Farewell to the Kids

I am now officially done with children's choir for the summer. And there was much rejoicing. I did get a reminder of why I do this when I had one of my problem children sitting snuggled up against me while we waited for our turn to sing last night "because this is our last time together." Aww. The kids from last year were very excited to see me. And then there was the little girl from this year's class who kept coming up to me during dinner to tell me important things that, according to her mother, she'd been waiting all day to tell me. I'm not entirely sure what they were because she got suddenly quiet and shy when coming up to talk to me, and she has a couple of front teeth missing. I just know that she was coming up to me and very intently telling me things that I couldn't hear or understand. It was a smile and nod moment. I did catch that her class's baby chicks were about to hatch, and they can watch them on a webcam from home. Kindergarten has changed since my day.

Meanwhile, it looks like the choir director isn't going to let me slide back into a comfort zone because he assigned me to the small group singing this Sunday's choir anthem in the early service. This won't be too scary because it's a group and I'm singing the second soprano part, so no high-pitched shrieking. I don't think it even gets to the top of the staff. Still, I'll be the only second soprano, which is a slight challenge because it means finding the harmony instead of just resting on top. I think I mostly got picked because I'm going to be there and I'm the only second soprano who can sing outside a choir setting who isn't a grandmother who's likely to be busy with Mother's Day stuff that morning. But since my church recognizes all women in the church as "church moms," that means I'll get twice the Mother's Day attention, and possibly some very small children fighting over who gets to give me the flower or whatever they decide to pass out.

Meanwhile, I've made it through the copy edits on my upcoming contemporary fantasy book and now just need to do a read-through to make sure things are still consistent. I'm using the same copy editor who did the Enchanted, Inc. series, and I love her so very much. She keeps a light hand, maintaining my style, while breaking my bad habits (like overuse of "then"), she leaves funny comments about stuff she likes, and she seems to get my writing and my characters. That's why I keep using her for my self-published stuff, even though she's a little more expensive. And in this case, it didn't look like she'd be available, but she moved stuff around because she didn't want to miss the opportunity of being first to read my next book, so the love is mutual. If I get enough career clout to demand that any future publishers use the copy editor of my choice, I will demand her. She's declared herself the official Jewish mother of my books because she makes sure all my characters are properly fed and taken care of. There are actual notes on the manuscript asking when these people have had a chance to eat.

After I get this book proofread, I'll be ready to dive into finishing the next one.