Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Whirlwind Update!!

Well, after sickness, famine (with Weight Watchers me and Hubby are both down 12 lbs!!), school angst, book deadlines, and two Chinese exchange students, I'm back!! If anyone's still out there reading--thanks!! ;-)

It's been a seriously crazed few weeks, but I'm hoping things will now settle back into a somewhat normal routine.

In a whirlwind update, my anthology is done--yay!! But my editor was laid off. Boo!! Jen was super sweet and I hope she finds another editing gig soon. I'm now working on a project called Dancing With Dalton, which doesn't yet have an official title, but is a little like Dancing With the Stars, only in a small town setting, minus the stars. LOL!!

Our exchange students were a hoot--even more so since neither spoke much English. There would be lots of times in the car when they'd be chattering up a storm in the backseat, and my son and I would just look at each other like how bizarro is this??!! NEVER have I experienced such an action-packed week. There were activities planned all day every day. The week before, we cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. The Saturday they arrived was like the perfect storm of kid events. Daughter had her first cheer competition of the year, at which I worked, starting at 7 AM. We were there till 2 (or driving back and forth, running last minute errands), then went to fetch the China kids from the airport, then went to a big China party that night. On paper, it doesn't look all that tough, but in real life, it was hellish!!! LOL!!!

That Sunday, we hosted a barbecue for FIFTY!!! That was pretty hellish, too, but fun. Everyone seemed to have a great time. Never have I seen so many cameras. The visiting teachers got a kick out of our house, and did lots of posing on my office balcony while more visiting teachers took pictures of them from the street!!

Literally hours after putting everyone on planes bound for Washington DC, I came down with a nasty something. I'm wondering if it's the dreaded e-coli, as I'm the only one who had it. A week later, I'm still not a hundred percent. I just thank God it held off till after everyone left.

This weekend, Daughter has another cheer competition. This time, it's at Frontier City on OK City. Should be fun--at least I hope so, as we're taking the whole crew!! ;-)

4 comments:

Christa said...

So glad you're feeling better. Woohoo on the weight loss.
It sounds like you've had a fun but exhausting couple of weeks.
Now you have me real curious about this balcony.

Anonymous said...

I had a proposal with Jen at Har. Amer. Do you know who took her place? I'm so sorry to hear she left. Wah!!! for both of us.

Laura Marie Altom said...

Crystal and Christa!! Hi again!! It's so great to *see* you!! Thanks for the weight loss cheers and I'll see what I can do about getting a balcony pic.

Last year for Christmas, Hubby bought me two white rockers, so I could sit outside and edit. Trouble is, when Spring finally came, we had all that wretched road construction and the painters. By the time they left, hellish summer heat had set in.

I'm hoping we have a few pretty Fall days before hellish cold arrives!! LOL!!

Anon--Sorry, but I don't yet know who Jen's replacement's going to be. The line's head editor, Kathleen Scheibling, told me last week that she hadn't yet had a chance to reassign everyone. I got the impression she was pretty overwhelmed and shocked by Jen's leaving.

All of the editors are already under an incredible workload, so my heart goes out to them in now taking on added work.

My orders were to hang tight and report to Kathleen until I hear otherwise. When I do get an official new editor, I'll let you know her name.

As for your proposal--how long has it been there? If we're only talking a few weeks, wait a couple months for things to settle down. If you still haven't heard by December, call. By then, we'll have a roster of who's on the editorial staff.

If it's already been there months, wait a couple weeks, then call.

My heart goes out to you!! Before making my first Harl. sale, I'd spent a small fortune going to meet an editor at a conference. We had an AMAZING meeting, lots of casual one-on-one time--even shared Sunday morning breakfast. She said she knew my work, and was excited to give it a read.

Monday morning, I got the word she was moving to another house!!!! I walked around in a daze for weeks!!! Trust me, if you're in the biz long enough, you'll suffer a ton of angst!!! Stay strong!!

If anyone else has questions, or a writing issue you'd like me to blog about, chime in!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Laura. I appreciate your candor and tidbits on the biz. Yes, please keep blogging about any updates you hear from Har. Amer. Thanks!