As I just said to my critique group...

If THESE BOOKS can get published....

There is hope for all of us.

UGH!

So I think the worse thing about my mom friends is that none of them support my writing endeavors. Weird, right? ALL of my single and kid-free friends give me their whole-hearted support.

But every time I tell a mom friend about my writing, critique group, my blog, etc they give me this look and they ALWAYS say the same thing.

"I just don't know when you find the time."

Then they drop it. They don't want to discuss it further, even when I tell them that I have to actually MAKE the time. Now why do they do this?

Because it kind of comes off as a slam. I always end up feeling like I'm being selfish by trying to write when I have kids. I feel like I'm being lazy and not being a good "housewife" or something. Stupid, I know. But that's how they make me feel.

I have one friend in particular who truly never wants to hear about my writing. I even posted on FB that I had actually sold some of my writing- she saw it- but never commented on it.

Today this is bothering me. Yes, I'll get over it- but writing it down on my blog is the first step in the process I guess.

Thank guys, for supporting me. All you writer mommies and non-mommies and men out there in this writing blogosphere- you guys are AWESOME!!!

Anyway, on another note, my little man is indeed tongue-tied.

I'm going to the ENT on Thurs. to schedule his surgery. From what I've heard it's a pretty simple outpatient procedure- but I'm still dreading it. :-( Poor little man!

Anyways, today my goal is to do a critique for a member of my critique group, so that's what I'm off to do. Thanks for listening!

New blog title!

Thanks to Pauline, who came up with this new blog title for me! Yes, it is HER brainchild!

I decided it needed to be changed, considering now I've been paid for my writing...I guess technically I am now a 'published author.' But to all those who loved my original title, as you can see I have managed to keep that title in there as well!

BRILLIANT!!!!

Here is some (non) news before I sign off.

-I got up way too early and it's raining outside. Ugh.

-I think my son might be slightly tongue tied so I'm off to argue with my pediatrician about it :-/

-I've got a "play group" today....yeah, I know.

-I'm currently living off of the bare minimum in my pantry until the end of the month. Last night I made some sort of mexican creation with left over chicken, beans and tortillas. Man am I regretting it now.

-I cut Ariel's hair at the request of my daughter (she was actually begging) and now she's crying about it. Figures.

More non-news later.

I WON W.I.B.I.J.

AGAIN!

Please join me next time and maybe you can be the one to take me down! (evil smiley face)

This morning I mopped the kitchen. Changed my son's diaper twice. Made pancakes for my entire family. Watched "The Princess and the Frog" with my daughter and did the dishes. Now my daughter and husband are off to church while I get a much needed break with my little boy.

I'm tempted to do some writing while they're gone...but how can I ignore this???

I'm famous!

The interview is up!

Today is going to be a crazy day. My neighbor just had her 4th kid and today I'm looking after the 3 other children- as well as my own.
I don't think I'll get much writing done today...

More exciting news and W.I.B.I.J.

Thank you to all who participated in W.I.B.I.J. yesterday. I had a blast! In a few more weeks there will be another contest, so if you couldn't join in this time, never fear-you will get another chance to be pulverized by me. MWAHAHA!

I have been submitting Sally Circle this week, as you know from my previous post. Other than that, I haven't really written this week. It's almost like I can't submit and write at the same time. It's really bizarre. Has anyone else had this problem?

In other exciting news, tomorrow I am being interviewed by Heather Kelly at her fabulous blog! If you'd like to get a glimpse into my crazy world, take a gander.

Also, as a result of competing in W.I.B.I.J. yesterday I was able to find THIS BLOG. Awesomeness! I love finding new and interesting blogs- and this latest post of her's cracked me up! She compared her inner editor to Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones. You know, in his HAWT days. Yum.

It got me to thinking...who is MY inner editor? What's he like? Is he hot? Does he get to business? Is it a 'he' at all? When I get out my editing pen, who is guiding my hand?!

After some soul searching, this was my answer.

BITING THE BULLET HARD!

This morning I bit the bullet and I started submitting Sally Circle. She has now been sent out to 5 publishers- and I'm waiting to get more stamps and I'll send out some more. HERE WE GO!!!!!

In other news, I cleaned up "Chasing the Alphabet" this weekend and wrote a cover letter for it. I love getting that out of the way, even if I don't plan on submitting it for a while.

I still need to clean up Sassy Syndrome and submit it to Highlights magazine. I haven't heard from you guys in a while...are you still out there? How are things with all of you? What have you been working on/submitting?

Weekly plans and gratuitous kiddie shots.

On my list of things to do this week:

1) Revise "Chasing the Alphabet" again.

2) Clean up a short story of mine, "Sassy syndrome," and send to Highlights magazine.

