I would be happy to read it erika, but I wouldn't get to it until next week probably.

I sent my manuscript off to Agent Kate, and now bite my nails for the next four weeks waiting to hear if the edits pass muster and the thing can be sent to publishers.

So now I'm at a "what now?" place. I have a couple of ideas.

1. another kid's book, a picture book called "Phillip the Vegetarian Zombie."

2. "The Universe Makes a Lotta Gas: Stories from the Sidelines of Science"

3. "4437: Life in Los Feliz" (about my neighborhood and wacky neighbors).

Where to start?

2. "The Universe Makes a Lotta Gas: Stories from the Sidelines of Science"

There are a couple popular science books for kids very much like that, Allyson. I'd go with the either of the others.

Oh was Universe Makes a Lot of Gas aimed at kids? I had assumed it would be essays on the nuts and bolts of how science works from the POV of the woman who runs the office. And I for one would love to read that book, if you wrote it.

But then I realize you should listen to Amy, not me. She works in publishing. I hide all my writing on my desktop and never do anything with it.

Well, I think I assumed, based on the first book, and realize it may not have been. But there *are* books like that for adults, too. I'd have to look up titles, but there were a bunch even in the little Waldenbooks I worked in a few months ago.

No, it isn't a kids book. It's essays from my work in science, like Burrell says.

I often think about how it is that lots of people know medical doctors and see them in their daily lives, but people seldom run into physicists (that they know about).

I see physicists far more in my daily life than the average person, I think. Rocket scientists. They're interesting and foibley and I experience these off things everyday: BEEP BEEP BEEP of a truck backing up, and there's a spaceship on it. It's surreal.

Ah...hm. That's a horse of a same color, then.

For what it's worth I like idea number 2. But then, I'm a sucker for science.

You know, if you're writing about working with them, that's a different thing, and that would be really interesting.

There are books like Why Don't Penguins' Feet Freeze and Why You Shouldn't Eat Your Boogers, but they're more collections of science facts, rather than essays.

So ... ignore me!

My wife has been reading about how to hook readers. I think she is getting into my book writing more than I am sometimes. Anyhow she is now throwing out ideas for my rewrite of chapter 1 and 2. She even rewrote the first scene of chapter 1, though a lot of it is still my stuff. I appreciate her help, but she is kinda overwhelming me while I'm trying to finish the story off. I really need to get this rough draft finished.