IN SUNNY DOWN UNDER

Harbor Bridge across Sydney Harbor

     I'm out here in sunny Sydney, Australia for the Short+Sweet Ten-Minute Theatre Festival to see the production of my play, Playing with Knives, a special gift from my parents who have travelled here from their home in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to meet me. 
    We arrived on Australia Day, kind of like our Independance Day, a national holiday, so people were out in droves enjoying the various parades/festivities, and the music venues set up along the picturesque waterfront.
   We checked into a performance at the Sydney Opera House (they're doing Madame Butterfly), but only the $300 tickets were left. Ouch! We did walk over there though, and had a dinner at a café under the opera house.

Sydney Opera House

   My dad's cousins live in Sydney, so they acted as our very gracious tour guides, introducing us to restaurants and neighborhoods not frequented by tourists. We also met up with my ex-brother-in-law, Graeme, who also lives here. We had lunch and dinner in Chinatown, and he came along with us to see my play at the Newtown Theatre.

   Unfortunately, the theatre was up two flights of stairs so my dad, who is in a wheelchair, could not get up to see it. The good thing was that Playing with Knives was the second play after intermission, so Mom sat at the outdoor café next door with Dad while Graeme and I watched the first half, then Mom came up after intermission and got to see the play. I'll have to post the play on YouTube when I get the DVD, so Dad can catch it then.  All in all, it was a well-done production/performance, and we enjoyed it. 

Flyer for Playing with Knives
They listed me under my married name though

At the Newtown Theatre 

  

BACK OUT INTO THE PUBLISHING WORLD

   Okay, my publication contract has been cancelled. I was now faced with two choices: I can get really depressed and wallow in self-pity, or send the darn thing out into the publishing world again. I figured I had done what I could do: write the story, edit it a zillion times, submit it, work with editors to edit it a zillion more times. Everything else that had to do with Tricycle Press closing was beyond my control, and there was no use harping on it. So, I made the revisions that Joanne Taylor had suggested, and sent it to my former editor, Yolanda Scott, at Charlesbridge Publishing (Charlesbridge doesn't publish many folk tales/fairy tales, but Yolanda thought the multi-cultural twist was interesting so asked me to send it on), and to three agents: Stephen Barbara at Foundry Literary+Media, whom I had met at the Asilomar Writer's Conference, Ammi-Joan Paquette of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency, and Kelly Sonnack of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, both of whom I met (at different times) at the SCBWI Northern California Writer's Conference at Mills College.
   Stephen emailed back very quickly and said the work wasn't a match for his list. Ammi-Joan thought it was a cute story, and asked to see more of my work. And Kelly Sonnack never responded which, according to the Andrea Brown Lit. Agency website, means they're not interested in representing you. 
   I sent Ammi-Joan another picture book manuscript and the 1st three chapters of my Young Adult novel for review. 
   Sigh. More waiting...