Happy Nappers

Now, if you know what those things are, you probably have the song stuck in your head - and it's way worse than Celebrate =)

But I have to give a BIG shout back to Donna McNicol who honored me again with her own NAPPING BLOGGER AWARD! Ha!

She showed her creative side by not only making this award, but offering it in a rainbow of colors!

Here are the easy rules for the award that you could do in your sleep:

1. Link back to the one who gave you the award (in this case, it's ME!)
2. Tell us what you do to take time for YOU! That might be a hobby, a musical break, a favorite movie or show, sitting outside enjoying nature, or even taking a nap!
3. Nominate five other bloggers - especially folks you think deserve a break from their routine.

To take time for me, I like to write, read, catch up on shows, and walk the dog. I don't get much time to myself, so when I do it's usually to write or to that end.

These are the five happy nappers I pass this on to...
Leigh Covington - always thinking of others, could use a break.
Emily King - just had a baby, she needs a nap!
Cherie Reich - just finished hosting a flash fiction blogfest, also needs a nap.
Lady Gwen - she just created a new blog, needs a rest.
Jaycee DeLorenzo - working like crazy and about to host a blog hop, could use a nap.

And one more thing! Found this fun Your Story contest on Writer's Digest. Write the first sentence for the picture below (25 words or less). That's all! It's free and it's going on all summer - you should try it!

Here's my entry:

As dawn broke through the darkness, I knew they hadn't destroyed the atmosphere generator, yet.

It's Kool

Today's Sensational Haiku Wednesday goes with my last Friday post - Celebrate!

(source)

Kool and the Gang said
to Celebrate, celebrate,
Dance to the music!

Boys celebrate with
sleepovers, video games,
and rollercoasters

Nature's fireworks
Exploding petal splashes
Thunderstorm crashes


Not much else to post, busy with baseball and getting ready for the Reader/Writer Get Together this Friday!

Got any good questions to ask an editor?

KSM - Ready for summer?

Happy Memorial Day, y'all!
Hope you took a moment to remember wars past and present and all the soldiers who fought and are still fighting to protect our freedom!


In blogging news!
I've been doing Kick Start Monday forever so I figured I'd give it a logo =)


Summer is just about here and that means it's fun time! Jaycee and Victoria have put together a cute blog hop. I will be gathering data again from the survey questions to see what kind of man you all like your MCs to be. Check it out!

Have you heard about Camp Nanowrimo? I loved camp as a kid and combining writing with friendly support in the summer sounds awesome to me! There's a session in June, but I'm doing the August session. This is perfect for me because November is way too short and busy. In August, I should be able to get some writing done during football practice before school starts back up. Never done a Nanowrimo before, but I do well with deadlines and have two new wip's to choose from...Think about it!

Writing a book - when dreams come true

Hello you crazy writers and readers!

Busy working on those wonderful stories? Polishing and chopping and laughing and crying? Me too. I got some great suggestions from Miss Snark's latest in house crit session. Real head-palms! Duh! That's why it's good to take things out of context sometimes and get total strangers to give their forthright opinion. I love it! They also pumped me up with positive comments. So glad I got in! If you don't follow Miss Snark, you should because there is always something helpful to look forward to.

But I shamelessly digress, my point is not any of that. Today I have a little list of things to do when I get published! Do you have a reward for yourself for making it? If you get stuck or unmotivated, you should definitely make a list. So here is my wish list of things to do when my dreams come true and I get published:

1. go to New York - I do not want to go, this will be a must do thing - plus I will make it a point to visit my New York blogger friends!
2. go to Paris - why not? a published author should go there at least once in her life
3. go to an opera - it seems like a swanky thing a published author should do
4. take helicopter lessons - always wanted to and if when I get published, I will need to take a break from writing

Not to mention, what better ways than these will help with research for future books. And these things could be moved to my empty nest list, if necessary. Whichever comes first.

Tell me something you want to do when you are published! 

And have an outstanding Memorial Day weekend! Salute a soldier, hug a marine, show thanks!

To Drift or not to Drift

Sensational Haiku Wednesday

Drift

Let go of anchor

Lost sight of my direction

Confused and adrift

Don't sail off alone

Drift my way, we can get there

Working together

Throwing you a hint

A sigh, a wink, a whisper

Did you catch my drift?

And Monday, I forgot to mention, Christine! She deserves special thanks. She gave awards freely to those who wanted them last week. I grabbed the Real Trooper Award! I love that guy! She also blessed any takers with a crit for RAOK - and I don't pass that up! She's super! Visit her!

