On to the Next Chapter

  Well, I was visiting family in Colorado when I got the word that I did not get the reading coach job, after taking out a big fat loan to get my reading masters and volunteering for two years.  It absolutely broke my heart, and things weren't going well at home, and my kids seemed like they could use my help, so I decided to quit my beloved library job (17 hrs. a week just wasn't enough) and move home.  My old cowboy was very hurt and angry, and he gave me one night to get everything out of his house. My friend Kathy came over and we dumped drawers into trash bags and stuffed things in boxes and suitcases, all to be sorted later.  Kathy took me home and fed me and let me stay in her beautiful guest room, and stored whatever I couldn't fit in my Meg's SUV.
   I went back to Colorado and returned Megan's Denali, and came back to Jemez Springs to finish my last two shifts at the library.  On Friday night the Animal Amigos held a party for me, and on Saturday night, Eva brought me to Los Ojos and a party with the Friends of the Library.  The outpouring of love was amazing!  I took all that I could pack in my car and came back to Glenwood.  Bit by bit I'm unpacking and getting settled, and looking for work.
  Writing has gone to the back burner.  One of my first pieces of forwarded mail was a rejection letter for a story I really love, "My Two Grandmas," rejected by Boyds Mills.  But, my story Baseball Buns, which had been rejected by Highlights ages ago, was accepted by the site Knowonder, which is an app for parents to download a new story every day.  My first app story--what a great new market!  And although the app is free to parents, they do pay their authors.
   I still have several submitted pieces out there, and I may just wait to hear on them before I start writing and submitting again.  My first priority is finding a job.

Aaaagh!

  Got an e-mail at 9:30 p.m. from the Superintendent--surely this was a yes or no on my job!  But no--he was letting me know he was just named Superintent of the Year! 

After a stressful day...Joy

   Tuesday, July 17th should go down as one of my most stressful days.  (And a year ago this week, I was at Chautauqua, meeting Joy Cowley and a wonderful group of new friends.)  Besides being my first day on my own with library's new computerized checkout system, I had a job interview at 2 p.m. for the reading coach job at the school.  The interview went well, but now comes the stressful part--waiting!  You'd think that being a writer would make me used to painfully long waits, but it's still hard to wait for a decision that could change my daily life for the next few years.
    My writer friend from Chatauqua, Kathy, who recently retired from a similar position, has been my cheerleader and sent me encouraging notes all day.  Then, that night, just before I turned into bed early, there was an e-mail from Joy Cowley!  I could just hear her saying these words in her New Zealand speaking voice.

Hi Deborah, lovely to hear from you. The new magazine Hello looks great. It is even waterproof! I'm sure your rhymes will find a home in it.

Keep writing!

Warm regards,

Joy

 

     It couldn't have come at a better time!  Now, back to waiting.  The decision is up to the Superintendent, and he's out of town....

A Note That Made My Heart Smile

   Got this from my dear friend Carol's youngest daughter, about her youngest daughter:

Ellie is now able to read your books. She loves them! Awful Waffle makes her laugh and laugh! She was especially thrilled to discover the author had signed the book for her, and the author was a special friend of grandma Carol. (She was only 3 when you sent them so she had completely forgotten.) Just wanted to thank you for your beautiful stories, they are loved and appreciated!

   We writers endure a lot of rejections and hurt feelings, but notes like this make being a writer the best job on Earth!

   

    My friend Barbara recently returned from a week-long Highlights workshop at the Barn, and editor Kathleen Hayes showed her group a prototype of Hello.  It's about the size of a board book, she said, made of a sort of plastic-y paper that can be wiped off with a wet cloth.  The prototype issue contained a piece by my hero in writing for young children, Joy Cowley of New Zealand.  Being her "bus buddy" and chatting with her at last summer's Chautauqua was a high point in my life!

More hopeful news--a "bear card" from the editor of the new Highlights baby magazine, Hello, for four more poems!  That makes six that they are considering purchasing!  It feels really exciting to be contributing to a brand new magazine.  I think this is the magazine that will have my dear friend Carol Van Why's quotation, "Will they remember the unmade bed, or the talk we had instead?"  I believe it comes out in January.

   May and June were full of rejections, although my action rhyme "Garden Stretch" appeared in High Five. 

It was fun to share it with my "Colorado Mom," Gen Doak.



 There is hopeful news, however!  Highlights is adding a new magazine next year, for babies, called "Hello."  It will be edited by Kathleen Hayes, who also edits High Five.  I wrote and asked her if I could submit some poems, and here's what she wrote back:


Hi Deborah,

Yes, I'd be happy to see submissions from you for Hello.

Just be sure to make them very simple :)

Kathleen

Kathleen Hayes Editor Highlights High Five 807 Church Street Honesdale, PA 18431 ikhayes@highlightshighfive.com 570-251-4528 570-251-7847 fax So I sent in two, and got back a bear card for both of them!  Bear cards aren't an automatic in, but they are definitely good news.  The two poems are "Babies Can, Too" and one that I wrote with my graddaughter Olivia Rose in mind, "Knock Knock, It's Nana."      The Verla Kay blue boards are a great resource, and have given me some places to submit, such as Knowonder, Spellbound and Holiday House.  I'm working on my writing more than ever, which helps me feel succesful amid all the rejections.