Okay, that’s it!  I’ve tried to figure out a way to squeeze in more reading time.  With snatching up writing and rewriting chances whenever I can, interpreting full-time again, being involved with family, church, friends, answering emails, etc. I just haven’t been able to find enough free time left to read.  As my list of books I “can’t wait to get to” now grows to nearly 40, I’ve had to weigh my options and decide: Do I give up sleep or television?

Yup.  Opted to not watch T.V.  Of course it’s not like I’ve ever spent a lot of time channel surfing because I don’t even have cable, but in the evening when I’m tired it’s easy to plop in front of that large flat screen beauty.  And, of course, this doesn’t mean I’m giving up Netflx; I love movies and think they offer an author important glimpses of different kinds of storytelling.  But the rest is just dross; at least that’s what I’m now going to tell myself when I get emails from friends reminding me that Survivor or American Idol have a new season starting.

Can I pull it off?  No promises.  Maybe I just need to remind myself of the fulfilling joy I’ve gotten from reading Jennifer Donnelly’s A Northern Light, Amy Tan’s The Bonesetter’s Daughter, and Nancy Crocker’s Billie Standish Was Here.  There are so many other delightful reads just waiting for me, I know I can ignore the television’s siren call… at least I hope so.

Summer has blended into fall and I am still waiting.  My agent, Jessica, and I are in the submissions process, and though there have been a handful of “passes” (the industry’s nice way of saying “rejection”) we are still quite hopeful because some of those came with great comments.  One “rock star” editor even included a page and a half of praise and comments in what Jessica called a “rave pass” about how she thought my writing included some of the best atmosphere and pacing she’d read in a long time.   Still, she passed.  I understand this, though, because my book is different; the same things that will possibly make it quite successful in the end are the same things that make it a bit of a gamble to take on.

The most important news, though, is that an editor who loved Freak took it to an editorial meeting three weeks ago, and the publisher is still deciding.  This is positive, I know, but there’s still uncertainty and more waiting.  I’ve moved beyond the nail-biting stage to a sort of calm survival mode, staying busy with work (school started June 31), family, reading the “Blueboards”, and spending obsessive hours working on my book trailer.

It also helps that Jessica is still full of optimism and excitement for our future, so I cling to that and take deep breaths.  I told some other writers I met at the Boise SCBWI Conference last weekend that the subbing process is a lot like being pregnant, except when you get this far overdue, you at least know the doctor will induce.  If only agents had the same power…