Vultures

Of course I like Vultures.

Alright, while we're on the topic of Vultures, I'll tell you the latest about Vultures, my novel.

I didn't make it into the finals of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest, but placing in the semi-finals was enough to get an agent to actually read the entire manuscript. I'd never gotten past the query-letter-to-an-agent stage, so that was a step forward. And then the agency agreed to represent it. That was a huge step forward.

So-

I have an agent representing Vultures.

I am very pleased.

Yes, I was excited and I still am, but now it's just waiting to see what happens. So, really, it's like having it on the shelf because I'm not working on it. Only this is better because someone else is.

When I know something else I'll tell you.

However, that's not what this post was meant to be about. This post is about Vultures. Black Vultures in particular. Turkey Vultures -the ones with the bald red heads- are the species in Vultures, but around here the Black Vulture is more common.

Here are 3 close-up shots (photo credits to T & S - Thank you!):

T & S went for a hike and came across this young vulture. He perched quietly and watched them watch him.

This last week, before the sun was up much at all, I spotted a big bird in the tree in the front yard.

My picture-taking ability and the strength of my camera leave a lot to be desired, but he's there. Really.

See him?

Did you know that Vultures will not eat rotten meat?

Really. They only eat freshly dead carcasses.

Weird, but true.

We think of Vultures as ugly, nasty birds, but, in fact, they are beautiful and graceful, at least while in the air. They are one of the most common big birds here at my house. I'll snap a few pictures of them flying overhead next time I think of it.

We need Vultures - they're nature's road kill cleaning crew.

Cabin Fever & Bio

Perhaps it was the cabin fever (though yesterday I soaked up as much sun as I could, knowing it was going to rain/snow again), but I queried a literary agency about Vultures.
This is the first time I've done it since the whole Amazon ABNA contest and, even though I said I wasn't going to, I think the winter blahs got the best of me and it seemed like a good idea. We'll see....

Anyway, the main point is not the query, but the bio. It's always a challenge to come up with a short, catchy bio (the irony here is that a blogger would have a hard time finding something to say about herself). For this particular query, I wrote a new two-paragraph bio. Usually, I stick with one or, at the most, two sentences, but it was probably the cabin fever and resulting 'screw-it' attitude that pushed me to ramble on. My finger hovered over the 'Send' button as I debated the pros and cons. Finally, the 'screw-it' attitude won when I figured worse-case-scenario would be a total lack of response. (At least I hope that's worst case scenario - I have a long way to go before I establish enough of a reputation even for black-listing. I hope.)

So, here's my new bio (probably short-lived):

"MK Stover is a native West Virginian who finally moved back home. She is a wife, mother, and writer, though not always in that order. Her writing includes small mountains of unsubmitted fiction, a smattering of published non-fiction (though she finds sticking to the facts to be rather confining), ad copy, and small town newspaper columns, articles, and opinions.
Unable to find a decent cup of cappuccino, she and her husband are in the process of converting the first floor of a 118 year old brick building into her hometown’s central site for caffeine consumption and assemblage. The second floor houses her writing studio which is in dire need of organization. Currently, she is working on humorous recollections of her redneck upbringing and feels that her office mess is a symbolic representation of the mental health of her many relatives and, therefore, is a necessary aid to her work-in-progress."


According to Spell Check, 'unsubmitted' is not a word. I use a lot of those not-a-words, so that's not really a concern. What is a concern, though, is that Spell Check's suggestion for correction is 'uncommitted.'
I suppose I should be happy for the 'un.'