Weather

The week in May when everything blooms is over, though the weather remains bright and clear. The Korean lilacs are flowering now. They follow the French lilacs by a week or two.

I spent last week recovering from Wiscon, sleeping more than usual and reading a lot.

I also did one job interview and sent out a couple of resumes. I'm finding one or two jobs a week that look interesting and seem to be a pretty good fit. This is encouraging.

Yesterday I went down to a local coffee shop and worked for an hour inputting changes to a story.

I sent two stories out before Wiscon, one to an editor, another to another writer to vet. In both cases, I am waiting anxiously and nervously for a response. I respect the two people involved and care about their opinions; and stories are problematic. One is so long that it will be impossible to sell in ordinary markets. The other is my Brer Rabbit story, and I am writing about a topic -- African American culture in the 20th century -- which is not my area of expertise.

If the editor doesn't like the story, I don't know where else to send it. If the writer tells me I am way off in my treatment of 20th century African American culture -- well, I hope the story is fixable.

Sending stories out is like sending resumes out, or waiting the result of a job interview.