Sent queries and first few pages to four more agents. I have no idea what I'm doing, but it feels good to be doing something.

The Agent Search Begins

Now that the book is written, I'm trying to find an agent. I've submitted the first chapter to an agency and will hear back by Feb. 1st whether they like it enough to want to read the rest.

I don't like this waiting part. I feel like I've spent so much time on the thing, that I just want it OUT THERE as soon as possible.

It's exciting being done with it, but weird to think I'll have to start something new to take its place.

First draft of Dog Days is complete!

I wrote the last chapter (which wasn't really the last chapter consecutively, just the remaining one that I had yet to write) last Sunday sitting on the floor with my laptop in front of the fireplace. I had a weird giddy feeling the whole next day, where I couldn't concentrate on anything else. But I had to submit my final project for my InDesign class, so I managed to do that. The project was the layout and design of my book. This here is the front and back cover and spine. It is how I imagine the finished thing to look. It's very cool to see how it would look in print. I'm trying to "make the thing real" which I remember reading in a SARK book several years ago. We'll see if it helps me actually get it published.

Christmas vacation will be spent, at least in part, editing, editing, editing.

Ahh, the incredible lightness of completing a book...

First Significant Snow of the Season!

And I got home to find a murder of crows right across my alley. They alighted just as I got out of the car and went in to get my camera. It was an amazing sight, the black figures in bare trees against the gray sky. I managed to capture a few before they all disappeared toward downtown. Wow. It was a beautiful evening full of snow and mystery.

A human being is part of the whole, called by us “universe,” a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separate from the rest – a kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.
– Albert Einstein

Christine Center Weekend

I went back this weekend for some "spiritual deepening" and on Saturday I awoke to this lovely scene...

It was clear, and the waning gibbous moon was still visible in the sky and the leaves were just tumbling off the oak and maple trees. It was so quiet there, I could actually hear the leaves falling. It was truly a magical moment. I went for a walk in the woods and by the time I got back the frost had disappeared. I try to appreciate those fleeting moments of beauty, and I'm really happy that I remembered to bring my camera so I could capture the scene. October is my favorite month just for that reason-- there are so many fleeting moments of beauty, with the trees turning, and the frost appearing, and the last of the flowers blooming.

It was a lovely weekend of meditation and contemplation. I can't wait to go back.

Grand Marais Cabin Weekend.

Here's a shot I took at the top of one of our hikes, just off the Gunflint Trail. It was a very short steep hike that afforded a really good view. I only wish I could share the wonderful smell that exists in this place. Pine-y goodness.

It was a rainy weekend, but we managed to find the windows of opportunity to hike when it wasn't drizzling.