Below is the up to the minute query to agent response ratio for The Ridge Runner thus far.
Rejections : 42.50%
Requested Chapters : 14.50% – then rejected.
Never Responded: : 43.00% – more than 6 months no reply.
Perhaps I should follow up on the never responded hmm?
It’s been awhile since visiting the subject of writing in this blog. This is ironic since I’ve been writing a lot instead of writing about writing. Confused? Yeah, me too.
Anyway, the sixth draft of The Ridge Runner is looking good. The beginning 120 pages are tight and the last 100 pages even tighter. Alas, the quest to fine tune an engaging middle continues. Middles are the hardest part for me, because every page must respect the conflict from the page before, stoke the flames of the larger conflict and set up the next situation.
Perhaps some day this will all be second nature. At least I hope it will.
There’s a whole new kind of man walking the streets at night who may sit in the cubicle or desk next to you during the day. He’s focused with his appearance, working out and taking spas, manicures and foot massages. He may dress better than his wife or girlfriend. He’s an upwardly mobile male, who buys big item goods with aspirational price tags. His idol, Brad Pitt. And not fight club Brad Pitt.
While he’s not your father in a mid life crisis, he just may be your younger brother, cousin or neighbor. He’s a product of 30 years of media messages and Hollywood workouts. He’s a…a…a meterosexual.
According to even the most conservative of periodicals, the Investor Business Daily, he may have already live in a town near you. Mind you, some of my best friends are meterosexuals. As far as my daughter marrying one, well, I need kids before stressing that. I also may need a TV first, because apparently I’m the last one on the planet to learn of this next step in the evolution of man. I’m just not with it.
Ronald Reagan died Saturday in his home. Whether you liked or loved his politics, there was an appealing universality that resonated with Americans of various ideologies.
Here’s some traits of note about Ronald Reagan:
1) Communication – he was an excellent public speaker.
2) Leadership – he led without micromanaging. He found the best people to do a job and let them do it.
3) Focus – he knew how to let go of the little details and focus on the big picture.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about Ronald Reagan was that he presided over one of the more bizarre and twisted decades in the history of civilization. The 80’s were a strange, strange time. A time when KISS took off the makeup and everyone else slipped into moon boots. It was a time of Rubik’s cubes and revised tax schedules, PacMan elbow, Pablo Escobar and Family Ties. The 90’s just couldn’t touch it for weirdness and as for now, the jury is still out on the aughties. Right there at the helm of everything was the oldest man to ever serve as President. A guy who wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth, who was raised a Democrat but ultimately led the Republican party to the White House. He was a contradiction to some and an iconoclast to others.
Come to think of it, that’s not too shabby an epitaph at all.