This is my son the actor/director/writer/singer’s* latest project.

https://www.michaelmeirsaltzman.com/bio

The rest of his website is pretty cool too.

*And a bunch of things I can’t remember, because my head is filled with pollen.

1. 2 dinners at restaurants (outside of course).
2. Ditto my favorite coffee/writing spot
3. No longer afraid when a maskless person walks past me
4. Made plans to see

For the first time since February, 2020, my husband and I had iced lattés on the plaza of my favorite writing spot. They had only one doughnut left, but who cares?*

Ok, maybe I cared a little.

Is there a truffle exception for Valentine’s Day? My husband gave me a box this morning. I’ve already eaten four. It’s only 2pm.

Yes, an agent actually asked me for the full manuscript a couple of days ago! She said my sample was great! Because I’m a writer, I’ve already shifted into the “Now she’s reading it and saying to herself, ‘what was I thinking when I asked for this?” stage But I’m not going to linger on that. Instead, I’m going to watch a video of a zoom session between a kitten, a lawyer, and a judge over and over again.

The suffering of millions—loss, illness, hunger—can overwhelm us, especially in this season. I offer a paraphrase of Norman Cousins’ words to a group of Peace Corps volunteers when they were about to depart for their posts. “Some days you’ll have 200 people in line for food and only have enough for 100. Help those 100 and be satisfied.” He knew that otherwise, they would be so frustrated, they would quit, and go home, and no one would be fed. Do something, however small, whether it’s giving $5 to a food bank or running an errand for someone who’s housebound, and let it empower you. Conversely, if you are one of those who are suffering, don’t be ashamed to reach out. You’ll be doing a good deed for those who help you

So I got a bunch of ♥️s for my Pitmad pitches Thursday. For those not familiar with it*, Pitmad is a Twitter writers contest held 4 times a year.** And if an agent or editor ♥️s your pitch, you get to query them and send a partial or a full of your manuscript, sometimes with a synopsis. And I was THRILLED, until I realized, I’ve never queried this before. I don’t have a blurb for my query. Basically, what I have for my query is “Dear (insert name of editor or agent here)” and “Thanks for your consideration.” I don’t have a synopsis yet. I’m going to spend the next three days writing them, and there’s a chance they’ll still be dreadful and about as interesting as a shopping list.

*Those 3 non-writers who follow me

**This is also true for those familiar with it.

It’s been a little while (if you define “a little while ” as Paleozoic Era) since I’ve posted. I’ve been absorbed in the issues of the fate of our country, our world, and the proper use of the past perfect tense and, can I just not use it ever, because I’m writing YA, and hardly any teen uses it if they can possibly get away with past tense.*
But I thought my readers might worry that I’d been cryogenically frozen
until the government changed hands and/or there was a vaccine for COVID. So I’m back. Now I must return to the grim task of fixing some major continuity issues in my current WIP.
Be well. Stay Well.
*Also hardly any adult

On one of our two-mile “keep from going crazy” jaunts, I remarked to Arnold, “We have never walked down this streets before.” Also, we’d never driven down them. And they’re all within a few blocks of the junior high our sons attended. And they’re all beautiful. Also they have cool signs.

So house arrest has proved reasonably pleasant. We take long walks and photos of beautiful flowers and little green men. We cook A LOT. I actually make a menu for the week because running by the store to get a missing ingredient ain’t happening in this house. We read a lot. However, I don’t write a lot. It’s so much easier to be productive when you only have a little time. So here’s the sort of thing I’ve been producing.

And this…