juliewrites

When I arrived home from work today, a new resident had moved into our carport.







It's a black and yellow argiope, and the web is amazing.

This (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20381678/ - I don't know why I can't get it to link??) is why I am the boring aunt who always wants to give our nieces and nephews books for Christmas. A new poll shows that 1 in 4 adults didn't read a book last year. I think reading is definitely a habit that needs to start early - otherwise, we just don't make time in our lives for it.

My library had Twilight and Elsewhere on CD. I'm so excited. My commute to work will be great next week.

Did you listen to New Kids on the Block?
Of course! Joey was my favorite.

Did you ever own a slap bracelet?
I did. I got it at the state fair. I was in fifth grade.

The Babysitter's Club or Sweet Valley High?
The Babysitter's Club, but I read both. I even had the Sweet Valley High board game. Does anyone else remember that?

Salute Your Shorts or Hey Dude?
I loved Hey Dude. I still remember the dark haired girl with the bangs. She was my favorite.

Kids Incorporated or The Mickey Mouse Club?
Didn't watch either.

Who was ALF?
The alien who tried to eat cats.

Do you remember the show Dinosaurs?
"Not the mama."

Do/did you know the words to the Fresh Prince theme song?
Let's see - In West Philadelphia, born and raised; on the playground is where I spent most of my days; chillin' out max and relaxin' all cool and shootin' some bball outside the school; when a couple of guys who were up to no good started makin' trouble in my neighborhood; I got into one little fight and my mom got scared and said you're movin' with you auntie and uncle in Bel Aire.
I can't believe I remember it, but apparently I do.

Kimmie Gibler or Urkel?
Kimmie Gibler

Blossom or Clarissa Explains It All?
So hard to choose. I have to go with Clarissa.

Did you have a crush on JTT?
Ha! No, but I had a friend who did.

Step By Step or Full House?
Definitely Full House.

Did you listen to Milli Vanilli?
My sister had the cassette.

Mr. Rogers or Reading Rainbow?
Both were great. Reading Rainbow.

Did you own a Glo Worm?
No. :(

Paula Abdul: better now or then?
Then

Wild 'n' Crazy Kids or Double Dare?
Double Dare.

Remember Legends of the Hidden Temple?
I don't know.

The Mighty Ducks or The Little Giants?
Quack, Quack, Quack, Quack

Did you watch Saved By The Bell?
I still do.

Who was hotter: Zack or Slater?
Zack

Camp Nowhere or House Arrest?
Camp Nowhere

Did you own a pair of Reebok Pumps?
No :(

Carebears or Smurfs?
Carebears!

Rainbow Brite or Strawberry Shortcake?
I loved Rainbow Brite and my sister loved strawberry shortcake

Did you watch Miami Vice?
No, but I remember my parents watching it.

Did you own a pair of Jelly Shoes?
Of course. My grandma used to buy them for me.

Did you own a Trapper Keeper?
I loved my Trapper Keeper. It was teal.

Atari or Nintendo?
Atari. Later, I had a gameboy.

This was fun! I would love to see everyone else's answers.

I have a synopsis! It is a draft - a really, really rough draft. But it exists, so that's a start. It's also two pages longer than the required three pages the lady critiquing my manuscript wants. I'm going to be doing some cutting tonight. It's really tough to get a 60,000 word story down to three pages. I'm off to edit!

I think that my love of bookstores is unhealthy. On days when I hate my day job, I tell my family I'm quitting, so that I can go apply at the local bookstore. Today, I bought another book that I didn't need because I have about 50 in my to-be-read pile. But it was just begging me to take it home.

Today, there was an old man sitting at a small table along one wall of the store. I bet he's been there all day. I hope that's me when I'm old.

Full Circle (http://www.fullcirclebooks.com/) is an especially wonderful bookstore in my area. It's a bit of a drive from my house, but it's worth it when I make the time to go. Here is an excerpt from their website:

"The bookstore’s ambiance and charm are defined by its 13-foot oak bookcases with rolling ladders, wood-burning fireplaces and comfortable seating arrangements. Customers are also entertained by our relaxing mix of classical, jazz and folk music played throughout the store."

