Session ’07 Day 21

Happy belated Valentine’s Day to everyone. Yesterday was . . . insane at work. Got slammed with one rush bill after another, and when I had a chance to look up and catch my breath, most of the day was over.

Oof.

I did manage to get home in time to have dinner with husband and skunk. First time this week. And I saw sunlight this morning, again first time this week.

Had problems sleeping last night even though I was dog tired. I’d shut my eyes, but they’d pop open again, and my mind wouldn’t quit churning. It wasn’t churning on anything, it just kept flitting from one disjointed thought to another. Finally, Hobkin came trundling up and crawled under the covers to snuggle, and then I could finally fall asleep. There’s a very soothing and soporific effect to hugging his soft, warm fuzziness. Not so great when I’m trying to get work done, but most welcome when I’m fighting insomnia. Skunk sleep aid. Yup.

I can’t seem to stop editing. When I close my eyes, I see words scrolling along my eyelids. Legalese words. And while I had the urge to fix egregious typos and insert missing serial commas before, now my compulsion has gone into overdrive.

While taking my shoes off in the mudroom yesterday, my eyes fell upon the bleach bottle: “Kroger’s Ultra Regular Bleach.” I was twitching to get out my red pen and draw a transpose line between “Ultra” and “Regular” to make it “Kroger’s Regular Ultra Bleach.”

fosteronfilm rightly mocked me.

But yes, I do continue to love working here, even in the midst and madness of session. Yesterday, we editors all came in to find little Valentine’s Day gift bags on our desks from one of the attorneys. Mine had in it a flashlight/LED pointer combo pen, one of those magnetic desk sculpture thingies, a purple mechanical pencil with squishy grip, and a four-color ballpoint pen along with a card. Another attorney came by with chocolate, and one of the secretaries/computer operators brought me a candy bar along with the rush job she handed me. And finally, there were two cakes to celebrate Valentine’s Day and Session Midpoint–a tradition here. Working in this kind of environment makes even the most grueling days a little easier, it do.

The rest of this week promises to be more laid back. The legislators will be gone for most of today for the Charlie Norwood funeral, and then they’re adjourned until next Tuesday.

Maybe I can get some other editing and *gasp* writing work done.

   


Writing Stuff

Received:
– A 260+ day “no” from Farthing which is actually a 100-or-so-day “no.”

I’d gotten a note from the editor back in September letting me know this story was in her final consideration pile, and she’d get back to me in a week or so. After not hearing anything for a couple months, I queried, and upon receiving no response a couple months after that, I queried again. And finally, I queried one last time earlier this week. But this time, I used a different email address, wondering if previous communications–coming or going–were getting lost in an Internet black hole.

And yes, they were. I received a perplexed (but polite) email to my new address from the editor letting me know she’d sent a note several times now, both way back as a follow-up and in response to my queries.

Gah! I thought my email troubles had been resolved. Apparently not.

The editor was most patient and understanding about my repeated queries, a consummate professional. And I’m so glad that I was never tempted to get miffed or surly with her in my queries either. Definitely validates my conviction that a courteous demeanor and tone is both the mark of a professional and prudent.

Still something of a bummer that the story languished for so long only to be rejected. Poor lil story.

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4 Responses to Session ’07 Day 21

  1. domynoe says:

    Hey, there was a brief blurb in the news about a resolution for mothers of special needs kids. What was that all about?

  2. Yikes. Don’t you just hate not knowing if your emails are being delivered? I have nightmares about it sometimes. 😉

  3. No editing other people’s copy, GF. You got enough editing to do of your own. I have the same trouble with time-keeping as a professional habit. There are just some things you shouldn’t record in six-minute increments!

  4. dude_the says:

    Bleachies

    Maybe the bleach people were wanting to point out how incredibly ordinary their bleach was. It’s not just regular, it’s ultra regular! Er, though, I’d want a hyphen in there.

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