Ed Gein: Everyone: What should I put in my cover letter? If they like it, it would be my first published fiction. My non-fiction is kind of relevant to this piece, though(It's the haircut one from the contest I lost.) Yeah, it's Short Story Bagged Salad.

Kewl! erika, send me the version of it you want to submit, and we'll get it formatted to their specifications.

I appreciate their not wanting to lose the stories, but they don't understand what it's like to write like Rain Man does math(I'm kidding, I studied too, but when it comes to presentation, stone tablets all the way.) And I won't even go into my bizarre rituals.

This is annoyingly interesting. I'm working the Library of Congress cataloging system, flipping through various headings. I'm in the Authorship section, and there's a subdivision for special topics. ONe of those topics is "Housewives as authors." I think I understand the phenomenon they're discussing, but I'm not sure. Are they thinking that a housewife trying to fit in writing in her life is different from, say, an accountant trying to fit in writing? Or are they thinking that housewives write a particular type of book?

There's a category for women writers. There are also categories for insane authors, laboring class authors, and prisoners as authors.

Ha.

One of those topics is "Housewives as authors."

Probably looking for a place to file Jean Kerr, Erma Bombeck, Peg Bracken, and the like. People whose writings focused on the domestic.

Big old tenterhooks. From my agent, in re the 4-6 proposal:

I think at this point it's just a matter of getting approval for whatever offer it is she wants to make. I'm nudging her for details. With any luck I can manage to turn your lunch into a celebratory one.

Nice if she's right.

Also, Fed Ex hasn't shown up with the manuscript of "Matty Groves" yet. I'm out of here at 9 tomorrow morning. Eep!

Damn, Deb! Sure hope it gets there.

Photo #8. (Nope, not tired of these things yet.)

That’s great-aunt Georgeane standing next to grandmother. They didn’t look much alike. Georgeane had a belly-busting laugh that filled the room; grandmother just smiled politely at a joke. Great-aunt’s appetite was legendary. Her son, Matthew, says he’d seen her clear off a platter of pancakes stacked 16 high! I’m surprised you see her in a dress in this picture. Usually, you’d find her in one of great-grandpa’s pairs of overalls, workboots and a kerchief on her head. She ran the farm for years, after great-grandpa died. She had to when Grandma ran away with the piano tuner to the city.

Matty has arrived. Breathing way easier.

Sail, these things are acting like creative rose and exotic flower food for you. It's lovely to watch; it's lovely to read.

I just got a total stranger on lj all excited about my book...now, granted, it was sort of fish in a barrel, with the Perv in it, as far as Homicide fans go...murder police being to us like tits in a frat house, but hey, this time last year, it didn't exist.