Maybe if I offered to pay rent, they would just let me move in.

Ha! I just noticed that the title for my post a couple of weeks ago was "Revisng". You probably thought I did that on purpose, but no. I just noticed it.

Tinaya and Lindsey_leavitt have officially convinced me to register for the conference. Since you all did such a great job at helping me with that decision, I need some more help. This conference involves one editor and one agent appointment. I have to pitch one of my books, and I have no idea where to even start. Anyone have any advice, resources, ideas?

Also, if you know where I can find some good information about writing a synopsis, that would be great too. Thanks!

I've always been indecisive. My mom says that when I was a kid I would go through the huge toy catalog that came in the mail and cry because I didn't know what I wanted santa to bring me. Just a few weeks ago, my husband was going crazy because I couldn't think of what to ask for for my birthday. Apparently, I haven't changed much through the years.

But my indecisiveness isn't limited to gifts. I seem to make everything into a huge decision. It took me six months to buy a car. I'm always the one to say "It doesn't matter to me?" or "I don't care?" when a group of us are trying to decide where to eat dinner. Right now, the decision I'm trying to make is whether or not I should go to the ACFW conference in Dallas?

I have two Christian novels and one YA novel. Agents and editors that I would love to see my two Christian novels would be there.

It's within driving distance.

I've heard it's a great conference.

On the downside, it would cost a lot. I don't know if it would be worth the price.

My husband will just be returning from a business trip when I leave, but he's telling me to go.

Between the conference fee and the hotel room for three nights, it is going to be expensive...and I'm cheap.

We thought we were going to be spending A LOT of money on a new driveway (our driveway is almost a quarter of a mile long. We live out in the middle of nowhere), but our neighbor has agreed to do part of it for free.

I just got a profit sharing check from my company.

But we're trying to save money for a new truck for my husband.

See the way my mind works. Help!

I currently have two ideas for my next project. I love both of them. How do I decide which one to work on next?

I'm going to start working on my query letter this weekend. I actually don't mind writing query letters, but I hate writing synopses (is that the plural of synopsis?).

Today is bring your kids to work day at my office. It's madness!

Revisions suck. I hate rereading my stuff. I really do. Is that bad? I think it's like listening to your own voice on your answering machine. Painful!

Okay. That's the end of my whining. I really do love doing this, but I just had to get it out. Thanks for listening. Now, back to work.

Tinaya tagged me.

The rules:

* Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
* People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these

1. I love anything sour. My favorite thing to eat is a lemon or a lime cut in half. I pour salt on it and suck all of the juice out. Then, I turn it inside out and eat everything out of the peel. It's really bad for your teeth, but it makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

2. I grew up in a really small town on a farm. We raised cattle and farmed cotton, wheat and alfalfa.

3. My husband and I just moved to a home with 23 acres. Luckily (unlike growing up), we're still near a large city. We drive about 25 minutes to work each day.

4. I am obsessive about checking my curling iron and oven. I have a huge fear of burning down our house. I have to put my hand on all four burners before I leave the house.

5. I like really bad reality tv. Right now it is "So you think you can dance" and "America's got talent."

7. My friends in college all said I was just like Patty Mayonnaise on the cartoon "Doug." My Oklahoma accent is pretty thick - I think that had a lot to do with it.

8. I LOVE garage sales, flea markets, estate sales and thrift stores.

If you're reading this and haven't done this yet, consider yourself tagged.

I'm so excited about the next project I'm writing that I want to start it now, but I know that I need to finish the one I'm revising. My first edits are done, but I need to rewrite the ending. I hate writing endings. It seems like I should love them, but they're difficult for me. Everything starts sounding cheesy at the end of my manuscripts. It's hard to wrap everything up in a neat little bow without it sounding contrived.

What about you? Do you love writing endings or is it difficult for you too? Do you have any suggestions or tips for getting to "The End"?

If I had spent half as much time editing tonight as I did creating a new playlist on itunes, my edits would be done. I'm the queen of procrastination.