3) Bite the bullet and start sending out "Sally Circle," to more than 2 publishers.

4) Take an old PB of mine, "Baby Dragon," and send to critique group and revise.

On a low note, I got a short story of mine rejected by Highlights today. They said that it just "wasn't a fit for their present needs."

On a high note, I have an outrageously handsome son.

And an unbelievably charming daughter :-)

YAYAYAYAYAY!

AN ONLINE E-ZINE JUST BOUGHT A SHORT STORY OF MINE!

This marks the first time I've ever been PAID for my writing!!!!!!!!!!

WOOOOOT!!!!!!!!!!

Huzzah!

*First major revision of "Chasing the Alphabet"

"Well-chuffed."

HA! I spent all morning writing, and now I have 1 1/2 books to show for it!

1) Chasing the Alphabet

2) The Chicken Nugget Diaries

The first one has already been sent to my PB critique group for what we call a "big picture" critique. It feels so good to finally churn something out. I think that admitting I'd gone so long without writing finally inspired me to do so.

Now onto other things....

Writing hiatus

Look, I'm not going to beat around the . I haven't been writing very much recently. Okay, I haven't been writing at all within the last week and a half. There are a number of reasons for this, in this order:

1)

2) TIME.

3) Laziness

4) Fear

The thing is, I do love to write. The first one is self explanatory. I think the second one is as well. The laziness thing- I don't know. It's like I can't find the gumption/motivation/inspiration/go get 'em attitude required to sit down and write something of value.

The fear is that I won't be able to write anything good when I do write. The fear is that I'll fail no matter how hard I try. The fear is stupid, but I can't help it.

How long have you guys gone without writing?

Inspiration (..and where I've been this weekend).

Fun and exciting news!

I WON I WON I WON I WON!!!!!!

See anything NEW?

It's a 1st place medal. That's right.

What's that? Where did I get it?!

I'm so glad you asked! The day before yesterday I participated in something called "W.I.B.I.J."

(Where in the Blogsphere is Jon?!)

This game is the brain child of fellow writers/bloggers Heather Kelly, Tina Laurel Lee, and Jon Arnston.

You can learn more about it HERE.

To summarize, it's a game that they put together for all of us writers to take a much needed break from writing and compete with other writers in the blogosphere. Jon goes missing and it's your job to find him! Clues are posted every 6 minutes and these clues lead you to a lot of helpful, interesting blogs by aspiring authors and literary agents alike. After you've found the right blog, you must unscramble the "secret words" in the comments section which are left by Jonathon in ALL CAPS. After collecting all of the words, the object of the game is to unscramble and submit the secret phrase before anyone else does. It's a fun way of discovering new and interesting blogs, connecting with new writers, and sending more traffic to your blog. There are two awards that can be given: the first place medal and the "Best Comment Award," given just today to Casey.

The best comment award can be won anytime in the 24 hours that the game is played. Each time you go to a blog you are required to leave an on-topic, respectful comment to avoid being disqualified. But not just any comment- the comment has to 'sparkle,' as Jonathon likes to say. It must stand out, thus earning you the award.

There are also other 'surprise' awards and honorable mentions to be had!

Does it sound like fun? Because IT WAS. Seriously. Ridiculously fun. I was in the zone. Not only that but it led me to new and interesting blogs that I'd never seen before and am now following. If you'd like to join in the fun, W.I.B.I.J. has a competition every 2 weeks. I will post a reminder right before the next competition begins.

Just try and beat me next time. Bwahaha!! (By the way, what is it about the "bw" that makes laughter sound evil? Thoughts?)

I'm going to post about....oh look, a pony!!!

First of all, I signed into blogger this morning and I was thrilled to see I now have 20 followers!! I'm ON MY WAY!!!!!! (...to having 21)

In other news, I've never been one to like formulas of any kind...but recently I've noticed how scatter-brained my writing is, and I've finally connected the dots. If my writing is a reflection of myself, then my writing is spontaneous, scatter-brained, and all over the place.

Maybe formulas could be useful for me?

As a result, I've embarked on researching formulas for writing picture books. I've found several interesting websites in the process. Honestly, I don't know how it'll turn out but I'm willing to try. Also, a member of a critique group suggested this book, which I plan on purchasing asap.

You know what I love about writing adult short stories? I don't plan on getting them published. I don't have to worry about the content being "too mature." There are literally no rules and I don't have to pick out cutesy words. It's better than writing a novel, because there is barely any planning involved (if any). Half the time I'll just start writing without a clue about where it's going. It's like therapy for me.

Recently I've been writing children's short stories instead of picture books. I'm not sure why that's easier for me, but it is. I tend to want to write for an older audience and my stories always want to be around 1500 words or so. So, as I've said before, I'm dipping my feet into the world of children's magazines.

