One Year to a new woman!

Today marks the one year anniversary of the day I sat before my computer and decided to be a writer. Today marks one year ago that I changed my life!

While I may be forever hectic and forgetful, for some reason I remember that day with absolute clarity! I had just finished reading the Twilight series (All 4 in 6 days) and felt like I needed more! Not another book to read because at the time it just didn't feel like I could find another that would make me feel the way that one did. So I decided I was going to write my own!

I have written on and off for most of my life, poetry, unfinished, horrible romance novels, but something was different this time. I WAS MOTIVATED! I wanted nothing more than to finish this novel and have it be amazing! Now you have to understand, I have never really been motivated about anything in my life. I am content with pretty much whatever life brings me. All I ever wanted in life was to be a mother. I didn't want a career, or to go to college, but it feels like this is it! This is where I want to be, writing this novel that will hopefully someday sell!

So now here I am one year later, almost done with the third (and hopefully) final rewrite with mass amounts of editing to look forward to! I have learned so much and grown in ways I never knew I could. I have made some amazing friends that maybe, just maybe, someday I will be able to meet in person. And I am honestly loving every second of it! I feel like this is what I was meant for, besides being a mom, that has already been accomplished :)

What made you start your very first novel and how has this changed your life?

Girlie Wisdom!

1 A friend of mine confused her Valium with her birth control pills... she has 14 kids but she doesn't really care..

2. One of life's mysteries is how a 2-pound box of chocolates can make a woman gain 5 lbs.

3. My mind not only wanders, it sometimes leaves completely.

4. The best way to forget your troubles is to wear tight shoes.

5. The nice part about living in a small town is that when you don't know what you are doing, someone else does.

6. The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight, because by then your body and your fat are really good friends

7. Just when I was getting used to yesterday, along came today...

8 Sometimes I think I understand everything, and then I regain consciousness.

9. I gave up jogging for my health when my thighs kept rubbing together and setting fire to my panties.

10. Amazing! You hang something in your closet, for a while, and it shrinks 2 sizes!

11. Skinny people irritate me! Especially when they say things like...'You know sometimes I forget to eat!'.....Now, I've forgotten my address, my mother's maiden name, and my keys, but I have never forgotten to eat. You have to be a special kind of stupid to forget to eat!

12. The trouble with some women is that they get all excited about nothing -- and then they marry him.

13. I read this article that said the typical symptoms of stress are eating too much, impulse buying, and driving too fast. Are they kidding? That's my idea of a perfect day!

It's all in a name

So I am random. You may have noticed this by now. My posts have no rhyme or reason. This is how I live my daily life also. Thank God for my sister who keeps me on track and makes sure I get my kids where they need to go semi on-time and get all the Happy Birthday phone calls made on the right day!

Here's my random post today, has nothing to do with anything, just something I was chuckling about the other day. Do you have nicknames you call your children? My poor kids probably don't even know what their real name is, especially my daughter whom I often refer to as Miss Gertrude (her name is NOT Gertrude nor anything close), Schmoopsie Poo, Darlin', Little Britches, Punky Do, Nerdaleeacha and so on. I don't have a set list, they just come to me throughout the day. My son is a little better off, he gets Bubba and Buddy, and little Mister, but also the same mushy ones, I don't discriminate! What names do you use?

I also LOVE to sing very random, very nonsense songs. My kids are often asking me why in the world I make up those songs all the time and when one of them is actually a real song that I knew when I was a kid, it's like I'm the smartest person EVER! My daughter always had her full name sung to the tune of Winnie the Pooh and my son gets his long four name full name sung to head shoulders knees and toes. What songs do you like to sing to your kids, or animals if that's the case?

Blogging friends..unlike any other friends!

I was reading a blogging friend's post today and it got me thinking.... (TK Richardson)

She mentioned that she feels like her blog is like sitting down to a cup of coffee with friends (not a direct quote). And it just really hit a spot with me! It is SO true!!!

Though I may never meet quite a few of you, I feel like I know you. I have started this scary journey that has led me to places I never dreamed of going and along the way I found some very helpful, very sweet and darn funny people, whom I would have never had any contact with otherwise.

