Today was gorgeous!! And the fact that it was Wednesday was icing on the cake. We hit the library and re-borrowed the first of Mary Pope Osborne's Odyssey books. The kids really enjoyed the 1st one some time ago, and I picked up #s 4 and 5 on our trip last week, so I put the others on hold and we'll hopefully get to read them all in a row. It's the time of year when I feel inspired to look at new educational goodies and I've been drooling over the latest Timberdoodle catalog. These look fun.
But most of our time was spent outside attempting genocide on the many thistles and dandelions inhabiting our Weed Beds™. (Someday these will become Flower Beds™. I hope.) After stabbing myself with a nasty thistle thorn, I had Peter Gabriel lyrics stuck in my head for the rest of the adventure.
Digging in the dirt
To find the places we got hurt
Digging in the dirt. . .
Yesterday for Mollusc's b-day we made this cake (we did decorator frosting, though) and it turned out really tasty. I think it was even better today. I'm kind of a snob about using cake mixes, but this was O-Tay.
Tonight we watched Valiant which I'd grabbed at the library, and it was enjoyed by all. We got a kick out of the disclaimer at the end "No animals were harmed during the making of this film, including Dennis." (Dennis was a bug that got "squashed" by an evil falcon.) Rik Mayall was one of the voices. One cannot have enough of Rik Mayall. I've been a fan ever since The Young Ones. Also not appearing in this film (since they were only voices) Obi-Wan, "Monty Python" (Sluggie thought that was John Cleese's name for the longest time), Tim Curry (aka "The guy who reads the Lemony Snickets") Bertie Wooster, and Bridget Jones's dad.
Oh yeah - another rejection on a kids' story "we're so full up we don't have room for any more and are turning away good manuscripts" or something to that effect. Stink! And why are you listed in SCBWI's book as accepting manuscripts, then? The first time I submitted to them it was returned because they had neglected to take care of their PO box. I suppose that should have warned me that they didn't have their act together. But they were a small press and had the kind of philosophy I like to see, so I let them give it a look. Fine. Next publisher, step on up! This is the part I hate. Figuring out who's next. I'm not organised enough to have my original list of prospects. Now that I have a laptop that will change, though. Plah. Oh well. A Wrinkle in Time was rejected 17 times. I have 16 to go.
8 comments:
I can only assume it's good news that your kids associate Tim Curry with Lemony "worst over-hyped book ever" Snicket, and not with "the guy with lipstick and suspenders who built himself a man"...
Oooooh! I always associate Tim Curry with Rooster from the movie 'Annie'.
I loved that movie when I was 8.
As for your book, that smelly publisher doesn't know what it's missing.
Mind Benders sounds similar to a study I was invloved in during high school. For three years I took classes called Instrumental Enrichment that taught problem solving of all types. I think it helped my decision making processes quite a lot. And it was fun. I'm sure your kids will enjoy the books.
BTW, your cake link links to the mind benders books. Give me cake! :)
Fal - we love those books, LOL! Well, Mollusc says 12 was depressing and I haven't read that one yet. But the rest are full of such twisted humour. The movie, OTOH, was pretty lame. But yeah, they're too young for RHPS. :-P BTW, our suspenders are your braces and your suspenders are our garters, which you probably know, but what I want to know is what does "garters" mean there? Well, not in France, but you KWIM, LOL! Can I fit in any more net abbreviations? IMO, yes!
Jaichan - my kids have never seen Annie. yikes! Bad mama! Better put it on hold at the library. :-) We all love Tim Curry. Thanks for the book sympathy. They'll be sorry when it's a bestseller - well, as much as a picture book can be, LOL!
Toby - D'oh! I'll fix that link now, thanks. Cool! Good to hear that those puzzles are useful and not just fun!
I noticed that the Rush Hour game was also for sale on that site. Our whole family LOVES that game!
Keep collecting those rejection slips. You'll NEVER succeed if you don't TRY! ;)
that is one thing I can't wait to do with my kids--go to the library! AND I can't wait until they hit the Harry Potter age! Hell, I just can't wait to have kids for a lot of reasons!
Cake is good. Did you by any chance take a picture of yours. I'm very visual when it comes to my sweets.
This has nothing to do with submiting written work to a publisher, but when in high school in a class called "reading poems aloud" my friend Rob was never prepared. Always last minute he would pull off something, for example, one day he read the ingredients from a bag of Skittles. He went from class buffoon to class clown (in the best sense of the term) after that; his tenth or eleventh time of being unprepared. For the rest of the semester he came prepared, but not with poems, he continued reading obscure things with a poetic twist.
I guess what I'm trying to say is after a few rejections due to pure laziness he finally found acceptance. I know you're not lazy, but you have been rejected and I'm sure your work is quality, so keep your chin up. The rejections should only make you stronger and more determined.
TSmom - I need to get Rush Hour for our family. I bought it for a friend's son but have nevr gotten around to buying one of our own!
Slade - Kids are a great excuse to do tons of fun stuff without getting weird looks, LOL! And of course it's just neat to have little pieces of yourself and dh running around in the world. You're going to have a blast with your kiddos. :-)
Toby - I did, though you can't tell how the cake itself looks under the frosting, but I'll post one anyway. If I took one of what's left (train wreck city!) it wouldn't be terribly appealing, LOL! Fascinating about your friend. I can see how that would be entertaining. I think people named Rob are always comedians.
Thanks for the encouraging words everyone. I need to get this sent out again. I think I'll set a goal of having it sent off by Wednesday.
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