The Second Order of a Minute

The ghost of Tyrone Guthrie

wavers and walks again

across the city in which he slept

built dreamed thought acted

action impacting thousands

even as his body rests

and his face, always larger than life,

stares for a time down Washington Avenue

while we walk, jog, run

acting on the small stage of Minneapolis

under the influence

of the flour sacks

and the ruins of mills

We know our bones won’t last as long

as the stone arch bridge

even with its trusses

its heart surgeries and such

our time is a moment

and we still do not understand the nature of time.

Pennywick Press – My New Adventure

I have been working my way up to publishing my first novel for a while now.  The writing has been nearly complete for over a year – I have one last sweep to do for any grammar or word choice changes I want to make, but the story is done.

When I completed the first draft, well, first off I was shocked at the intensity  of emotion that comes with writing the last line of a big project – I was beside myself with joy.  But secondly, I started to think that maybe someone else would want to read it.  Maybe a few someones.  So I started reading books about how to get an agent and how to get published.

I wasn’t completely ignorant of the process – I have always been attracted to books like  The Writer’s Guide and magazines about writing, but this was the first time that I had something to put in a query letter.

I spent a lot of time writing queries, researching appropriate editors and agents to send them to, and sending them out.  I believe I spent several months doing this on the side, off and on.  I never received any feedback other than a form letter.  It was a lot of work, and all for naught. But I’m glad that I spent that time.

Writing about my novel, writing out a synopsis and finding “hooks” to quickly introduce what it is about was useful – the process helped me to see what still needed to be done with character development and storyline.  But I don’t think that the process got me any closer to being published.

After I got tired of submitting queries to people I know receive 500 letters a week, I started thinking about publishing it myself.  Luckily for me and other authors, things have changed drastically since I started reading about publishing.  It used to be that books about publishing wouldn’t even really address self publishing – it was considered vanity publishing.  Now I’m seeing articles and books about it all the time.

And that’s what I’m going to do.  I’m starting my own small publishing company, I’m calling it Pennywick Press, and I will probably only publish books that either I or my husband write.  And I can’t wait to get started.

My first project, Someotherville, will be published on June 12th, and I plan to keep updating this blog on the whole process.  Hopefully I will figure everything out!  Like I said, it will be an adventure.  Wish me luck!

Warming back up to writing.

Hi. I haven’t written for a while, and I have been telling myself to write all week. Again, just now, I was telling myself to write, but another part didn’t want to. So I’m writing just for the sake of writing. It’s probably not worth the, er, six and a half year old mac notebook it’s written on…

Anyway, I’m in a sweet spot in life right now. I love my job, I love my family, my husband, my dog and my 5 cats… my house is looking decent, I’m caught up on laundry, there isn’t too much to worry about – some things, of course, but there is nothing I can do about any of that right now. I’m just waiting for Jay to get ready and then we are going to go have a simple breakfast at the co-op, driving my reliable (knock on wood) car.

And the sun is shining. It’s October 22nd and the sun is shining. It’s nice out. And the fact that it’s oct 22nd makes it five years and a day since I changed my date for the last time I gambled. If you don’t know, I am quite addicted to gambling, but I abstain in order to keep myself sane.

It doesn’t feel like five years. It’s even longer since I went to the casino. It’s coming up on 8 years since I went to the casino. Cards with friends doesn’t even measure up to what I was doing out at Mystic…. but I know the feeling of winning even a little bit leads me to want to go back out there.

Someone told me the other day that gambling wouldn’t lead to death, not like drugs or alcohol. I don’t agree, but I’m not about to go prove it. Dang, that’s what I should have said. Oh well.

Alright, now with all my rambling, I feel loosened up. Maybe I will do a more meaningful post later, or maybe I will even work on my novel that’s been on the back burner since school started. Thanks for reading. Sheila