I feel like this is a whole other person I have become and I am liking it! If my book never gets published...well, that will just be ok because I have enjoyed the ride!

Thank you to each of my followers, now and yet to come! Can't wait to see what the future holds for this dreaming writer!

I would like to thank the academy...I mean fellow writer LISA!!!

WOW! I came home from a wonderful weekend with no kids at the beach where the weather mostly behaved with my husband who was sweet and funny to a blog award!

*SQUEEEEAL*

Thank you Lisa! What a wonderful surprise! Check out her witty blog Random Thoughts To String Together


And hopefully to brightened a few other's day, I would like to pass this on to some more wonderful people:

Charlie Eve: Kids Book Junky
Layinda: Layinda's Blog
Jemi (Who I know already received this but she's just such a darn sweet follower, I had to mention her): Just Jemi
Eisley Jacobs (Who I just found on Twitter and started following her blog and think she's hilarious!): Eisley's Ellipses
Kathi Oram Peterson (Who has given me some good advice so far): Kathi's Writing Nook

Happy Anniversary to me!!!

Today is my 10 year anniversary! Now I know you're all thinking, "But she's way to young to be married that long!" Thank you, but I'm not!

My husband and got on a plane and headed to Vegas a mere 10 years ago (We did not elope) and had a 5 minute ceremony with the cutest litte french minister at the Candlelight Wedding Chapel. We have had our share of ups and downs, the loss of a child, and the birth of 2 beautiful babies! There were many times when it just seemed like nothing could go right, but it all worked out...eventually.

Now I am happy to say that after 10 years, he is still my best friend, he is my love and I wouldn't trade him for anything (ok maybe a million buck-JUST KIDDING...kinda) No really though, maybe it took 10 years of growing and maturing, of pain and struggles to appreciate that what I have is truly what I want.

I believe women live in a world where they think fairy tales really can come true. That there really are men like in romance novels who will ride in on their white steeds and rescue them from the everyday mundane. But I'm afraid there really isn't!

My fairy tale has turned into having a man that I love enough to share my life with and who is my best friend share in the mundane, everyday things. I want him to grow old with me and watch our children grow up and have kids and spend all those days together doing the things we enjoy! I can't think of anything better!

I love you honey!

Realistic Goals

Here are my goals for this year:

#1 LOSE WEIGHT, I mean live a healthier life style
#2 FINISH MY BOOK (not helping when I am blogging and Facebooking and now Tweeting)
#3 FIND AGENT FOR SAID BOOK
#4 SPEND MORE QUALITY TIME WITH THE KIDS
#5 SAVE MONEY (or make lots of money from selling said book-heehee)

Ok, so are these realistic goals? Heck if I know! I would like to say yes! But then here I sit doing a lot of not writing on that book and not exercising for that matter.

Where do you find the motivation to make these dreams happen? What are your New Years resolutions, in April?

Mystery! Intrigue!...or not!

So I have been doing some serious thinking and plotting about where I want to take my story. Yes, I have at one time completely finished it, giddy and foolishly sent to 6 agents (NOTE TO AGENTS: I greatly apologize for making you read that garbage. Hopefully, you just skimmed through and will not recall my name in the future) and after finding much helpful advice, mostly from the Agent Query Connect website, I started my second rewrite, much to my sister and mother's and mostly hubby's, dismay. Quote sis and mom "But it was *so* good. I just don't see how everybody doesn't love it!"

I got halfway through the second rewrite and just "wasn't feeling" it. Enter the third rewrite. I had an epiphany! With the help of a critique partner and a book I read that I loved, I realized I knew exactly what needed to happen! (DISCLAIMER: am not copying said book that I loved)

Now comes rewrite numero tres! I'm feeling it! I'm loving it! I'm losing momentum! Another thwack on the head and I realize the things I need to do to make my peeps (that's my characters-heehee) sound the way they really are in my mind.

I need mystery! I need intrigue! I need to figure out what in the heck to do! I know how they are in my mind, but I'm just not seeing it on the pages! Him: dark and mysterious with a secret past. Her: spunky and sad, longing to start a new life, but unwilling to accpet anyone's crap along the way. *SIGH*

What do you do when you get to this point, when you're feeling a little lost? What is helpful to you when you feel like packing it up and calling it quits?