A Muddy Stream of Consciousness

Sometimes, when I start writing the blog entry, I have a theme or specific outline in my head. Today however, my thoughts are muddled. I do have a few things going for me. First, my children (who were up at 6 am using the mini-microphone on the electronic keyboard we own) have been herded toward the toy's room and are parked infront of Saturday PBS cartoons. Second, my husband is sleeping (after an uncomfortable night on the pull-out because... we have been too lazy to pull out an extra matress for ourselves) while my parents are here. Third, my parents are here and I know that they will take care of things, and me, while they are here.

It has been a productive week, which is probably why I haven't kept up the blog. My photoshop class was a real break through. I have been learning how to scan in my drawings and use photoshop to color and revise them. My amazing teacher, Leonard, gave me a black and white cartoon as a practice piece and I worked to color it. I felt as if I was making a Sunday cartoon, all be it a psychedelic one.

Okay, allow me to digress. My small child is no longer watching TV. Instead he is telling me it is time to hide the Easter Eggs. I keep saying no. He keeps pushing. Let me explain. It is not Easter. So that event will happen tomorrow. Also, I am Jewish. My husband is not and we celebrate a little of everything. But after a great Shabbat dinner last night, it is a little hard to perpetuate the Easter Bunny. My oldest is six and I'm starting to feel like I'm lying to him. I realize I'm not talking about the art of writing and drawing anymore but this is the chaos part of the blog, so stick with me here. Dying the eggs was really a craft project after my youngest came home from pre-school with two dyed eggs in a basket with treats. Which leads me to my perennial rant about the prevalence of Christmas and Easter related activities in public school situations. I'm all for cultural exchange but not the cultural monopoly that exists.

Back to the blog...
Last weekend I had a wonderful road trip with my friend Mona to visit with Paula Morrow the editor of Ladybug and Babybug magazine. This program was put on by Writer's Web (www.writersweb.biz) Paula did a "first pages" reading and had some positive things to say about my piece. She also gave me some great criticism which helped me revise the writing. I sent two pieces in to her this week.

I started feeling that I wasn't keeping track of my submissions very well. There was a great thread about this on the SCBWI message board that helped me create an Excel matrix. After logging in all my submissions over the past five years, I am feeling very organized. (Read: Anna procrastinated this week by cruising the message boards and playing with Excel.) Truly, I can see more clearly what is out and what is not. With this info, I can create writing goals for the week.

Now, my children have left the TV entirely. I suppose this is good. They cannot be controled by the smellevision. (as we call it in our house) But now they are fussing, and fighting, I hear tears, my husband refereeing. General chaos.

Computer Down!

Okay. For those of you who love your PC I apologize in advance. For those of you who admire the style and technical superiority of the Mac-- I hate my PC! Certainly as a self-described writer, I should be able to come up with better words for my situation. But I cannot. Nor can I really argue the technical merits or demerits of each operating system. I can only say that every Mac I've worked on has made sense and has been easy to navigate. More importantly, they hardly ever fail.

The current PC I have is an emachine. (I know, first mistake...) It is old. (second mistake...) I tried to fix it myself. (third, wopping mistake.) To make a long story short, viruses, tons of them. Corrupted ethernet driver. Huh? Bottom line. $100 to fix it or no internet, no email, no website, no blog. So I brought it to Tom at Complus in Bath, Maine. He was wonderful and fixed it overnight. If you have any service issues, give him a call (207-442-0440).

The more important issue is how unconnected I felt. I have developed a on-line community of writers and illustrators with whom I send mail and chat on various message boards. I also tend to use the computer to stay in touch with family and close friends. For the past six days, those relationships were severed. Certainly, I could go back to the phone for my family and close friends. However, my professional connections have become very important to my definition of myself as a children's author and illustrator. Which editors are speaking where? Who has good news, and is getting published? Where is the best place to send my manuscript? What new books are people talking about?

So, what did I do? Well, I realized that I watched more TV when I normally would have been using the computer. Bad, very bad. On Saturday I went to check my email at the best place in town. The Curtis Memorial Library! Which would have been great except I forgot my password for my email. This happens to me when I do not use a password. Or pin for that matter. (This is why I don't use my ATM card anymore. Which is probably better in the long run. That's another story.) On Monday, I traveled to the Suscom HQ in Brunswick and used their computer and changed my password. Email received. Mission accomplished. Phew.

Now my computer is back "on-line." Here I am in my studio with the steady, slow breathing of small children across the hall. I am tippity tapping once again. Connected. Hoping that my networking will land me a job. And with the money from that job... I'll buy a Mac.

Another Snow Day

Me: (trying to sound cheerful) Hey guys, it's snow day. No school.
Younger Child: Yea! Another Mama Day
Older Child: Man! I want to go to school. It's so boring here.

And you know, he's right. After five, count 'em, five snow days this winter, home is getting to be pretty boring. We have ready every book, played every game, and done every crafty schmafty thing I can do with toilet paper rolls I can think of.

The worst part is that today was going to be my long work day. The day where I have no carpool duties. This gives me an extra hour or so to be at my drafting table, or revising my novel. Instead, as you can see, I'm busy blogging. My children are totally engaged with PBS and I should be getting something done but here I am talking to you.

Here are the things I should be doing instead of kvetching.
1. Double check first two chapters of novel to send into SCBWI work-in-progress grant. Due March 15th.
2. Work on novel revision. Complete by April 15th for Ursula Nordstram Contest.
3. Complete holiday greeting card so I can submit by April 1st.
4. Keep creating new stuff. See if something really pops out at me for next promotional mailing.
5. Decide if I should buy a mailing list, buy a portfolio on Ispot or Children's Ilustration or Picture Book.
etc.

I could keep going but I should probably just get to work. It won't be long until the TV becomes boring and my children start bugging each other as an activity. Then I will bundle them up (kicking and screaming) and send them out into the windy, cold to eat snow and make snow angels.