Spreading the Bookworm Love

I love to read. Almost as much as I love to write.

I'm a big fan of libraries, bookstores, supermarket book sections and any other place that is an avid supporter of books. This includes places that provide good reading material when they know you just have to sit there. Like the doctor's office or most other kinds of waiting rooms.

Well the fam and I headed out for dinner the other night and ended up at the nearby Chili's. We put our name on the wait list and sat down to, well, wait. I looked across their little greeting area and what should I see?

Yes, that's right. That is a BIG basket of books they have setup for the kids to look at and read while waiting to be seated. How awesome is that?!? Mind you, my husband thought I was a total dork wanting to capture this pic and I'm sure the other people standing around thought I was a total weirdo too, but hey, I can't help giving props to an eating establishment that has not only thought of the little ones, but have opted for books over toys to entertain the kidlets as they wait!

I have no problem admitting I'm a total bookworm and I'm all about anyone who wants to spread that bug around!

So here's to you, Chili's @ Jordan Landing in WJ, UT. You rock!

Game On!

Last night was the MLS All-Star game. That's Major League Soccer, in case you weren't sure. It was the MLS All-Stars against Everton (a major team from the UK). The game was played here in Utah at the Rio Tinto Stadium, home of Real Salt Lake, so I was privy to the huge crowd that gathered for the sold out game.

I'm not a huge sports junkie or anything, and my husband isn't a huge soccer fan, but he enjoys watching some of the bigger games and as I happened to be in the room, I was along for the ride. So with the game on TV right in front of me, I couldn't help catching bits and pieces of it.

Well, watching these guys running back and forth trying to score got me thinking. It's sort of like this whole working toward getting published process, right?

Game 1: Getting an Agent

Okay, so your book is the soccer ball.

The goal is getting an agent.

All the players on the field? Those would be the agents.

So as soon as you send out those queries, Game's On! Your book floats out there amongst the agents, until one (or more) make a request, so one of them is taking control of the ball. It could be a goal, it could be a pass, you just never know.

And if you are lucky enough to get a goal in that first game (sign with an agent) you just move on into the next game.

Game 2: Getting Published

Your book is still the soccer ball.

The goal is being published.

The players are now the publishing houses you and and your agent submit to.

Still following?

If one of the games ends in a shootout, well that just represents all those revisions that an agent / publisher could ask for. More chances to get the ball into the goal.

In all soccer games everyone loves to hear the shout of GOAL!!!! Especially when it is your team (your book) getting the goal! So get your game faces on! We've got some goals to score!

Oh, and by the way, if you were wondering about the MLS All-Star game: It ended in a tie 1-1, forcing them into a shootout. Final Score: 6-5 Everton. Ah, well, as in everything else in life: You can't win 'em all.

WiP Wednesday: New Projects

Back from vacation and sooooo trying to get back into the hang of things. I think most of my brain is still on a vacation to recover from my vacation.

I haven't posted a WiP Wednesday for a few weeks now because, well, I was feeling a bit WiP-ped by the current "big" project. I was in a rut. Didn't know where I was going with it. So many unanswered questions, wasn't really certain what was going to happen. And the voices, well they were being pretty mum about the whole thing, so it wasn't really helping me out any.

But then, during our vacation, I dug out some wordage from who knows where (probably a precursor to a Rest Area stop near Cedar City *wink wink*) and I'm back in the game. And on top of that, my Gemini-can't-focus-on-just-one-thing-at-a-time brain has come up with another 2 project ideas to work on! As many of you know, I do have a bit of A-D-D so I struggle severely if I have only 1 set of voices in my head.

Yeah, I know. I'm totally crazy, but the first step is admitting it, right?

On the flip side of new writings, current stuff . . . 1 is out for final review (I hope) with betas right now and other is with my live crit groups . Hoping I can get some things back and perhaps have some queries off before the end of the summer? Will keep ya posted!

P.S. I feel I need to make a confession regarding my addiction. I did fall off the wagon, but only for a moment. I had a little bit of a Starbucks Vanilla Frappucino, but it made me feel like throwing up. I couldn't even finish it. So I think I may have kicked the coffee habit. Now to find another vice to keep me awake after sleepless nights writing . . . suggestions welcome!

Bad Mojo & Big Problems

A while back my friend Elana over at Mindless Musings posted about finding the problem in your

novel. Not the problem with it, mind you, she meant the over-arching plot arc, the main-conflict-save-the-world-from-a-meteor sort of issue. Since I read that post it got me thinking.

And thinking.

And thinking.

And . . . yup . . . thinking.

Well, last week we went on a road trip to visit my in-laws in a small town in Central California. My husband's from a small town and it's a nice quiet place to do absolutely nothing (or to write if the mood strikes). My husband has a car that he absolutely adores, but its pretty old. We bought it for almost nothing and he loves to tinker with it. So the primary intent of the trip was for him and his brother to really fix it up.

The car is old EVERYONE doubted we'd be able to make it safely the 763 miles from our doorstep to Small-town, California, but we did. Just slower and with a much more Zen attitude.

Something that's a must if you're doing a long road trip with 2 kids under 5. Safe and sound in CA we just hung out-though I did go see HP 6 (so good!).

The way home, the part NO ONE made any comments about was where we ran into our "problem." I'm pretty superstitious, but more along the lines of gut feelings. When we got to Vegas, I saw a delayed text message come in from my brother: Did your car die yet? Seriously? Like why would you ask something like that? What kind of bad mojo are you trying to spread?!?

We made it past Mesquite and in a (really nice) Rest Area 13 miles out of Cedar City, our car just couldn't make it any further. Luckily, my dad was on his way back for CA also and was just driving into Vegas, so with info from the DH, I asked him to pick up some things for us. Lucky for us, the Rest Area the car gods decided we needed to hang out at was fully equipped with mowed grass, pavilion covered picnic tables, real flushing toilets (clean bathroom!) and vending machines. Oh, yeah, and, most importantly, COLD A/C!

While we waited for my dad to meet us with the necessary goods, (sounds sort of like a drug deal, didn't that?) I played with the kids and we ate a lovely vending machine lunch. 4-yo P loved it. After our lunch, we broke out some of the kids' travel toys and they played while I dug out my notebook and wrote.

And thanks to the bad mojo, I think I have figured out what's going on in my new project. So thanks to some quality Rest Area time where my biggest problem wasn't, at that moment, my biggest problem, I've found my Big Problem in the writing project. Now we just gotta figure out what the Big Problem in the car project is. Will keep ya posted!

P.S. Clearly we (finally) made it home, but here are some times according to Google how long the trip should have taken us // and our actuals:

Home to our destination in CA = 763 miles, 11 hours & 31 minutes // actual: 763 miles, 14 hours & 18 minutes

CA to home = 765 miles, 11 hours & 28 minutes // actual: 765 miles, 20 hours & 4 minutes

It's a good thing we decided our approach to all problems on this trip was contained in one little three-letter word: ZEN

Quote of the Week

"I have always grown from my problems
and challenges, from the things that don't
work out, that's when I've really learned."
- Carol Burnett

Dark

Hi All,

Blog will be dark for a few days (yet again, I know). Am visiting family in bright sunny small town central California. They have internet, but it is so slow. If I have time to camp out at a Starbucks, I'll post but if not, will check in when back home on Monday.

Hope everyone has an awesome rest of the week and to all my fellow Utahns, have a great holiday weekend!