So, now I will voluntarily embarrass myself with some admissions to show my thanks and that I'm a real trooper!

1. I once scraped a car in a parking lot and fled the scene (after going around the block, I went back and fessed up)
2. When I was 9? a guy from the paper came to our bus stop when it was pouring rain and took our picture - for some reason I was mad and hid under my clear umbrella
3. I had a bad habit of dating a guy, then dating his brother or roommate...
4. I used to collect dragons and purple pens
5. In high school I wrote a letter to a boy I met at a football game because we hit it off - a few days later, a popular chick yelled at me for it; he happened to be a friend of hers and she read it and accused me of being mean to him...I was like, huh?
6. In 2nd grade I was a singing camel in a musical
7. The first speeding ticket I got was with my younger sister in the car on our way to a movie, we were late (I'm always late)
8. The first time my sister heard me cuss was when I ran over a frog. Ew! Jumped right out in front of me!
9. Once when I was housesitting/babysitting I brought my puppy over to spend the night with us and he peed on a king size comforter - then after washing it, I burned a hole in it in the dryer!
10. I am loud. In 3rd grade I had to stand in the coat closet for laughing too loud.

And so, if you do not have this award, please take it! Do what you will with it. It's awesome! You are awesome! Perfect match!

A Sizzle of Lightning!

Before I present my Flash, I'd like to thank Tyrean for her ultimate sweetness! She included me in last week's wonderful blogfest of surprising bloggers with...

Random Acts of Kindness presented by the Bookshelf Muse. The best way I know how to pass this on, is to give what I am good at - making buttons, badges, and little knick knack graphics. I'm a total amateur using powerpoint and its clipart, but I have fun and the results aren't bad (see lightning castle below). So anyone who comments today and indicates they would like a graphic will get one. I will email you for details from your link.


Now, here is my tale for Cherie Reich's Lightning Flash Fiction Blogfest!

Secret Memory

Lightning flashed through the bars high above my bed. If you could call a cement slab a bed. 

Explosive thunder followed, telling me the storm was closing in. Wrapping my arms around me as tight as I could, I huddled in the corner. Soon rain would flood the floor and dampen my clothes to match my spirits.

When the evil wizard finally relented from his tireless search of my memories, I had hoped to get some rest. But comfort would not reach me tonight.

I pounded my head. What was in there that was so important? That heartless wizard would surely torture me until I was dead, whether I gave him what he wanted or not.

Another blast of lightning illuminated my cell. Within the shadow of the bars I saw the silhouette of a head. I shut my eyes tight and hunched up my shoulders, hoping it was my imagination. I had no place to hide from an intruder.

When I peeked, I saw my grandmother at the window and she was glowing! She shrank herself to fit through the bars and with gossamer wings she gently landed in front of me and re-expanded.

“Come on, dear. There’s not much time!”

She grabbed my hand and took me out the way she came in. Outside the sky was clear and full of stars.

“But how did you do all that?” I asked.

“I'll explain when we get home. Did he find it?”

“Find what, Grandma? What do I have?”

We ran into the woods and when we were a safe distance, she answered me, pointing at my forehead.

“You have a spell hidden deep inside that brings a person back to life. A gift from your mother.”

No sooner had the words left her mouth, than I recalled the spell and fainted.

kick start monday - shout out fairytale

Last year during the A to Z awards were rampant - I was new to the scene so it was awesome! But this year, I didn't see them floating around as much. I did just receive a couple and though they are repeats, I still love getting them!

Thank you  Candy Lynn Fite for the Kreative Blogger

and

Thank you Donna McNicol for the Versatile Blogger

Two new blogger buddies - yeah!

and Brooke snuck me into an Award Show for Versatile too! Thanks!

Since I am so kreative & versatile (ha ha!) I made updated versions of these awards - just like the apps and phones and ipads are always doing! I would like to thank the first person who created and presented blog awards, they make us smile alot! Though these have gotten around and are very cute, most people have them so I wanted to spread them again with fresh new looks and the same intent, boosting others!

And instead of listing some facts, here is a little story with the names of the recipients (my most recent/frequent commenters) who can take one down and pass it around, telling us facts if they wish - the more kreativ and versatile the better!


