Finished the synopsis.  It was 4 pages single-spaced and I had to cut it to 2 double-spaced, so I printed it, sighed at it, flipped it over, and wrote the new version on the back without even looking at my first version.

Turned out really well.  It’s not even 2 pages and still incorporated all the major plot points.  (Alex said the first two paragraphs in particular were brilliant, which makes me happy.)

Now to finish my bio by Sunday and I’ll be set to pop queries into the mail (snail and e) on Monday.  I already marked all YA agents in the 2010 guide, so that’s also settled.

I’m a lot less nervous now that my synopsis is in good shape.  It was making me tense.

Also, I went with “Cold Snap” for the title replacement, since “Frostbite” has been used recently within my age group and genre.  (*cry*)  Ah well, I’m sure it’ll work out.

Cross your fingers for me!  I’ve done my part to the best of my ability and the rest is in whether or not an agent takes a shine to my work.  So pray that someone will actually like my idea.  Not just in general but enough to champion it.

*nerves*

I got a $3000+ debt collection letter for Macys.  I’ve never shopped at Macys, much less opened an account there.

It was for a woman with a different middle initial than me.  I wasn’t even sure it was a real letter, so I called their 800 number, told them they made a mistake, and they insisted I give my last 4 social security digits to prove it.  I said no.  I kept saying no.  I said no more than I’ve ever said no in my life.  I gave them the account code on the letter they sent me, but nothing else.

I was really quite brusque with them.  My mom would have been proud.

(more…)

One of my husband’s favorite stories is the one where world-renowned violinist Joshua Bell played some of the most magnificent music in history incognito as a street performer in a subway station and very few people paid attention to him.

It made me remember this one encounter when I lived in London for a semester.  We were on a class trip, so I couldn’t pause, but we had to descend a long crowded escalator.  It slowed us down long enough for me to notice the woman singing at the bottom.  Opera, I think.

We were halfway down when she hit that one note that makes my heart flutter in my chest — the high one that usually comes at the very end of an ascending line, on the peak of a crescendo.  She held it a moment and continued, leaving me breathless, and it took one extra heartbeat for me to reach for my purse.

I had a handful of coins by the time we reached her and detoured from my group to drop them in her case.  I smiled.  I didn’t want to interrupt, but I wanted her to know she’d made me happy.

She bowed and took the instant between notes to say thank you.

It was very seamless, very quick, but I remember it fondly.  I’ve always wanted to do something for artists who hit that note, but that was the first time I’d had the chance.

Mostly I’ve fluttered at movies, such as the high point of Moulin Rouge’s Roxanne and two songs from Hunchback of Notre Dame.  Hunchback’s intro song, about the bells, gets me every time — I’m enamored of Clopin because of it.  The other is Esmerelda’s prayer — it made me flutter the first time I heard it, though I became disenchanted with it later because the Christian community kept harping on it as a lesson and I get sick of things when I hear too much about them.  Little joys like that are supposed to be rare and private, you know?

I just thought I’d share about the street performer because it’s a happy memory and Alex’s link to Joshua Bell made me think of it.