Query Test

This site is so cool, I just found out about it and I'm already obsessed.  You submit your query for other writers to review, it's done on a point system...so in order to submit your queries you have to read and review other queries...it's kind of fun.

I wish that the comment section were larger, because I find I want to give people more advice...but oh well, most people who have reviewed my query haven't left comments, but one was so helpful!

Check it out.

Bedtime stories... abbreviated

Around our house there have been many stalling techniques used lately, by baby pearl, in order to not go to bed...

One of the them is to yell 'Bredfast!' (or Breakfast) and run to the highchair and demand to be fed, only to throw applesauce/cereal/yogurt etc. on the floor.

another is to say 'Elmo Show!', in which I reply--No sorry.

Or the last one is...'Story!', even though we just read three. I am a sucker for books though, so I had to come up with a short cut to make the bedtime routine a little quicker.

Brain Cloud

    title="Wordle: noche">

Wordle is the best thing I've discovered all day. I'm so excited! I found out about it on this blog post in reference to finding out what words you over use...and need to get rid of when editing you MS, so I've been having fun.

It was awesome to put my manuscript in there...I didn't post that one... but I need to review my use of the words:

Back
Picture
Looked
Going/go
time
eyes
around
get
asked
like
Know

So I've got my work cut out for me! But that was an awesome suggestion, because how can you kill your 'little darlings' if you don't know what they are?

This is the word cloud for this post:

It was the best of Birthdays, it was the worst of Birthdays...

Today is my Birthday.  It has been a fabulous day, my husband cleaned the house after I went to bed last night, baby pearl slept the whole night, my friend got me cupcakes from a really good bakery, a billion people wished me happy birthday on facebook, we had a birthday dinner on Sunday with my in-laws, Hubby and baby pearl took me out to eat last night and we played at the park.  My parents/siblings are having us over for a cookout tonight.  S'mores included.  I've gotten calls and cards and presents.  And it's my special birthday...I am twenty five on the 25th.  It's been great.

But it seems even more great in comparison to how the last couple of days have been... Baby Pearl has an ear infection, so we have all been in sleep dept...she woke up at 5:40 yesterday after staying up late and wouldn't go back to bed (it didn't help that husband and I stayed up late watching Hulu).  I dropped a brand new jar of jelly on the ground...it shattered while making Husband breakfast/lunch--he was in a hurry to go to class.  Hubby is stressed with his intersession class he's taking, he's also still working like a dog at his job, he worked a double on Friday, and the night shift on Saturday and still woke up at 7:30 to go to church on Sunday.  I'm pretty sure I broke my pinky toe on Sunday, it's a nice shade of purple--good thing Husband is a Paramedic, he know's how to fix boo-boos, although I'm sure I could have buddy taped my toes myself, it's nice to have a professional do it.  The house has been a massive wreck, because with a screaming kid and a messed up foot, cleaning hasn't been a priority. 

But with all the craziness going on, today has been really awesome.  And I feel so grateful for the twenty five years I've been given...I have so much.  And even though the last few days have not been fun, nothing was ever really that bad...it's easy to get frustrated about the little things, but you look around and realize your problems aren't much to complain about when other people are going through things that are much worse.  I have an awesome husband and daughter, and great friends and family around.  I have an awesome life and can't wait to see what the next quarter of a century brings around.           

I will figure this out...

WIP update, poco a poco

83,661 words

I need to chop more, but I've ran into more plot inconsistencies... which is so frustrating, because if you change something one place you have to change all the others...duh

The real problem when you change those things, you realize it won't work anyway or something is better and you have to go back and fix things again.

And when you miss one that's why you have readers who are like 'what the heck is going on here?' because the whole work is jumbled around in your head...

 Sometimes I can't remember where a scene happened in reference to another and I'm like wait, did he already say that?-does she know that yet?-did meet those people yet?

So the next editing plan I have is to write another synopsis...an updated one so I can keep the plot straight of when things happen and where I need to add things about characters or actions.

I feel like working on this book is never going to end... but I have to remember...poco a poco it will get done.

The giving cake

This is such a cool cake!  I read this and went here to check out cakes with children's books themes... it makes me want to take a cake decorating class.  Who knew books could make cake even better?

Heist Society

Title: Heist Society
Author: Ally Carter
Rating: PG
What I like: This book is squeaky clean, super fun, and really well written. I can't wait to get my hands on the next book and see what happens with the romantic subplot. I really like the characters in this book, they are definitely three dimensional. I read on her website that the rights have been sold for a movie--and I'm totally not surprised. This book would make a fabulous movie...let's hope they get it right!

Synopsis: (I pulled this off Ally's Website) When Katarina Bishop was three, her parents took her on a trip to the Louvre…to case it. For her seventh birthday, Katarina and her Uncle Eddie traveled to Austria…to steal the crown jewels. When Kat turned fifteen, she planned a con of her own—scamming her way into the best boarding school in the country, determined to leave the family business behind. Unfortunately, leaving “the life” for a normal life proves harder than she’d expected.

Soon, Kat's friend and former co-conspirator, Hale, appears out of nowhere to bring Kat back into the world she tried so hard to escape. But he has a good reason: a powerful mobster has been robbed of his priceless art collection and wants to retrieve it. Only a master thief could have pulled this job, and Kat's father isn't just on the suspect list, he is the list. Caught between Interpol and a far more deadly enemy, Kat’s dad needs her help.

For Kat, there is only one solution: track down the paintings and steal them back. So what if it's a spectacularly impossible job? She's got two weeks, a teenage crew, and hopefully just enough talent to pull off the biggest heist in her family's history--and, with any luck, steal her life back along the way.

True Confessions of...

Here's a nod to a sixth grade Freudian slip from Pig-Tail-Peg's Reading/Writing Workshop...

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle was one of my favorite books in the sixth grade...I hope the student didn't put the 'Susan Boyle' comment down on a quiz!

Lady Gaga

So I'm not a big fan of Lady Gaga, but this is one of Pig-Tail-Peg's students...and I love his version of Paparazzi:



The internet is an amazing thing... This kid put his video up on youtube and today he was featured in the Ellen show. Craziness.

My WIP

I have edited my manuscript multiple times:

1 wrote it last may-august
2 re-wrote it in the middle of writing it, finished it and gave it to someone else
3 re-wrote it, gave it to someone else
4 rewrote it,
5 then rewrote it again, because I had a break from it, gave it to someone else
6 and rewrote it
7 Now I'm working on tightening it.

After this I have to give it back to one of my editors, and then to my original reader... After I go through those edits, my plan is to send it out to the world... I only hope it's ready, but there is a point when you have to move on, for better or worse and that time is rapidly approaching.

My MS was 87,685 (I still have a few edits that need to be made that will probably add to this word count, but hopefully a few will take away from it) Needless to say my MS feels a little heavy...

I found this really helpful for tightening my MS...

I've searched for:
Just (got rid of 458 words)
Guess (got rid of 253 words)
So (I'm still searching this but I'm up to thirty four words)

Not all words deleted were 'just' 'guess' or 'so' but it helped me tighten lengthy phrases around those words...I feel lighter already...

86942 words, my goal is to get it down to at least 80,000 because that's still a long book--that comes out to about 320 pages... oy! If I can get the story to work in less, that would be great, but I've also heard of people over editing their manuscripts--cutting, tweaking, chopping their words into oblivion...and I love this story too much to let that happen.