In a land called Blogovia, in the wistful kingdom of MPax there lived a Ninja Prince named Alex. He was sad after his father the King died, even though he had millions of followers who would do anything for him. Taking a suggestion from his advisors Chandara and Angela B, he held a contest to see who could motivate him to get his country out of a lazy funk before the neighboring kingdom of Nutschell invaded them.

His faithful jester Heather read the announcement. "Hear ye, hear ye! The Prince needs a kick in the pants! a fair Lady with spunk and brains to inspire him to make the kingdom thrive again! Come tomorrow and tell him a winning story!"

All the maids were a-twitter! Young Kyra, Laura M, and McKenzie were too busy fending off young men. With good intentions, they had no time to help the kingdom. The fair matrons, Kelley, Dana, Tyrean, Erin, and Christine had to chase their children, but rooted for the Ladies who stood up to the challenge.

Stina went first and told the Prince a stunning tale of longing, love, and loss. The prince yawned. The prince's younger sister Annalisa swatted him with her fan.

Nicki was next with a lively yarn about historical faux pas. The prince snorted and shook his head. "My Pet Blog, MJ didn't care for it either," he said.

Sheena bared a tempting narrative of young lust and death defying feats. The prince nodded, then groaned. He was a tough customer!

Last was Cassie. Everyone loved to hear her speak for she always brought life to any dull conversation. She wove a story with knights and dragons fighting aliens and pirates and ended with a steamy love scene. Even the court historian Madeline smirked.

The prince gobbled it up. He laughed. He sat on the edge of his seat. He sighed. When she was done, he rose, gathered his army together, and defeated the enemy. All in all a good start to a new and prosperous reign!

The End.
I kept wanting to add more, but I had to stop somewhere! Any likeness to real people is entirely coincidental.

PS - my entry in Cherie's Lightning Flash Fiction Blogfest will be posted tomorrow. So much time, so little to do! (Strike that, reverse it!)

Writing a book - the windup

and the pitch...

(my little guy, last spring)

"I know you represent romance, but I have a sci fi novel you're going to love!"

STEEEE-RIKE ONE!

"What's the name of our agency again?"

STEEEE-RIKE TWO!

"Is it hot in here?"

STEEEE-RIKE THREE! You're out! Next!

Though that's good for baseball, it's terrible for a writer looking to woo an agent.

I have 2 pitch appointments coming up in 2 weeks! Aah! And I'm a terrible procrastinator. My busy life helps with that. But I have done some research on pitching. So far, this is my prep list of what I need:

• an outfit! I love picking out clothes. I don't love that my clothes are getting tighter on me!
• a great opening hook (maybe I should put that first?)
• a script - must practice what to say in the limited time I am blessed with in the presence of the anointed ones - an agent and an editor! note cards are a must!
• know something about the people I will be presenting to
• pages! but what? synopsis? chapters 1-? and how many copies? I know so many will want some! (ha!)
• relax, be confident, be positive, be gracious
• follow up with a thank you for your time note

I got these guidelines from:

• J.B. George, editor at Secret Cravings and my second interview host!
• Rachelle Gardner, agent with tons of advice to offer
• via Janet Reid, Hey there's a dead guy in the room - mystery writers' site

And now I have some questions for my writer friends! You guys!

1. Have you done a pitch?
2. How'd it go?
3. Any advice for this little critter?

PS - Get over to Falling 4 Fiction TODAY if you're looking for a Beta/CP! They're playing spin the bottle at a mixer!

She's got fire in her belly!

Sensational Haiku Wednesday On Fire!
I've got a bunch of hot cliches! Watch out you don't get burned! And I pronounce fire with 2 syllables =)

Stirring up the coals,
Fanning flames, blowing on sparks
Creative fire

                                              Put out the fire

                                              Set a fire under it

                                              Or you will be fired

Name that tune:

Kisses like, fire

I like what you're doin' now

Burn me up, fire

Liar, liar pants

on fire, untuck shirt, now

it's out, now it's out!

randOm tueSday

Then & Now

Some of you may know that I substitute teach, mostly high school math (my specialty). If you didn't, now you do! It's funny how some things never change. Most teens continue to have attitudes and lack of motivation, and there are still clicks. But maturity and responsibility evolve in most of them eventually (here we are!) My favorite saying that has stuck around forever is "Like" - Like, you know. Like, no way! He was like...

Anyway, this post was inspired by the fashion that walks around and how things have changed.

