This week

-I'm working on revising the first Rennie Harlow story now. I know, I know, I've been saying that for about a year and never getting anywhere. But when presented with the opportunity to send it out as is, I decided to just make a few tweaks, correct some typos, etc. Which has now turned into going through it chapter by chapter and tightening everything, if not out and out rewriting sections. The upside is that I've added about ten pages in length, which was one of my concerns. The downside is it's taking much longer than I ever considered. Probably because I thought I was just going to be "fixing" rather than revising. Oh, well. I'm pleased with how it's going so far. The first three chapters, for example, are much stronger than they were in the original draft. So, now I've just got to keep at it. Becky D. has been of huge assistance in this endeavor, reading each revised chapter and comparing it to the original to reassure me that the chapters are, in fact, getting better and to catch all my inconsistencies (of which there are many).

-Some of the people who've also accepted the severance package at my day job are now leaving. It's weird. I thought it wouldn't bother me because I'm leaving also, but it's still sad.

-Tomorrow I'm at the Indian Trails Public Library in Wheeling from 12:00 to 4:00. Please come by! I'm told there'll be a reporter and photographer from The Daily Herald present. This pretty much guarantees an outfit catastrophe and a bad hair day on my part, but we'll see if I can hold it together. If not, that could be interesting too.

-Shanna Swendson has a terrific entry about focusing on the quality of your story instead of the little stuff (paper clips vs. staples vs. rubberbands vs. nothing at all) when submitting to agents and publishers. It's good advice and I know it to be true. But angsting about such things (which I don't do as often as I used to, believe it or not) provides an illusion of control, and I'm all about that. Constantly reminding myself that I'm sending out my very best and that's all I can do seems to be the only way around it.

-Finally, this is my family history and education at Valpo shining through, but I found this fascinating. I don't know if the Chicago Trib will let you through without registering, so here's a link to a similiar story on CNN.