Iron Man 3 and Writing Full-Time

1. Saw Iron Man 3 over the weekend. Loved it. Must see it again. It's a great character study too. I love how flawed Tony Stark is. And how hilariously awesome.

2. Sigh.

3. ALMOST caught up on all my photography edits, and I have one last straggler of a session this evening. Once I'm done with these edits, I will be...

4. A FULL-TIME WRITER?! It was sort of an accident. I didn't intend on leaving my part-time office job, but it became necessary for reasons that don't have much to do with me. So for the foreseeable future, I'm going to try out this idea of a...

5. Daily Schedule. Yep. I have a major time management problem, so I've printed out some daily worksheets broken down in time increments. I'm anxious to roll out this efficiency plan next week!

Have you seen Iron Man 3 yet?!

Suffering Loss (Why I've been MIA)

Dearest bloggy buddies. Can I just hug each of you and tell you that you are loved and appreciated and beautiful and talented?

Remember when I called upon your visual opinion as to which of my photography prints I should donate to an auction benefiting my friends for their medical expenses? It was believed their little girl was born with an underdeveloped brain and wouldn't quite be at the level of other kids her age--maybe a year or two behind. So many unknowns, time would tell more.

But it turned out to be more than that, a neurodegenerative disease of the mitochondria, and ten-month-old Jamie Faith passed away on April 10th, surrounded by family and friends that love her dearly.

It's so hard to know what to do, what to say, to friends going through the loss of their child. My husband and I were there for this baby's birth (well, in the waiting room at the hospital) and at their home when she left us. I was honored to take her newborn pictures, as well as pictures of her last moments--the hardest thing I've ever done in my life.

At the memorial service, a family friend spoke and said that Jamie touched so many lives without ever saying a word. And it's true.

She will be missed.

Praying for strength, peace, and healing.

Friday Five - Like a Love Song, Wii Dance, and Revisions

1. I - I love you like a love song, baby. And I keep hittin' repeatpeatpeatpeatpeat. Oh, Selena Gomez. The first time I heard this song, I didn't get it. At all.

2. But it kept coming up on Just Dance 4 for the Wii (we won the Wii in a raffle at a benefit!), and suddenly I was addicted. I am determined to get a perfect score on this song, as well as Call Me Maybe, and Maneater. But I am a terrible dancer. It's still fun though!

3. My revisions are done and turned in to my editor! The changes weren't TOO major, but they took some time, and I'm pretty happy with the result. So now I wait. I'm getting good at the waiting.

4. Anyone watching The Voice this season? We skipped the last couple seasons, but with the judge switches, we decided to give it a shot and we're hooked! Blake is hilarious as always and there is some serious talent out there! I already bought Savannah Berry's version of Safe & Sound (she's from Houston, y'all!) and I have my eye on a few others.

5. Some of you may remember my 2013 good eating/fitness goal I set in January, and I did really really good! .... until my book deal. And I admittedly have done a little too much celebrating. And once you taste that sugar, it's hard to knock it again. BUT I've joined a DietBet for April and I'm getting back on track! How are your goals going this year?

mourning the loss of good television

I was a fan of Pushing Daisies from the very first episode. It's quirky, the characters are adorable, the premise is clever, the pies look delicious. Even the narrator's voice is perfect (I believe he's the same guy that did the Harry Potter audiobooks).

Recently, Chiller started playing the series IN ORDER, FROM THE BEGINNING. I mean, how cool is that? (It's on Tuesdays, by the way) I've fallen in love all over again, and I'm once again saddened that a brilliant show was canceled too soon. What was it that kept viewers from "getting it" when it aired the first time around? Was it just before its time? Were the characters not CUTE ENOUGH? (Not possible... )

Too often, good shows are forced to hurry and tie up all the loose ends in a whirlwind of sloppy writing (Life on Mars), or they just get canceled and we have no closure at all (Joan of Arcadia) until the movie finally gets made (Veronica Mars--YES, THEY'RE MAKING A MOVIE!!).

Maybe I shouldn't complain too much, though. Sometimes a good show lasts longer than expected, and the storyline suffers (I'm looking at you, Downton Abbey). I'd almost rather not know what's in a character's future than be disappointed by seeing it take a wrong turn.

Thoughts?

The Jealousy Food Chain

There seems to be a food chain of jealousy in publishing. Someone just starting a WIP might be irritated when their critique partner announces they just finished a first draft; so-and-so is freaking out about a full request and you only got a partial; if one more person announces they signed with an agent you're going to throw something; the agented writer cringes when another book deal is announced and they're still on sub; the person with a one-book deal wonders why this other person got a two-book deal, with a bigger publishing house; everyone is jealous of the seven figure deal that's buzzing all over Twitter; this author over here really wishes their cover could have been as amazing as so-and-so's cover; the author that has to keep their day job may envy the full-time writer who cranks out more than one book a year and is constantly on tour like a rock star; we see yet another movie or TV series being made out of a fantasy or paranormal and think WHY CAN'T I WRITE A BOOK LIKE THAT?; those authors with movie deals might be jealous over another movie's casting, as they have zero control over this, or glare at the (few) people with theme parks/thrill rides based on their books/comics etc ... that's really as far as my brain can see this going. If you land a theme park set in the world of your imagination, YOU HAVE ARRIVED! ;)

*UPDATE - of course, as KM mentioned in the comments, we are also VERY happy for everyone's good news. It should be more encouraging than discouraging that dreams DO come true!

