Flying baby

My baby flew an airplane on Saturday. And no, I don’t mean the paper kind. Trevor went on a training weekend with Civil Air Patrol and actually flew a plane. Yes, that’s right; he’s flown a plane before he’s driven a car. I think that must be an overlooked loophole in the vehicle operation laws. Fourteen year olds can legally fly airplanes, but they have to wait a year before they get an automobile learner’s permit. And even that’s kind of scary. Needless to say, Trevor came home absolutely delighted with himself and just asked me how much an airplane costs. Gasp! Gag. Cough. And I was dreading his request for a car next year. A plane? Here’s some paper buddy, fold away. He’s been duly informed that the only way he’ll get a plane is on the government’s dime, so he’d better get into the Air Force or Naval Academy.

I can hardly believe that Easter is next week. It just seems WAY too early. I mean, it’s still winter here. All my hopes for a fun Spring Break and lots of trips to the park with the kids were dashed when it snowed twice (Ugh! That flaky stuff is as welcome as dandruff at this point.), with a blustery biting wind that blew all week long. We did go to the Palouse Discovery Science museum, although I use the term museum rather loosely here for lack of a better one. Perhaps hands-on classroom would be a better description. I was expecting something like COSI in Columbus, Ohio and was dismayed to see that the local definition of science museum was a 50x50 foot room with tanks of lizards, rats, snakes, insects, etc…, a lot of educational toys, and a few science displays. The biggest hit was the giant vat of raw lentils with buried plastic dinosaurs. The younger kids loved it having nothing to compare it to, but the older children with their fond memories of COSI were not impressed.

The bleak weather last week didn’t help my outlook when I racked up more rejections from literary agents. And I thought the hard part was writing the book. HA! I love that part. But this? This wishing and hoping and waiting for an agent to even reply with more than a form rejection is like an exclusive online dating service. And I'm just not finding the right match. It seems that getting anyone in the publishing industry to read it and want to publish it must be the hard part no one told me about. I posted my query letter on an online writer’s forum and after getting ripped apart, re-wrote it. I hope the revised letter will be more successful at catching an agent’s attention. I think some writers must be lying when they breeze over that aspect of the business and make it sound so easy. Thank goodness for the few dead honest writers that shared their difficult experience on their blogs (Janet Evanovich and Shannon Hale). It makes the disappointment easier to deal with. I think I’ll just start outlining the sequel to write over the summer. But I have to help Jeff with a grant before I can actually start writing it.

I’m imagining my crocuses and daffodils beginning to bloom in Ohio. Sniff. And we still haven’t had any bites on our house. Grrr… Oh, well. Eventually, we’ll offload it. Well, I hope you all are blessed with a great week. And I, for one, could do with a dose of beautiful weather. But hope is the message of spring, isn’t it? So here’s hoping for a better week and at least one partial manuscript request. Take care.