Posts
36 -- Wake Up Call
NOTE: This blog is a continuing dialog between the two faces of rilla. The identity crisis is explained (if such a thing is possible) in the first edition. Click here to read: 1 -- Introduction
rilla: Wake up!
Rilla: Huh?
rilla: Wake up, I said!
Rilla: Huh? What, where?
rilla: WAKE UP, RIGHT NOW, YOU NINNY!
Rilla: OK, all right. I’m up, keep the beard on.
rilla: Who do you think you are, Rip Van Winkle?
Rilla: Rip…what do you mean? What’s up?
rilla: Look at this--do you see the date on your last blog post? It was written pre-Christmas of last year! You’ve been asleep on the job, Rippy!
Rilla: Rippy! How dare you. How about you? You’ve had no compunctions in the past about sneaking in and writing a post or two on your own. Where’ve you been?
rilla: Oh! Umm…uh…busy, that’s it, I’ve been busy. Yes, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Rilla: Story is right. That’s all you’re good for—stories. Still trying to make a go out of writing them?
rilla: Umm…yeah! What else is there?
Rilla: Having any luck? Or are we to eat cat food for the rest of our lives.
rilla: Well, since Christmas, I did sell a story to Highlights for Children.
Rilla: Yay, yippee, doo doo. That means we can buy groceries for a week!
rilla: I have an agent interested in my YA contemporary novel….
Rilla: Interested? What’s that a euphemism for?
rilla: Interested enough to be willing to send me detailed editorial comments to help with my revision….
Rilla: Wait a minute, all these years I’ve been sitting around waiting for you to get published and fork in the Rowlingesque fortune and you’re only writing such garbage it still needs to be edited?
rilla: Everything needs to be edited! That’s supposed to be the GOOD news. That someone’s willing to work on an edit with me, you ninny! And who ever heard of a ‘Rowlingesque fortune’ coming in just because I happen to write for children? Wake up already and smell that damn coffee.
Rilla: What coffee? We can't afford coffee anymore.
rilla: Urrgh! There’s no getting through to you. What’ve you been upto?
Rilla: You mean other than paying bills?
rilla: Unh hunh. You’re so big with that camera of yours. Don’t you have any pictures to share?
Rilla: Haven’t been taking pictures lately.
rilla: Why not? That gadget is normally attached to your right palm.
Rilla: Haven’t felt like it. Haven’t felt like doing anything lately. As a matter of fact, I’ve been sleeping a lot. Get to dream nice dreams at least. Until you came clumping along and shattering them for me. Leave me alone. I want to go back to my sweet dreams. What will it take to make you go away.
rilla: I’ll go away if you show me some pictures.
Rilla: Anything?
rilla: Anything.
Rilla: Is it a deal?
rilla: Deal!
Rilla: OK, here goes then…
rilla: Very cute, but I get the idea you’re trying to tell me something.
Rilla: Yes. Go Away!
rilla: Is this some kind of passive aggressive hidden meaning type of behavior?
Rilla: Snnorrre….
rilla: You’re going back to sleep again? For real?
rilla: All right. I get the message. Well, if you can’t beat ‘em…join…snorrrrrre….
You are the fabulously quirky and independent woman of character. You go your own way, follow your own drummer, take your own lead. You stand head and shoulders next to your partner, but you are perfectly willing and able to stand alone. Others might be more classically beautiful or conventionally woman-like, but you possess a more fundamental common sense and off-kilter charm, making interesting men fall at your feet. You can pick them up or leave them there as you see fit. You share the screen with the likes of Spencer Tracy and Cary Grant, thinking men who like strong women. 
22 comments:
Hey rillie and Rillie, it's great to read your blog again. Hard to believe six months just whizzed by, huh? I love the pics of your cats. Those are great shots. They're a couple of hams! I've been sleeping a lot too. Can't write if we don't get our muse sleep, right? I think it's great that you've been so busy with your writing that you haven't had time to blog. That's a good thing. It's also wonderful that you're letting everyone know your good news. I mean, come on, shout it to the world! GOOD THINGS ARE HAPPENIN'!
Keep everyone posted on your progress. This is an exciting time in your life! Congratulations! Break out the bubbly!
Well, I agree with rilla, it's about time !!!! Nice to see you awake and blogging again. I missed those silly, bickering voices. Welcome back, rilla and Rilla, and congratulations on the good news. Sending lucky vibes to hopefully help SOME much awaited good news come your way real soon, now.
Katia
WHOO HOO!
Let's meet up at SCBWI LA!!!Steph
hey there lynnerd,
it feels so good to be back! thanks for all the wishes. bubbly...if only. darn diet! you're right about that muse sleep, can't get enough of it. the cats are definitely rubbing off.
and of course, i wouldn't have any good news if it weren't for the support and critiquing of you and the group so...group hug ;)
Hey there Katia,
yeah, rilla and Rilla are at it again. Can't believe you could miss their silly squabbles! Thanks for the wishes. Thanks for the good vibes. Wouldn't get far without them. Just hope we stay awake long enough to get the good news, if/when it comes ;)
Hey there Colorado Writer,
so good to see you here. Of course we should meet at the meetings! It'll be so good to see you again. Are you getting into costume like last time? I haven't thought about it much. But it was such fun.
