I am NOT a good waiter. I'm impatient. I would define myself as a "NOW"er. I think of something, I do it. I want it, (if I can afford it) I get it. An idea pops in my head, I do it now... I don't wait until there is time, I drop everything and do it. So, being a "NOW"er is not very compatible in this writing world. A week has gone by since I sent my manuscripts off and boy does it feel like months have passed. So, meanwhile, do I continue on the series, work on something else, or just wait? All of the above? Thank goodness I have these three girls to occupy me or I would go nutty!
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
Three Funny Girls
Enter Jocelyn, four, as she climbs up on my lap as I try to type on the computer. Her little soft hands smush my cheeks and make my eyes look at hers. She moves my head to the left and right numerous times. (I have seen her do this to the dogs numerous times and now I feel for them.) I notice something glossy on her shoulder and take a closer look. Ten strips of tape were on both shoulders. “Why is there tape all over you?” I ask smirking, because I have a hard time getting mad at her for cute things, even if they are messy. “My straps of my dress kept falling down, so I taped them,” she says very proudly.
Enter Madeline, nine, we are sitting in the third row of the church. Sacrament has just finished. “Mom,” she says very loudly. “I’m very hungry. Can I ask for the leftover bread?”
Enter Gwendolynn, seven, who has just watched me make myself a Diet Coke. I sit at the couch, two minutes later, she comes to me with a HUGE glass. “Look, Mommy, I made you two cokes.” “Thanks, sweetie,” I say, “but I already have one.” Gwendolynn, who knew this already, replies, “Good, can I have it?” Mommy- that is me- replies, “Hmmmmm…..let me think about that one…. No.” I laugh; she frowns. I have three Diet Cokes to drink.
Enter Madeline, nine, we are sitting in the third row of the church. Sacrament has just finished. “Mom,” she says very loudly. “I’m very hungry. Can I ask for the leftover bread?”
Enter Gwendolynn, seven, who has just watched me make myself a Diet Coke. I sit at the couch, two minutes later, she comes to me with a HUGE glass. “Look, Mommy, I made you two cokes.” “Thanks, sweetie,” I say, “but I already have one.” Gwendolynn, who knew this already, replies, “Good, can I have it?” Mommy- that is me- replies, “Hmmmmm…..let me think about that one…. No.” I laugh; she frowns. I have three Diet Cokes to drink.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
The Real "Sisters of Sugar Land"
Enough about your boring query trouble, you say. What are the real “Sisters of Sugar Land” are up to?
Everything we did this summer together- except swimming and we did a lot of that- sewing, art, piano, writing, and cooking led up to the “Sisters of Sugar Land Summer Showcase.” You have to envision the sparkles when you say the title or it is no good. Go back and say it with the sparkles.
This showcase consisted of torturing my friends and my husband -gone to India or Norway and in no way gets to steal credit for this- with my children’s wondrous and countless talents.....who apparently take after M- O- M- M-Y. Madeline made cupcakes, played "Book of Mormon Stories" on the piano, showed off her sewn blanket, and read a book she wrote and illustrated. Hmmmm…..who does that sound like....Clap for Madeline! Gwendolynn made these incredible M&M cookies- which I ate too many of. She told everyone about the t-shirts we were wearing (yes, I wore a t-shirt and shorts-gasp). We hand painted them with a silk screen and embroidered designs around the paint. More than ten hours per t-shirt, especially since I made the kids do everything for their own shirt. Clap for Madeline! Jocelyn made a sherbet punch that did not taste good, but she loved it, because Mommy failed to get a recipe first….bad Mommy. She also had her t-shirt to show and wrote a note to Daddy for the audience as her talent- yes my four year-old can write! (again… who does that sound like?) Clap for Mo…I mean Clap for Jocelyn!
Today, the last Friday before all the kids head back to school, we went to Life Time Gym swimming. And while the other parents are sunbathing or talking to one another- or staring at me like I’m an idiot, the girls and I went on another pool adventure. We went in search of the lost turtle, on the water boat train, and to Power Island (which Gwendolynn made up- the island gives you powers- mine was to throw thunderbolts at the children.) And of course, what is a pool adventure without having a pretend cupcake and pizza tasting contest- they all should be waitresses because they really like taking my orders and throwing the food in my face when I tell them it doesn’t taste good and to add more sugar. Weirder than all that was the group of children (strangers) who asked to play with us on our adventures. They also liked taking orders from me- I’m like the female pied piper or something.
Good times. Sigh.
Everything we did this summer together- except swimming and we did a lot of that- sewing, art, piano, writing, and cooking led up to the “Sisters of Sugar Land Summer Showcase.” You have to envision the sparkles when you say the title or it is no good. Go back and say it with the sparkles.
This showcase consisted of torturing my friends and my husband -gone to India or Norway and in no way gets to steal credit for this- with my children’s wondrous and countless talents.....who apparently take after M- O- M- M-Y. Madeline made cupcakes, played "Book of Mormon Stories" on the piano, showed off her sewn blanket, and read a book she wrote and illustrated. Hmmmm…..who does that sound like....Clap for Madeline! Gwendolynn made these incredible M&M cookies- which I ate too many of. She told everyone about the t-shirts we were wearing (yes, I wore a t-shirt and shorts-gasp). We hand painted them with a silk screen and embroidered designs around the paint. More than ten hours per t-shirt, especially since I made the kids do everything for their own shirt. Clap for Madeline! Jocelyn made a sherbet punch that did not taste good, but she loved it, because Mommy failed to get a recipe first….bad Mommy. She also had her t-shirt to show and wrote a note to Daddy for the audience as her talent- yes my four year-old can write! (again… who does that sound like?) Clap for Mo…I mean Clap for Jocelyn!
