In Buried Fire, the main character goes through a similar situation to Hailey in my WIP. By reading how Michael in Buried Fire handled things, I was able to realize a key ingredient that was missing from my own work. So, now, I am sure, I am on the right track with the ending of "Gatekeeper".

Yesterday, I made dinner for the family. It went off without a hitch (which is wonderful considering I can't cook.) I served Two Mustard Chicken- a recipe that I found a while ago in a cookbook that my aunt had given me- and green bean casserole (which I'd never made before). It was very good. Compliments were had. ^_^

Today, I went shopping for new pants and jeans, and was successful! Now, I don't know about the rest of you, but shopping for these two items is a 2 hour process for me. I start by going into the store, looking for just those items. I find just those items in a variety of colors, styles and prices, but all the wrong size, because I like to think I'm still the same size that I was in high school. I take these all to the fitting rooms where I discover that I am, in fact, not the same size anymore. These all get returned. Then, I go looking again for the same items. This time, I narrow it down to my price range. I grab the right size, but throw in a few of the "dream size" just in case that last round was a fluke. At this point, I am now eying other items in the store that I obviously don't need. I finally find a pair of pants and jeans that I like and that fit me. You'd think that now I would be able to leave happily, but no. I simply must try on the items that I was eying earlier. The process begins again, as well as the process of convincing myself that I don't need said items. (This takes quite a while.) At the end of it, I leave with only the new pants and jeans, feeling proud of myself for having willpower. I rush home to a kitty who is ready to maul me for hunger. (eek)

Also today, I made a backwards outline of GK (formerly TGG), and after two failed attempts at getting this WIP rolling forwards, I think I may actually have something with going backwards. I've broken everything up into scenes and am now working on typing the Epilogue. Quite a bit has changed, and I like it. I don't want to give too much away, but I am wondering how my critique groups are going to handle getting the last bits first. I hope they like it. It's a little unconventional, but then again, I'm hoping that's what GK will turn out to be.

I have a fan! In my target audience! Who is not related to me! And I haven't even finished my book yet. ^_~

A couple weeks ago, I was working on some stuff for the book while I was babysitting. I got to talking to the oldest boy about my book and let him read the chapter I was working on.

Last week, his mom told me that he wrote to his favorite author and asked him to visit his school. He also asked his mom if I had a website so that he could write me. ^_^

I think that's pretty awesome.

So, the conference was wonderful! I had such a blast hanging out with my critique group and getting to meet new people. For those of you who are curious as to the costume I eventually chose, I decided to be Tanith Lee's Piratica. If you want to see pics, pop over to acoppedge's journal. It came out pretty nice. I decided on that costume after I got the neat pirate sword for Christmas. (The vest is hand-sewn.)

( Conference )
Well, anyway, gearing up for GPSH next weekend. I've got 4 girls signed up for it! I still need to go shopping for the supplies >_<; But I'm really excited.

Also, anxiously awaiting news on libba_bray's third book. Amazon has a release date on it of September 2007. (But I don't trust Amazon after they fooled me about Emily Blake's book. I'm still waiting for it!!)

Also, Spoilers for the Uglies trilogy ahead. If you haven't read it, get thee to a library.
Then, when you are done, check this out!

( More Spoilers ahead )

In other news, I have decided on my costume, and... it is a surprise.

Pippa from AGTB-- Probably the garden costume.
Thing 1 from Cat in the Hat
(I have the entire costume, but the make-up would be a pain.)
And lastly, the always popular, Moaning Myrtle costume.
(Another costume I own, but am worried that everyone will be wearing HP costumes.)

Hey all! Hope your holidays went well. Mine were awesome! I have the greatest husband and kitty in the world. The two of them teamed up to send me to Miami as a Christmas gift. We went to my mother-in-law's for Christmas and ate a lot and watched tv. (I also did quite a bit of reading. I finished Terry Pratchett's Wee Free Men. It's a pretty good book. There were times I laughed out loud and everyone looked at me like I was nuts.) My mother-in-law makes the best fruit salad known to man. It's called five cup salad, and it's a cross between fruit salad and ambrosia.

Yesterday, we came home and gave the kitty his presents (a laser pointer and a catnip toy.) He was very happy to see us, and even happier to play with his new toys. Then, we went out again and got my husband new glasses which he desperately needed and also which look really good on him. ^_^ My husband made iced tea with his new iced tea maker (which he really likes but was not too fond of the herbal fruit teas that I picked out) and we settled down to play some W.O.W. in preparation for the new expanion.

Those of you who are coming to Miami, have you picked a storybook character for the storybook ball? I am thinking of a few costumes: Sarah from Labyrinth by A.C.H. Smith (the novelization of the movie by Jim Henson), or Sabriel from Sabriel by Garth Nix, or finally, Bess (the Art talent fairy) or Vidia (the Speed talent fairy) from the Disney Fairies books. Do those count as storybook characters? I'm still not sure which to choose yet. The easiest would be Sarah because I have the costume already, but it's not really dressy and it's from a movie rather than a book. Actually, none of them are very dressy... anyway, what are you guys going as?

