Got some cheese with this whine

This is the Pollyanna Files, so I have some silver linings with my clouds, or cheese with this whine, or whatever good/bad/good combo of metaphors you might want to mention.

Good: I have lots of ideas for novels.

Bad: I'm on a massively ASAP deadline and these story ideas are making me crazy because they want to be written. And they want to be written NOW.

Good: That I have lots of ideas for novels.

Bad: None of them are about vampires, which is the in thing, and which I'm sure every publisher in the world would prefer me to write about.

Good: They will be popular themes in about 3 to 5 years.

Bad: Nobody is going to believe me that they will be popular themes, even though I've been right about predicting what will be popular in the romance genre a good 95% of the time since I've begun writing them, and that's over 10 years now.

Good: I'm going to write them anyway, which means I'll be on the forefront of the trend.

Bad: It'll probably mean I'll have to go contractless while I write them on spec, or at least write most of them. This has happened every time I've written one of these kinds of books.

Good: I will not have a deadline making me crazy if I do write them on spec.

Bad: I have a son to put through college and going without a contract means no money to help him along.

Good: Actually, now that I think of it, an editor who overheard me talking about one of these ideas at the 2005 Reno Romance Writers of America conference immediately gave me her card and said if it wasn't going to be under contract, could I send it to her please? It is a pretty high-concept idea, actually, which is why she probably jumped on it.

Bad: I like my current publisher, which is actually a good thing, but it'll probably mean my different ideas won't see the light of day, because they're a departure from what I've been writing. Still in the paranormal/fantasy area, but a departure.

Good: Umm...umm....gotta think of something good here...Pollyanna Files, after all...ummm... Uh.... Oh! I'm glad I'm such a creative person that I have all these nifty ideas. Oh, wait, I already said that in Good #1 and #2. Uh.... Okay! Nice to know that I have more than one editor/publisher interested in my work. And, nothing says I can't take a pseudonym some day.

Whew! Ended on an up note. And that's good.

--Karen H.

P.S. No, I'm not going to say what those ideas are. You will just have to wait, because if I'm going to have to wait, I'd like some company. :-D