Oh, my inbox… Why do you sit before me, so empty of all emails?

Perhaps I’m hoping for too much, that I would have heard something back from Paula (Guran, of Juno Books) by now. Somehow, though, I imagine she’s still not through going through the December submissions though. It would be about par for the course for me.

I managed to get what I had handwritten on Verdant typed and on my flash drive for safekeeping. This is a good thing. Also on my flash drive is my transliteration project and the 100+ pages I need to get finished on it by Friday. Yeah, Friday. I got too caught up with Verdant and didn’t work on the one that will give me money sooner: Dance in the Vampire Bund. Not that I’m particularly enjoying the work, but at least it’s money… in about 3 months.

After everything starts getting settled down, I’m going to start working on perhaps setting up a site with some of my photographs I’ve done recently, some for free stock exchange and some for sale. Some of them are really quite good… as long as they’re landscapes. I’m better with nature than people. Big shock there, right?

So, with no small amount of personal terror, I sent Amaranth, my baby, off to her first company tonight. This is only the second time she’s been out on her own, and I have to say I’m worried about it.

And I’ve stretched the child comparison as far as I think I can.

The fact remains, though, that Amaranth has finally been sent off to Juno Books‘ Paula Guran, where I live in hope that I will hear something good soon. As my mum would say, “the worst they can do is say no”. I really, really hope they don’t, but I’m bracing myself.

And till I hear back, I’ll be working on the translation for Vol 2 of Dance in the Vampire Bund for Seven Seas. Hey, a girl has to get supplemental income somewhere. FSU definitely isn’t paying worth a damn.

And in the meantime, in my happy place, my live-in editor/pre-reader/research assistant/voice of something-like-reason, D. M. has helped me flesh out my mental cast list: James Marsden as Murdock, Julia Stiles or Rachel Lefevre as Lizzy, Jimmy Smits as Val Drake, Rudolf Martin as Mircea, Adam Kaufman (maybe) as Rafe, and (this one is ALLLLL thanks to D. M., so blame her for this) Jason Statham as Roman Mozzati. This is my happy place.

So, with my heart in my throat, I’m sitting here. I’m only one step away from sending out Amaranth to the first of three potential publishers. Unfortunately, the last remaining step is one of the most important ones: I still don’t have a summary.

Even when I was writing fanfiction on a regular basis, summaries were always the hardest part for me to tackle. There are few things I dread more than writing a summary up for a short story, much less a novel. I guess I’ll have to come up with something, but it does intimidate me. Wish me luck.

Also, I finished reading the newest book from Sherrilyn Kenyon last night: Dream Chaser. It was interesting. It was also quite fun getting a bit more information on the Dream Hunters, the Charonte, the gallu, and a hint or so more on the Were Hunters. That’s all I can say for fear of giving out spoilers. That, and I’m looking forward to Acheron when it comes out later in the year.