Just a quick update..

I fell like I'm going crazy. I haven't done much since my sister - bless her - has come into town. I've been partying a lot.

Her is an update on my book progress. My word count - which I am trying to get down to a reasonable reading count has gone back up. I got it down to 131,510 from 144,000. Good job for me. Well, now it's up again to 131,554!!

Not much of an improvement, but not too bad. Of course I've only got to chapter 14 out of 50. and this month is going by really quickly. Well, back to work...

Listening to the sound... of Razzberries pssttt.....

Here is my first blog of this year - so far I love 2010. 2009 is way in the past. And to make you all jealous - I'm eating a Reese's Peanut Butter Christmas Tree...

I bought Kevin a sound effects machine for Christmas. Unfortunately it came from England and arrived 2 days after Christmas. We have had a blast with it. I've never enjoyed Harry Potter 6 so much than watching it with the sound machine.

Examples:

Harry and Ginny Kiss - Whistle
Ron says anything - waw wah
Draco and Harry duel - Window Crashing
Ron and Lavendar - Gun shot
Harry uses the Felix Felisus - Light bulb

It's been so much fun.

Here is a video of the girls enjoying the sound machine.... They crack me up.

Julie and Julia vs. Candie and Vivatera

Here's to a New Year...

I was watching Julie and Julia, which I really liked by the way, and I got inspired by some of the things in it, mostly that the main girl "Julie" an aspiring writer, had a blog and wrote some very interesting stuff that people liked.

I am not "Julie" and I don't particularly have anything interesting to say. But as part of my resolutions this year, I have decided to keep up on my blog. There are a few reasons for this.

1. I'm funny!

2. I need motivation to finish some of the major things that I have been doing lately.

3. Regardless of who reads this, and I have very few, I need to get my name out there. It won't be long before I will... and let me explain.

Back in 2006 I got an idea for a book. I wrote out a timeline, some character sketches, a few chapters and then I had a baby and didn't touch anything for about eighteen months. In October 2007 I hosted a book club where we read "Twilight." In the event of this action I decided to start writing on my book again. I was inspired by the sheer simplicity of the book and thought "If I had written this book I would've done so many things differently." Instead of eating my words, I put my words into action and continued on my book. I fell in love with the characters and creating. July 31st 2008 I finished my book. January 2009 I finished my rewrite of my book, in the summer of 2009 I had my book edited, then read it out loud and rewrote it some more... and finally... I am rewriting it again.

So it would be something to write a book, but when you have to rewrite a book 5 times you start to loose your mind. I'm doing a final draft and am not touching it. I'm designing it to sell on Amazon.com as a print-on-demand, but I also have an idea.

As a member of Goodreads.com, I see how fast word travels about books. So I'm going to do an experiment and set up my book on Goodreads, and put it as a book I'm reading... and I want to see where it travels. This is also a good tactic to sell my book to publishers. I tried (and am still trying) to sell my book, the olde fashioned way, but with the networking we have now, is that necessary? I'd love to have someone buy it and mangle it into a beautiful piece of art, but these first editions will be much more personal - my gift to you.

I have a goal of 3 months. Think I can do it? I want to do it before my sister-in-law Kris has her baby, but that is unrealistic, so I will set it at March 31st to have it marketed on Amazon. This is nothing like the year JuliePowell spent cooking with Julia Child, this is a much more realistic goal for me. I had a goal of writing a book, now I want to share my book.

So wish me luck!

Sore Winner! Version 2

Mia and I played Wii sports and I realized something...

• Mia: Mom you are sooooo losing.
• Mia: I am so winning you.
  
• Mia: I love strikes! Just love, love strikes.
• Mia: In your face! All over the place!
• Mia: Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!
• Mia: I love love winning, especially winning you Mom.
• Mia: You missed!!
• Mia: Stri ee i ee ike!! In the Face mommy. In Your Face!
• Mia: (victory dance with a lot of shaking her booty) Yes! Thank you!
• Mia: I rock at Bowling!

Sound familiar - I didn't ever know that my competitive gaming was hereditary. Yikes!!

Rejection Collection

This isn't a pity party and I don't ask for words of encouragement, I just wanted to share with you some of the responses I have gotten from agents and publishers since I started submitting in September.

I've done as Shannon Hale told us at our workshop and saved every rejection I get. I've only really received 8 real No Thank Yous, and I thought I might share my misery.

Foundry: I found your material interesting, unfortunately I've decided that this project is not right for me. I'm sorry I can't respond with good news, but I'm sure you will find the right representation.

- And she addressed me by my name and signed it. This was one of the better ones.

Nelson Literary Agency: Dear Author: Thank you so much for sending the Nelson Literary Agency your query. We'd like to apologize for the impersonal nature of this standard rejection letter. Rest assured that we do read every query letter carefully and unfortunately, this project is not right for us.

- It sounds like something I heard on the Simpson's - Dear Baby, Welcome to Dumpsville, population YOU!

Paradigm: Thanks for letting me take a look at the opening to THE VIVATERA. I'm afraid this isn't right for me, so I have to pass on requesting more material; but I want to wish you luck in finding a good home for your novel. Thank you for the opportunity to review.

- He did wish me luck, how nice...

Fox Literary: Unfortunately, this doesn't sound right for me.

- Okay....?

Writers House: ... at 144,000, your word count is pretty high. You should try and get it as close to 100,000 words as possible. A high word count could seriously impact you finding an agent willing to take on when a lot of work will need to be done.

- I thought that was thoughtful to give me some advice on the word count - so I decided to take it off the query.

PMA: Thanks you for your recent query letter and your interest in PMA. We are always eager to hear from writers who are serious about the business of writing; unfortunately, we do not feel that PMA is the right company to represent you.

- Notice my book is not mentioned anywhere and mentioned themselves. They didn't even read it, jerkface. I guess I'm just not SERIOUS about the business of writing.

Larson Pomada: Thanks, but not my thing.

- No letter or nothing... got to love that.- But the one I received on Saturday was I think the most honest. The hard part about it was they had the entire manuscript. I always knew they would say no because Shadow Mountain is a division of Deseret Book and my book has Tattoos in it and I can't take that out. It is a vital part of the story. So the blow wasn't so bad, I kinda knew already.

Shadow Mountain: We are always pleased to see new ideas, and we have now completed our review of this material. It is obvious you have invested a considerable amount of time and energy into this project. Our publishing schedule is quite competitive, however, and as we look carefully at all the issues involved in publication, we are forced to be extremely selective in our publishing decisions. I am sorry to inform you we are not in a position to pursue this project with you.

I think this was the most honest response out of them all, I could be wrong though - maybe it's just not their thing. Some of the rejections came with hardly any material sent to them, Shadow Mountain had everything, and I felt like they really read it. I just need to get my book through the door and I know whoever finds it will love it. I'm not good at querying I guess and should work on that.