It’s baseball fever in Baltimore, but for me, it’s bakery fever. And as the temperature rises , so does the level of craziness in my days. The last forty-eight hours have looked something like this:
-Emails with publicists, authors, journalists and politicos (the day job) interspersed with emails and calls with the staff of the property manager who hasn’t spoken to me directly since calling to tell me the lease is mine; requesting and receiving an emailed confirmation of being approved for the lease.
-Learning from the city’s chief health inspector the brands of ovens that eliminate the need to change the ventilation system in the building; learning more about plumbing building codes than I ever wanted to know; finding out that even my frequently generous plumber has limits to his generosity when tearing out a floor is likely (the three compartment sink might cost more than the specialized oven).
-Sending out the promotional announcements for the next live show, sorting by copyright my guest author’s books and cracking the cover on the first.
-Searching for a place to get passport photos taken for my food manager’s license and having it take much too long, when I needed to keep my lunch hour to 30 minutes. Having a little birdie whisper in my ear “don’t mail that” right before I walked into a training session for the company’s new edit software and later being glad that it did; calling during training break to find out that the new procedure, just days old, is to deliver the application in person and have the pictures taken onsite.
-After two hours of software training, making a mad dash to the train to get picked up by my family for kung fu class.
-Two hours of sparring and long staff work later, taking the whole family with me on a brief, unimpressive tour of a commercial kitchen I can rent, if sink issues delay opening the store.
-After shower and food, shopping online for the best equipment prices and comparison shopping on business insurance policies; being forced by my better half to shut it down and grab some sleep as the clock sped past 1:30.
-Waking 20 minutes later than normal, needing more sleep and anxious to get into the future store again. Meeting up with property manager’s assistant to get measurements in the shop and make notes; taking my food manager’s application downtown on the way to the morning train, only to be told it needed to be accompanied by another larger application – and a larger check.
Another dash to another train. Another day of emails and calls on the current life and the future one. Another afternoon of training on software I won’t be using for long. Another day of acting like it was just another day… and loving that it wasn’t.
Middle-Aged Martial Arts Mom 
October 11th, 2014 at 1:37 pm
Beautifully said as it sounds like one of my days! The Martial Arts is my outlet as well, as it brings me back to center-balance. And the fact that you’re sparring makes me smile as there is no better litmus test to one’s progression. Off topic and in the hopes I don’t offend you by throwing more unnecessary work your way. I enjoy writing as an outlet (poetry/novels), and was considering hiring a marketing company to help me with my newly self-published novel. If you would be so kind could you offer any thought whether it is worth the time and money, since in your post you mentioned publicists, authors, and journalists? If so it would be greatly appreciated but if not I totally understand.
October 13th, 2014 at 2:39 pm
Thanks for reading. So sorry for the delay in responding. I don’t have the time to read a whole novel, but I can tell you from an industry stand-point, that publicists for self-pubbed fiction are not going to turn you down, no matter what the quality of your writing may be. It’s their bread and butter to sell you the biggest marketing package. I would make sure your query is right on the mark and simply seek an agent. I”d be more than happy to assess a query. Email to esqtdd@comcast.net.