Entry: January 09, 1999
Title: Surfacing for air!

Well! It has been an amazing couple of weeks! I've been working my butt off with the rewrite! Remember last time? My producer mentioned that I needed to make a few changes regarding who is in what scene? Well, I've been ironing that out. It has been looking pretty good. I've been reading over the script a thousand times a day. I take it to bed with me!

I saw my producer (and her fiance) at the store the other day. She's been relaxing this holiday season, so I'm still on hold a little bit. I said that was OK because I still had a lot of work to do writing script analyses.

However, things have wound down a bit. That's ok! I've been developing some other story ideas in my head. I'm anxious to get the time to put them on paper.

Just two days ago, an agent visited my site! That, I imagine, is a writer's dream come true --an agent who actually seeks you out!

Her name is Anna Piazza, and she seems very pleasant! If you're interested, visit her agency's website, Chadwick & Gros Literary Agency. She signed my guestbook too.

I wrote to thank her for visiting, and she e-mailed me some information about submitting to her agency. Check it out... it's at my main page.

She's looking (specifically) for new blood. I can also tell you that (after I responded to her visit) she wrote back the very next day! That's a good sign!

Just be sure to BE PROFESSIONAL with whatever you send her! It's gotta be absolutely PERFECT! Make sure you know what she wants to see! Nothing will kill your chances as much as a half-assed submission! Even your e-mail queries better be perfect!

Did that sound rude? I don't mean to sound rude. I really don't! It's just that I receive a lot of e-mail, and I'm tellin' ya... they are the first thing I see that reflects the person's writing. Some are incredibly impressive! Others, although honest and heartfelt, are poorly written!

Incidentally (this is humorous (and off the path!)), a very helpful gentleman wrote me an e-mail about a word on my site --"alright". As a fellow instructor of English and a published writer, he was irritated to no end regarding the spelling.

He WAS correct in explaining that "alright" is not "all right"... but I chose to keep it because it was in a character's speech. I felt it was just as appropriate as "ain't" or "S'ok" or any other combinations we make when writing a character's dialogue.

After all, how can one write a Jim Carrey skit without "alrighty then"?! Hee hee!

We went back and forth about the spelling, but it really went nowhere. His concern was that I might be leading fledgling writers astray.

Guys (and gals)... I think it's all right to use the term "alright" in a character's speech. I think it can make a difference in how that character is perceived. I hope that doesn't ruin my reputation! Heh heh!

On the negative side... damn! That means I'm not perfect. I wonder who's going to break that to my wife! :-)

If you find any spelling errors on my site, let me know! I don't mind! I'm not embarassed! It'll be a good thing! Don't worry. As writers, we must admit that there's a certain pleasure in finding typo's or errors in someone else's work. Especially if the work has been published.

:-)

Ok... I'm off to watch OUT OF SIGHT (or is it "site"?).

Goodnight!