Monday, February 26, 2007

Feeling Distracted

Yes, my latest full manuscript request from a literary agent has resulted in, "I managed about 60 pages and realized I felt distracted."

Distracted? By what?

I admit to being distracted often. For example, when I was cooking lunch yesterday and heard my son yelling, "Mommy! I goin' to the baffroom in my bed!" well, that was certainly a distraction. Lunch was abandoned. Water boiled over and noodles were burned as I tried to stop my son mid-urination. I've been told by many people that boys often miss the toilet, but come on. He missed the whole bathroom!

While trying to dislodge a Barbie from the utensil container in my dishwasher, I was distracted when I heard the squeaking from the brakes of the school bus as it stopped in front of my house. Again, another household task was abandoned as a mad dash out to the driveway to retrieve my daughter.

Last week, while reading a book, I was distracted by the television when my husband was watching Good Will Hunting for the billionth time. I tried to focus, but I couldn't help it. I had to watch Matt Damon ask the Harvard smartass "how do you like them apples?!" And I certainly would never miss Chuckie telling Morgan about his cheeseburger on layaway.

See, I'm distracted, or maybe I lose my focus from time to time, even while I'm reading. But I usually blame it on the distraction itself, not the book.

IF I didn't really want this whole publishing thing to happen, and IF I had issues with rejection, I would continue to pout and wonder what in the heck the agent meant. But, since I do want this to work, and since I'm developing a pretty thick skin when it comes to being told to hit the highway, I'm going to try and make the most out of the "distracted" rejection.

After all, it is a personal note, and it does offer me something. Not much, but something. My guess is that she meant it just didn't keep her attention or that she just wasn't pulled in by the story. Of course I wish it weren't a rejection, but I'm still happy and appreciative for the request, and her quick review of the manuscript is also impressive.

In any event, I'll continue working and evaluating the manuscript while submitting to other agents, and to quote the Brady kids, I'll just keep on keep on keep on keep on dancin' until I get it right.

Something exciting that happened today: I found the recipe for Applebee's Blondie with Maple Walnut Butter Sauce! Yum yum. I've given up chocolate for Lent, and I feel it's only appropriate to replace this sweet with something else. After all, I've lasted five days. Surely I deserve a reward. Granted, having the blondie recipe isn't going to help with the whole "butt growing larger than the state of Texas" issue, but, um, whatever. I need the sweets. Besides, I can't very well conquer the chocolate problem if I'm stressed, and not having something sugary makes me stressed. See, the blondie will be like therapy. Obviously it's necessary.

Before I sign off today, I have a request: if anyone watched 24 last night, can you provide a recap of the last 10 minutes? I fell asleep at the end and missed it. What happened?

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