The Sorrows of Young M'ris

28 August 2001

Actually, I'm not very sorrowful. But my aunt Mary's calendar says it's Goethe's birthday. So there.

I think I qualify as All Better now. That's evidently because it's Tim's turn to be sick. That's Tim, not Timprov, although Timprov has evidently had a stuffy head for a week or so. (He doesn't take turns well, evidently.) I've been having a conversation with Scott about the Tim Convention (the Scott who's not with Michelle -- you'd think he'd appreciate having a convention!). He claims that Timprov is too much of a nickname for him to be able to call Timprov that without special permission. I think that the fact that the man's website is Timprov.Com is permission right there. But evidently that's just me. The Convention makes my life a lot easier, though. I wish everyone would use it.

Hmm. Well, I suppose some people are allowed to mean someone else entirely when they say "Tim." And parents have this silly idea that their kids keep the names they give them. Ed's parents, for example, keep wanting to call him "Nathan." My parents keep wanting to call me "Moonshine" and "Punk." Parents are Like That.

But people like Scott have no excuse for not keeping the Convention, and he confuses me when he doesn't.

Woke up to a rejection in my inbox this morning; well, I asked for it. I'm not sure where to send this story now, though. It's pretty niche-y, and I have a lot of stories out. I have the constant, reflexive reaction of, "I don't have enough stories out!" Then I look at how many markets there are, and how many stories I have out. I can keep sending new ones, but I have enough stories out. No problem. I'd like to draft at least one more (specific one) before I leave, but work on the Not The Moose Book and revisions on what I'm now calling "Mad Skillz" are higher priorities.

Yesterday I picked up a copy of Writer's and Illustrator's Guide to Children's Book Publishers and Agents. I've got another children's book drafted and am thinking about editing one of my short stories so that it would work as a picture book. Kids' stuff is harder to find online than grown-up SF stuff, and I like doing it. So I thought the book would be a good investment. Also, there are lots of niche markets there that jump out at me; I might try to write to market as an idea jump-starter, if I get in the mood for little kids' stuff without having a specific idea.

What I would really like is to have a good idea for a "chapter book." A middle grades book, they call them, but I was reading them in kindergarten. Essentially a children's book. I've done one very satisfying picture book text with "Mama's Pajamas," and I've done two YAs now. And I've written for grown-ups. I'd like to do a chapter book to kind of round things out, and because kids that age are interesting, too. We shall see what comes to me, though; I'm not going to try to force something into that category if it doesn't fit.

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