A Agenting We Go...

Today I submitted my novel to the Richard Henshaw group. Extremely tempting to just write Dear Mr. Henshaw in the query letter. But I decided the other agent working for him seemed like a better bet, so I sent it to a Ms. Taylor instead.

Since my last post, I went to a fun Star Trek party where my amazing friend Sara made me these lovely ears! Then lots of other stuff happened, which was followed by an epic Thanksgiving that was actually two Thanksgivings in one. I went to my boyfriend's family's house where we had a nice traditional Thanksgiving with yummy turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and pie. They talked about family and listened to music. Then I went to my sister's house where we had tofurkey and played one-player video games all in the same room. A truly great day.

My sister bought me a Wii for Christmas, which is awesome! And she got me Skyward Sword which I've not played much of yet, but which has an elf version of me, earning it major Cherie points.

I finished editing my fantasy novel; I'm hoping for good this time, and I've started editing my children's novel. After my fantasy is finished making its rounds of the agents, I'll start sending my children's book out.

In random news, I was disappointed to find that even fresh red delicious apples are not as delicious as advertised, but fresh Asian pears are fantastic!

And that's my life in a nutshell right now. It's a good life. I think I'll keep it.

In Defense of My Generation

Generation Y, the Millennials, the Echo-Boomers. Whatever you want to call us, it seems we get no respect. Sometimes, I think that part of growing older seems to necessitate a certain amount of disdain for the younger generation. So perhaps every generation goes through a time when they are looked down upon. But I only know that it makes my blood boil to see the word "entitlement" put together with my generation time and time again. Right now I've been set off by seeing it a book I'm reading called "The Unlikely Disciple" (p. 9, Roose). What bothers me most is that it's written by someone in our generation! Please, please, please, my fellow peers, don't endorse the stereotype!

I would like to make a quick note that I actually am enjoying the book I'm referencing, but this is an issue I feel the need to address. How are we entitled exactly?

• We're currently living in one of our country's biggest economic depressions

• Jobs we studied in school for years to obtain are no longer available
  

• Because our country is so obsessed with the War on Terror, we're not even entitled to the privacy of our own bodies when traveling

I won't say we're perfect. I won't say that some of us aren't spoiled. But this wouldn't be because of our generation.

Thoughts From My Road Trip and my Personal Life

So my boyfriend graciously just drove me down to southern California and back for an interview. I don't have any pictures of the trip since things generally flew by too fast for me to take them. But here's what I remember.

• I saw a car pulling a helicopter. At first I thought it was just the blade as the helicopter was partially covered, but then I realized it was the whole helicopter.

• I saw a trucker chugging a half gallon of milk as he drove. Good to know some truckers take their calcium intake seriously.

• I saw a sign that said "ALMONDS $ CHERRIES LB" and can only imagine some almond cherry Setter's of Catan-style exchange.

• I saw a hill with a giant F on it. It must hurt to fail at being a hill.

• I smelled a fog of cow drifting from an enormous cattle ranch. Not an experience I recommend.

I would like to admit that sometimes I find it difficult to keep diary entries from being dry when a lot is happening in my personal life. As a rule, I try not to say anything online that I wouldn't want my boss to see. I don't actually lead a wild life--unless you count burning rather quickly through my netbooks because I have a bad habit of falling asleep with them or racing to finish the books I read for my three different book clubs. I just generally regard many of my relationships and thoughts and feelings as strictly personal, and therefore would not discuss them here.

However, I don't lead a secretive life. If you're a friend, you're free to ask me what's going on with me these days by either e-mailing or calling and I'll tell you. Most those close to me know how much I love to talk. Basically, this is a shout out to those people to contact me if they'd like to know more personal stuff than I post here. I'm always happy to hear from people, no matter how long it's been. I've been doing well, but I've also been quite busy, and I just want my friends to know I haven't forgotten them. I simply don't spend as much time on the internet or phone as I used to--probably both good things for me, but I do miss talking to all of you. So please do drop me a line if you feel at all inclined.

Sorry for the inconsistency of my posts as well. I don't have a consistent enough schedule to make daily posts convenient anymore, and I don't tend to remember weekly posts. If I could pick a certain day of the week that'd be great, but I frequently don't know how busy I'll be any given day. And if I do it on random days I inevitably forget. I am trying to work on a solution to this problem, though. In the meantime, feel free to poke me from time to time to get me to blog.

Unpredictable

It's happened again where my life has become too difficult to predict to promise daily updates. But I hope you check back periodically because I still plan to update when I can.

P--p-p-p-pokerface!

