Dang, I wish I had seen that. Bruce got my puberty started. We go back a ways. And I love the way he writes...more now that I'm older and less inclined to turn off "Nebraska" for being a downer.(Still a downer, but now? Part of its charm.)

erika, the real downer, I think, is "Tom Joad". Could it get any bleaker?

Also, they're reshowing it at least twice this week. If you get VH1, check your listings.

Yeah, but bonus points for the allusion....I've always liked the brainy ones. But, yeah... We definitely get it...the last ST I saw were those twirpy"Green Day" guys...definitely a "You're making our side look stupid. Get off our side." moment for me.

I've always liked the brainy ones

Haven't we all? I'm not saying the Guidos don't have their uses and their place (the family name for a construction worker-style one-night chewtoy), but give me heart and mind every time.

And when it writes like Springsteen?

Glhglhglhglhglh.....

"You're making our side look stupid. Get off our side."

At last, we disagree on something - I think it's a first. I have the "American Idiot" love at warp eleven, I do.

I think it is not the songs but the between patter that got to me.I forget why. Stupid, huh?(But that won't stop me from holding some random grudge, because I'm petty like that.) Never mind, if I'm in the wrong mood,"Have a good day," can make me think it's none of their fucking business what day I have.

Heh. Yes, indeed, if the patter rubs wrong, the whole "urge. to. kill. RISING" thing can kick in pretty hard. I get that way about Sting.

Damn, I'm just going to have to break down and buy the DVD for Billy Idol's Storytellers then.

Of course, I just want to listen to him laugh ...

connie, did you know Idol's touring this summer? I don't know the schedule yet, but a tour is in the works.

Susan, I think it's what you said -- trying to find a way to control the incontrollable. I know in the summer everything slows down -- July and August -- between vacations, RWA, and summer hours. And yeah, the week before Christmas is bad because no one wants to work, and usually the week between Christmas and New Year's everyone is closed. But I don't believe anyone simply clears the decks via rejection letters. You're just looking at a longer wait time than usual since mail is going to pile up.

Thanks, AmyLiz!

I asked because at the rate I'm currently writing, I expect to have the wip rough draft finished by the end of September. Since I already edit a fair bit as I go along, I'm hoping to start querying by early November. I'm planning to only have 5-10 active queries out at once, because that's a bit of writing loop conventional wisdom that does make sense to me--don't query everyone on your list at once, because if you've got a good story and an engaging query letter, it's easier to juggle three requests for partials and/or fulls than a dozen, while if you get rejected by everyone at once, you've blown your chance to play with the query and synopsis a little more and try again.

So, to make a long story short, I can see myself wanting to send some queries in the first half of December. Of course, that's all assuming I stay on pace. I'm trying to stay flexible about all my precious plans and schedules, given my father's situation and the fact that I'm the mother of a toddler.