I’m lovely!

September 25, 2012September 24, 20129 Comments

As I was slaving over a hot stove preparing supper for the horde of hungry menfolk clamoring for food just outside my kitchen tonight (okay, okay, Seymour and the boys don’t exactly count as a horde of hungry men, but in a couple of years, I’m sure the boys alone will), I learned that my good friend Lindsey (whom I would like to thank profusely once again) had nominated me for the One Lovely Blog Award. So, without further ado, ze rules:

Include the blog award logo in your post – check
Thank the person who nominated you – double check
Provide seven random facts about yourself – check again (see below)
Nominate seven other blogs and let them know – alrighty then!

The Facts, Ma’am, Just the Facts

I have a terrible memory and it’s getting worse. If I don’t write things down, I don’t remember them. Unfortunately, sometimes I remember that I need to write something down, only to forget what that something was!

More stuff and such this way!

Movin’ right along!

September 24, 201226 Comments

Guess who just finished the first chapter of her newest WIP? That’s right! Given that I’ve only been writing (not plotting) for what – a week? – and the fact that I don’t have a whole lot of free time in which to write, I’m pretty proud of myself. I can’t wait to see how everything is going to turn out. 🙂

I just finished my first book (for the third time…) (writeaubreywrite.wordpress.com)

Thought for the day

September 24, 2012Leave a comment

Literature is the art of writing something that will be read twice. –Cyril Connolly

More thoughts literary

September 23, 20122 Comments

Failure? I never encountered it. All I ever met were temporary setbacks. -Dottie Walters

You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you. –Ray Bradbury

After I read a good book, I have a hard time coping with reality. –Andrea Gerber

Oh, darling!

September 22, 2012September 22, 20124 Comments

They say you should murder your darlings, but this one from my latest project may prove difficult to kill, should it eventually become necessary:

If there was anything Muffy Montrose and Cookie Bradley loved more than talking, though, it was shopping. They went every other weekend, always with each other, usually with their daughters in tow, but never with their husbands, who were too busy working or golfing to notice the desperation their wives wore like the latest fragrance.

If he were being honest with himself, Michael felt sorry for these women. They were trapped in marriages that provided them every comfort but the one they truly wanted. Even their daughters had little respect for them. Maria was always going on about how her mother was such a doormat and how she should stand up for herself and how she would never let a man treat her the way her father has treated her mother. But then, he wasn’t being honest with many people lately, least of all himself.

Room-ba!

September 21, 2012August 22, 20145 Comments

We’ve lived in our house for three years now and have done some extensive remodeling in that time. Almost every room in our house has had something done to it. At last, we’ve crossed Tomcat’s room off our list.

Photo by Kay Kauffman

Since we have three boys, we have a set of bunk beds. The littler two aren’t quite old enough for them yet, but they will be one day, so in the meantime, Tomcat gets to choose whether he has top bunk or bottom. While they’re great for accommodating a large number of children in a small number of bedrooms, they’re not so great when it comes to repainting a room. Case in point:

Photo by Kay Kauffman

As you can see, the bunk beds were a bit of a problem. Did I say problem? I meant to say that they posed their own special challenge (by which I, of course, mean that they were a colossal pain in my back side).
Seriously, having something that big in the middle of the room when you’re trying to paint really sucks. But! It gets better behind the cut.

So, about your border…

September 20, 2012Leave a comment

Finally got around to putting up Tomcat’s wallpaper border tonight. It went more or less okay until we got to the closet.

This crap should be drug out into the street and shot. Repeatedly.

In other news, tomorrow I will probably have a post on how awesome Tomcat’s room looks. You know, after the electrician finishes installing his ceiling fan and I get everything put back in his room where it belongs. 😀

That is all.

A sneak peek…and news

September 19, 2012September 19, 20122 Comments

The finalists for the GUTGAA agent contest won’t officially be announced till Friday, but it’s not looking good for me so far. As of right now, only three people have stopped by to comment on my entry (how many have actually looked at it is anyone’s guess) and none of them were judges. I won’t lie, I’m disappointed. I was really hoping to make it through to round two and possible see a request come my way. But I have been having a lot of fun with the whole blogfest and I’ve made a lot of new friends and I’m really happy for everyone who is moving on. There are a ton of talented writers out there and the ones getting through deserve all their hard-earned success. The small press competition is coming up, but I’m not going to be competing in that. Good luck to those of you who are!

FYI, if you want to enter the small press competition, you need to sign up here.

So back to querying I go. Between GUTGAA and PitMad, I’ve acquired some new people to add to my query list, which is also helpful. The GUTGAA pitch polish helped me fine-tune my query pitch and the comments I received on it in my agent contest entry were favorable. See? Good things, right? Plus, PitMad was good exposure since I was throwing out pitches every half hour or so, right? Visibility is good, right? I’m working on the power of positive thinking here, people.

I think I need to keep working on my positivity skills.

Would you like a peek at what I’ve been working on the last couple of days?

Vote for Vegin!

September 18, 20121 Comment

Cast your votes for Vegin Martoka today! He’s been nominated for President of the United States of America and I think he would be a great leader for our country in this difficult time. After all, he led Lokana through one of the most turbulent times in its history, dealing with the devastating droughts and the assassination of his parents, as well as the attempted coup by the Zealots, led by his own brother-in-law, Balil.

Vegin believes all men – and women – were created equal and will make sure that all are treated equally before the law. He despises corruption and has ousted corrupt officials from every level of government. A family man, Vegin strives to lead by example. Honor, decency, and integrity are very important to him. He is a team player, willing to compromise when needed, and believes that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

So vote for Vegin! Click here to cast your vote. He will lead Lokana – erm, America, sorry – back to glory! 😀

Sunday chat

September 16, 2012Leave a comment

Ah, Sundays. Those lazy days before Mondays and work and craziness are days to be treasured. This particular Sunday, you can find me chatting with romance author Tory Richards over at her blog, Romance with an Attitude. We talk about writing and family and some other completely random things. Why not check it out?

Tomorrow the fun will really begin with GUTGAA. Actually, I’ve been having quite a lot of fun with it already, as there are quite a lot of lovely people to chat with on the Twitter hashtag #GUTGAA. I also received some helpful advice during the pitch polish event. Now I’ll get to see how well I implemented it…

And now I think it’s time for a nap. Yep, this is one lazy Sunday. 🙂