Great Feedback!

"My friend said take her with you/ To leave her here would be a crime/ But let's get outta Santa Cruz/ All I got is a Canadian dime." - "The Trip To Pirate's Cove" by Tom Petty

I heard back from the last agent I queried for Secrets (the one who judged the pitch contest I came in third on), and for the first time, I really am okay with getting a rejection letter. Honestly, I expected it since women's fiction isn't exactly his area of interest, but the feedback he gave me was terrific!

Not only did he think that the changes I made to chapter one were great, but he said that he understood Willow's reasons for wanting to move back to California because he felt that way as a teenager too, having left a small town in CA when he was a young child just like her. It's so wonderful to hear that I have conveyed the emotional reasons for her choice to return to her first home so effectively. I must be doing something right!

The fictional town of Santa Elena that I created for the Willow Ryan series is based in part on Santa Cruz, CA, a cool little hippie beach town in Central California that time forgot. I lived there from the ages of 9-13 and grew to appreciate it's unique charm and appeal as I got older. I wanted to give Willow a safe place that wouldn't judge her and would fully accept her and all of her baggage, and I think of Santa Cruz as a place like that. I also incorporated memories and stories of Santa Monica and Covina, CA into Santa Elena for other reasons, but Santa Cruz was my main inspiration. I'm so glad that my descriptions are accurately painting a picture for people who are reading my work.

Now, on to the next agents. I will be going over my list once again and selecting a handful of literary agents who I fell would be a perfect fit for my book, and I'll keep my fingers crossed as I hit the send button and stick the stamps on the envelopes.

Remember when you had to lick stamps? Are there any children of the 80's out there who recall being warned not to accept stamps from strangers because they could be laced with LSD? That was pretty freaky! I have a very clear memory of that conversation from first grade in Covina, CA. The first grader I teach doesn't even know that drugs exist! Ah, to be so uninformed and innocent...

Anyway, I have a good feeling about this next round of submissions, but I'll stop there before I jinx myself!

California Dreamin'

"All the leaves are brown/ And the sky is gray/ I've been for a walk on a winter's day/ I'd be safe and warm/ If I was in L.A./ California dreamin' on such a winter's day." - "California Dreamin'" by the Mamas and the Papas

Today I woke up to a four inch think blanket of snow covering the ground, which is pretty unusual in this part of the country. This has been the snowiest winter I have ever seen! Today was a snow day of course, so the girls and I spent the morning together, most of it outside enjoying our winter wonderland. Until we each got hit with one too many snowballs. And snow went down someone's back. And my socks got soaking wet. Then I was definitely California Dreamin'!

But still, I love winter, and I love the snow, and it was nice to hang out with the girls and watch them just be kids, having fun on an unexpected day off of school.

Classic Cars and Movie Screens

"And I always dreamed/ Of classic cars and movie screens."
- "Old White Lincoln" by The Gaslight Anthem

Warm summer nights bring back fond memories for me of drive-in movies and driving home in the middle of the night across the High Desert of Southern California with thousands of glittering lights shining in the distance. I also flash back to classic car shows full of my favorites like Mustangs, Camaros, Chevelles, and GTOs. Isn't it sad that kids today have no clue what a drive-in movie is, and very few realize how totally cool a muscle car can be?

Hey, wait a minute! I was born in the 80s! I shouldn't have memories of drive-ins and muscle cars, but I do. I was fortunate enough to live in and visit places as a kid that still have some of the country's few remaining drive-in theaters, and I grew up in a family where classic cars (the louder and faster the better!) were the norm over the latest fully-loaded model.

If only I was sitting in a '65 Candy Apple Red Mustang right now, eating popcorn and laughing at some funny movie with an old metal speaker hanging on the car door...