of flow was lost on one article, perhaps a bit of grace, but the story remained intact. And chop I’ll continue to do, until my material meets what’s requested. Compliance is part of an accountant’s job.

I made one submission today, to the New York Times.

- PJ

Forward with the fixes

Most of my writing fits what the book says; this is encouraging. The error I made with my magazine submissions is introducing myself in paragraph one; this is akin to beginning a musical composition with parallel fifths, your work will be discarded on the spot.

The logic in my accountant’s mind told me a reader would ask, “Who’s writing this?” Wrong. I don’t do that when I read, either.

So, don’t introduce thyself. Easy fix, paragraph one.

I have three articles to fix, and then it’s submission time, once again, with intent to progress from a letter in France Magazine to a feature.

- PJ

And forward, once again

I ordered a replacement book on Amazon, different vendor, which arrived quick as lightning. My refund from the first vendor took longer. That seller didn’t respond to my inquiry when the book didn’t arrive, so I filed a claim and left constructive but negative feedback. Then, I promptly heard from the vendor.

Amazon’s feedback policy isn’t terribly fair to sellers or buyers – I couldn’t adjust my feedback, only leave it or remove it. To not say the vendor eventually resolved the issue isn’t fair to the seller, but to have no feedback about the experience isn’t fair to potential buyers.

A manager at work recently said, “Kids and students are often taught things must be fair; as adults, we learn life isn’t always fair.”

I’m nearly fifty pages into the travel-writing book, and have learned one mistake I’ve made with my magazine submissions. Big mistake, easy fix -- that seems fair enough.

I’m moving forward.

- PJ