It seems I cannot get closer than 5 days to my period without spotting, but 5 is better than 10.

Got my second and final rejection from the publishers. This time they attached a list of excerpts from the book that they had a problem with and pointed out why in hopes of encouraging me. We don’t agree with all the things they pointed out, but 8 pages worth of stuff really makes me think I’m not nearly as good of a writer as I thought I was. I can see putting thoughts in italics, but what was wrong with having Maureen stand there and tell Shania all the horrible things she was going to do to her when she finally found her in the K-Falls motel room? Of course it was because she wanted to scare her and make her feel threatened before she killed her. Or tried to anyway. It’s okay, though. Rather than rewrite it or submit anything else, I’ll go on writing for fun. That way I don’t have to worry if I’m not being descriptive enough or if I have any discrepancies, etc. I could even use celebrity names if I wanted to and even racial slurs. I always did know that something up there never wanted me to succeed career/money-wise and that I’ve already been living my true destiny – being the homemaker/hobbyist that I am. I’m simply not meant to make money, but I can win a pair of shoes every now and then and write for fun. I think that writing professionally would be so much work that it’d take the fun out of it just like singing professionally.

One of my boo-boos was funny. The part where Lauren busts Shania out of the hospital and then her friend drives them to the bus terminal. Meanwhile, Shania’s still in her hospital gown. I forgot to have her change in the friend’s van!

Some of the things she picked on make no sense. She questioned why I would refer to “the other day” as the other day when it was just yesterday. But isn’t yesterday the other day? I would think either phrase, be it “the other day” or “yesterday” would be appropriate.

Anyway, I see it like this: I made two submissions, so I can’t say I didn’t try. It was a fun and interesting experience getting their feedback and all that, but now it’s time to move on, write for fun and just be the leaf blowing in the wind that we almost all are meant to be. Some do the things they’d like to do, but most don’t. It’s a simple fact of life, like it or not. If I thought the odds of making decent money at it were in my favor, then I’d consider all the hard work it’d take, but I don’t want to work my ass off just to almost certainly be told that I’m still not quite “getting the picture.”

I kind of got a kick out of how she said “Good luck with your writing career.”

What writing career?

Tom said this has inspired him to write a book, though I doubt he will. Not that I don’t think he’d be a good writer, but I think writing a book would be something he’d find easier to talk about than to do. He has too many other higher priorities in his life.