Friday, January 30, 2009

Opportunities

I'm working with a deadline now. Well, writing with a deadline anyway. Before, I gave myself a deadline to work with - more of a goal to when I wanted to finish certain things - but now, there's an opportunity that I really want to take advantage of, but with a set deadline. It stresses me out a little, but I'm ready to take advantage of every opportunity that comes my way at this point. I realize that there are a lot of people out there who are doing the same thing and have been working on this same thing for YEARS and YEARS, but you never know until you try, right?

On a lighter note, so the Super Bowl is on Sunday and I have to say, it has been a lot of years since I've really been interested in anything involving the Super Bowl. I feel like everything has just gone steadily down hill over the past few years. Or maybe I'm just getting old. I don't know. Either way, my big plans for Super Bowl Sunday? I'm taking the opportunity (hoping that Super Bowl will mean less crowds) and going to IKEA. I need a new bulletin board.

Have a great weekend!

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Smiles

This was from Scott's cell phone, so it's a little grainy.

Things like this make drizzly days a little better . . .

Friday, January 23, 2009

Who You Know

I have to say, the insomniac part of my bio may have to change soon. I've been sleeping more lately. A good thing and a bad thing. Good because I'm getting more rest, that's good for a person's health and all that. But bad because I can't seem to get everything I need to get done done . . . namely I can't seem to keep my eyes open to stare at the computer for long enough to do anything but read what I've already written. Last I checked, that kind of activity doesn't finish manuscripts. . . . but hey, at least I'm sleeping more now.

Right after college I was young and idealistic and made a lot of decisions that didn't make any rational sense. I didn't buy into the whole "it's who you know" business, but felt that whatever was supposed to happen would happen. Well, I still feel a little that way, but I've also realized that you shouldn't waste good contacts. More specifically, I was speaking with a trusted confidante the other day and we discussed some of my writing. This came up just as anything else would, part of the what's going on, what have you been up to deal. Then she actually offered up that she knew some publishers that could be interested. W-O-W! I mean, I wouldn't have thought it, especially not here in Utah. And I wasn't really looking for a lead or anything, we were just talking, but hopefully this works out to be a great opportunity. I told her I would email her and once I am at the point of almost perfect (because perfect is impossible), I would send her one of my manuscripts.

Keep your fingers crossed! (I've got my toes crossed too!)

Monday, January 19, 2009

24 Hours

Safe in San Diego. Wow, that sounds like the title to some cheesy romantic comedy. Like Sleepless in Seattle but the weather is better. . . Anyway, made it to San Diego. The flight was packed, but it wasn't too bad. Except there was this family that was sitting around me, and seriously, I mean they were surrounding me. It seemed that every member of that family wanted a window seat so therefore they couldn't sit next to each other which meant they were having this half-yelling conversation across the tiny plane. Otherwise not such a bad journey. So, here for 24 hours, not going to have too much time to really enjoy anything other than work, but what do you do?

Anyway, my One Tree Hill is on. New episode and its been a while since I've gotten to watch this uninterrupted by a sibling or a child or a husband . . . so, yeah, going now.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Getting Old

Yay! It's Friday!
I don't know about anyone else, but this felt like a crazy long week to me. Work has been super busy. The kids are all over the place - especially since the baby's starting to crawl now, and I just feel like I totally need a nap. For the most part, for years now, I've been a night owl. Rarely going to sleep before 2 or 3 in the morning, and forget anything earlier than midnight, but this week, I've been out as soon as the kids were in bed. What's going on??? Maybe all those years of sleepless nights is finally catching up to me. Or I'm just getting old.
I found out on Monday that I'm going to San Diego with work on next Monday. I was looking forward to the trip, even though I'll only be in California for a total of 24 hours, but it should be a really productive meeting. (Keeping my fingers crossed, anyway.) But after the US Airways-flock-of-birds-forcing-a-Hudson-River-landing situation yesterday, I am a little freaked out. The flight's only an hour and a half and I've flown into San Diego several times before, but . . . oh, I can feel it, I better stop talking about it, my hearts starting to pound and I can feel my blood pressure rising. . . hmmm, maybe another symptom of my old age?
See you when I'm safe in San Diego!

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Out There

I've been trying to find ways to be proactive about getting my writing out there, but there's only so much you can do. What does "out there" mean anyway? Of course I want people to read my work, but maybe in a more controlled/copyrighted . . . (bound and published ;) perhaps) format. *sigh*

There's so many stories out there about musicians and artists who've put their work online via MySpace or other similar sites and have found success, but I think putting your writing out there like that is different. Though with music there are all sorts of those copyright infringment situations and people stealing other people's work, I think within writing it can be even easier to do. Copy & Paste . . . Now mind you, I'm a pretty positive person - at least I try to be - but there's just so much negativity that we see out there, people hurting other people, intentionally or not, that it makes me a little leery. (i.e. Stephenie Meyer's Midnight Sun debacle - the fans really just love her work so much that they were feigning for it, but it just ended up really hurting her - personally) ... Okay, moving on . . .

Today - in about 14 minutes actually - I am attending my first writer's seminar and I am really looking forward to it. I am hoping it gives me some additional insight into the publishing world, agents and more information on the business side of writing, because honestly, it's all business, right?

So here's to proactivity and productivity!

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Utes, Twittering and Germs

Yay 2009. Go Utes!

Since I went to a school with only intramural sports, we didn't really have a team to root for. And in this town, when it's Holy War time, you can't be Switzerland (or Westminster in my case). What it all comes down to in the end, is that the UTES ROCK!!!!

Moving on, I have made a new discovery, due to one of my favorite authors, and that is TWITTER! Now I'm one of those people who have everything and don't have the time to check it all all the time. I have the MySpace and the Facebook and the blog, and a couple different emails and its just a lot to maintain, but honestly, Twitter rocks. Not much thought involved, just a simple 160 character one liner answering the ever asked question "what are you doing?" And a few minutes ago . . . my answer was that I am going to go do some Twitter recruiting.

In other news, the kids are sick again. And I am feeling it with them this time. Doesn't really help the whole returning to work and hitting the ground running thing, but alas. I did make a stop in the office of one of the people I work with who currently doesn't have children just to let her know that Kids = Germs. Everywhere. All the time. Cute germs, but germs nonetheless. I just wanted to warn her, you know, in case she didn't know.