Pretty Nervous Writing Aardvarks

Today I'm indulging in time theft at work, putting together my entry to the good folks of the PNWA, the Pretty Nervous Writing Aardvarks. They are a picky picky picky bunch. Next year, they'll want the entries notarized, with an 8X10 glossy and a urine sample.

So I'm banging out a 5-page synopsis of my novel and trying to produce Word documents with the appropriate information in the corners. (But NOT my name. The Aardvarks are very serious about this. Throughout the guidelines they repeat do NOT put your name on your manuscript. Do NOT put your name on your manuscript. Dear God and for the sake of all that is holy, DO NOT PUT YOUR NAME ON YOUR MANUSCRIPT. Now I'm scared to death.)

I'm also flirting with disaster since the packets must be received by Feb. 19 and because of President's Day I can't mail the thing until Tuesday. And so my literary ambitions are at the mercy of the U.S. Postal Service, which hopefully won't take more than four days to send a big envelope to Washington state.