THEN                                                  NOW
skin tight jeans                                  elasticized
                                                          skin tight
                                                          jeans
leggings, under skirts                        leggings,
                                                          in all their
                                                          glory
walkman                                           ipod
headphones                                     earbuds (headphones coming back!)
payphone                                         smart phone
passing notes                                   texting
talking on phone                               texting
going steady                                     texting
breaking up                                       texting

we had reality tv:                            now there's:
Cops & pageants                            too much reality
VCR                                                 DVR, TiVo
boob tube                                         you tube

I could go on and on...got any to add?

Kick start Monday - Are you writing?

Hope you are! But first,

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Let the appreciation spill into everyday =)

And if you missed Friday's Writing a Book post, the comments were quite revealing & funny! You should check them out!

Anyway, I have been writing like mad! Major editing sessions, reworking my first five chapters - they needed more excitement and less back story details. I have to get ready for a Writer/Reader Get Together put together by Lori Foster! It's the weekend of June 1st. And I am scheduled to drop 2 pitches! My first ones. I'm scared. But I'll talk more about that on Friday...For now:

Many of you are participating in Alex's Blog Hop of First Loves today! He snuck the announcement into the A to Z fest. I couldn't do it justice with all my editing, so I will just read about y'alls!

To keep the write juices flowing, I am going to attempt a flash fiction for Cheri's Lightning Flash Fiction Blogfest next week. I may need a break from my MS after cramming for the pitch sessions!

What else is going on? What's your WIP progress report?

PS - Saw the Avengers this weekend - top notch entertainment! it had everything you could want from a blockbuster - tons of action, magnificent special effects, star-studly cast, snarky repartee, pure hearts, and comic relief (Hulk will not disappoint, he really does steal the show!)

Writing a Book - word association

What's the first thing you think of when I say Fantasy? I thought of dragons. I love them!

Now, say you've written an awesome book and it's a fun romantic story. You query an agent and call it a contemporary romance. The agent sees the genre and ... what?

DO YOU THINK SOME AGENTS AUTOMATICALLY SLUSH A QUERY BASED ON THE GENRE?

I'm not saying all, but I bet when I send my Sci Fi Thriller, some agents/readers might auto-slush it, thinking, "I'm not looking for sci fi." But my book doesn't fall in the traditional sci fi, it's more of an adventure. I say it's like a combination of "Romancing the Stone" and "I, Robot" - a romantic comedy/adventure set in the future with laser teleportation! How do I put a genre on that? I know there are mixed genres and sub genres, but in the bookstore/online categories I'm guessing mine would go in sci fi, so that's where I pigeon hole it in the query. The same is true when people buy books - some people have a preconceived notion about genres and won't look in those sections.

So let's play a game...
Here are a few genres. You say the first thing that comes to mind. I will too. It'll be fun!

Romance

Literary

Women's

Fantasy

YA

Sci Fi

Horror

Commercial

Thriller

Chick Lit

Here are my associations:
Romance - kissy kissy mush
Literary - high brow
Women's - serious (or plus size)
Fantasy - dragons!
YA - melodramatic
Sci Fi - Space! (and being a writer, space opera)
Horror - blood and guts
Commercial - couldn't think of a genre
Thriller - exciting
Chick Lit - meaningless fun

Looking forward to your associations! What do you think? Do agents (and their pre readers) get so many queries these days that they skim to find the genre and toss away the story? And are there sections of the bookstore you don't bother looking in?

Thanks for playing and have a wonderful MOTHER'S DAY WEEKEND! May you not have to lift a finger at least this one day of the year!

It's a High School Hop

Anyone remember when they used to call the dances "hops?" I remember, but it wasn't my era. We were the gnarly 80s! Totally tubular! (btw I lived in Florida, so forgive the surfer dude lingo) As if!

Remember "Dirty Dancing" and "Footloose" and the introduction of grinding? Well, I was forbidden to go to any dances in high school, but I don't think I missed much. And I did get to go to our church's Junior/Senior Banquet. We had dates, wore formals, and ate a nice dinner. There was a speaker and awards too. I came in 2nd place for my essay! I wonder what I wrote...

So, here is my lovely pink dress, circa 1986...(I didn't like the picture with my date, a guy I worked with, yadda yadda yadda)

Thanks, Emily and Kelley! for bringing us together for some memories!

And to accompany this lovely photo (cough),
A Sensational Haiku Wednesday offering on landscape...

Sweet Scented Memories

A rose is a rose

Doesn't matter where it grows

Blossoms, shines and fades

(forgot not to rhyme! oops!)

And another for fun

Chipmunks!

