What It's All About

Recap of the Weekend: Two games Saturday, one game Sunday, one game Monday. We lost the first two games but finished well, winning the two bottom-bracket games on Sunday and Monday. And there were a few college coaches hanging around so the weekend wasn't a total wash. Our team's sponsors made up programs with the girls' profiles and the coach handed them out all over the place at the tournament. Keep your fingers crossed.

Today I am by myself. The WGH has loaded all three kids into my van and they're going to Holiday World for a day of roller coaster rides and water park fun. I am not a coaster rider. I've ridden a few too many in my lifetime. I have control issues, you know? When I'm on one of those things, I feel very out of control, and I do not like to feel out of control. The kids love them, just like their father. There must be a coaster gene or something. I do not have the coaster gene.

So, I'm taking advantage of another day of solitude. BMWs meet tonight so I have to work on my pages from the WIP. JT and I spent some quality time on the phone yesterday*, working through some of my POV and narrative issues. For tonight's section I'm going to concentrate on getting further into my characters' heads and stop being "J.B. telling the story", as JT so eloquently put it. By the time this book is finished and I manage by the grace of God to get it sold, when you read the acknowledgments page, you may fully expect to see JT's name at the top of the list of those people without whom this would not be possible ... yada, yada, yada. Seriously, I couldn't do it without her. I'm writing the book, but she's the one making it better. She's the one who keeps me from saying, "Okay, that's it, I'm done, I can't write for garbage, I give up." The WMVR does that, too, but from a reader's perspective. She loves my writing (if you don't count the first draft of this WIP, which is now being rewritten in a completely different tone), and I wouldn't have finished even the first book without her encouragement. The two of them keeping after me, this is why I do this. That's what it's all about.

*[aside] Went almost the entire day yesterday without Internet - horrors - after being gone for four days, how many emails did I come home to? 172. Yikes.

And this. Every so often a writer will receive a "fan letter" that makes the whole effort worth it. I received such a note in my email over the weekend, and when I wrote this very nice lady back I asked her for permission to share the story with you, which she granted. So here it is, slightly edited for length and content, but mostly verbatim:

Dear Ms. Thompson,

The most amazing thing happened recently and pertains to your book, The Blue Frog.

I am a mystery buff, and over the years friends and family have given me endless new novels by various mystery genre authors - and I am ashamed to say that too many are still sitting on my over-stuffed bookshelves unread.

Anyway, about three years ago a dear friend gave me a book called The Blue Frog (he liked the title, and the book was recommended by a friend) for my 40th birthday. Like too many books before it, it ended up on the bookshelf - unread until time permitted - and was forgotten. Well, my "Mystery Reading Club" has a rotation where each year each member has to "find" a "new" or "unknown to us" mystery author so that we can try someone new! SO, this month it was my turn, and having far too little time to dart off to the bookstore I decided to scour my own bookshelves for just such an author. As luck would have it I came across the book given to me three years prior by my friend.

I put the book in my satchel and thus had it with me for my birthday party last week. At that birthday gathering was my family, and mostly other old-time friends, but there was one new friend as well. (This is where it gets interesting...) The man who gave me the book three years previous was one of the party guests last week and I noticed the book in my bag so I pulled it out to show him that I was FINALLY getting around to reading the book he gave me ... and it all seemed very serendipitous and fun since he had given it to me on my birthday ... and as we were talking about the book, the "new" friend sitting across the table said, "Hey, wait a minute! I went to high school with the woman that wrote that book!!!"

Needless to say, we were all stunned and amazed at the unlikely situation. Not only did he know you, but that I had the book in my bag at that party! WHAT ARE THE CHANCES!? What a small and amazing world! God truly does work in mysterious ways!

So, now I am enjoying your book, and soon so will my Mystery Reading Club friends. I hope you have enjoyed hearing about this. I am enjoying reading your book, and I see from my internet searching that you have a second book! - I will be ordering The Mozart Murders next!

What are the chances, indeed. How often does God orchestrate such a seemingly "coincidental" event? The last time I saw my friend was at our high school reunion a couple of years ago, and we've corresponded only briefly, a time or two, since then. He lives out West now. This is one of those stories that makes you think, "No way!" but then there it is. Everything happens for a reason, and I believe that with all my heart. My heartfelt thanks go to this "new fan" for sharing this amazing story with me. Like I said, this is what it's all about.

My spirits lifted, I am off to tackle this WIP with renewed vigor. One of these days, Alice ... we might have a finished book to pitch.

In the meantime, I received yet another rejection recently on my third book. This leaves two agents I haven't heard back from yet out of the 15 I've queried. So what now? I'm thinking it might be time for a rewrite on that one. Even The Tall One said it wasn't as good as Mozart, right? So I have to fix it. But first things first, which is the current WIP. The BMWs don't know it yet, but we are a mere six chapters from the end of this thing.

That's when the real fun will start.

Read a book. It's good for you.

=) JB