Resurrecting a Manuscript

I wrote a Young Adult book fifteen years ago. It was before cell phones were standard accessories for teens, before internet social networks, and before caller ID.

I really love this story and the characters in it, but it never was accepted for publication. Consequently, it's been "gathering dust" so to speak, saved in the recesses of my computer storage.

Recently I was given an opportunity to dust this story off and give it another chance to get published.

The first thing I needed to do was to address all the technical advances that have occurred since I wrote this story. In the last fifteen years the whole world has changed when it comes to communication. I've had to update and integrate all of these wonderful gizmos and gadgets into my story. It's been rather interesting to see how much daily life has changed and how much we rely upon these devices every day.

For instance; when I work out, I would die without my Ipod. I don't think I could take one step on the treadmill without some music to motivate me. I have my Blackberry with me so, heaven forbid, I miss a phone call or an email. My husband hid my phone the other day, just for fun. I was in a frenzy! NOTE TO HUSBAND . . . NOT FUNNY! Yes, I am addicted.

Having said that, computers at home. Not only do I stay in touch with friends and family through the internet via email, Facebook, Twitter, etc... But even in my callings we rely heavily on email. We've been able to eliminate some weekly meetings because of email.

How about our phones at home? How many of you check caller ID before you answer and, if it's someone you don't have time to talk to or don't even want to talk to, let the answering machine pick up. This is a great timesaver and eliminates having to deal with crazy salesmen. In fact, my incoming calls flash upon my television screen. This is a feature I don't even know we had, nor do I know how we got it, but I love it and am glad we have it.

I know many people have GPS in their cars. I do not have one of these yet. Nor do I have a DVD player in my car, although I want one for my kids really badly. I tend to be the GPS for my kids when they are driving around and get lost. They'll call and say, "I don't know where I am but I need to get to this place right now!" and they'll expect me to figure it out. No pressure there.

Oh, back to my manuscript. I'm hoping to get this manuscript done this week and get it sent in. I'm excited to see my baby hopefully get born this time. Writers have to develop a great deal of patience because it's very much a hurry up and wait kind of life. We have to hurry and get our books written, meet deadlines, make revisions, then we wait for committees to make decisions and for the book to get published and then finally to end up on the shelf. Patience never was my greatest virtue.

I'll give you more info about this story once I find out its fate.

In the meantime, what are some of the technical gadgets you can't live without?