Random Stuff Friday

So it's Friday and what have we discovered I am all about on Friday's? Random stuff. Well, it's a whole week's worth of random stuff, but still. Here we go!

1. I am obsessed with Netflix. The kidlets LOVE it even more than I do, I think. They get to watch loads of PBS and NickToons and other kiddie shows and I finally have a chance to watch shows I've heard lots about without making any real $$ commitment. It totally rocks. Why did we join so late in the game? I really need to listen to the masses more often.

2. When we had our 2nd baby (she's 2 now), we had a friend create adorable birth announcements that were more modern and clean and still had so much character. We loved them. And now Mae's going to be using E's pictures on some of her sample work! So, yay! we've got our very own little baby model in the family. And Mae does tons more stuff than just announcements, go check out her website: Mae Armstrong Designs (and no, she's not paying me advertise :D)

3. 5yo's first week full week of school wraps up with her being the student of the week or whatever in her class. What does this mean for me? Well, because I have tons and tons of time and not a million other things to do, we got to make a poster all about her. I let her pick out a few pictures and tried to make it look all cute and crafty and then she wanted to stick Finding Nemo stickers all over it - so totally didn't go with the stripy-dot theme we had, but whatev. It was her poster. She gets to take a show and tell and a treat to share and basically she's super excited, which is great, but let's just say I haven't had near as much writing time this week as I would've liked.

4. On Thursday was my 3-month post-op checkup. And the verdict? My heart is now "totally perfect." I really think they're just blowing smoke. Just kidding, the docs and nurses have been great, but now we're just waiting for the meds to get out of my system and hopefully that will help with all the other symptoms that have hit. A few more weeks and we'll see, but otherwise, good news.

5. Tomorrow is another writerly fun day! Meeting up with some peeps to hit the Kiersten White Paranormalcy signing at The Kings English in SLC! Come one, come all. Hope to see you all there!

Have a great weekend everyone.

Lofty Goals and End of Summer

I have been working on a new project (as another one swims through slushpiles) and I'm almost done. Like, so close I can taste it and it tastes a little like cotton candy and funnel cake. ;)

I gave myself a deadline I'd be done in July. Didn't happen. Health complications.

Then had a good long convo with the critmates and specifically my dearest Nichole and we decided that the end of August / end of summer would be a great deadline. Not gonna happen. Why, you ask? Well, firstly, life gets in the way: health/family/kids/school/dayjob. You name it. But also, for me personally anyway, I knew I couldn't finish my wip as it was.

And now, 65K words into a project that I think will end up right around 75k, I am going back to rewrite the whole thing.

Oh, and Nichole and I have committed to finishing our full-on first drafts by September 20-the official "Last Day of Summer." How's that for lofty end of summer goals?

Despite how little time that gives me (about 3 weeks), I know this is possible. Why? #amwriting. It's a hashtag on Twitter that if you use it, you can end up finding lots of other buddies online writing at the same time. While writing is a solitary activity, mostly, I've found I can always count on finding a friend with #amwriting. Nichole and I are usually online together tweeting with it while we write late into the night, but we always inevitably have a few other twittermates come on board to the conversation. It's nice to know you're not alone, even if you're by yourself sitting at your desk typing away. But most of all, it's motivating and that ability to reach out at 1 a.m. for a quick pep talk has been priceless for me! So here I go, into the yonders of rewrites.

Have you got any "I need to do this before summer is really over" sort of goals?

It Didn't Burn and Thank You Thursday

If you've been following me on Twitter, especially this week, you'll know I've been pretty paranoid about cooking lately.

When Husband started working nights, dinner (and his lunch for work) fell to me. Now, I'm not necessarily a horrible cook, I'm just not that great. And over the last few weeks when I've been sick, he's picked up a lot of the slack and cooked. I'm cooking again now and I've been very nervous to try again.

You see, the reason he picked up the slack was because I started over- or under-cooking EVERYTHING.  It was abysmal. Looking back I realize why that was: I was physically not well, which made me feel mentally and emotionally spent--I just wasn't into it enough to put the energy forth.

The same reason I didn't do much writing while I was going through everything--I just didn't have the energy for it.

The thing with writing is that there's not always someone there to pick up your slack, literally. No one can write your book for you. But for me, there are people who've been around to help me start putting my head back together, who have been there through all of this to help me piece my thoughts into some semblance of order so I can keep at this whole writing thing.

So today is a Thank You Thursday.

comic courtesy of Natalie Dee

For all those peeps, writerly and not, who've helped me remember why I have to keep trying. I can't thank you guys enough! Have you said thank you to the peeps who help you keep going just by being around?

P.S. *knocks on wood* we're at 3 nights in a row of pretty good dinners that I've cooked. Hopefully the streak holds on!

