Beta Tester, Baby!

The fabulous Marjorie M Liu has a game coming out to go with her first book Tiger Eye. I'm not sure what to expect, really. A paranormal romance novel made into a computer game sound right up my alley if done right, though. And I aim to find out if it's been done right!

So head on over to Passionfruit games by clicking on the name and check out the advance art. It looks awesome and it's cool to me that they previously asked for input on the look for one of the characters and I got to weigh in. I like being part of cool processes. : )

Last - Hey, Passionfruit people, pick me for a beta tester!

News of the absurd.

Well, I just made an idiot out of myself in front of the agents I want. Talent. I got it. It's just in the looking silly department.

There was an online chat and I loved it, lots of other people asked great questions. Got on the question list, last question actually! Only problem is that the question that seemed to be so important for the hour and a half that I waited my turn suddenly seemed lame and uneducated as I hit the send button. Boy, was it ever.

I told them about my daughter being from Haiti and how I would like to write a book about the couple that ran her orphanage and have now opened a temporary clinic. I asked if I needed to query for interest or just start writing. It seemed to me that doing a book like that, in a country in crisis, was better served by having a publisher at your back. Instead of "Take time out of your insane day to talk to me, I might sell this as a book", it would be "Hey, I'm writing a book for HarperCollins, now talk to me, government people". But as I sent the question I realized that it sounded amateur and foolish. Like I had never even heard of the Writer's Market.

My problem was that the book seems so important and special in my eyes that I assumed the process would be different. But it's not and now my name is seen as being funny but spectacularly ditzy. Not cool, but what are ya gonna do?

Well, that makes me feel a little better about my second piece of news. I'm going out for my nursing degree. I know, how am I gonna write? Answer, more slowly. But I need some stability of income, we need savings and college funds and all of those grown up things that we have lacked for the last couple of years. It's something I know I'll be good at, I was good at it with animals. I'm excited about making decent money and a more secure future. At 35 with two kids, that's almost naughty it's so exciting. : )

So I'm going to walk two paths, one will give me money. Which one will do it faster? Time will tell.

The home stretch!

After going through another bout of "I'll never be published, I stink as a writer, I'm wasting my time, blah, blah, blah...", I am seriously excited to be so close to finishing my revision. Life and family health problems have eaten into my writing time lately but I am fairly confident that I will be able to query by the end of the month. I'm still aiming for The Knight Agency! As a matter of fact, I'm beginning to like them so much that I think I might hit them up more than once if they reject me. Maybe after three rejections I'll move on to my next choice.

The first agency that I queried, oh so long ago, doesn't count. I picked them out of excitement rather than research and gut instinct, I totally fell for slick talking. As a matter of fact, I remember telling Hubby that I wasn't sure why I was querying them since I didn't think I liked them. But they seemed like players and I was thinking that players make good money. Now I'm looking to form a relationship with someone that I can work well with. Hubby has a great agent, has worked with her for eight years, and I'm hoping to have the same thing.

Right now, I am finishing the beginning and end to my story. (It's kindof funny how I go back and forth even in the middle of writing the scenes.) As soon as I'm done with that I'll print it out, hit it with a red pen and then throw it on out there. I have high hopes, it's a good story with some great spots, but I am new and I know that it's not all great spots. So I'll send it in and start on another story. If my theory that every story is a learning experience and hopefully a little better than the last then it'll be even better than this one.

Well, I have appointments and errands to do. I'm going to need to work hard for the next week to carve out writing time but I feel motivated to do it. I feel good. Hopeful, even!

Good morning, everybody!

New post over on the autism blog about surviving parties!

http://mykidissupercool.blogspot.com/2010/02/parties-and-autism-they-can-go-together.html

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Woke up early this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. I purposely wouldn't even let myself think about my writing yesterday and had a real day off, mentally and physically. Going to a cool party ended things well and now it seems that the words are flowing. They are at my fingertips and I have been typing since 6am. (I am not a morning person so that is insanely early!)

I know where the story is going and I feel good about it. It kicks ass so much more now that I revised it. I love being proud of what I write. It just gives me so much joy to know that I created something well.

I'm off to get the kids on the bus and sit down to write some more! Have a wonderful day, I'm thinking that I will. : )

Up the stakes, drive the story, keep it simple, make it powerful, cut unessentials, don't be a coward, go all the way, write, write, write. - Marjorie M Liu

New blog for parents of kids with autism launched!

Sorry about the huge gap in posts! I have had some technical issues and couldn't even get on for about a week. But I have finally had time and the internet gods decided to be nice and let me back on my blog so I finally got done the thing that I have wanted to get done for so long--

*drumrolllll*

I launched a blog for parents with kids who have autism! The purpose of the Wifeofmonobot blog was to have a place to talk about my writing and books that I love. I was surprised to find that I really, really also enjoy blogging about parenting. Also, you guys seemed to like it, too! So I decided to separate things into a writing and parenting blog. It's clearer and more fun that way because I don't have to worry about visitors not getting what they came for when they log on.

The title of my new blog is My Kid Is Super Cool. It's also at blogspot, just click on the title to get there. Please, if you became a follower of this blog because of the parenting stuff then become a follower of the new one. I like seeing the friendly faces on the sidebar. : ) Share the link and let me know what you think!

I'll be putting a sentence or two at the bottom of my posts for a week or so to help everyone make their way over there. Hope you like it, post in the comments to let me know if you have any specific things you would like to see.

Huzzah!