I think it's probably common to wish you were in a different place, no matter WHERE you are yourself. Unless you're J.K. Rowling, there's always someone ahead of you (and I'll bet even she admires someone else--you never know). For some reason, we get it into our heads that we need to rush rush rush. "But I want to be a NYT Bestseller NOW!" "I want that seven-figure deal NOW!"

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But we can't let that jealousy rob us of our individual experience. Sure, we can look to the future and have hopes and goals, but we can't be so blinded by it we miss what's right in front of us. Everyone ahead of you was right where you are at one point, they just happened to go through it first. I'm learning to look at them as proof that these goals can actually be accomplished, and work my rear off to get there. Channel that desire to be where they are into making it happen, and don't give up and start whining about it all. It's WORK. Hard work. You have to love it.

As I'm waiting and waiting for my first book to make it onto a shelf next year, I've found myself wishing time would just HURRY UP ALREADY so I can realize that dream. But... why would I wish my life to speed up? I have plenty to enjoy at this stage, as well as a lot of work before I'm READY to be any farther along.

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A Book Deal of My Very Own!!

For those of you that missed my Twitter and Facebook FREAKOUT last week...

I'M GOING TO BE PUBLISHED!

BY BLOOMSBURY!

NEXT YEAR!

Here's a little breakdown of my life since October, GIF style.

I HAVE AN AGENT!

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I'M ON SUBMISSION! But wait... editors have my book? REAL EDITORS? At REAL publishing houses? People who have edited books that I've READ are reading MY BOOK?

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But months went by...

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So I tried to distract myself with my WIP...

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Until I got a call from my agent and she said she was about to change my life.

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And she told me about the offer from Bloomsbury.

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As she kept talking, it slowly sunk in.

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And then...

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And I told my family.

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And critique partners.

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And then I heard they planned on publishing it in MAY of 2014?!?!

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And then I found out it was going to be a TWO-BOOK DEAL.

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And then I talked to my editor for the first time and discovered that we're basically the same person. (We even both take tap dance classes on Wednesdays!?!)

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I'm so so so so excited to be working with Caroline Abbey at Bloomsbury, I can't even tell you! She's worked with Lindsey Leavitt and Melissa Walker! And you know who else is at Bloomsbury? SHANNON HALE! Remember when I met her last year and fangirled all over the place? And she asked me to tell a little about myself so I blabbered about being a writer and then she asked what house I was with and I had to say I just started querying, but now I can say BLOOMSBURY LIKE YOU! *breathes* I just... can't even.

I am so grateful to so many people. My amazing agent, my family, my critique girls, my beta readers, my writing buddies, my blogging support system, and now to my editor for giving me this amazing opportunity for an experience of a lifetime! I mean, NEXT YEAR... MY BOOK will be ON SHELVES in BOOKSTORES, in LIBRARIES, and WHO KNOWS WHERE ELSE?! People I don't know are going to read it, and sure some will hate it and some will be just meh about it... but some might actually love it! I am okay with ALL OF THIS!

I am more than okay, I am:

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Books to Movies and Expectations

Over the weekend, I saw quite a few disappointed Tweets and FB posts about the Beautiful Creatures movie, and possibly an equal amount of praise. The difference seems to be between those who loved the book vs. those who hadn't read it, or were just okay with the book. I haven't read the book (I'm currently listening to it on audio--difficult for this visual girl, but it makes me take longer walks when I'm trying to concentrate on a story), so I quite enjoyed the movie. I didn't know what to be looking for. My brain was not searching for the differences, or waiting for my favorite scene that may or may not have translated.

I had zero expectations aside from being entertained.

(I will now take this pause to say WOW! Ethan was such a FUN character. I'd see it again just to laugh at his lines.)

I like to think that even if I had read and loved the book, I still would have enjoyed the movie for what it was. I think when it comes to movies made from books, you have to consider them two different things. Creations from two different people/groups of people. I flipped this way-of-thinking switch several years ago after watching an interview with the author of P.S. I Love You. She basically said: The book is my baby. The movie is someone else's baby, based off of my book.

Then again, maybe it's just my personality to be able to separate the two. I will admit to being nervous before seeing The Hunger Games adaptation, but despite the differences, I was entertained. I was moved. I enjoyed it. The book and the movie are two different things, and I'm perfectly fine with that.

And I understand that for some, flipping that switch might not be quite that easy. But there is a bright side for you to consider. Even if the movie tanks, the book sales still go up, and that's never a bad thing for anyone.