Spamalot

Friday, the 4th of July swa us 00 and a gazillion more people in NYC. After what seems to be years of waiting, we saw Spamalot. I cannot remember ever laughing so hard. Of course, it helps that Paul (Beloved Husband) and I are both Monty Python fans. But that maters not, since it was a GREAT show.

There was not a bad moment in the show. Someone in the audience thought the actors were lip- sinking, but the couple of seconds that the mic system failed showed the actors were doing their own singing. (From the time I trod the board-- as a mere infant-- I knew microphones are your friends.)

The costumes, the set-- hell, even the LIGHTing-- were perfect. Steven Collins ( I've had a crush on him since he went into the ether with that bald Indian woman in Star Trek: the Motion Picture ) made a fab King Arthur. All the other actors were just as good. The chorus consisted of star-caliber work-- people played so many parts, that everyone had a chance to shine.

I still can't figure how they did the Black Knight, the lead in Knights who say Ni and the quick change for the Lady of the Lake into her white gown.

Advice from a cynical old theatre person... run, do not walk, to see Spamalot. It makes you wish the show never ends.

Email Hell

Just for starters, I have run an Norton live update and a virus scan before sending this out. This is a follow-up post from my post this morning.

SIGH. Remember how I was so proud that I used used all of yesterday to get in my requested submissions?

Well, I got a note from an agent first thing this morning that she had gotten my email submission-- 175 times.
I sent her a note that I was sorry and would look into it.

Then I called Cablevision, my provider, and talked to them. They were not much help. But then what can they do?

THEN I got another email from the agent saying "Please stop sending the email." (Is she serious? As if I would shoot myself in the foot that way!) So, the upshot of the story is that I now get the bouncebacks from her mailbox. She blocked me from more emails.

Do you think this means I've been rejected? {:-P

Submission hell

I seem to have a penchant for having odd things happen with agents. Point of fact-- see my June 14th blog about my drive with FinePrint agent Janet Reid.

I spent all day yesterday catching up with requested submissions.

This morning I got an email from one of the agents saying my submission had been received--
175 times.

Nothing like having a submission noticed right away by an agent. (SIGH.)

I wonder if this is karma-- like I burned books in a past life and this is my payback.

A writer's life

I love to write. Yup. You heard it here first. But it seems that much of my time is spent trying to be a writer.

What does that mean? Crafting the perfect query letter-- I have a basic format, but each is a bit different. Kind of like doing alterations on a garment. (Ever notice how most of my writing ties into sewing in some way? Weird.) After the query comes the submission. Getting it into the correct format. Again there is a basic format, but every agent and every editor has her/his own specs. The printing-- for those who want hard copies-- formatted as specified, etc. Yowza.

You all know what I mean.

I have spent all day today doing requested submissions. (That makes me a professional.)

When that is done, you have to do "real" writing. Hey, that is the reason I got the Masters from Seton Hill--note the shameless plug for the Writing Popular Fiction program-- I want to be a real writer.

Tomorrow is the first day of my "real" writing career. I will get back to my third novel about 16th Century Italy. (Well, it is my 4th novel if you count the Star Trek novel I completed in 1978.) It is a story that needs to be told.

Wish me luck.