The many moods of a writer...

Last night my face looked like a page of punctuation marks: pursed lips with a string of exclamation point puckers, eyebrows separated by a deep-frown comma, pair of parentheses on my cheeks, blood boiling, mind roiling with questions. Now what do I do? I'm ready to submit a synopsis for my novel, and the publisher's guidelines states, Only accepting CONTEMPORARY women's fiction. Last time I looked they were seeking period fiction for the mature woman. I tell myself that everything happens for a reason; I do believe this!

So,I peruse the blogs I follow. Becky's pops up with music. The song is Virginia, my deceased mother's name. I try deep breathing and visualize her telling me to calm down. Just as I enter my zone, the phone startles the crap out of me. It's a small press publisher who wants an interview and photo for a feature on ME. Then the mail arrives. I rub the envelope on my cheek. It's my check from HCI,Inc. I rip it open, and it is double the amount. Now what? I look at the invoice; they've bought two stories, woo-hoo! In a matter of minutes, my facial expression returns to normal crinkles and wrinkles; I'm so happy I do the victory dance.

It's that way with writers; we rev up and wind down in a flash. My best news came later when Tammy, who is an early reader of my novel, wrote that she loves what she's read so far. I slept well.