**Edit** And now, I've changed my profile pic. Seriously people, I need help. Make me work! **

Yesterday, my mom took me out to dinner (my husband is out of town for work), and we got to talking about my writing. Then, we talked about my mom's yard. She loves gardening and spends a lot of time in her flowerbeds. She's lived in her home for six years, always gets comments from neighbors about how beautiful her yard is, but she's never won the "Yard of the Month" award they give out during the summer months.

At the end of the conversation, we decided that I would just keep working on my writing and she would keep working on her yard and someday publication and "Yard of the Month" would come. We joked about it happening at the same time or how jealous she would be if I got published before she won her neighborhood award.

This morning (we just had this conversation last night) I got a phone call while I was getting ready for work. "I got it," is all she said when I picked up the phone. "I guess they put the sign out last night. I won Yard of the Month."

Sometimes God sends messages and little pieces of encouragement in such awesome ways. Really. How cool is that!

Today, I turn 27! I hope this year is full of writing success. Next year, I hope I can look back on this year and see an agent and a publisher - but if not, it's okay. I love writing, and this year I'm going to focus more on enjoying the process and on writing things I love to write.

Revising is going pretty well. There are parts of my manuscript that are better than I remembered and parts that are much worse and make me cringe. That's the hardest part about the editing stage of writing. You have to face everything about your writing that is bad. I much prefer flying through a first draft and trying to fool myself into thinking that it's wonderful so that I won't stop writing.

During revisions, you have to be honest with yourself about all of the weak points of your manuscript, which isn't fun. But there are some good points about revising. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and sometimes I read things in my first draft that I don't even really remember writing.

Next comes an even more difficult stage for me - letting someone else read it for the first time!!

**I got in about an hour of work on my manuscript yesterday. I'm going to try for another 45 minutes today.**

I don't know why it's so hard for me to sit down and work on my writing when I love it so much once I'm actually doing it. I guess it's kind of like working out. You don't want to do it, but you feel good for the rest of the day after you've done it.

Have a great weekend!

My writing partner

My goal for last night was to enter one chapter worth of edits on the inspirational romance. But I had forgotten that I haven't divided that book up into chapters yet. I kept thinking, "When am I ever going to get to the end of this chapter!" Oh well. At least I got quite a bit done last night.

Since we moved to the house in the country, I have a 25 or 30 minute drive to work. I started checking out books on tape from the library and can get through about one unabridged book a week - more if they are abridged. Anyway, I think that it is actually helping me with pace in my writing. After always listening to the pace of how a good book reads out loud, when I read mine the poor pacing sticks out to me.

The lady from the e-press emailed me again about editing. It pays a commission on the books you've edited based on sales. It sounds like fun. I'm just not sure if it's worth the time.

What does everyone think about conferences? There is one coming up in Dallas. Editors that would be the target for the book I'm working on now would be there. Would it be worth it? I would have to stay in a hotel - so the whole thing would be pretty expensive, over $500. But I would get agent and editor meetings. Does anybody have any feedback about conferences?

** My goal for tonight is 45 minutes of editing. My husband's sister's family is in town, but I'll probably work on it after everyone goes to bed and during breaks at work. **

I'm going to start using my livejournal page to keep track of my writing progress. One thing I've learned is that I need accountability for my progress, and hopefully, this will help.

My main project right now is a Christian romance that is complete and I'm in the process of editing. I've marked up the manuscript once. I need to enter those changes and start sending it to my critique partner.

I'm also beginning to outline my next YA novel. I'm really excited about the premise for this one, but I haven't flushed out the details yet.

I currently have a partial of my first YA novel with Puffin. After I do a little more revision on the first chapter, I'm going to start sending it to agents again. I took a break after the rejection letter started to wear me down.

The first novel I wrote still needs major revisions. I'd like to finish it someday, but it's going to be a big task.

On the freelancing front, my Brio article came out last month, which was really exciting. I also have been talking to an e-press about doing some editing for them. We'll see where that goes.

**My goal for tonight is to finish entering the next chapter of edits.**