Saturday, January 30, 2010

The Rose Parade

Happy New Year :)


Over the vacation, my family went to the Rose Parade -- 20 years in California, and we'd never been! It was really fun, and surprisingly, not that hard/exhausting. Seeing all the floats going past was awesome. Here are a few of our favorites:
This one had real bulldogs, going down on sleds! Oh my gosh I want a dog so bad.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Revising and Querying

About two weeks ago, I finished up the first draft of my book. Now comes the revision process, which I've found I enjoy much more than I thought I would. It's a chance to look at my characters--to strengthen them, to contrast them even further, to make them truly come alive. I'm also trying to improve other things: dialogue believability, plot cohesion, and the hardest of all for some reason: pacing.

And then there's the whole "approaching the agent" thing. I've read Guide to Literary Agents, made my short list, researched what the agencies have recently represented, and finally--contacted my top choice through formal e-query, complete with cover letter, synopsis and first five pages.

Now....I wait. The agent's response will take four weeks at the least, and so in the meantime, I'l be revising even further.

Writing a book has been an awesome experience, but it has also been a little intense sometimes. Lately, I'm plagued with those all-too-common discouraging thoughts like, "Who am I kidding? No one's going to publish me!"

Ignore! I must ignore! :)

I know how common rejection is, and I'm prepared for it. I just wish it didn't sometimes come from my own discouraged brain! Booo...

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Baby Song Parodies

I don't really know when it started, but in our house, we are always making up alternate lyrics to songs -- lyrics that correspond to something we're doing, or something about one another. Well, as you can imagine, with a new baby in the house, there are endless possibilities.

I just had to post our latest composition. (It's from the baby's point of view)

To the tune of Miley Cyrus' "Party in the USA" (the chorus):

I throw my hands up, scratchin' my face,
You know I'm gonna scream all day,
Stompin' my feet like Waaaaa!
Poopin' my pants like Waaaaa!
Then my mom comes--she's changin' my dipe,
I know it's gonna be okay.
Waaaaaa-a-aaaa-a-aaee-aaee-aaaa....
it's a party in my Pack and Play!