March 29, 2009

    Been a few days. Not much to report on. Another "not interested" letter yesterday. Sent three more queries out last Friday. Two agents still reviewing, thinking about it. I will continue to persist. I have one month left to go through the agent list, and then two months of waiting and seeing on the queries, unless all rejects have been received by then, or an agent picks up the book and deems it worthy for publication. After that, starting in July, the direct search for a publisher will begin. 

    In the meantime, the plot of the sequel begins to take shape, with the new characters beginning to grow into "real" people. After this update, I will be writing up more scenarios for one or the threads, and hoeing around the garden of ideas for another of the characters. 

    I have made some progress into resolving one problem I was wrestling with with the driver of the story, so I am now free to move into the next set of "What happens now?" scenarios. 

On the art front, the show Friday went well. There were a large number of new persons stopping by the gallery. Several of them seemed to be into some of the paintings, and perhaps a few sales will result from that. I must say, they two paintings we have in the show looked really nice, with mine hung directly above my wife's. We were told that the judge took no realistic  scenes unless he felt they were very well done. So, in the eyes of at least one judge, we did okay.

    The new painting my wife did, a scene from Arles, France, is one I'd really like to bring home after the show and hang in our dining room. We recently redid everything, and have but one painting hanging in there. But, should she sell that one, that's even better! I will take photos of them and place them on Facebook so people can see them. 

    I am laying out a painting of Bayeux, France while still working on the two elderly gentlemen feeding the pigeons by the Eiffel Tower. I have decided to go with pastel for that one, watercolour for the Bayeux scene. 

    We leave next Friday morning for OBX, Manteo to be exact, where we will join our friend in his condo, kick back and relax, read, walk on the beach (hopefully it will be warm enough), eat fantastic quesadillas at the Magnolia Grill, wander through Manteo Booksellers inhaling the fragrance of printer's ink as it rests upon a printed page, and sit on the deck overlooking the world at the coffee shop across the street. With luck, Nags Head Pier will be open and we can pig out on fried shrimp, coleslaw, and fries while listening to the sounds of our arteries gleefully clogging up. 

Time to go! I need to get some writing done before heading out to the Avenues for our Sunday afternoon of slouching down in a comfortable chair, sipping a grande frap, and reading several books. Current reading list is "The Republic of Silence" (research for book 2) and "2666" a novel of sorts that I haven't quite figured out what it's supposed to be about yet, but one that is definitely big, > 850 pages.