Friendship Friday

I've kept most of the details of my health situation underwraps for the past several weeks, but letting friends know bits and pieces and on the whole, letting everyone know I'm going to be okay (it might just take a little while for me to get back my brain capacity!)

Well, I'm going on another blog hiatus after today and I won't be back until about mid-June. I'm taking this time to do some resting, recuperating and (hopefully) some reading and writing.

I'm going in for a procedure early next week to close a hole in my heart (also known as a PFO). This seems to be the underlying cause of my severe headaches and equilibrium issues. It took a long time before we got to this point and lots and LOTS of tests before this diagnosis came about. So no wonder I'm all about the emotional books--my heart is broken, literally. Lol!

But before I go on leave to have all this taken care of, I wanted to make sure I took this post to tell all of my friends out there how amazing you are.

Some of you I know in RL, most of you not, but your words, thoughts and sentiments to me during this time have been greatly appreciated and have really helped me keep positive and continue to smile even when the tests got pretty rough. (Spinal tap, anyone??)

I'll still be around, checking my email and on FB and Twitter, since I've learned that I can be nearly incoherent and still sound mildly amusing on those sites, so catch me there if you need me/want to chat :)

Thanks again to everyone for your support and when I get back ... I swear, we're doing a giveaway of epic proportions! You guys so totally deserve it!!!

Who to Run to

So sorry to all for my absence this past week. To roll up all the excuses together, there was lots of sickness, fussy kidlet-ness and catching up abound and I just had to say no to something. Unfortunately, blog-o-sphere was it. But yay! I'm back now.

I'm still working on catching up on all the blog posts I've missed during the week, so you may see some better-late-than-never comments from me :)

That's not what I wanted to talk about today, though. I've been listening to a bit of Lady Antebellum recently and as I started writing this post their song I Run To You came on and there's a line in there that goes "I run from prejudice, I run from pessimists" and I started thinking about how we, as writers, all face this.

There will be people who don't like the genre you write.
There will be people who don't believe you will get published.
There will be people who tell you you stink.
And there will be people who tell you you have no chance in hell of getting where you're trying to go.

So this is a shout out to all my awesome crit buddies, family and friends who've been there when I needed to run from prejudice and pessimists.

Thanks. You guys rock.

I Run To You - Lady Antebellum

Brain Pain is Lame

That sort of rhymes. Almost.

But it IS totally true. Thank you all for your nice words and get well wishes.

My brain is doing much better now and was even functional enough for me to make it to the other side of the mountain for a loverly lunch with some writing peeps earlier today.

I have found something that does NOTHING to help cure brain pain.

That is ... your internet going down because your provider has switched from copper cables to fiber optics and FORGOT TO TELL YOU!?!?! Who does that?? Seriously.

So after I was fully recovered from the migraine, all ready to get back on my blogging feet, I found ... I had no internet. For almost 3 days.

Blogs went unwritten.

Twitter went barely touched. (Only updated because I am setup for text to tweet .. lol!)

And, most sad of all, crops went unharvested, resulting in a withery, wilted farm.

BUT there was a sunny side to this. You see, without the distraction of the internet, calling, whispering, taunting me, I was able to bust out the red pen and printed copy of my ms and .... that's right, REVISE!

So, yes, for every brain pain and down DSL-line, there is a bright side. And it's rewriting your book!

Er... that sounded so much better in my head. But trust me. It's a good thing!

Friday Fun

Last Friday, that is.

Thanks to the lovely Elana and Suzette for organizing and hosting a fantabulous evening of writerly fun!

I had met a few of these folks before, a few others I only knew of from the interwebs. I had no idea so many of us lived so close together! But I also had a chance to get to know some new people -- all together, a fun and amazing group. Published authors, those just starting out, some wading through the slush piles and others cheering everyone on! I love having the opportunity to know so many people so close who get me.

With writing, some may say it is a very solitary activity, but yanno what? The friends I have made since I began writing again, and as I've been swimming through the process to publication have made it one of the most social things I've ever done!

So thanks to Al Gore (who we're toasting, btw) for coming up with this fantabulous idea of interwebbiness. Thanks to the lovely and gracious Suzette, for letting us raid your house and with the amazing Elana, organizing a shindig only to be topped by future such shindigs!

Oh, and if you're not following any of these peeps already, you really should be.

From Left to Right standing: LT Elliot, Mary Campbell, Nichole Giles, Alaina Evans, Elana Johnson, Angie Lofthouse, Carolyn Vawdrey, Michelle Argyle, Suzette Saxton, Windy Aphayrath (That’s ME!)

