Live and Learn

Sorry for the no-post yesterday . . . stress levels at an all time high here abouts.

Well, I haven't been doing any "writing" per-se but I have been doing a lot of reading and a good bit of work on my synopsis for "Slayer". Thanks to some of the brilliant readers of this blog (Yes, I mean you!) I was directed toward the Miss Snark blog (never to be confused with Ms. Snark, lest you want serious damage done to sensitive regions of your anatomy with stilleto heels!) Now, I know I' m late getting on the bandwagon here but this has got to be one of the most useful sites on the web! Not only is she damn funny but she provides some kick-ass advice on the business end of this rollercoaster we call writing! I read through a lot of her archives, paying particular attention to her "Crap-o-Meter" as it pertains to queries and synopsis. In short: I dumped everything I had and started from scratch, using every bit of advice she offered and following through all the cross links to other wonderful places on the web to glean juicy tid-bits on how to handle this part of my career.

Now I'm doing a wee bit more of polishing, then getting the damn thing in front of agents. I'm starting with the ones that take e-mail queries first. (House still not done!) When I have the capability, I'll move on to the snail mail. (Though with a bit of luck, I won't need to, eh?)

Have I mentioned that contractors suck? (Oh, wait . . . about fifteen million time now, right?) Dumb-ass showed on Monday but got nothing done. On Tuesday, he called at 10:00 a.m. to say he was on his way to the house but when I got home that night . . . nothing! He was never there! I freaked. Wife and son did the "duck and cover" as F-bombs started landing throughout my living room with a vengeance. So -reasonably- the wife and I decided we were done. We were firing his useless ass. Today he calls and I give him the word: (ala: The Donald) "You're Fired!"

Oh goodness, the excuses . . . the pleading . . . the tears! (okay, no tears ,but definite whining on his part!) Seems he had to take one of his employees last minute to the airport and buy them a ticket for Cleveland (or some other scary place in the middle of nowhere!) because the kid's sister died suddenly. Bullshit? I don't know (though I have my suspicions!) In any case, he wants to finish the job, even though I told him he could just walk without a fight and that if he stays I'm backcharging him for a ton of crap. I don't know what we're going to do now. Truth is, if I let him go now he's quite a few bucks to the good on me. The wife and I are thinking about it and I'm supposed to talk to him tonight. I'll let you know where it lands . . .

Later!