Contact!

July 4 & 5 was work for me. I spent a great deal of time both days writing cover letters, sending emails, and returning some phone calls to various editors and publishing insiders. I was amazed at how many people actually were "in the office" on Monday, July 5. They were probably there to relax, but some bozo like me had to ruin their respite by sending in material.

My various contacts trellised the world, too. I had email responses from people in New York city, Indianapolis, and Chicago, and for the first time ever, I sent writing queries to editors in Australia and Canada. This is one of the great benefits, I suppose, of the new digital age. A writer doesn't have to use the postal service to send material for publication. Indeed, the whole world is now at one's fingertips.

I don't expect to receive favorable responses from all of these editors, but it will be fun playing the waiting game.

Even though I use computers, however, I'm still very much old school when it comes to communication. I would much rather meet face-to-face. I wouldn't want to go back to the days of the old switch board operator, but if we had an operator named "Sarah", I might just make it work.

"Hello, Sarah, can you patch me through to Australia?"