All Who Wander…
Sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean to leave you hanging like that: alone, listless and unable to sleep for fear of my welfare, but I am happy to report that your prayers of protection and guidance have been well served. I am intact, and on good days, fully functional. Huzzah!
I’m taking it for granted that followers of my work understand by now my love of sarcasm. I say that because I don’t want to slow down and explain things as I go out of concern for those who might take my words a bit too seriously. A handy rule of thumb: when in doubt just roll your eyes and go with it. Not a bad approach to life in general either.
So, what have I been doing these last couple of weeks, you ask? Well, I took some of that much needed time off and ended up in Orlando of all places. The hope was to gain an even deeper insight into the world of hydroponics from the grand masters at Epcot, but my pilgrimage was fairly uneventful. I’m pretty much on board for any opportunity that will help me communicate with greater authority on the topics broached in my book, but that didn’t happen at Disney World. That’s not right, is it? Leaving Disney less happy than when you arrived? Bad, Walt, bad! Instead of discussing the technical aspects of the process or present and future applications of hydroponics as an industry (you know, giving the people their money’s worth), it was basically a “Whoo-hoo! Look what we can do!” fest. Disney charges extra for this behind the scenes tour by the way; shouldn’t there be more value to it than walking around for an hour while the guide tries to get you excited about firsthand sightings of produce normally grown in other countries? I will give them points for their discussion of how beneficial insects are used on plants and how they’re bred (the microscopic viewpoint was a nice feature), but on the whole, the experience was most frustrating.
I learned far more about the business of hydroponics and farming from Octavia Scharenborg of Show Me Fresh Farm some time back. She provided a boat load of useful tidbits that proved invaluable to The Empress Rose. Show Me Fresh specializes in hydroponic lettuce and herbs, I think she’s branched out into specialty greens too, but it’s been a while since we last talked so don’t quote me. If you’re ever in Missouri, Cape Girardeau to be exact, and you’re interested in this stuff, look her up- she does good work. If you ask her nicely she might even give you a tour. showmefarm@clas.net
Some of you may wonder why I seemingly go off on tangents in my blog when I’ve advertised it as focusing on the path to publishing stardom. Well, I hate to tell you, but this is it. For me it is anyway. This is the part we intellectually know to be true but don’t really want to believe: the waiting. Sadly, this portion of our program will continue to repeat as we move through the various stages of the path, but don’t kid yourself into thinking it won’t happen to you. Even if your miracle book is instantly adored by everyone who comes in contact with it in the industry, there will always be some lag time. ALWAYS.
So what happens during this lag time? Who knows? You can’t control other people’s actions, only your own, so how productive you want to be with this time is up to you. I am a compulsive multi-tasker, in part because I have no patience and it seems to keep me sane. I’m using this time to plan ahead, doing research mostly. I’m thinking of ways to make book readings more entertaining when I go on tour. I’m trying to put all the things I’ve learned while writing my book into cohesive thoughts so I won’t sound like a fool during interviews. I’m also thinking about how I’m going to structure the storyline for my next book- something that is always going to be on your publisher’s mind. In short, I am keeping busy. Rather than stressing over how many days it’s been since I sent out a query letter (it’s in the back of my mind, of course- I’m confident, not arrogant), I’m preparing myself for the time when things do start moving again. When the best people in the publishing industry are ready for me, I am making darn sure that I will be ready for them. Tangent indeed!