coming down off of crisis mode...

Finally got through the big awards dinner at work. I produced (shepherded) the videos for the evening and things went off without a hitch. Thank GOD!

After a week or two of tense urgent-crisis mode, I'm finally coming down off the adrenaline high. Flitting around in that state is not my cup of tea, which is one of many reasons I'm not a reporter at a daily newspaper. I can't think clearly when I'm pulling the bacon out of the fire every five minutes. (Or the peppers off the grill, if you prefer some sort of veggie shiskabab imagery.)

It's time for the Echo column again, and I think I have something that will work. I was inspired by the antics of the Arizona Senate, which has had a bill floating around that would require teachers to create alternate assignments for any students who had moral objections to a reading assignment or class activity.

My take is that having to deal with things that morally offend us is a GOOD thing--not that intolerance or injustice is good, but being stretched and forced to respond creatively is better than cutting ourselves off from a world that upsets and irritates, as well as delights and mystifies us.

I took a break last week (partially because of day job madness, as described above) from my query-a-week treadmill. I plan to send out a short article (no query needed) this week, and aim for four queries a month.

That change isn't just semantic--it's an attempt to balance my desire to get my ideas and proposals out there regularly with the need to have time to consider what I'm sending out well enough to send out things that will actually be compelling to editors. I also took a break because I was feeling like I was doing it by rote, and if I feel that way, I can't imagine my letters are sounding fresh and interesting...