In Which I Bring Bargains Back

(quick note: next week I will be unplugged. Twin and I have the week off from work, and we will be spending it outside, landscaping and gardening. Internet useage will be limited)

Do you remember when Deals with the Universe used to be stylish? Maybe like 1-2 years ago?

In case you don't, or it was before your blog community time, A Deal With the Universe is when you tell the universe "if you give me What I Want (typically a book deal, or something), then I will do This".

The "What I Want" and the "This" are tailored to each individual person.
Example, when Natalie Whipple got her agent, she died her hair (Purple, I think. If I recall correctly).




I always thought the Deals looked like a lot of fun, so now that I'm at the query stage, I've decided to try to bring them back to popularity.

The only thing is, I need some ideas about what I will do, if the universe come through for me.

So I'm taking some suggestions.

If I ask the universe to help me out with something rhyming with "boffer of bepresentation" what should I offer in return?

I am taking any an all suggestions (though, keep in mind ideas that require me to embarrass myself in public may meet with less favor)

So give me your ideas! I'll announce the deal when I'm back after my unplugging next week.


How about you? Make any deals lately? Care to try and bring them back into vogue with me?

In Which I Start Again

So now that I'm querying, I've found that I have some more free time. The time that used to be spent editing. Cuz querying involves moments of work, followed by long stretches of waiting.

I needed something else to do. I did some CP work, I read some bookage, but neither of those were cutting it. Then I realized, what I really needed, was a new WIP.





Did I want to start something new, though? I have plans to participate in NaNo again this year, and I worry that if I start a new novel now, it may interfere with NaNo (or, more specifically, NaNo would interfere with the new WIP)

So I did some maths. I wrote Glimpse in less than 2 months. Then I revised and edited for about 4 months.

If I started a new novel in May, and I more or less followed the same timeline as Glimpse, I could be done with it by November, in time to start something new for NaNo 2011.

I've been brainstorming on two new ideas, so I think I'll use the more developed one for my new WIP and the other one for NaNo 2011.

At the very least, a new WIP will hopefully keep my mind off of checking my email so much.

Now I've got to mess around with the steps of the snowflake method I use, try to come up with a working title (so hard) and figure out if this story needs to be told in 1st POV or 3rd.

How about you? Started anything new lately?

Friday Fun

Yvie's back! To chuck you at the weekend like a fast-ball special (extra points for anyone who gets this super nerdy reference. Teebore and Twin can't play).





How are things with you, ape-friends? Good? I hope so.
Things have been cray-cray around her. First it warms up. Then it snows again. Then it warms up. Then it rains and snows again. Then it warms up. Then it rains.
I mean, for realz? All this is playing havoc on my doggy allergies. Good thing Mom bought me some benadryl.

Ah well, sooner or later spring will win out. We just have to be patient.
Onto the fun!!





Camel being tickled. That is all.

In Which I Query

I tried to find a picture related to the topic at hand but couldn't. So instead you get this

So, as the title says, and as I hinted at last Wednesday, I've jumped into the query waters.
So far I find them pleasant and warm. And exciting to finally be in them!

Though one thing I didn't expect was this obsession with my gmail, and some mild impatience. I know everyone tells you to expect this, I just though I wouldn't have to worry about it.

I mean, waiting for responses? I though that'd be easy. I've submitted short stories and had to wait on those. I've got a story on submission right now that's been with magazine for 4 months now, and I've still got another possible 2 months wait on it. Just to wait to see if they're interested. That's half a year for like 2500 words.
After that, I thought waiting for possible query responses would be easy.

Wrong. I think the reason why it's different is because some agents get back to you right away, so you get a taste for quick responses. Which means I check my gmail like 3 times more a day than I used to.

Also, checking my gmail is totally bittersweet now. I get both excited and nervous to do it. What if I have a response? What if I don't? I'm not even necessarily worrying what the responses will be. All of this wars inside me the moment I sign in to when my inbox opens up.

All in all, I'm having a great time.

When I got really serious again about my writing (about 2 years ago) one of the things I was looking most forward to was querying. Even though it's an emotional roller coaster, it looked so fun to me. And it's definitely one step further along in the journey. So yeah, now that I'm here, I'm determined to have a good time, no matter what.

Also, I love filling out little databases and stuff with submission stats (like duotrope digest for short stories) so now that I actually get to do that in query tracker, I'm all smiles.

So, how about you? Where are you at with your current writerly process? And most importantly, are you having fun?

In Which I'm Behind

I've been working really hard lately (as evidenced by last Wednesday's post) on all things writerly. Which is great, I love having the feeling that I'm accomplishing things.

One thing, though, that writing tends to get in the way of, is reading.
Normally I'm a pretty fast reader, but lately I've been chugging through books at a ridiculously slow rate, well for me anyway.

I've been reading Behemoth for over two weeks now, and even though I'm loving it, I'm still only on like chapter thirteen.

Normally it wouldn't be such a big deal, but I set that goal to read 55 books in 2011. So far, I've read 13, which is a little over 3 a month. That is not even close to cutting it.




I think what I need to do is get some more of the Ranger's Apprentice series (LOVE IT). Those are short and fast, so I could read some of those, update my list and feel like I'm moving in the right direction.

The only problem with that plan, though, is I already have a huge TBR pile with some great books I'm excited to read (an ARC of divergent, as example) so I don't think it would be fair to get some new books and move them to the top of the pile, just to inflate my numbers a bit and make me feel better.

Sigh. Ah well. Clearly I just need to get down to it.

How's your TBR pile coming?

Friday Fun

Hi Ape-friends! Yvie's back after a short break!

Mom forgot one big thing on her list of accomplishments on Wednesday. And that is - we celebrated Tula's 2nd birthday!

at the airport, on the way home

Yeah, frequently sometimes she stinks. She's whiny and barky and bugs me out in the yard when I just want to sniff sniffs. But also she plays with me while Mom and Anne workout in the morning, and sometimes we wrestle during the day, or play tug, which is my favorite.




So, all in all, she's pretty cool.


Happy birthday Tula!



Now, Onto the fun!

if you only watch one video today, make sure it's this one

would you join the dark side?

In Which I Accomplish Things

A list of things I accomplished on my short hiatus:

1. Finished reading Glimpse out loud
2. Wrote my synopsis
3. Edited my synopsis
4. Judged youth poems for an annual B&N Poetry Contest with Hannah and Teebore. All time favorite poem? "Video Games Rule! (except for educational and baby ones)"
5. Tweaked Glimpse
6. Decided to test the query waters with Glimpse first, before I make any more large changes
7. Began to psych myself up for querying
8. Finished Elana's Possession

I feel like I'm missing something obvious, but hell if I can remember it.
All right! Share with me some of your recent accomplishments - I want to hear all about them so I can cheer you on!