Anyway, make sure to check my blog tomorrow. I've got some EXCITING news to share!!!

FYI...

I just submitted a story of mine to "Stories that lift" magazine. I'll let you know when (if) I hear anything!

Also, almost 2 months ago I submitted a story to Highlights magazine. Has anyone submitted work to them before? If so, when did you hear a response?

Thanks!

I need your help!!!

Today I've spent the majority of my morning cleaning up and taking my daughter to preschool, but I did have some time to "browse" the blogosphere, checking out other writers' blogs. After doing so, it has dawned on me that I have the most unoriginal. blog. title. ever. I like to add extra periods to emphasize the SERIOUSNESS of the situation, by the way. How. unoriginal. is. that. ???

Anyhow, I've got a case of the blog title blues. I'm now on a quest to find a creative way of saying that I am unpublished. But it needs to sound nice and optimistic. It needs to leave people with the impression that I'm cool with that. Even though I'm NOT. With being unpublished, that is. At least not in the long term. I'm cool with it now. I've met a lot of unpublished authors that are way awesomer than me.

In any case, I'd like to eventually get published, but for right now I'm okay with just learning the tricks of the trade. I just need to think of a creative, fresh way to express that. I need a "hook" title. And to think my focus was PR in college. HA. HA. HA.

Anyway, the point of this post is that I need help.

Do you have any ideas? Are you good with blog titles? Ideas, anyone?

You lazy bastards never got me my socks yesterday, so you owe me BIG.

Inspiration.

Get me some socks. You internet friends better be good for something.

I need to write. I did write, the other day. But what came out was...sub-par. Generic. Not very good.
I haven't had any good ideas in the shower recently. And that's when I normally get them...I think because, in this life full of kids, it's the only place I can hear myself think.
I've decided not to submit Sally Circle again until all my rejections come in. I'm talking about the rejections from the first, unrevised version of it. I call it the 'stupid copy.' Anyway, once all the stupid copy rejections come in, I might take a shot at sending out my revised version. But honestly, the more time goes by, the more certain I am that even a revised version won't get published. Sorry if I sound like a party pooper. It sucks because I spent so long working on it- but it's not in vain. It might never get published, but that story made me a MUCH stronger writer and I cannot even tell you how much I learned about PB's, poetry, and critiques. Sally Circle is the reason I have a critique group. It's the reason I have this blog. It's the reason I joined SCBWI. Honestly, it's the reason I decided to actually take a chance on my writing. So, thanks Sally Circle.

In other news...

-My son slept in his big boy bed last night

-My kids just dumped chocolate krispies all over the floor

-It's supposed to be like 67 degrees today!

-My feet are freezing but I'm too lazy to get my fat butt upstairs and get socks

-I've run out of diapers which requires me to get my fat butt upstairs and get some socks

-I've got a lot of non-news that I could continue to share with you, but I'm afraid you'll stop reading my blog.

That's all.

-

Inspiration.

Oh, I almost forgot...

CLICK HERE if you want a free book.

So....

my parents just left town, so I thought I'd fill you in on the past few days:

I have...

-celebrated my daughter's birthday

-celebrated my dad's birthday

-managed to do one PB critique

-put up a "Blog Post"

-taken my daughter to the doc for a double ear infection

-taken my son to the doc for a foot problem

-stayed awake for the past 3 days because my son got a cold...

-because my daughter had a cold...

-who gave it to my dad, who...

-Gave it to me.

Oh yeah, and I also received a rejection in the mail from Boyd's Mill Press on the original "Sally Circle." Can't say I'm surprised, but I still hate it when that happens. Crap on a stick.

Anyway, now I'm off to...

-publish this blog post

-try to put my sick son down for a nap

-possibly do another PB critique

-pick up my daughter from preschool

-clean up the house

-eat left over cake

-feel bad about eating the leftover cake

-thaw out meat.

Oh, how exhilarating my days are. When I find time to actually write again, I'll let y'all know.

Brief Post

Just wanted to make a quick post to let you all know that I am still HERE! Today is my daughter's birthday and tomorrow is my Dad's, so I've been pretty busy lately. I'm feeling bad about not being able to do all the PB critiques that I'm normally able to do and I'm feeling strangely sad about not being able to blog consistently. Has this really become such a big part of my life? Weird. Also, I have several more followers, in case you haven't noticed. I HAVE! Obviously so excited. Thanks for joining me, guys! I promise that I normally have more to write about...well, writing. Just give me a few more days :-)

Anyway, I trust that all of you have been in the pits of despair waiting for me to post something new to my blog, so here it is.

A blog post.