Going to a poker night this Saturday which gave me this hilarious little story scene in my head of a kid having to win his allowance from his dad through weekly poker games. I might put it in my Last Wish story.

Restless

There's plenty to do but I'm too tired to do much of interest. Oh, well, at least I found some job postings, and while looking for full time work, I was grateful I at least have part time work that I like well enough. I mean, certainly better than the myriad alternatives.

Editing DONE!

For my Fantasy novel anyway. And as done as these things ever are, which is never until someone pries it out of my cold dead hands. Next up, my children's novel. Finally it's 196,634 words. And that's probably as short as it'll get.

Captain Query

Today I did a story time at the library, went on a bike ride with my sister, saw Captain America, and sent a query to Kristen Wolf's Literary Agency. If only there were a Captain Query to champion my story and burst through the walls of agencies about to reject me and make them see the light.

Literally, the light. It'd be coming through the hole in the wall.

Sigh...if only publishing were that easy. Even if there were a superhero there likely wouldn't be much he could do other than collect restraining orders.

Cookies!

Today I received delicious chocolate cookies from my friend Sarah! Hooray for cookies! They came all the way from DC and are still delicious.

Oh, My Dear Neglected Blog....

I've barely been home the past few days which is why no posts. I shall have to work something out though.

State Fair!

Yesterday I went to the State Fair and was pretty much out all day which is why I didn't blog. I've learned the California State Fair is huge! I'm afraid I didn't take many pictures, so I shall paint you a word picture. I saw a music exhibit with one of those big pianos you play by walking on it, giant animatronic bugs, rode on a very big slide, ate some dipping dots, saw some steampunk art, cowered in the face of enormous fluffy rabbits, and cooed at many adorable guinea pigs. It was hot but not oppressively so.

The last State Fair I can remember was in Ohio and I saw I giant butter cow. I'm afraid I'm going to have to pronounce California a failure on producing impressive butter livestock, so Ohio wins this round. But I still had a good time.

Delicious Drinks!

For my birthday week I've treated myself to some truly delicious (non-alcoholic) drinks.

Thai tea!

Mango lassi

Strawberry Mango Lemonade

26 Things I Love

My friend Stephanie asked me to name 26 things that I love in honor of my 26th birthday. So this is for her and anyone else interested. (This is NOT in any order. Or sometimes it is and sometimes it isn't).

1.) My family

2.) My friends

3.) Books

4.) Writing

5.) Terry Pratchett

6.) Neil Gaiman

7.) France

8.) the French language

9.) the Louvre

10.) French History

11.) Tudor England

12.) Security

13.) Kids

14.) Adorable fluffy animals

15.) Dark humor

16.) Good satire

17.) Art

18.) Music

19.) Kayaking

20.) Neil Patrick Harris

21.) Ohio

22.) Bexley

23.) Denison University

24.) Libraries

25.) Jane Austen

26.) the Internet

Olympia Washington

While in Washington my sister and I made a pitstop in Olympia. I thought it was interesting that on one side of the street was this beautiful building...

...and on the other side was this pit of despair known as the Greyhound Station. You might say it doesn't look so bad. But that's because you can't smell it.

Sneak Preview!

I went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows parts 1 and 2 but they accidentally started playing part two at 9pm. I got a two minute sneak preview!

Vacation!

No required blog posts until I get back from my vacation Washington state. Ah, the Pacific Northwest. I'll let you all know if I see sasquatch.

Productivity!

I applied to a job and sent out a query letter all before 3pm! Hooray! I'm not usually this productive this early in the day.

Dear Virus,

What was it about my throat that was so homey to you. Why did you pick right before my vacation to infect me. Couldn't we work something out next time? How about you infect me when there's something unpleasant I want to get out of. I promise I'd fight you less then. As it is, I shall have to douse you with salt water and tea.

What if All Your Books Belonged to Microsoft?

Or Apple. Some people might think the latter wouldn't be so bad, but my concern with e-readers is that the market will become dominated by two major companies. What if half the books you wanted to read were only published in a format that didn't work on your e-reader? Of course, they probably wouldn't do that now, but the more power the e-reader companies gain over books, what's to stop them from doing that or any number of other things, just because they can? Perhaps I'm just paranoid, but this is my concern with e-readers. I sincerely hope I'm wrong.

I'm Not Sure What's Sadder

The fact that I keep forgetting to post or the fact that no one cares. I don't expect the casual reader to care but I would expect a certain person to whom I should owe treats to care....

Anyway, I have to go to sleep early tonight to do a story time tomorrow (yay), go to a friend's house, and then go to another friend's house! Busy, busy day! This also means no post for Saturday so an early Happy Birthday to my friend Tim!