IWSG November: You Don't Give Up

I can't believe it's already NOVEMBER! That means Christmas is right around the corner—yikes!

And since it's the first Wednesday of the month, that means it's time for another group posting of the IWSG! A big thank you to the creator of this wonderful group, Alex Cavanaugh. And for anyone who wants to join us, it's never too late. Go HERE to sign up or learn more about the group. And, as always, thank you to the co-hosts for the month!

So, there isn't much to report. The agent I did the R&R for decided to pass on that project, but good news—she invited me to send her anything I thought might be a good fit. I decided to send her a little blurb about one of my adult contemporary romances and she responded that she'd love to read it! I sent it off to her and now I'm waiting to hear back. In the meantime, I've decided to send out more queries for Middle of Knowhere, and when I've exhausted all my query options, I'll start submitting to any publishers who accept work from unagented authors. So, if you know of a publisher who accepts YA, let me know! :)

 I'm happy to have a game plan, but I'm still feeling a little overwhelmed. Inspiration for another book hasn't struck yet (or, I guess I should say, stuck yet), and I keep hoping there will be something that triggers that desire to write again. Oh well, I don't want to focus only on the negatives. And now that I've given you the update on what's going on, let's have some fun!

I figured this is appropriate since Thanksgiving is just around the corner...

This is how I feel about this awesome IWSG group:

This is what I tell myself when I start to feel overwhelmed with the whole querying/publishing process:

*I will BE so relaxed*

And this is what I keep telling myself in spite of it all (and this is what you should tell yourself too):

Even though things aren't necessarily falling into place the way I want them too, I'm still not giving up. And neither should you.

The Latest in Life, Motherhood, and Writing

Some of you may be wondering what happened with that R&R I mentioned in a previous blog post a few weeks ago. Well... I finished it!

Yep, after working hard for a few weeks straight (and after insightful advice from critique partners and friends), I sent it to that wonderful agent yesterday. Can I just tell you how nervous I was to press send? I think I reread my email a dozen times, analyzing each word, going over all the changes I made in my head, trying to sound somewhat coherent when all I really wanted to do was write, "I DID IT!! I'm FINISHED! Do you LOVE it???? Say YES, please, say YES!!!"

And it's kind of funny, but I think I might have sat there, my cursor hovering over the send button for at least twenty more minutes had my finger not twitched and accidentally pressed send. Lol. Yeah.

Thankfully, the email was ready to go, but I guess some part of my body recognized the need to intervene with my crazy mind so I didn't obsess over it any longer.

So, now? I wait. This agent is usually super fast getting back to writers, so I'm guessing I'll know something in a couple weeks?

Although, I guess I'll be too busy to "wait." I'm hosting a baby shower at my house Thursday night and then my "baby" is turning FOUR (I can't believe he's four already!) in a few days and we are having a birthday party/brunch this Saturday at the house for him. Sooo, it will be a busy few days!

Those of you who are friends with me on Facebook probably already know about THE major milestone that occurred this year for me. (For those of you who want to friend me on Facebook, click HERE. I'll only friend you if I know you already—or recognize your name—from blogging or Twitter, though, because I've heard of crazy stuff happening on FB with people pretending to be someone they're not.)

Anyhoo, my "baby" started preschool this year, and after 13 and a half years of constant mothering, I have four hours a day, three days a week to myself!!!!! And it is AMAZING!!

When I came home the first day from dropping D off at preschool, I walked in the house, stopped and just listened. And guess what?? There was SILENCE! There was no running, no screaming, no whining, no crying, no "MOM!", no "I'm hungry"....

I truly understood the saying, "Silence is bliss."

As much as I love my kids, it sure is nice to get a break! :)

Hope you're having a good week! Happy Wednesday! :)

**OH! And make sure you check out Unicorn Bell this week. I'm featuring more "How I Got My Agent" stories and there are some GREAT ones!! You can read Summer Spence's story HERE. And Julie Dao's story HERE. And tune into Friday's post to see who's next... :)