A Saturday Quote

If I don't write to empty my mind, I go mad.
-Lord Byron 

Interview with Me and GUTGAA!

Just got back from Florida for my BFF's bachelorette party weekend. Had a blast, but that's for another day. While I was away I was interviewed over at Falling for Fiction, you can check it out here.

I also wanted to just take a minute and say good luck to all of you who are in the madness of GUTGAA (Did I get it right this time? So many letters lol) I started reading entries and I am blown away by the undiscovered talent. I'm rooting for all of you.

So while you are all:

Take a minute to uncross your fingers, and be grateful for all the awesome people who made this possible for you. I've read so many stories of writers who got their break during contests such as this one and who knows, your story might be the one I read next.

Okay you can go back to crossing your fingers. 

Good Luck!!!!!

Another Year.

It's been another year, I can't believe it. I'm not going to write a post reflecting on September 11, 2001 because I already have. If you want you can read it here. Instead I'm going to write about something happy. Because if there is anything I learned from witnessing the loss that day is life is short and you need to live each day to the fullest. So I'm going to talk about the amazing things I have witnessed in the past month.

#1)  My cousin got married. The boy who I idolized growing up, my partner in crime said I do to his perfect match in a true Country Wedding. 

The pictures blurry, but the look on her face is priceless. She was/is absolutely gorgeous and I'm so happy to have been a part of it.

I wore cowboy boots with a dress! The only people I would do that for is them.

It took fifteen years but I finally got my brother to take a picture with me again! Highlight of my day! 

So much fun! Too much...

#2) My Best friend since the first grade is getting married and I helped throw her Bridal Shower! 

We had everyone fill out advice cards and though I really didn't know what I could offer in the way of advice I filled one out anyway.  When it asked how long I've known the bride for, I had to stop and think. I nearly fainted when I figured it out. Who knew when this picture was taking in first grade we'd be posing again almost 22 years later at her bridal shower.

It's crazy to think that so much time has passed, but I couldn't have asked for a better friend to have at my side all these years. So as we get ready for the next steps in our lives I will have my camera ready so we can see just how far we've come.

Today is hard, but it helps to think about the good things. And that's what I'm doing today. Thinking of the good stuff. 

Rewrite Resubmit

You beat the odds and got a full request from an agent. You jump for joy, clap to yourself, throw your fists in the air until you realize someone might see you. At least that's what I do. Then you wait to hear back to see if your dreams are about to come true. You get the awful rejection and your world seems to cave in on you. That's been my experience so far, but recently I didn't get a rejection. I got a Rewrite and Resubmit with some amazing feedback on ways to improve my story. It wasn't an offer of rep but it was reassurance that I didn't totally suck.

I was so excited, still am. I dove into revisions. I deleted scenes, added scenes, basically trashed the entire first chapter. It was the biggest revision I've done since I started writing seriously five years ago. I sent it out to my CP's and then did even more revisions. It took a little over a month to get it to the point where I felt it was ready to be resubmitted. Then I had to hit the send button.

Hitting send on a query is always a difficult thing for me. I reread the email a hundred times, hover over the send button all while giving myself a pep talk to just click the dang  button already. This was worse. Much worse. Having an RR is a good feeling. A great feeling. Once you hit that send button that's it. You wait to see if you move on with your dream or if you wind back up at square one. It could go either way. One step forward or two steps back. It's terrifying.

With a few pep talks from my CP's and several from myself, I finally hit send. I think I hyperventilated after, but it was done. Sent. A little bittersweet, but proud of what I accomplished. I now have a much stronger manuscript and I got to spend more time with my two favorite characters. (Shh don't tell the others.) 

So while it is a terrifying experience, it is one of the best I've had in this crazy writing world.

Have you had an RR? How'd it make you feel? What is your best experience since you jumped into this crazy world?

Happy Unofficial Last Day of Summer!

A Saturday Quote.

Today's quote is an oldie but a goodie :) My mom sent me an email this week and all it said was:

Some writers/agents would consider it a cliche, but in the moment the familiarity of the phrase, coming from my Mom, was the comfort I needed. It was perfect.

What are some of your favorite sayings/quotes?