Hey Rilla. Great to have you back. Missed you bunches. Do you have any idea why your friend J hasn't been posting? Me neither. Well at least one of you is back at it
J
Hey nice to see you - I mean read you - again. I've been wondering where you both were!
Congrats on the Highlights sale and agent interest!
Hey there J,
I'm sorry you haven't been posting either. It's a lonely world out there without our blogging buddies in the warm fuzzy blogosphere. I hope, now that things are going so well for you, that you will come back to blogging as well and tell us more about what's happening to you! Looking forward to it.
Hey CK,
great to see you too, or your shoes that is. Congratulations to you on your first novel coming out in such a short time. I can imagine that what others call a 'short time' is a nail-biting, hair extracting, excruciating wait for you! But September will be here before you know it. Are you attending the LA conference this year? Would love to meet you.
Speaking of shoes, my Doc Martens crapped out on me while in Dublin two weeks ago - and here I thought they were supposed to last forever!
Thanks so much for your good wishes! I'm not sure if I'm more excited or angst-ridden about the book coming out, to tell you the truth. But it's definitely cool to think people (hopefully some!) will read it.
No L.A. conference for me. I don't get to do air travel very often and when I do it's mostly to Ireland. Plus my highly introverted self would spontaneously combust after about 7 minutes at a conference, I'm sure. I'm shockingly anti-social!
Hey CK,
I think you're supposed to be able to repair your doc martens for free forever or receive a replacement pair. I wouldn't chuck them out just yet ;)
What's in Ireland that keeps you going back? Family? Inspiration for your stories?
I know what you mean about angst. This is an angst-ridden profession. If we're not tearing our hair coz we haven't heard back from an editor, we're tearing it out coz we have heard back and it's not what we wanted to hear. I even have friends who tear their hair out because it is exactly what they wanted to hear....crazeeeeeee. OK, I confess, that last one is me too.
You know, I'm shy except around the people I know too. But I love the writers' conferences. In LA, there are so many people that nobody notices you. You can walk around the place as if invisible and yet you are constantly uplifted by the amazing author tales and the deep inner secrets revealed by editors and agents. The place is filled with the few people on earth who might actually understand what makes you tick! I was so nervous before the first time I went, but now even though I still get nervous, I'm even more excited. Well, that's my pep talk for the evening. And I know you ain't buyin' a syllable!
P.S. CK, I loved your last post, 'Spit-take time' and I've put your book on my Amazon shopping list, so you can rest assured people will be reading it ;)
Hey, welcome back, r & R! Sounds like you've been holding out on us ... congratulations on the sale and on the interest! Now, don't keep us in the dark for another six months on this, y'hear?
Welcome back, Rilla! So good to see your photos and hear your "voice" again. Congratulations on the Highlights sale and the agent interest! Fingers crossed for you. :-)
And I know you ain't buyin' a syllable!
I think you've got my number, Rilla! Weirdly (maybe) I don't even really like to talk/think about writing that much. It feels somehow claustrophobic seeing as that's already the thing I spend so much of my time doing. I dunno, maybe I've already overdosed on publishing blogs/sites. I know, I know, I shouldn't be so curmudgeonly before my first book has even come out. Oh dear.
But it would definitely be cool to meet you so if it ever does happen that I'm at a conference I will most certainly look you up! And thanks for being so kind about my book. I so hope you like it!
As for Ireland, it has a hold on me in a couple different ways. I went over there to live for a few years after I graduated and had kind of a love/hate thing with it that I still haven't been able to get out of my system. Then I got involved with an Irish guy, married him and got totally homesick. He very sweetly offered to move back to Canada with me but his family (and there are many of them!) are still back there and so is one of my best friends.
Really though, there's something about Dublin itself that I feel attached to, even as it's radically changed since I first visited in 1990. I wish I could go back more often!
Our bonehead Prime Minister up here drives me nuts! I don't know how he and his cabinet continually get away with scandal after scandal and stomping on human rights & environmental issues. Sometimes it seems like the only hope we have of being free of him is if he's kidnapped by aliens. Here's wishing you guys better luck with your November election - we sure could use some inspiration up here!
Hey there Linda,
Thanks for the good wishes! Will try not to go dark for such a long time again. It was a dark time for me, but I'm feeling pretty light-headed right now with all the warmth coming my way from blog land.
Hey there Natalie,
So good to hear from you. I'm delighted your blog is so healthy. Always good for a laugh. I hope I can rescucitate my 'voice' as well as you did.
Hey CK,
I've always wanted to visit the Emerald Isle. Growing up in India, we were fed a diet of British literature and poetry and I always supplemented it with mythology and fairy tales. I have a thing for stone circles, crumbling castles and going round churches widdershins. Well, someday.
Yeah, I think it's pretty impossible not to have a love/hate relationship with a country you move to, especially if you marry one of the locals ;) Glad you get to go back so much.
G'day Thrilla
Got everything crossed for you re: the agent. Love the pics of the kitty cats. Have almost finished my War and Peace like response to your email. There will be photos too!
Michele xx
Hey there, Onella!
Can't wait for the epic volume of what's going on in your life. About time too. Adding the photos might just appease me...might just...OK, who am I kidding, it took me almost six months just to post this blog!
Still waiting...Thrilla
Miss you much girlfriend
Post a Comment