Today, the last Friday before all the kids head back to school, we went to Life Time Gym swimming. And while the other parents are sunbathing or talking to one another- or staring at me like I’m an idiot, the girls and I went on another pool adventure. We went in search of the lost turtle, on the water boat train, and to Power Island (which Gwendolynn made up- the island gives you powers- mine was to throw thunderbolts at the children.) And of course, what is a pool adventure without having a pretend cupcake and pizza tasting contest- they all should be waitresses because they really like taking my orders and throwing the food in my face when I tell them it doesn’t taste good and to add more sugar. Weirder than all that was the group of children (strangers) who asked to play with us on our adventures. They also liked taking orders from me- I’m like the female pied piper or something.
Good times. Sigh.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Finding an Agent for my Undiscovered Genius of a Series
Ok, world… I have this incredibly brilliant (choking on my own vanity here) and uplifting children's book series I am writing. These characters are quiet literally my children and I, going through a typical suburban life and letting our imaginations transform the world around us into unlimited possibilities. I know, you are wondering why is that sentence bold; don’t get ahead of me.
So, what is this incredible series called you want to know because you already are hooked on my sassy personality (choking again). Sisters of Sugar Land. I think it is cute, mainly because I’m an English teacher who thinks alliteration rocks the world, but still, I like it. LDS members out there will like the double meaning of “sisters.”
Last Thursday, I sent out my first round of queries to find an agent for my series. (Most of these agent website sites have a pre-apology note posted on their submission page: Sorry it will take 3 months to respond to your query, thanks for your submission.)
Today, I got four responses back (guess they aren’t as busy as they claim). Three said “Not for me” and I kid you not when I tell you that was the entire response. A fourth asked for the entire manuscript. I did a happy dance for about four minutes. When I sat down to send the manuscript, something inside told me to go to the agent’s website again. (I say again, because I really have looked over all the websites I sent my queries to.) Immediately, I get the “no way are you sending it to them” feeling. “But, they want to actually read my work, not some stupid cover letter!” I argue with myself. So, I set out to find out WHY I shouldn’t send it. I re-read the bios of the agents. I write down all of the books they have gotten published and then I look all of those books up online. I know, I know, it is like self-torture as I find each and every one of those books were published and marketed horribly. Many were actually rip offs of other popular series (published with the same name even).
To make up for my rejection, (which I don’t take personally, because they didn’t even read my book…because if they had they would have signed me immediately) I set off to find another agent.
So, I find an agent to query that I like and wouldn’t you know it… this agent has a line by line rubric of what she wants in her query… which is NOT anything that I can just copy and paste from my standard query. So, I wasted an entire day making a special query just for ONE literary agent who had extremely specific sentence by sentence requirements for her submission query... and she is likely to not even request to read my manuscript after all that trouble. And that bold sentence at the top… was line 7 of her special query requirements: Why can you, only you, and no one in the whole world write this story? Duh, it is my actual life… I wanted to write that… but the sentence in bold sounded better.
So, what is this incredible series called you want to know because you already are hooked on my sassy personality (choking again). Sisters of Sugar Land. I think it is cute, mainly because I’m an English teacher who thinks alliteration rocks the world, but still, I like it. LDS members out there will like the double meaning of “sisters.”
Last Thursday, I sent out my first round of queries to find an agent for my series. (Most of these agent website sites have a pre-apology note posted on their submission page: Sorry it will take 3 months to respond to your query, thanks for your submission.)
Today, I got four responses back (guess they aren’t as busy as they claim). Three said “Not for me” and I kid you not when I tell you that was the entire response. A fourth asked for the entire manuscript. I did a happy dance for about four minutes. When I sat down to send the manuscript, something inside told me to go to the agent’s website again. (I say again, because I really have looked over all the websites I sent my queries to.) Immediately, I get the “no way are you sending it to them” feeling. “But, they want to actually read my work, not some stupid cover letter!” I argue with myself. So, I set out to find out WHY I shouldn’t send it. I re-read the bios of the agents. I write down all of the books they have gotten published and then I look all of those books up online. I know, I know, it is like self-torture as I find each and every one of those books were published and marketed horribly. Many were actually rip offs of other popular series (published with the same name even).
To make up for my rejection, (which I don’t take personally, because they didn’t even read my book…because if they had they would have signed me immediately) I set off to find another agent.
So, I find an agent to query that I like and wouldn’t you know it… this agent has a line by line rubric of what she wants in her query… which is NOT anything that I can just copy and paste from my standard query. So, I wasted an entire day making a special query just for ONE literary agent who had extremely specific sentence by sentence requirements for her submission query... and she is likely to not even request to read my manuscript after all that trouble. And that bold sentence at the top… was line 7 of her special query requirements: Why can you, only you, and no one in the whole world write this story? Duh, it is my actual life… I wanted to write that… but the sentence in bold sounded better.
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