Moving Off Dead Center

Today I can feel myself moving off dead center, and it's a good feeling. I decided I had stalled and read distracting mysteries long enough, waiting for the agent to reply to my proposal, a reply now some four weeks past the promised time. It was, I told myself, more than time to get proactive. I wrote the friend who had recommended the agent, and after saying she (the agent) had been out of town at meetings, he said the most telling thing: if she isn't interested in a manuscript, she tends to ignore it rather than send a clean rejection. (Do NOT ask me what I think of that practice!) So I took that as my answer and sent out a query to another friend about finding another agent who might be interested in cozies. I'm sort of feeling my way in the dark here, because I've been writing for children for so long and haven't needed an agent. I'm tired of the one who says, "You write so beautifully. I wish could seel what you write," nor do I want to go back to the one who thought I should be writing bodice-busters.
But I also repeated a query made earlier to a magazine editor and lost, I suspected, in a multi-subject email. This time I got a go-ahead, and I've been emailing sources about that article. And I started a column about Rick Riordan, Texas mystery writer turned best-selling children's fantasy author. I wanted to know how he made that jump. So I've written the background, and now I've emailrf him about a telephone interview.
I also came up with another idea for a column--your favorite ten Texas books. I have mine, though I'm easily swayed, and I've asked two of the "grand old men" of Texas letters (they might not like that description) for their lists. I'll compare, fill in, and then ask for reader response. It's fun to be working again.
But then there's that Canadian mystery on my desk I really do want to finish.
On another note, yesterday my good friend Betty retired after forty-three years as organist/minister of music at our large church, known for its outstanding music program. The service was a special hymn sing--really wonderful. A reception followed, and it was fun to stand watch over the guest book and visit with all the people I know. I'd been sort of drifting away, undertain of my role at the church, and now I know I want to continue my level of involvement--I just don't want to be Fellowship Chair any more. Finally, a group of us were invited to the Star, the North Side cafe that Betty and Don own, for lunch to celebrate. Lots of fun. And nice to see how Betty was so honored--and how happy she is at the prospect of doing, as she told the whole congregation, "Nothing!"