Wow!  Between teaching & migraines I haven't done much.  But!!

Yesterday I spent the afternoon sending out queries and got a new idea.  We are spending Thanksgiving away - long road trip - and there will be lots of pen & paper in my Entertainment Bag!

Last weekend was the Peak City Book Fest.  I got to see my friend Eileen for breakfast & catch up.  That was marvelous!  She is getting a new illustrator for her tales and I got to peek at the submissions.   Peak City was awful.  No one I questioned could admit to making any money and the big place they choose as an appropriate venue for book signings is Chick-Fil-A.   Half of the vendors were not in the literary world.  To get foot traffic they brought in jewelry, hand-made goods, & down-liners.  I love jewelry, hand-made goods, and down-liners and I buy from them, but it shouldn't take that diversity for a Publishing House to get traffic for AUTHORS.

I'm looking forward to this week.  Maybe something good will happen?

I'm really excited!  My Crit friend Kamie suggest Sushi the Wonder Pug would make a good series of picture books instead of a chapter book.  Also gave me a good re-write idea for another chapter.  I told Meggie - my Daughter Reader - and she thought so also.  To quote my favorite guru, Gru, "Light Bulb!" 

Now if I could take leave from my job and write.  Ah well.  Sunday evenings it is.  I have renewed energy & creative spark & spit by Sunday.  :P

Yesterday I received the loveliest rejection!  He didn't connect with my writing, but thought it was charming.  Charming is a good word!  I can definitely work on some re-writes with a great vocab word to hang my hopes on!  :P

Speaking of rejections, I am a member of Writer Unboxed on Facebook.  Someone posted this great silly - 10 Major Mystery Writers who wouldn't get published today.  It imagines their rejection letters.  Enjoy!

http://mysteriousmatters.typepad.com/mysterious_matters_myster/2013/10/10-writers-who-couldnt-get-published-today.html

High tech is terrific until it doesn't work any more.  I've had a downed laptop.  We debate the cause, but lots of dinking around and stress has restored myself to my laptop's good graces.  

I spent today cleaning.  Tonight I am back on track to send out more inquiries.  I've allowed the real world job to eat my last 3 weeks.  They needed me.  Now I need me.  Next week, except for school hours, my time goes to sending out Alice and Sushi, and beginning one of my new ideas.  Which one will I choose to work on?  

I have too many ideas.  What a magnificent problem to have!  

Time for a pumpkin cookie.

I'm listening to a SCBWI Webinar.  Doesn't have as much to do with me as she does teen romance & I write picture books, early readers, easy chapter books.  I see enough of that Teen Romance stuff in the hallways of the high school!  Icky!  I'm usually the one breaking it up, so I haven't tried writing it yet.  I'm still going to find something in there, I'm sure.

Today was a problem in several ways.  Had trouble getting into the webinar, it was PSAT testing at work so my schedule was messed up and I had to give up my room for them to test in.  Was so wiped this morning I went to school with 2 different tennis shoes on.  The kids and I had a good laugh!  I tried to tell them it was Nerd day for Spirit Week just a week late.  They didn't buy it.  :P  How many of you have gone to work with 2 different shoes on?

I have been dreaming the conference, only I am the successful author giving the Break Out Session and having a fabulous time.  It is such a great dream that the sleep paralysis isn't working - I'm talking in my sleep & waking myself up critiquing imaginary picture books and talking to my audience.  I do wake up smiling!

The unfortunate part is I haven't written a thing since I've been back.  I have spilling over with ideas, and my job is draining me dry.  This week, though, I think will take me over the hump so I can leave earlier and have some Me Writing Time.  I want to polish Alice, overhaul The Cloud Kids, and start about 12 terrific ideas I have.

I'm thrilled with my big book purchase last night - Food Lion has a bin of bargain children's books.  Of course I was digging through it.  I got, for the grand total of $5.00, The Flintstones official guide to the cartoon classic.  Not a children's book per se, but I'm ok with that.  :P 

The  Society For Children's Book Writers & Illustrators Conference - Carolinas this last weekend in Charlotte was amazing!  It was my first conference and I can't wait for the next.  I feel like I had Master's class in 2.5 days.  I was front and center in the break-out sessions with the huge, ridiculous grin on my face.  What an education!  

I got terrific critiques for Alice In The Palace and The Cloud Kids also.  Alice is getting a tweaking, The Clouds will get an overhaul.  Cynthea Liu critiqued Alice - I was so lucky!  If you don't know her, google her name. 

I also met so many new friends.  I walked in knowing not a soul, and walked out hugging friends.  It was like leaving a sepia toned world and spending the weekend in primary colors.  Love me some primary colors!

Today I went to Barnes & Nobles to research books the speakers at the SCBWI convention have sold.  What fun to sit there surrounded by kids excited about picking out their books while I read great stories.  I came home and ordered a couple of older books off of Amazon.  I wish I had thought of the Prince Charming plots by Christopher Healy.  He wasn't on the list, but I love a good book too much to stick to any list.  I was grazing.

I did put away my notes for Alice In The Palace and The Cloud Kids.  Won't take them out again unless the Cloud Kids gets sold and a sequel.  

Frustration is setting in early for the school year.  It is only the 5th week of school and I'm already so worn out I'm not writing much.  I haven't been able to leave on time.  The ideas keep coming though.  I have 3 new ones to add to the file I already have of things to write about.  The laptop is coming with me to the convention in case I get some time.

This summer I was writing everywhere.  On vacation, in the backyard, in parking lots.  Even at a funeral. (well...while waiting for the service to start)  I want that back!  How many days until June?

I'm so excited!  I completed a children's chapter book this spring & wrote 2 picture books this summer.  Researched a couple of more.  August 15th I sent a few query letters and Wednesday I heard back from an agent.  She asked to see the other two completed books.  I know this is a long way from wanting to represent me, but how very exciting to get such a positive response so quickly!  I was jumping up and down doing the Happy Butt Dance in my classroom!  Good thing the kids were already gone or I'd have become the newest school legend of The Crazy Teacher.  

Yesterday I received in the mail the business cards I ordered for the SCBWI Carolina Convention in a couple of weeks.  They look as marvelous as I hoped they would.  Yes, another version of the Happy Butt Dance.  Ice cream for Everyone!

Hello All!  Welcome to my blog.  Wow.  'Wow' seems to be my big word for the night.  Doesn't sound like much of a writer yet, does it?  If this blog turns out like my emails, I will have plenty to say.  My emails are novellas.  Must be grammatically correct, the right color for the mood, and a complete thought.  Silly me.

I am becoming what I've been working to become since I was ten years old.  My Grandmother Irma told me she had published stories in Boys' Life Magazine.  The fever began.  I wanted to be a published writer.  I actually called her Grandma, but she tried so hard to get us to call her Grandmother.  Went over my head as a kid, but I'll call you Grandmother here.  Are you smiling?

I just bought my first business cards to hand out at my first Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators Convention.   I cannot wait.  It will be Most Amazing. 

I have had 15-20 books in my head for the last 25 years.  In my head they remain thus far.  What has come out of the pen are picture books.  Picture books I'd never thought of before are pouring through my eyes.  I am having a blast.  

Completed this spring:  Sushi The Wonder Pug - a chapter book
Completed this summer:  Alice In The Palace and The Cloud Kids - picture books
Half completed:  Yankee Doodle ABC - a Patriotic picture book

HUZZAH!