Queries

Man, when I'm on a roll, I don't stop, and when I stop, it's cold turkey, isn't it? I've thought of lots of post topics over the past few weeks, but the time to write them down always eludes me. That's always a problem for me: finding the time. I know you make time for what's important, and that should indicate that this blog isn't that important. I like to write on it and chronicle what I'm up to, but in the end, there are more important things that I have to do, but at the same time, I enjoy writing on it, and I wish I had more time to do it, and isn't this a ridiculously long run-on sentence? If I were proof-reading and revising, I'd probably fix it, but that would only be worth it if I knew someone read it.

Anyway,my thoughts of the moment revolve around a staple of the writing industry: the query letter. I hate these things, but you know, there really isn't a better way to do it. If you have to review hundreds and hundreds of properties every day and pick something that you think will further your livelihood, you've got to have an efficient way to weed through the options. An easy way is via a quick one page letter that tells about the story to see if you feel it or not. If you do, you ask for more. If you don't, you pass on it. They all seem to acknowledge that they just might be passing on the net big thing, but again, there's not time to know, really. You have to pick the best queries and hope for the best.

However, as the person on the other side of that letter, I am faced with endless rejections. I know it's because I have a weakness when it comes to selling anything. I understand that a query letter is you trying to sell yourself to someone, and while some people can sell ice to an eskimo, I couldn't sell water to dehydrated guy in the desert. I can be persuasive in my own way, but when it comes to outright selling something, I'm absolutely terrible. Hence, all my queries are rejected.

Now, I can tell about my story in my letters. I give all the basic, pertinent information. I can give a succinct synopsis. I can make it all very well-written and have it make perfect sense to the reader. But I fail on buzzwording someone into buying. I know that's what my queries lack, but I feel incapable of figuring out what that hump is that I can't jump over.

Weather

Around here, there is a storm rolling in. The weather forecasters are proclaiming a "snowmageddon" as we have inches and inches of snow to be dumped on us by Mother Nature. It is to begin today, and some school districts (small ones) even proactively closed school based on these reports. People have taken to the stores to buy out the staples in anticipation of being utterly trapped.

I am not one of those people. I am also not panicking. In addition, I look out the window here on the 81th floor on this day of snow and see... Nothing. The day is overcast, and it is cold, but at present, nothing is happening. It was supposed to start overnight. Then it was supposed to start at six. Last I heard, it is supposed to start at eleven. Last seasons "snowpocalypse" resulted in a light dusting of snow which was gone by noon. I am quick to remind people of this, but still, the fearmongering produced by the news stations has set deep into everyone's psyches, and as such, people are afraid.

Now, to be fear, there is precedent for some fear of the winter weather around here. Back in 2007, we have a devastating ice storm that wiped out power all over the place. It was the first time I had ever been without power for more than a few hours. At that time, I was out for four days. Back in 11 or 12, we had a Christmas Eve snow storm that nearly stranded my parents and siblings at my house and postponed the Christmas Day get together with the Queen's family for a week. I have walked out my door to sheets of ice and buried roads before, so it is entirely possible to get dumped on.

I also believe in the power of prayer, and after the last major storm, I asked God to not dump huge amounts of snow on us until I no longer needed to travel into work (i.e. I become a professionally published writer or at least, work from home). Now, I do know that with my present job, we have a limited allowance to work from home, so perhaps that requirement is fulfilled. We'll see. Bottom line is that I don't want to drive into work on covered roads. It's way too dangerous.

We'll see what today holds, but the predictions are honestly quite low, and the fact that they keep getting pushed back on when they start does not bode well for them.

Life Insurance

It's that time of year again: time for annual insurance enrollment, where the powers that be decide that you can change how your insurance plans are setup. It's also where if you decide you want to keep what you have, but don't do anything, they automatically give you the top tier plan. It happened to me. I don't understand it.

Anyway, in the course of looking over the options, I ran across something I've seen on there every year since I started: the life insurance. I've never taken it. You know, when you buy something, you get it with the express purpose of using it or expecting to use it at some point. It's there if you need it, but the point is that you're the end user of the product. Life insurance doesn't work that way. It's a monetary value of what your life is worth to everyone around you, so that if you happen to lose it for whatever reason, they can have some solace in the idea that they are very well paid in your sudden absence (and can pay for the funeral and plot of ground that will house your mortal remains).

I stared at the options for a very long time, and so far, I've not brought myself to make a choice. This is my sixth time to have said choice at my present employer, and I just can't. To make matters worse, there are separate options for you and your spouse. This means that you can choose yourself or your significant other but you don't have to pick both if you don't want to. That sort of choice makes you face the fact that your life has a limit to it. We don't like to think about that, but at some point somewhere down the road, it's going to end.

I want to pretend I'm different. I've bared aged in awhile, but pondering this makes me admit that it'll happen. I still act and feel quite young, and to be honest, I act younger than most people my age. They and those even younger complain about all kinds of "old people" stuff, but not me. No, I will live until Jesus comes.

Part of me feels like if I decide to make the election for either myself or the Queen, it's like an invitation for the end. If I choose only me, that feels responsible. If I choose only her, that makes me feel like I'm asking for her to pop off (which makes me a bit of a jerk, if you're keeping score). If I go with both, I wonder about the children since that sort of preps us both for the long sleep.

It's a question for which there is no scientific answer, and one that theology can't agree upon. What does happen? Christianity mostly says if you're good (and follow Jesus), you go straight to heaven, while if you're anything else, you're in eternal damnation. Others say it's a sleep, of sorts, until God's return when you're risen to be judged, and either insert prior heaven and hell notions or the good join him, while the not-so-good return to the ground for eternal death. Some believe in ghosts being spirits of the dearly departed trapped on our plane instead of wherever, and others believe in reincarnation where you just keep coming back. But the non-religious types would just say once you're dead, you're dead.

As for me, I keep an open mind. I believe in God and Jesus, and know that there is a place prepared for the great beyond, but I can't really quantify it. The promise of eternal life is there, and I do believe that, but it remains an unknown, and I feel like there is more to do here. The Parable of the Ten Talents always weighs upon me, and I don't want to be the guy caught having squandered his life.

What will I do about my insurance quandry? Well, I'm not really superstitious, but I don't know. I still feel like electing something is just asking for trouble. Yet, responsibility would say that not electing is reckless. And so the debate will ever rage inside my head.