From Left to Right kneeling: Jenn Wilks, Tess Hilmo, Ali Cross, Natalie Whipple

Not pictured: Jaime Thieler, Kim Webb Reid, Danyelle Leafty, Jenn Johannson, Tiana Lei

Seasons Change

Well, it's Wednesday, in case anyone missed the memo.

And it is still frigidly cold outside, unseasonably, I'd say. It feels more like January than December. Yes, I know, yet another mention of the freezing cold. I can't help it. It seeps into your bones and you can totally feel it trying to eat you alive!

I'm so not regulated to this temperature, despite living here almost all my life.

But there's something to be said about the cold and the onset of winter: seasons are changing.

In those 3 little words there is so much to interpret in so many different aspects.

For me, I know I've changed as a writer over the years and even more so in the last few months. I approach the craft differently now, I've met amazing people who've made a huge impact on what I do and how I do it. I've gotten better.

How have you changed since you started as a writer? What lessons have you learned?

Expanding the Circle

I am super excited. On Thursday (today, but I'm writing this post early so it isn't really Thursday yet) I am going to my first writer's conference / book conference.

 

The Book Academy at UVU.

 

Anyone else going? I think there are a few other locals I'm familiar with who are going. I'm looking forward to the chance to expand my in-person writer-buddies circle and get a chance to meet a few of the online buddies in person!

 

So since I'll hopefully be meeting some people live, I'd love to meet you guys out there in the blog-o-sphere. Below I've "borrowed" some questions off those chains from Facebook/Myspace/emails and posted them with my answers below. Beneath that I've posted the same questions, but blank, so you can just copy and paste into your comments and let me get to know you! A little of the writer you, and a little of the non-writer you!

(Thanks to Christine for the idea for this post! If you're not already following her, pop on over to her blog: The Musings of Christine Fonseca she's always got some interesting info!)

1. Where are you from? West Jordan, Utah
2. What time did you get up this morning? 6:00 A.M.
3. Last movie you saw at the cinema? UP—gotta love Dug and Russell!
4. What is your favorite TV show? Don’t want much, but I do really like NCIS, Project Runway and Design on a Dime. I haven’t had a chance to watch Glee yet, but it is totally on my list to catch.
5. What is your favorite CD? Currently the Evanescence CD Fallen
6. Are you a morning writer or a night writer? Night. My muse usually doesn’t wake up until around 9 or 10 P.M. so the creative juices take all day to percolate. And I’m totally a night owl. If I can fall asleep before the clock kicks back to A.M. hours, it’s a good day, er, night.
7. What genre do you write? Young adult contemporary fiction.
8. Prefer summer or winter? Since Fall and Spring are not choices here, I’ll pick winter. I LOVE sweater weather!!
9. Coffee or tea? Gave up coffee about 3 months ago, so have a new appreciation for tea. Earl Grey (with chocolate covered Hobnob biscuits) is my fave right now.
10. Favorite day of the week? Lazy ones that let me sleep in then wake up to write all day!

Here's the questions, blank, so you can just copy and paste them into your comments!

• Where are you from?
• What time did you get up this morning?
• Last movie you saw at the cinema?
• What is your favorite TV show?
• What is your favorite CD? 
• Are you a morning writer or a night writer?
• What genre do you write?
• Prefer summer or winter?
• Coffee or tea?
• Favorite day of the week?

 Thanks so much for following me! Look forward to meeting ya!

WiP Wednesday: . . . And Cupcakes For All

The Husband has asked politely if I would start today's post with a big fat: GO UTES!! (even if the game isn't until Saturday)
So there you go. Moving on.

I've been in a rut lately. Stuck in the mud. Or quick sand. Or drying concrete or something. I haven't written anything in weeks. Weeks I tell you!

For all these many days I've loitered about the house. Mostly I spent time with the family, which has been really good, and then after they all went to sleep, I read this and that (I probably wouldn't have finished TTW if I was writing), worked on my crits, did laundry, pretended I knew how to cook and just generally putted about.

I have to say holy huge THANKS! to the gang on Rallystorm Throwdown and my Twitter Critter buddies for all the words of encouragement, sympathy, and just because you guys let me whine without making me feel lame! You guys ROCK! You kept me just this side of drowning myself in Jalapeno Kettle Chips--a recent new MUST.

So after all this many days of dinking around, I had to go to live crit group. The last meeting was 6 weeks ago and we've gone through a "management change" so I did have a chance to submit something back then. It was a good meeting and I got some insightful feedback.

On the drive home, as I was jamming to my Fallen CD because I <3 Evanescence and can't listen to it when the kids are in the car. (Phephe calls it my scary songs, yeah, I guess I can see that.) And then IT struck me.

I pondered IT some more overnight. When I woke up still thinking about IT I knew I was on to something. So I dropped a quick note to one of my BFFs with a 1-liner thought on the whole thing and got the most AWESOME positive response from her. She's even going to help me with research and everything!

So YAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY! Adorable Hello Kitty Cupcakes for ALL!

Recent Reads: From the Query to the Call

Book: From the Query to the Call by Elana Johnson
Book Count: 30

Last week I mentioned a new e-book coming out and I'd already received my preview copy, but I hadn't had a chance to read it yet. But I have now and it is available to everyone TODAY!!!

**UPDATE: Click >>>>HERE<<<< to go get your copy!**
Okay, so you've written a book. Maybe a couple. Or four or eight or thirty-two. But you've finally finished that one. The one you feel really has a chance at getting published. If only you could get it into the right hands. What now? What next? How do you even do that??

Well, here's some help!

Firstly, I have to be honest. I have a very short attention span when it comes to instructional "how-to" guides about anything besides home improvement projects or cooking (because I'm just that sad in the kitchen). So, at first, I wasn't sure what to expect. I mean, the title is pretty clear, but you just never know, right?

There are a lot of "how to get published" books out there. There probably is some valuable information in them too. Somewhere. You may need to don a wetsuit and oxygen tank before you dive in. No idea how long it could take to find what you're looking for.

I was concerned needlessly. Elana Johnson's e-book is 63 pages of valuable info that every aspiring author should read. It's what I think totally fits into the description of "Short, Sweet and Straight To The Point."

This is not a book about how to write a book. It is not a book about how to edit a book. It is about what to do after you've written your book, gone through 30 iterations of editing it and hashing it out with your beta readers / crit group(s), etc and have mentally and emotionally (to some degree anyway) braced yourself for the inevitable rejections that will come.

From the Query to the Call is just that. It takes you on a journey from writing a "Killer Query" through the what happens after you send it out, all the way through what happens when you get THE CALL!

Elana addresses questions with sound advice and real world examples. There are points made around what NOT to do when you get a rejection. What a simple cover letter responding to a request could be. Suggestions on what to do while you're waiting. And waiting. And waiting. And waiting.

Some of my fave parts:

• Interviews with agented authors.
• Tips on researching agents.
• Sample query letters. (A must read!)
• Links. Links. Links. **

**Because this is an e-book, there are links EVERYWHERE so you don't have to try to figure out which article Elana is referring to, or which blogs she referenced. Soooo helpful and such a time saver!

I have to be honest, this is the FIRST writer's guide-ish book I have ever FINISHED. And it was probably because the book is concise and written clearly with the end reader in mind. I was finished reading it before I even realized I was done and I've already been able to use it as a reference!

If you're an aspiring author sitting in that limbo of having just finished your wip and are now considering seeking representation, research is key. Take a look. Read a book. Might I suggest this one? And seriously, it's 63 pages of some of the best information that will take you From the Query to the Call.

Sorry, that last line is oozing of cheddar, but it made me giggle when I typed it. So I had to keep it. :D

Wowza!

So normally, Wednesday would mean that it is time for a wip update. But, yanno, I wasn't really feeling in the updatey mood. Could be because I feel like I've done NOTHING for the last week. We had too much family time over the weekend. Or maybe just because I have something MORE EXCITING to talk about than how many words I attempted to write. (The number is so pathetically low, I don't even want to get into finding an excuse.)

Anyway, many of you know my awesome friend ElanaJ. She's supportive to other writers, between her personal blog and the QueryTracker stuff she does, it seems Elana always has answers. And now behold: a bunch of those answers are coming in e-book form! W-O-W!

From the Query to the Call is an awesome resource on, well, everything from writing a fantabulous query to fielding all those calls from agents who are fighting to represent you (the situation we ALL want to be in!). The e-book will be available later this month, so keep an eye out! I'll have some more insight on the book later this week, but I wanted to make sure that if you didn't already know about it... you do NOW!

Oh, yeah. You can become a Facebook Fan of the book HERE.

SEPTEMBER 14, kids. Pick it up!

Fun Times!

I recently had a chance to meet two of my online writer friends! After some finagling of schedules and some kid wrangling, I was able to meet Elana and Suzette for lunch (all of us with our girl kidlets in tow - blurred for privacy).

Elana and Suzette are exactly the same as online! What you see / read and what you get are it. I loved the chance to meet with a couple great people who "feel my pain" of being a writer in search of publication. And I'm glad that we live close enough to each other that we can hang out.

That leads me to the question of online personalities. Are you really you online? If not, why not?

I have to admit, I try to be myself online, but my writer personality is a little different than the one I maintain at my day job. The worlds are just very different, but I like to think that I am still me. I don't know, I guess we'd have to ask Elana and Suzette if I was different! ;-)

Thanks for a great time girls! Looking forward to another lunch date!