A hole in the mulch

Weakening my foundation

Cute annoyances

Kick start Tuesday...Wassup!

Got your retro pictures ready for tomorrow for the Oh those High School Dances blogfest? I am excited to go back in time! Thanks for providing the mechanism, Emily!




Another cool blogfest coming up is Cherie Reich's Lightning Flash Fiction Blogfest. I love sharing short flashes! ha!



In happy dance news,

2 friends are promoting sci fi book launches!

Slipstream by Michael Offutt

and

The Backworlds by M Pax

Check out their awesome books and tours and prizes!

But wait! That's not all!!! My short story "The Guardian Tree" is being published by Bewildering Stories! I have to thank Unicorn Bell for inspiring me to write it with their Picture is worth a thousand words blogfest and Donna Hole for recommending I send it in to them! Woo Hoo! Yeah!!! My issue, coming this Fall =)

A to Z Wrap up Day

April flew by! Can't believe another A to Z challenge has come and gone! I laughed, I cried, well I didn't cry. But I had fun! And met tons of new people. Yeah! 

Big THANKS to all the hosters!

So being the silly mathematician I am, I looked at this challenge statistically. I visited as many sites as I could (almost 1000), alphabetically (not counting A, The or My). Above is a word cloud taken from first words of the blogs I visited that occurred at least twice. Thanks, Peggy for showing me Wordle! That site takes whatever words you want, like a paragraph or even your whole MS, and the more the occurrences of the word, the bigger it shows up in the cloud. Cool, huh? Think we write much? I love it!

And here are some stats. Reasons for my not commenting were mainly not participating, non existent, or way too long - in the interest of quantity:

I have to say I am a bit surprised at the lack of comments back. I wonder why. Oh well. I found plenty to follow who I think will be a good influence on me and my writing and I hope vice versa! Another great experience! And here are the top five blurbs from the challenge, as chosen by you all...

FROM THE FENCE POST - MG Noir. Junior suburban detective solves innocent neighborhood mysteries and finds a dead body.


KICK ME - MG. Alternate universe where nerds are the cool rulers of the school picking on the beautiful people.


NAKED PASSION - Sci Fi Romance. In the future humans no longer interact in person and two subjects answer an ad for an experiment on natural procreation.


QUAKES - YA Sci Fi. Larken Rho seems to have seizures that last only seconds, but while she is out she is transported to another dimension for days at a time.


YOU ARE MINE - Thriller. Old Charlie Sterling dies in a nursing home, but confesses to being a serial killer in his journal and leaves clues of where he disposed of the bodies and who his accomplice/protege was.

Thanks again! And congrats to all who participated!

Doin' a little Dustin'

A big THANK YOU to Cortney & Theresa for hosting the

To save time, I am combining the three posts into one. Blurb, Excerpt, and What I learned...I loved my first novel! A shame no one else did =)

Blurb...
JACKS AND JILLS AND JEZEBELS is shameless chick lit. A bar hopping, bachelorette party adventure about eight close friends, the boys they torment, and the joints they frequent all rolled into one hilarious, eye popping night! (based on my rip roaring twenties)

I was so excited I drew us!

Here is an excerpt...

Jamie floated in and announced, “I had the best time! We had a picnic lunch then went rollerblading in the park. He is such a hunk!” She plopped down beside Brenda on the bed, jostling her. Yet another annoyance.

“Who was it again?” Brenda asked. She turned to Jamie and added, “You’ve got something in your hair. Did you fall?” She reached up and pulled out a blade of grass from her wavy, waist-length, brown hair.

“Oh, thanks. No I didn’t fall…” Jamie said with a giggle as she felt her hair to check for more debris. “It was Alex,” she informed her. “You remember, from the gym?”

“Oh, yeah. That’s right,” she replied. But she knew quite well who she had been out with. Brenda met Alex first and had been talking to him when Jamie swooped in. She was always extra bouncy in front of the guys at the gym and his attention had been lost to her. She was so aggravating! Brenda decided to ruffle her feathers and asked, “But what about Scott?”

Jamie wavered for a moment. Just the mention of his name gave her butterflies. She’d had a serious crush on her work buddy since he started waiting tables with her two months ago. She shooed the air and declared, “Scott and I are friends. I like him but we don’t have a relationship or anything. We are both too busy to settle down right now. We’re just casual.” She tried to seem laid back about it, but in her heart she wished she could call him her boyfriend. Little did she know that everyone else was aware of how she felt, except Scott of course. He was almost as dim-witted as she was. She got up to look in the mirror and appreciated her reflection. She noticed she had gotten some sun on her face and smiled at herself.

