Thanks Oprah.

So schoooooooooool's out for Summah!  I'm excited because that means now I have time to write.  Today was my first full day off and I've already been researching over the weekend, re-reading what I've already written, and written another thousand words or so. 

My goal is to complete the book, editing and all, by the end of the summer and then figure out what I'm going to do with it.  I'm already leaning toward self-publishing but specifically e-publishing.  It's the quickest, cheapest, easiest way to get my book "out there" and see what happens.  I have no delusions of grandeur but I am hopeful that people will like it. 

I want to write.  I like to write.  I like storytelling.  And it would be totally cool if I could make a little money doing that. 

So Oprah's last show is tomorrow and while I've never felt one way or the other about Oprah, I've begun to get surprisingly sentimental about her "leaving."  I mean, yeah, she has her own network so she's not really going anywhere but on the shows this season people have said what an impact her show has made on them and how she's been such a staple or fixture for TV for 25 years.  I had to agree. I guess since my high school days she was always there on TV when I got home and then all through college.  She's been there, doing her thing more than half my life.  She's done some pretty amazing things and inspired a lot of people.  It's truly impressive and amazing to see how many lives she's touched and changed.  But what's been most resounding in my life and one of the many things she's always professed along her "journey," is that one needs to always be his or her own true "authentic self."  So that's all I'm trying to do with my writing.  I feel a need to write. 

I've read that some writers feel "most at home" when they're writing or feel like they have something to say and need to write because of that or they want to make a difference or make people feel stuff or think differently.  I have none of those lofty aspirations.  I think I write to entertain myself and I think it would be awesome if I could actually entertain someone else with my writing too.  I do not feel "most at home" when I'm writing at all!  It's hard! It's challenging.  Sometimes I'm hating what I'm writing.  And I so can be Queen of Procrastination!  I want to write but sometimes I'm totally lazy about it.  Most of the time I'm totally lazy about it.  Since I've begun this book, it's like I try to find other things to do purposely so that I don't go write.  I'll clean, sleep, watch very stupid reality TV, play mindless games on the iPad or Facebook instead of doing the thing I most want to do and be good at.  It's quite possible that I'm afraid of not being good at it.  But I hate cowards.  And I certainly don't want to be one so I must press on, come what may.  Right?

Anyway, what I'm saying is my writing will likely not have major impact in anyone's life.  And that's okay.  This is just me being my authentic self!  When I write, I'm writing from the authentically "me" part of me.  When I'm writing, I am authentically me.  And, quite honestly, it's taken me a long time to realize that this is what I really want to do "when I grow up"!  

Where I am Now

I have always written. For a long time it was just poetry. I don't have that poetry any more because I was in a rush to leave to evacuate for Katrina. I had evacuated for hurricanes several times before and nothing much happened. Obviously, that time, something pretty big happened and my house swallowed 5 feet of water as well as my hard drive. So, I'm missing about 10 years of my writing and the first year and a half of my son's baby pictures. Still pisses me off.  I digress.
Writing must be in my blood and my pores and I'm not sure how it got there because no one else in my family has the bug. But I constantly feel called to do so. Problem is, as with most wannabe writers like me, we start and don't finish. But dammit, I'm finishing this time! Currently, I'm working on a YA paranormal romance type thing or urban fantasy or whatever you want to call it.  I can't stop reading it and characters and scenes keep popping into my brain so I just have to write it! I have about 20,000 words.  I started in March and laid it all out. April was a busy month. The end of May and June are looking better. I hope to bang it out and have it done this summer.
I will definitely e-publish. Not even going to bother with a regular publisher. I'm just going to put it out there and see what happens. I've done tons of research and think I know how to go about this. I'm learning so much from other non-traditional published authors such as Amanda Hocking and H.P. Mallory among others.
I have a book with a publisher right now. It's a non-fiction children's book and I queried a small local publisher. I sent off the query in October 2010. They asked for the manuscript in November.  The last week of December the editor said I would know something by March. When I didn't hear anything by the first week in April, I took a chance on bugging the editor.  She was very nice and said that the "board" did not meet as planned in March but they will meet in June 2011.  I don't know how to feel about that.  Some days I think, "Of course they'll publish that book!" and other days I think, "Oh, that is such crap.  Who am I kidding?"  Anyway, it's out of my hands and we'll see what happens.  I will definitely post a blog as soon as I know something!
In the meantime, I will write my paranormal romance and blog.  That's where I am.
Thanks for reading.