Kicking My Own Self in the Butt

I'm a bit mortified to see it's been a year and a half since I Iast posted. Sad state of affairs. It was a good six months before I could get my self esteem out of the toilet long enough to start writing again. But I did and I finished a new book called 139 Moss Lane. I think it's one of my favorites thus far, and a bit of a departure as it has a male protagonist. Full disclosure here, since I'm going through the process of querying again and looking for a new agent. No. One. Likes. Querying. That would be like saying you like thumbscrews or being buried in sand while ants crawl all over you. But as I've mentioned before, I was a bit spoiled as I got my first agent by unconventional means. Here's hoping using conventional means will yield a better result. I spend a lot of time volunteering with animals, trying to help strays, and taking tennis lessons (sue me, it gets me moving :-)). I am also saving for my daughter's wedding in Italy in 16 months, plus (mic drop  here) I recently learned through DNA testing, I have a different father than my siblings and that I have three Venezuelan half brothers. I'm spending some time getting to know the youngest one and his family. They live in Spain and I hope to visit them while we're in Italy. HOWEVER, I just made the somewhat radical, and costly, decision to invest in myself. I've hired an author coach to  help with my submission materials (query, synopsis, first 50 pages) to make sure they are stellar and hopefully catch the eye of an agent or two. I have a poster that says "Hard Work Puts You Where The Luck Can Find You." I'm not afraid of hard work, but that doesn't mean I couldn't use some positive thoughts and a bit of luck. Cross your fingers for me.