Magic Genie, I wish For...

If I had three wishes right now from my very own magic genie, I'd wish for a PR specialist. Why? Because there is SOOOO much to do in thinking of self publishing my novel. I spent most of yesterday looking into the various aspects of what I need to be doing to really give this baby of mine the best shot out there in the world of books.

I had a sort of temporary ADD running from one website on launch parties to another on book doctors to a third on book trailers. Yikes! Overwhelming? Yes. Thrilling? Absolutely.

So today, I hope to approach things with a tad bit more aplomb and focus. I look at this as birthing my 4th baby...and by all accounts, it very well might take 9 months!

Please continue to share your tips and success stories!

Getting Ready To Take The Plunge!

I think I'm finally ready.

I think I'm ready to take the plunge and self publish my first novel. With the completion of my second novel and the editing process in full swing, I've decided it's high time I do something about the first one sitting on my shelf in it's three ring binder.

I'll be the first to admit that the thought of all that goes into publishing your own book is more than a bit daunting to me. The more I research and read about the marketing and promotional aspects of it, the more I wonder if this is an arena I can be successful in. I spend much of my time conversing with fictional characters in my head...planning their words, their next move. It's quite a leap, in my mind, to go from this solitary endeavor to peddling my book to the masses. Still I believe there has to be a happy medium for a writer like me...a way to market myself inside my own comfort zone.

So now I feel a little like the proverbial kid in a candy store with so many options of book covers producers, copyright editors, book doctors...marketing strategies and launch parties. Hey now, this could be fun if only I can get over my fear of the stigma attached to self publishing by so many in the industry.

As I start to prepare for this new endeavor, I'd love to know your experience with publishing your own book...from choosing a company and hiring editors to how you spread the word and marketed your work. Please share!

I'm BAAAAACCCCKKKK!!!

So here we are again...many months since my last post and back again. Only this time, I'm alone.

All the kids are in school this year - well, at least on Tuesdays and Thursdays - so my mind is running rampant with plot ideas and character descriptions. I'm finally back to my current WIP which had been placed on hold for the past year and boy does it feel great! In fact, it felt fabulous today to update my word count progress in the corner of this blog. Yes, sometimes it's the little things in life that lift you up.

My hope is that my blog here is rejuvenated and I get to catch up with all my friends and faithful followers again. I'll be posting more often now - sometimes about my book, sometimes about my kids (7th grade now YIKES, 5th grade WOW and pre-school YES!), sometimes about my girl scout troop (that totally rocks) and sometimes just about the crazy things that life brings my way. Either which way, I'm BAAAACCCKKKK!

So in a few minutes, I'll sign off here and run around the house picking up and putting away for a bit and then sit down for 4 hours of solid writing. What a great day!

Only thing that can make it better? Maybe if the little one doesn't cry all day at pre-school.

Wishing you all a productive day at your computers!

Newb or Noob?

Oh boy. I spent some time on urbandictionary.com doing some "research" today. Researching for a hip, super cool book you ask? No such luck. No, I was researching the current lingo going around my son's sixth grade class.

We had an interesting conversation in the car yesterday. It went something like this:

usually private 12 year old: "Mom, just curious, what's a newb?"
delighted to be asked mom: "I don't think I've ever heard that word...who said it?"
usually private 12 year old: "Just some kids. What's a scrub?"
confident mom: "Well, it's something doctors wear while working at a hospital."
usually private 12 year old: "I don't think that's what they mean..."
starting to feel old mom: "I don't know then, we'll google it."
usually private 12 year old: "How about a pimp?"
now dying mom: "Don't use that word."

End of said conversation.

Whoa....hold the phone! A pimp? Red flags popping up all over the place...

So that's how I happened upon urbandictionary.com which only succeeded in pointing out to me how much the world is changing. If I'm honest, I'm more confused than ever. Here's what I found for scrub - word for word, mind you....

A scrub is a guy that thinks he's fly
And is also known as a buster
Always talkin' about what he wants
And just sits on his broke ass
A scrub is a guy that cant get no love from me
Hanging out the passenger side
Of his best-friend's ride
Trying to holler at me

What????? So I look up newb...

Someone who is new to the activity that they are currently partaking in. Very often this term is used pertaining to computer games. Contrary to popular belief, a newb and a n00b are not the same thing, as a newb can and will get better where as a n00b will partake in activites meant mainly to aggrivate other players.

This seems clear enough, right? Starting to make sense. But I should have stopped with the definition, but being a word geek, I looked to the explanatory sentence:

"You jump with the space bar, don't be such a newb" Uh-oh...what does that mean..."jump with the space bar"? This research could go on for ever...

