I will happily take you up on that, Sail. Probably next weekendish.

Sometimes escape comes in the form of a task so demanding that there is no room for anything else. Flying was like that for me. I miss it.

drabble:

Freedom comes with the clank of the tow release; the towplane rolls left and drops out of sight as I turn right and climb up and away. The mundane world is left behind -- people and work, chores and errands, traffic and frustration, lists and plans and restrictions. My world shrinks to the feel of the controls, the sound of airflow, quick glances at the instruments, balance and motion in four dimensions. My world expands to the distant horizon as I plan my route and set off, finding the clouds that mark the thermals, finding peace in the joy of soaring.

dcp, that does sound joyful. I'm sorry you don't get to do it anymore.

Two questions. I included two envelopes with a solicited manuscript - one to send when it arrived as acknowledgement of receipt, one to use for future communications. The publisher would have received in July 6th, so the acknowledgement should have gotten back to me by now, even if they mailed it on the tenth, two business days after receipt. Would a follow up phone call just to check that it was received be out of line, and doom me in the eyes of the editor as an overanxious nusiance?

Oh second question - is it OK to include sample chapters (in this case my intro, end notes , bibliography) in an on-line version of the book proposal? The endnotes and bibliograpy combined are probably about half the word total.

I think I may die worrying about every worst-case-scenario that could possibly happen between when I sent the ms and when I get notes like 8 weeks from now.

Share your worries - get reassured.

Greetings from Las Vegas, where it is 111 degrees, and hotter than Lucifer's jock itch.

Allyson, worst-case scenario is that they want another or some more edits. I grok the worrying, and I'm not making light of it - hell, I wrote every word thinking "please don't let this suck" because I was so uninvested - but the worst case scenario just isn't that bad. It would only mean more work, is all.

Anyone care to beta a flying anecdote I bashed out yesterday? It's only about a thousand words. I'm curious how it plays with a non-flying audience, but I'm not ready to put it online for all the world to read yet. Profile address is good.

Try not to expire from shock -- it's the new drabble topic, on time!

Challenge #116 (escape) is now closed.

Challenge #117 is on holiday. (Because I wish I were, damn it.)

I'll beta. Profile address good.