Oh, I've already figured out how to get her out of this mental loop--I just need to make sure it's plausible that she feels that way in the first place.

Does it make sense that Lucy (who's quite young and inexperienced, but practical and intelligent) would balk a bit at discovering her own capacity for sensuality,

I don't know if this is at all helpful, but I'm reading a book set in the 1940s right now where the young inexperienced wife has to convince herself that she's not a nympho for wanting to sleep with her husband, even after he loses his legs.

Susan, I think you've set Lucy up as a character who does wonder about this sort of stuff. Also, she's a) in a new set of circumstances, and b) likely to be slightly overwhelmed. I think the loop is plausible.

Susan, I think you've set Lucy up as a character who does wonder about this sort of stuff. Also, she's a) in a new set of circumstances, and b) likely to be slightly overwhelmed. I think the loop is plausible.

Cool. I confess to borrowing certain aspects of my own personality for her, among them a tendency to overthink and overanalyze everything, but I didn't know if what seemed a logical motivation to me would make sense to readers in general.

Thanks everyone for the advice. I think I will just write the one article I have left and then bow out gracefully.. I'm quite sure an honours English courseload combined with german, french and creative writing will be adequate ammunition for a convincing refusal of future assignments.

On a side note... I'm still pretty proud of that haiku experiment.. Anyone know any small poetry reviews that I might submit to?

Brynn, you ought to be proud of it. They were excellent haikus.

Eek!

I just registered for my first writers' conference, hosted by the Greater Seattle Romance Writers of America the first weekend of October. With, like, real authors, editors, and agents! I spent pretty much all my spare cash for September on the registration fee, which means I have to take this seriously and be all professional and shit. And I don't know what I'm doing! And I'm already stressing about what I'll do if I get stuck with my last choice of editor for the one-on-ones--my first choice was from Harper, my second from Pocket, and third and last from Harlequin--because I hate Harlequin's MO and I don't want my booook, my precioussssss, to go to them unless I've exhausted every other legit publisher in the business, including the tiny little lines who mostly only sell to libraries.

t runs around in imitation of chicken with head chopped off

Susan, calm down, honey. What in the world do you mean, you don't know what you're doing? Of course you do; you already know which editor you'd prefer to deal with.

Seriously, it will be fine. (I just checked Jenn's schedule to see if she was doing that, but she's not - she did RWA in NY last month.) You'll bring along samples and a good synopsis - have you got a one-page synopsis? If not, ping me, because I give very, very good synopses, overall - and you'll charm the socks off everyone and they will want to rep you and all will be good.

And suppose you do meet with the agent you don't like? No rule says you have to do anything in the way of business with his/her line.

Susan, calm down, honey. What in the world do you mean, you don't know what you're doing? Of course you do; you already know which editor you'd prefer to deal with.

Well, yeah, but that's because I spent five minutes on each line's website figuring out whose was closest to what I write.

No synopsis yet--I'm trying to finish my first draft first. Before I got all pregnant and exhausted, I was shooting for 8/31, but now I think 9/15 is more realistic. I don't want to turn down an opportunity like this right here in my own city, but I'm really cutting it close on having anything presentable on time.

The agents who'll be there are Natasha Kern from, er, Natasha Kern Literary Agency, and Susannah Taylor from the Richard Henshaw Group. I listed Taylor as my first choice because she said she likes the Regency, authors with unique voices, intelligent heroines, and heroes with a sense of humor, while a quick skim of Kern's website showed a lot of Western romances and Christian historicals, but nothing much in the pretty English comedy of manners department.

How do people dress at these things?

How do people dress? OK, breathe deep. You dress the way you would always dress, just assuming that you don't usually wear a dead chicken on your head and thong undies and mismatched shoes. That's only ok if you're Edward Gorey. Seriously, it's a working conference; wear what's comfortable. Hell, in your case you don't have to even consider it. You're pregnant. Last conference I went to was World Fantasy in Minneapolis last Halloween and I wore black leather pants, flat boots, a long sleeved microfibre shirt - it was 15 degrees outside and I guessed what the temperatures indoors might be. That was my only consideration: comfort. I wear leather a lot and it worked for the environs and the weather.

As for having anything presentable, you don't need a fully finished first draft, do you? Two-thirds done, synopsis in hand (that's your one-page cheat sheet and it's a hell of a lot easier to carry around than a novel, and times that by a zillion if you're an agent or editor), and bob's your uncle. Recommendation: have some business cards with you.

What else?