Is this really the way kids are talking these days? I'm not even 40 yet, and I'm so out of touch? How can that be? I guess I'm lucky that my kid is asking me all these questions and giving me a chance to catch up with the youth lingo...and sadly, I almost signed up to get the word of the day e-mailed me from urbandictionary just so I could stay ahead of the game...but I recouped my sensibilities and passed it up. Some things, I just don't need sent to my inbox.

So what's the bright side? At the least the definition for pimp was the same as I remember.

Any interesting slang you think I should know?

Samoas, Do Si Do's, Thin Mints....

So the New Year has come and is really not so "new" anymore and this is my first post. Ugh. Apologies. Sorry. Ooops...etc etc...

My excuse? This is my busy season. "An accountant," you assume. No - I am a 4th grade Girl Scout leader and (drum roll please)... IT'S COOKIE TIME!!!

Now all of you out there smiling as the thought of little Brownie and Junior scouts headed to your door peddling their boxes of cookies with promises of summer camps they wish to attend and homeless shelters they wish to help with their profits - stop and think of the poor leader who has to lug all the hundreds of boxes of cookies to her garage and disperse them to the eager little girls and then keep track of the thousands of dollars that flow in daily in dribs and drabs (in single bills and grubby coins, I might add).

Yesterday, my husband watched as I laid out my order forms and receipt packets to prepare my Cookie Selling Packet for my girls. "I guess I'll start parking in the driveway," he said. Yup, I guess he will. His side of the garage will soon be full of cases of Thin Mints and Samoas and my dreams full of bounced checks and Cookie booths on the horizon.

Just another reason why this current book is still in progress...

How do all you fabulous writer moms do it? I haven't written in two months! I think this weekend, I'm going to make it a priority to open a box of Do Si Do's and bang out a chapter...

Have a fabulous weekend - see you on this flip side!

I guess we just keep plugging away...

So, last year I made a New Years resolution to read more. I already read quite a bit...every night in bed, sitting in the car waiting for the kids to be done practices. Sometimes I've even been known to read while making dinner if it is a really good book. But I wanted to read even more...I wanted to make a serious dent in the never ending shelf of books that I want to delve into. So I set myself a goal of 2 books a month (not alot really...) That's only 24 for the year.

Well, now it is closing in on the end of the year and I realize I haven't even come close. Not only did I not meet my resolution, but I read so far under my goal that I'm a little depressed about it.

But rather than throwing in the towel, I'm going to try again this year. What were your resolutions for 2010? Were you more successful than me?

Book Club worthy?

Yippee, Hooray, Yee-haw!

Yes, the kids are back in school! (Well, two out of three anyway...but at least I'm no longer out numbered...)

It's such a relief to be done with all the running around that goes with the approaching school year. School supply shopping must be the most universally despised outing by moms everywhere. We avoid it all summer long which is why we ALL end up at Target and Office Depot on the last week of summer vacation. My school mandated supply list for two kids went something like this: 24 pack crayons, 12 pack colored pencils, 24 pack colored pencils, large white eraser (not pink, mind you), 4 folders in specific colors with NO DESIGNS, 2 folders with designs, 1 pack wide ruled loose leaf, 1 pack college ruled loose leaf ...you get the idea. Add in one crying toddler because it was her third store in one day and she was looking at the McDonald's located INSIDE the other side of the Walmart (who's bright idea was THAT?) and you'll see why I hate school supply shopping. I'd like to say it all works out in the end, but when you get home and begin to load the backpacks, you always find there is something you forgot. For me this year, it was a yellow highlighter for my 6th grader (and yes, it had to be yellow).

But there IS a part of back to school preparations that I do enjoy: the summer reading book report. It is gratifying to see how far the kids have come since the past school year - how much their vocabulary and handwriting have improved since June. But reading over my son's report last week, I had to stop and wonder: As a writer, am I ready to have such detailed and specific questions asked of my work? And more importantly: Would there really be an answer?

Was I really foreshadowing the ending when I had the MC plant a willow tree rather than a birch or an elm? (Couldn't I have just always wanted a willow in my own yard?) Was the fact that the nanny's name was Savannah indicative of the MC's southern roots? (Couldn't I have just liked the name?) And most importantly: Was I, the author, really trying to teach a lesson or universal truth during the course of my novel? How would my novel rate as a "book club" book? And does it even need to be?

Is it possible that authors don't always intend for the literary contraptions that appear in their books or could it possibly just be a manifestation of their underlying talent that these devices arise from their subconscious? What do you think? How would your own work rate as a "book club" book?