Journal of Post-Ralphaelite Thought

After having a conversation with a co-worker, I have a new motto at work: "Somebody's going to be pissed; it might as well be you."

The road to literary success is a twisty little maze of passages, all different. Week before last I sent an email query to a New York literary agent regarding my unpublished novel. I'd met this individual at a writer's conference last year, and she encouraged me to query her when I had a draft I considered finished. Lo and behold, about an hour after emailing her, I got back a response asking to see a 50 page partial. I mailed it last Monday Alas, I received a follow up email today that said my book was a little too much of a thriller for her current list. I have no complaint with her manner of doing business: while giving me a rejection she was encouraging and quick to reply to my thank you follow up. The whole process took less than 2 weeks, from the first email to the final depressing rebuff. I admit -- I was slightly bummed. But I made myself a big fat martini and jumped right back into researching more agents. Rejection: badge of honor!

I've been using the new Firefox 3 Beta 4 for the last couple of days. Pages load noticeably faster and the default interface is quite nice. The location bar has some funk which is potentially nice. Downside: this bad boy is a crashing fool -- sometimes as often as every 10-15 minutes. I've worked with a lot of beta versions of Firefox (and Netscape as well) and have never seen a browser more prone to heading south. Of course since the good news that it loads really fast does help.

Mondays are like a death sentence.

In years past, by the time Texas holds its primary, both parties have anointed their chosen standard bearer. Tonight's elections were anybody's guess. And since attendance was up almost tenfold, who's to say that's a bad thing? Unlike my dear wife, who almost always votes early, I showed up this evening at 6:20, ready to vote and caucus. A word of explanation here: while some states hold a primary, and others have caucuses, my native land has both. Two-thirds of Texas' delegates are awarded based strictly on the primary vote outcome. The other third are awarded based on the outcome of the caucuses. Confusing? Yes. But that's how we roll here in the Lone Star state. After voting, I hung out out until after the polls closed, then gathered with others from my precinct in the gymnasium of a nearby grade school (a heart-warmingly Norman Rockwell scene). Perhaps the longest part of the whole caucus process was signing in with our candidate preferences. Our precinct wa...