I knew this was coming because the editor had contacted me, but it was still a surprise. I had been working so hard on the novel that when Gary brought me the mail, I wondered why I’d gotten two copies of the OEJ. My essay about “Best Teaching Moments” was chosen to appear first in the Oregon English Journal right after the Editor’s Note. I began by confessing that my greatest moments teaching were those in which I was among those learning. It’s true.

On the novel front, I have queried several agents. In preparation, I spent two weeks researching to compile a list of literary agents and what they asked to be sent with a query. Then I wrote a brief biography in first and third person in short paragraph and shorter versions; a pitch in several versions, six lines to a single line; a synopsis carved down to less that 700 words; a list of comparables (books similar to mine—always a struggle for me—less than 500 characters); a justification for writing about people unlike myself (seriously, also measured in character); and a general query letter containing significant bits of the above in three paragraphs. Some agents wanted only the letter, most wanted most of those pieces, plus three chapters or fifty pages or twenty pages or only five, pasted into a form, pasted into an email, or attached to an email.

As I explained to friends the other day, the process of querying is completely unlike the process of writing fiction, requiring a skillset I do not possess. I have done it before, and I hope I did a better job this time.

I have already had a 4-day rejection from the only agent who routinely responds in days according to my online submission tracker. Most agents post on their website that if I have not heard in 45 days or 8 weeks or 3 months or 14 days, I should assume a rejection. I am prepared to do that.

In the mean time, I am also compiling a list of small presses. None of them are open for submissions just now, but after the agent rejections I will submit directly to publishers. When those don’t pan out, I will print a copy for myself and stop.

It is helpful to have a plan.

I remind myself that two stories are currently long-listed for a prize. They are quite different and I do not often enter contests. Fingers crossed.

I will be selling my weaving at the Summer Night Market in Cannon Beach on July 1st. They are using my submitted photo from last year on the promotion page. And I will have weaving and quilting in a show with two other artists in the Cannon Beach Arts Association Gallery in October. Whoo-hoo!

At the beach, I am trying to clean my studio space, finish a narrow knitted silk scarf of my own design, and figure out a new story that is roaming around in the bottom of my brain. It involves an ancient Etruscan process of gold granulation used rarely throughout the ancient world from the Mediterranean to Korea, lost in recent times and then rediscovered in the 1960s, held secret by a few goldsmiths for decades after that, but now understood more widely, though often done badly. What is the story about? Not gold, I think.

The Puerto Rico Zoo first closed since two hurricane, Irma (185-mph winds) and Marie, in 2017. All the animals are being relocated to US preserves. The female African elephant held at the zoo has been relocated to a 850-acre sanctuary in southern Georgia, which she will share with two female Indian elephants. It is not open to the public. Temperatures in Puerto Rico are expected to reach 125°F this summer.

The elephant relocation was Gary’s favorite news story today. He volunteered in the Bird House and then worked at the Woodland Park Zoo for several years in Seattle. He loved the animals and his co-workers, but won’t visit a zoo.