“Oh. I guess that’s cool,” Brenda acknowledged. She grinned slyly to herself, Scott’s been busy with me, you little ditz. She was tired of Jamie being too flirty with every guy she dated or even showed interest in. It was time to see how she liked it.

Yes, I know. So many writing errors. No crits necessary. I cringed at the head hopping and unnecessary dialog tags, etc. But this section gives a taste of the many conflicts. This old WIP was so fun to write because it flowed so easily and brings back those carefree days - we didn't even have cell phones yet! I even started a sequel! I will probably come back to it one day...

What I learned...
I still can't believe I queried this! After learning more about the craft, I started to edit. Then I realized Chick Lit was on the outs. It still has a place, but it sure isn't hot! So I thought I would rewrite it as Women's Fiction, from one point of view, a girl making life changing decisions after discovering the shallowness of the party life. I also learned that you shouldn't base a whole book on people you know - it could come back to haunt you if it got published. Ah well. Still might come back to it =)

So whatever happened to your first book? Or are you still working on it?

This is a test

I didn't make it into the contest. The widget didn't even appear for me and it was over. This is too stressful. I'm going back to doing it the old fashioned way. Thanks for your encouragement and advice, though. I'm going to have a margarita now.

PS, my Dust it Off blogfest post will go up tomorrow =)

Is it just me?

Insecure Writers Support Group - May 2012

Dear Fellow Writers,
My head hurts.
I love to read. And I know I'm not alone here. Reading is what inspired most of us to write. Reading is also research. We read great, stupendous, history making authors! We also read stuff that we wonder how it got published, or is it just me?

And here we come to my gripe. I am reading three or five or six good books right now (I have books in every area of my house and in my car and on my ipad, never at a loss for reading material!) And I understand that I am not going to find an outstanding Hunger Games quality book every time. BUT! One of the books, a great story, is hopping heads like a frog crossing the street in a Merry Melodies cartoon!

The reason this bothers me so much, is that I have been brow beaten not to do this. I am talking hops in mid paragraph - I know what everyone is thinking all the time! Before I was a writer and knew all the rules, it wouldn't have bothered me so much. But I know now! And I am working very hard to get published and this rule is a big one!

It's just not fair! And I can't do anything about it, except complain and stick my tongue out at it. Hmpf! Anyone else know what I'm talking about?

                                                     Sincerely,
                                                     Patty Page-Pouter

But I know what will turn that frown upside-down. A haiku!
For Sensational Haiku Wednesday. It's Spring!

Senses of Spring

       scents of fresh cut grass                     warbling birds choose

     waft in on warmer breezes            crunchy bugs and juicy worms

              caressing shy buds                        to feed fluffy peeps

                           sudden darkness looms                   calm after the storm

                      with streaks of electric blasts           sun and babes peek out to see,

                               spectacular show                     smell, hear, and feel Spring!

I love bunny spotting in Spring!

Inspiration for sensing spring from Christina Lee - she does beautiful things with the senses of the seasons!

And speaking of haiku, I just found a very fun haiku CONTEST! Nate at Wheel's on Fire is hosting a Robot Haiku contest, now through May 7th. Prizes! Robots! Haikus! Who can resist! Futile!

Regular Tuesday

It's here! A new month! I am so excited to write a normal post and be back to regular blogging! Visiting folks thru the A to Z list, I didn't see much of my regulars, tho I was very happy to meet new folks! Now I'm happy to slow down and be back on a schedule. How bout you?

So here is what's coming up!

• Tomorrow is the monthly meeting of the Insecure Writers Support Group! hosted by your Ninja A to Z Host, Alex! Bring your writing woes and encouraging vibes! 

Some fun fests this month:

• Theresa Paolo is hosting this blog hop for us to dig up an abandoned WIP and admit we wrote it!

• Emily King wants us to embarrass our selves in living color with photos from yesteryear. 

So, what are they trying to say? We like to flaunt our historic flops? Well, it is fun to remember and see how far we've come! Join us! You know you want to!

And finally, a contest for women's fiction writers. Chuck Sambuchino of Writer's Digest is hosting the "Dear Lucky Agent" contest! Go for it!

PS - I will post my A to Z stats on Monday, May 7 - that is the official day for the wrap up...anticipation!