Follow Your Nose

My agency sent me more work today. The Invisible Day Job seems to be gathering steam. Please join me in the Happy Dance, and may your day job be treating you kindly, too.

Now, about following one's nose...

A year ago, I subscribed to SCBWI, The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, for no other reason than my dream has always been to publish a picture book. It was a slightly silly move, since in every other way my life was facing the opposite direction.

The bimonthly bulletins started coming in the mail. I filed them away unopened, and not without some pain. They were like love letters to myself from a parallel life. A wistful twinge to the heart and into the cabinet they went.

This morning, I took myself out for breakfast. As an afterthought, I grabbed a handful of these colorful magazines and shoved them in my bag, half intending to look inside. At the table, with nothing else to read, I opened the cover on top.

My friends, I've been hoarding a gold mine! Articles and tips, publishers, editors, names and e-mail addresses, a schedule of events, and on and on.

I sighed and ordered another cup of coffee. For weeks, I've sat at my computer, trawling the depths for the handful of publishers still open to queries, and all the while I've been locking their names away in my file cabinet, unread.

One could say the resources popped out of the closet at exactly the right moment, and I would tend to agree. I was following my nose when I joined SCBWI and it paid off. I'm a squirrel that way. Someday, I think, I'll need this. Better have it on hand in case all the world's bookstores burn down on the same day.

Tip for Wednesday: Follow your nose. It's connected directly to your heart.