May 10, 2005
You ever watch TV or a movie where the hero is trapped underwater and is swimming to the surface, or through a tunnel (and no, I'm not talking about Fear Factor--those people are crazy!)? Do you hold your breath while you're doing it? Hell, I'd be dead every time.

I don't know why that's how today feels. I picked up a new client yesterday, somebody I had queried back in March, so that's good. They're a national market and they pay reasonably well.

Today I spent some time talking to an e-publisher for the journal I edit--I've got a yearly report and an annual meeting coming up to deal with; then I ran some errands, sending out a few copies of Dirty Deeds, hitting the credit union, etc. Then I finished off the podiatry article, sent it out. Had an e-mail from the Medicare article mag telling me to download a tax form from the IRS and snail-mailing the form with my invoice, and since there was serious money involved I jumped on it. Ate lunch, walked the dog, then started working on the re-write of Bad Intentions. Really, re-write isn't quite right. My agents wanted me to cut the first chapter--too much back story (do you detect a theme in my writing analysis?)--and make a few minor changes, and I mean really, really minor. So although I spent some time and thought and energy on that first chapter, the rest is really re-printing after I change the page numbers. Secretarial to the max.

Then I ran off to my son's first grade concert, and after faxing off some galleys to contributors to the journal, I'm blogging. I need to proof the journal, though I've got a couple days. Just part of the gig.

So why do I feel like I'm holding my breath? I'm not sure. It may be that I've got a few too many large things pending--contracts from Mystery Ink, this Bad Intentions rewrite, the contract release from High Country, the manuscript at Tekno (Five Star). It feels vaguely like there's all this energy being pent-up, held and waiting to explode--kind of like holding your breath deep underwater, swimming to the surface, following the bubbles...

Straining for the metaphor? Dunno. Maybe. Or maybe it's the sinus headache related to the weather. Or from staring at a computer screen for the last 5 hours. Hard to say.

Best,
Mark Terry