Guess what? You can win one! The Bibliofreak blog is giving them away! Run over there now to find out how.
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Friday, December 4, 2009
Kindle Giveaway!
If you're a heavy duty reader like me, you know how quickly the books can pile up. You also know how hard it is to wait for a new one to come in or trek to the bookstore during a spare moment. The Amazon Kindle is the solution.
Guess what? You can win one! The Bibliofreak blog is giving them away! Run over there now to find out how.
Guess what? You can win one! The Bibliofreak blog is giving them away! Run over there now to find out how.
RWA 2010
While July still sounds like a long away away, it isn't.
I have 58 days left to meet my personal deadline: complete the first draft of my novel. Now, as I look at the number of actual days left on paper, it's daunting. I have 58 days to write approximately 18,000 more words. Life has been especially crazy-busy, but I am determined to meet my own goal.
Why do I keep mentioning July? I'm attending the national Romance Writers of America conference next summer here in Nashville, and I will have an opportunity to meet with other writers, publishing professionals, and literary agents. By next July (if not sooner), I need to have a completed manuscript--edits and all. I'm terrified.
Another writer who isn't local but who has become an online friend has offered to take an objective look at my work and begin offering critiques and edits. One reason I haven't had much success with others reading my work is because too often, other people are afraid to hurt my feelings. I understand. Who wants to hit you when you're already insecure about your work? But an objective, constructive critique can be the most helpful advice you can receive.
News flash: All writers are insecure about their work--to a degree. Part of it is what I like to refer to as "artist mentality." And part of it is not knowing when the "big break" is going to come. In my case, a "big break" would merely consist of interest by a publisher or agent at this point.
I'll admit it: I'm terrified of next summer and how I could stick my foot in my mouth (as I am so often wont to do). But I also have this antsy feeling that God has something great in store for me in the coming year. I'd be a fool not to acknowledge it and recognize that if God has a plan--and He always does--life can change in a moment.
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I have 58 days left to meet my personal deadline: complete the first draft of my novel. Now, as I look at the number of actual days left on paper, it's daunting. I have 58 days to write approximately 18,000 more words. Life has been especially crazy-busy, but I am determined to meet my own goal.
Why do I keep mentioning July? I'm attending the national Romance Writers of America conference next summer here in Nashville, and I will have an opportunity to meet with other writers, publishing professionals, and literary agents. By next July (if not sooner), I need to have a completed manuscript--edits and all. I'm terrified.
Another writer who isn't local but who has become an online friend has offered to take an objective look at my work and begin offering critiques and edits. One reason I haven't had much success with others reading my work is because too often, other people are afraid to hurt my feelings. I understand. Who wants to hit you when you're already insecure about your work? But an objective, constructive critique can be the most helpful advice you can receive.
News flash: All writers are insecure about their work--to a degree. Part of it is what I like to refer to as "artist mentality." And part of it is not knowing when the "big break" is going to come. In my case, a "big break" would merely consist of interest by a publisher or agent at this point.
I'll admit it: I'm terrified of next summer and how I could stick my foot in my mouth (as I am so often wont to do). But I also have this antsy feeling that God has something great in store for me in the coming year. I'd be a fool not to acknowledge it and recognize that if God has a plan--and He always does--life can change in a moment.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Starstruck
Occasionally, I have a starstruck moment. It doesn't happen a lot these days since I'm surrounded by well-known authors I converse with on a frequent basis, and, of course, I work for Dave Ramsey. So imagine my delight when I discovered the Christmas research class I'm taking online is not only being taught by some very well-respected authors but is also being "attended" by yet another famous author: Sabrina Jeffries. Sabrina--like Teresa Medeiros and Eloisa James--is another New York Times bestselling author. I've known Teresa for quite some time--back to my beginning writer days. But it's quite a different experience when you randomly select a class to take for research purposes and discover that yet another famous writer is in your midst.
I'm not sure how to describe this feeling other than to say two years ago, I was still dreaming about this whole writing pursuit. A year ago, I was working my tail off to achieve it. Today, I'm still working my tail off to achieve it, but now I'm actively involved in writer organizations and interacting with people I used to only dream about discussing writing with. I'm inching ever closer to this publishing dream of mine.
Quick! Someone pinch me.
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I'm not sure how to describe this feeling other than to say two years ago, I was still dreaming about this whole writing pursuit. A year ago, I was working my tail off to achieve it. Today, I'm still working my tail off to achieve it, but now I'm actively involved in writer organizations and interacting with people I used to only dream about discussing writing with. I'm inching ever closer to this publishing dream of mine.
Quick! Someone pinch me.
Retirement
No one wants to think about getting older, but reality is we're all going to. I just turned 29, and I realized I have very little in retirement savings. Why? Well, Will and I began getting out of debt shortly after we married, and I stopped my retirement contributions as Dave Ramsey recommends. At that point, I'd only been contributing 5% anyway since that was the employer match. And since I graduated at the age of 23 instead of 22, I really hadn't been contributing long. Now, here we are four years later, and my Roth IRA balance is rather pitiful.
It took two years to get out of debt, another year to save our emergency fund, and then we saved for another year for a house. I think this realization is bothering me more lately than it has in the past because as I approach 30, I'm no longer a carefree 20-something who can throw caution to the wind. I have to plan for my future because no one else is going to.
So...our goal is to restart our retirement savings in January. It's a little daunting since this means our cash flow each month is going to be reduced significantly. That's not to say we won't have extra moolah for fun stuff. It just means we're going to be more deliberate about our saving plan. It doesn't sound real exciting right now, but when I'm 60 and have a paid-for house with enough money in the bank to go anywhere in the world at almost any time, I'm sure we'll be patting ourselves on the back instead of waiting on our Social In-Security checks to come.
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It took two years to get out of debt, another year to save our emergency fund, and then we saved for another year for a house. I think this realization is bothering me more lately than it has in the past because as I approach 30, I'm no longer a carefree 20-something who can throw caution to the wind. I have to plan for my future because no one else is going to.
So...our goal is to restart our retirement savings in January. It's a little daunting since this means our cash flow each month is going to be reduced significantly. That's not to say we won't have extra moolah for fun stuff. It just means we're going to be more deliberate about our saving plan. It doesn't sound real exciting right now, but when I'm 60 and have a paid-for house with enough money in the bank to go anywhere in the world at almost any time, I'm sure we'll be patting ourselves on the back instead of waiting on our Social In-Security checks to come.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Christmas Vacation
It's that time of year again...you know. The Christmas movies start running on the networks in droves. This week, AMC is running National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation for five straight nights. The exploits and one-liners from Cousin Eddie never fail to make me giggle. And Clark's tirade toward the end of the movie when he doesn't get his Christmas bonus? Priceless. I have fits of laughter. It's the only Christmas movie we own on DVD. We watch it every year without fail.
Christmas just isn't Christmas without Christmas Vacation.
And this time of year, I compare everything to the Griswolds--especially Christmas lights. It amuses me that people turn decorating for Christmas into one gigantic competition. It's hard not to get caught up in it, but I laughed this past weekend when our neighbors were setting up their lights. They have everything from the Nativity to Santa Claus in their front yard. It's our own personal Griswold family.
I caught Will mentioning to his brother that maybe next year we can have everyone at our house to celebrate. Heh. I'm not sure that's such a good idea. Remember that scene in Christmas Vacation when the arriving family members ring the doorbell and they're already fighting? Yeah. That's our family. As Ellen says to Audrey in the kitchen, "I don't know what to say, except it's Christmas and we're all in misery." I'm envisioning Cousin Eddie in my living room. *shudder*
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