A neutral mail day

Received writing-related mail on Thursday -- while no one was exactly raving over me or my work, they weren't shooting me down, either.

I've sent out several packets over the last week to various children's nonfiction publishers, asking to be considered for possible freelance work. I include a self-addressed stamped postcard with a few choices -- "Yes, I'm interested, call me; no, I'm not interested in hiring at this time; I'll keep your information on file for future assignments." I got a card back yesterday with the latter one marked. Now hopefully I'll actually be called! I've really enjoyed every one of the 12 nonfiction kids' books I've worked on in the past 18 months; I'd love to do more of that work.

I also got a short essay returned yesterday. I had submitted it to a contest earlier this year. There was a handwritten note on the top -- "Please consider submitting this to the memoir contest we're having next year." It's nice to get that type of encouragement, even if the first submission didn't work out.

I don't have a good track record this year on contest/journal submissions. Last spring, I submitted twice and batted .500. Beginner's luck, I suppose. But if the pieces I'm sending out this year aren't hitting anywhere, that's a sign that something isn't working and I need to take a closer look at how they're written.