Quick Post

It's Wednesday -- nearly one week (well, 9 days) of the school year left!

Can I just say I so enjoy teaching. It can be very stressful -- but subbing is totally the way to go if you're a YA writer like me. For every cranky sixth grader, there's a charming kindergartener ready with a hug and a hand-drawn card that says stuff like, "I love you forever, Miss K."

The older kids, who know what I do at my "other" job always ask about what I'm writing. You can just see the spark of possibility in their eyes -- that thought that maybe they might one day write or follow their dreams. But when I say dreams, I actually mean goals.

Dreams are different from goals. I mean, I dream of vacationing on a sandy tropical beach -- am I saving money for the plane ticket? Researching tiki huts? Waxing my surfboard? (Okay, so I don't have a surfboard, duh!) No. That's a dream. A fantasy. Would be nice, but still...

Writing for publication -- making a good living with words -- that is my goal. So, I work at it. Take the lumps that come. Get better. Get braver. Keep going. Repeat. Grow. Change. Learn.

The difference between goals and dreams is action. Be active, people!

Ready for Take-Off!

I had word from GA (Great Agent) that he liked the revisions I made last week to my YA paranormal and.... drumroll please... it is ready to go out!

Woo-hoo! I'm nervous and excited about what we'll hear back. But in a good way. :)

Also, my buddy Pat sent me a beautiful bracelet to inspire me on the WIP still in my head. It's not the sequel -- had to set that aside to handle revisions, etc. -- but something else that's been brewing for a few months. Don't you love how that happens? That some magical mix of thoughts and images can simmer away in your cranium, and then somehow, one day, you know the story is ready to write. That's how this one feels.

In the meantime, things seem topsy-turvy in my world this week. I can't wait to settle back in to working on my other revisions (Man, it seems like I do a lot of those) on the earlier YA.

No matter what is happening in my life, there are always the words to be written. Stories to be told. Even to the point that I feel like I'm experiencing things from outside my body, looking down on me as a heroine in predicaments that will be solved. Life is a goldmine of emotions to be experienced and noted, I guess. I just wish that I could write the outcomes, you know?

Okay, that last bit sounds a bit mental, I'll admit. :) We're only in control of our own actions, words, thoughts. Too bad we don't get to write the script for the other players. But I guess that's the human condition.

*Lightbulb!* That's why I love writing!!! I do get to write the script and outcome. It is control in a way.

Okay, after those exhausting mental leaps, I am off to eat a snack and collapse. I forgot to mention I walked two miles in the school Walk-a-Thon today (One lap I actually ran!) with the fifth-graders today. It was great. And it kept my mind off the waiting business....

Which, *Duh!* is only just beginning....

The Dress!

It was a very eventful weekend -- I found my Golden Heart dress!

It's always fun to shop with my Grammy -- she is getting up there in age, but you'd never know it from meeting her. She's as beautiful as Lauen Bacall and as stylish as any TV-fashion guru. Last year, the dress she helped me pick out was a pink tiered silk gown, fit for Nicole Kidman at the Golden Globes. A confection, Grammy called it.

This year, we hit Nordstrom's Special Occasion department, where we were quite disappointed. Aside from a few lonely Sue Wong gowns -- in all the wrong sizes -- and one maybe Tadashi blue silk number, the place was like a picked over wasteland.

We found "the" dress in the Narrative department -- aka Date Dress Land -- on a *gasp* sale rack! It was like the Holy Grail -- but not in the DaVinci Code way -- of little black dresses! Spaghetti straps, black beading in a swirl that runs down and around the middle to the hem, some drapey panels that float the floor. It was, as Grammy put it, "a classy-slash-sexy" gown. Of course, I tried others on, but Grammy was right. I ended up buying that exact dress.

The shoes were harder to find, and even harder to walk in! I'm seriously going to have to practice before the GH Awards ceremony at the end of July.

