DOIN THE DANCE

I see the Snoopy dance in my head as I write this post. I just got the edit notes from Aladdin and feel like dancing in tight circles with my head in the air. Of course no one (and I mean NO ONE) wants to see me actually dance - so doin' THE MILO will have to express it for me.

I am so lucky. I have a wonderful agent who helped introduce MILO to the one editor he needed to meet. I am even luckier because that one editor is the most amazing, generous, intelligent person I have encountered in my travels in Book-land. Did I mention her love of Batman? Talk about icing on the cake!

I am still reeling from the notes. By the way, it's the good kind of reeling because I'm knocked out by the positive feedback and praise of my writing. And because this story is so personal to me - praise for the story is affirmation on a monumental level. A healing is taking place and it's a deep, deep wound.

I have nothing to complain about even the notes that say "lose this", "tighten that", "show don't tell"(ugh - I'm such a teller). Gracious. She is more than that because her notes also read "heartbreaking", "beautiful", "amazing". I know, it's like being back in high school where you scan the margins of your paper looking for the red check-marks, praying not to see the dreaded BLACK PEN. But Doin' The Milo means basking in the glow of being a writer and right now that means moving through the maze toward the next step - EDITING.

I have to just say that I feel so fortunate to be playing the part of the writer in this chapter of my life. I am also infinitely grateful for my agent and in love with my editor (platonic and healthy love that is).

Last - I'm just plain psyched and since you all can't see me - I might just do THE MILO right here and now!...Oh yeah!

DOWN TIME IS UP

How is it possible that it is now mid-May and my last post was in March? I think the answer is pretty simple: I was kidnapped by Zombie aliens who confiscated my computer and forced me to watch episodes of Nanny 9-11 until my eyes bled.

Either that, or I've had the blog-blahs. Symptoms of BLOG-BLAHS are easy to spot, by the way. Aching brain, calloused fingers, numerous deadlines safety-pinned to a shirt as constant reminder to HURRY UP AND DO all the things that need to be DONE!

The good news of being a writer is often the bad news: Open ended days filled with too many distractions and free wi-fi. The lack of structure is really no excuse NOT to blog (or to get any of my work done) and the thought does occur to me that building a "Blogging hour" into my day would actually resemble (gasp) STRUCTURE. Still, I go through periods when there's just too many hours in a day - and work that needs attention...and rather than my being able to attack that huge pile I get overwhelmed by it all and end up watching TV and wondering when the elves will appear to do the work for me.

But I forget that sometimes this "down time" (which can often stretch on and on) is actually okay. It's okay to let ideas live their own lives while I go for a metaphorical long walk (or an actual one!). Sitting idle is part of the life I've created. And when I raise my head above the water - I am able to see that the couch need not be a feared thing - but a necessary comfort. Idle hands is the devil's work - but an idle mind is often a writer's creative down-time when ideas simmer and gestate and often emmerge, if not fully-formed, but fattened-up and full of energy.

But I am looking on the positive side. I'm writing this post, and I'm not even doing it while on the couch, which means my brain is ready to rock and the creative vacation it took (while I was lost in the woods of worry) is now over. It's time to work again. To write again. To express myself and be part of the world again.

What I love about the writer's life is that it's a beautiful Friday morning and I am sitting in a wonderful Montreal cafe doing my "job". Letter by letter. Word by word. Off the couch and ready to embrace the world I've made!