The thing I liked best about "the" dress? I feel gorgeous when I put it on. You know how like in Hello, Dolly! they sing the song "Put on Your Sunday Clothes When You Feel Down and Out" ? If I ever really get that rainy day feeling I will reach for that dress.

When you know you look good -- for yourself and no one else -- it does make the world seem brighter. Even a paranormal author needs that sometimes.

Hugs!

Post-It

Just a quick post today...

I finished the "big" revision last night on my teen paranormal. It's funny that I started with that part of the revisons -- the part that needed one little scene inserted. It was a concrete fix, something I could work in with a little tweaking. And it made me all emotional! That love stuff always does. :)

The smaller revision I tackled this morning was more of a subtle attitude thing -- making sure my MC isn't harshing on her fellow campers too much. As GA (Great Agent) pointed out, not every one of my teen girl readers is "going to be fabulous and from Beverly Hills." See why I like this guy? Very astute. I'll go back through that beginning again later, making sure the changes I made are enough.

Oh -- for inspiration this week, I am listening to a Natalie Goldberg workshop on tape, which I picked up at a junk store for next to nothing. Can't believe what a treasure it is. And, since I'm supposed to have my CD player installed in my new ride soon, it may be the last chance to listen to a tape player in a car... haha. Love listening to books on tape/CD while I do long drives. It makes the time pass so quickly and you really can absorb the information.

Have you listened to a book or workshop on tape recently?

To Be Read

I love new books. I love buying them at the bookstore. I adore them coming to my mailbox from Amazon. I love 'em. I only hate the way they tempt me away from my own keyboard...

I just finished reading DATE ME BABY ONE MORE TIME by Stephanie Rowe. Cute and sexy story about the guardian of the Goblet of Eternal Youth and a hero out to break a family curse. Loved it.

Currently reading MAXIMUM RIDE by James Patterson -- a YA about genetically engineered kids who can fly and are on the loose from their prison/laboratory. Very action packed. I had to quit reading it at night, and I'm not even an old person. Ha. I'll come back to it.

Plus, SPECIALS by Scott Westerfeld arrived via Amazon this week. (Just released!) It's the genius third book in his Uglies series about a distant future where plastic surgery and bubblegum minds are the norm and a group of kids try to buck the system. He's got great characters and is a master world-builder. So far, I'm halfway through the book. I have to force myself to slow down and savor the story.

Next up in the TBR pile is I'D TELL YOU I LOVE YOU, BUT THEN I'D HAVE TO KILL YOU by Ally Carter, who I met briefly in Reno at the RWA conference last summer. She was so sweet and the book (in hardcover, no less) looks like a lot of fun.

Then, I'm on to TWILIGHT by Stephanie Meyer -- which I can't believe I haven't read yet, working in YA paranormal myself. I will force myself to finish my own YA revisions before I delve into that dark world. And it's set in the Northwest, in a town I've often been to. Can't wait to read it.

So, I have a lot to read this month -- and a ton to write.

What is in your TBR pile, guys?

I Survived Kindergarten but my Shirts Didn't...

The sun is out. I'm simmering brown Basmati rice (courtesy of Trader Joe's -- the best food store on the planet, IMO) and defrosting Mahi. I'm actually cooking after several days of leftovers, doing revisions, meetings, long nights. It's so good to smell real food cooking. Ahhh.

See last week I again encountered the 6 year old aliens that populate the school. I had four days' worth of encounters with the little buggers. I'm glad for the work, but when I went to do laundry on the one day off -- the aliens got their revenge. In the form of a purple crayon. Which I pulled from the dryer with my clothes. Which melted all over my fave t-shirts.

At least it wasn't the pants, I told myself... as I drove to the nearest Old Navy. Any excuse for t-shirt shopping!

Anyway, I have several writing-only days this week and I'm anxious to get back to revisions. I love it when new ideas starting popping up for old projects. There's something to be said about letting things marinate.

And... I'm back to food. Gotta go finish dinner. Ciao!