I'm so excited!!

So, this was my first time ever participating in NaNoWriMo. I thought I'd give it a shot. The goal is to get to 50,000 words by midnight tonight, but it wasn't my goal. I've never written 50,000 words in my life. In fact, the most I've written is 29,000 and that was over the span of a year. My excuse for this is that I'm a YA writer trapped in a PB writer's body. So, my goal for this NaNoWriMo was to get to the halfway point. And as of 10:58 pm today. I did just that. I got to 25,114. And the story is almost done. I haven't written the confrontation with the big bad... because it's a very mysterious big bad. I don't know anything about it. And following that, I haven't really written the conclusion. Although parts of it are done. There is no real closure. But I'm proud of myself. This was just an idea kicking itself around in my head at the beginning of November with no real cohesion. Now, it's really come together, and it will need a lot of work, but for right now, I'm happy with it. ^_^

Hope all of you met your NaNoWriMo's this month and got what you needed to out of it.

*cyber-hugs to all!*

Occasionally, I will Google my little computer picture book, just to see what fun and excitement she has gotten into. Today, I found this:

"Blast off to Reading is Fundamental's Reading Planet, where you'll find several online, animated stories read aloud just for kids! Gwendolyn the Library Fairy and The Honey Tree are two of our favorites. There are also stories and songs in Spanish. Have fun!"

in Reading Rockets September 2006 issue. It makes me happy that people still <3 Gwendolyn.

So, I have a friend who would like to work in publishing, and she asked me if I knew of a way to get into the business. My first suggestion was move to New York, but that's not really an option for her at the moment. Is there anything that she can do to at least get on the right path at the moment?

So, as some of you know I got a rejection for Pirate Treasure from my first choice a while back. I have the letter. I have the envelope and everything. Well, today, I recieved another item in the mail from them. This time, it came in the SASE I originally sent them, and this time there were the new submission guidelines in them. (They sent the rejection letter and the manuscript and new submission guidelines in July.) So, now I'm confused. What does this mean? Is this editor code for submit to us again? Or is this, oops, my envelope got separated from the package and they found it lying around and decided to send it back with the new guidelines?

How should I interpret this new mail?

Every time that I read A Great and Terrible Beauty, I take away something wonderful. ^_^

I don't normally post reviews, but I recently came across a book that I simply adored. It's called "Fly by Night" by Frances Hardinge. The cover is what first got my attention in Barnes and Noble. It's done by Brett Helquist. (I just adore his work. READ "ROGER THE JOLLY PIRATE" NOW if you want to know why.) In any case, I made a mental note that I wanted to read it and promptly forgot about it, which often happens to me.

My boss brought an ARC for me from a meeting that she went to, and I devoured the book within a week. Here's what it's about:

"Taught to read by her scholar father, orphaned book lover Mosca Mye is an anomaly in a culture where literature is highly suspect and tightly controlled. When silver-tongued poet-spy Eponymous Clent passes through her village, the word-starved 12-year-old stubbornly installs herself as his traveling companion, serving as his uneasy accomplice in a mission that exposes the cutthroat intrigues roiling the surface of her troubled fantasy realm."~ Quoted from Booklist via Amazon.com

In any case, it has something for everyone. It's got mystery and adventure. It's funny and dark. It's got fantasy, which is based on elements of history (which in my opinion will make kids want to learn about the history that its based on.) Mosca is a fiery character who you will root for all along the way, and she is smart and witty and tough.

I absolutely loved this book! (And I would reccommend it to anyone- provided they were the right age group- who came into my dept. looking for a good read.)

After much long and hard work of typing, "Through the Garden Gate" is finally done! It weighs in at 29,330 words (101 pages.) I realize that it's not really "done" but it's finally all written out and now I can get down to revising. So, yay. ^_^

Recently, I read two books by Emily Blake in a series called "Little Secrets". These books are good! They're quick. They're twisty, and they're fun.

They're about a girl named Alison who's mother is arrested, who's best friend (her cousin) is a total snake, and how she navigates through the twists and turns of her life, both family and high school.

It's kind of like reading a soap opera, but better. Anyway, I really enjoyed the books. There are two out right now, and I'm anxiously awaiting the third. (Which according to the back cover is supposed to come out this month, but I haven't found any other info on it.)

So, if you have info, please let me know. And if you want a good, quick, chick-lit/mystery read. I recommend them. ^_^

Since Cynthea said we could out ourselves. I'm YA-82! I made it to page 4. ^_^ (even though I entered late.) So, how did everyone else fare?

I think with this last revision, I may have hit pirate gold. If so, there will be much happiness and rejoicing.

Picture Book which I've already sent out or YA that I'm currently working on? Choices, choices.

::EDIT::
I chose the picture book, simply because if it gets a red or yellow light I can figure out why and fix it. And I have a while to work on the YA still. And wow. I got a yellow. I'm glad I sent that one in. So, now, I must appeal to the bunny.

Got a form rejection from Peachtree. I knew it was coming because I realized after I sent it out that there was a lot of baggage with the piece. That will be fixed soon. I'm just happy it got here because that rounds out the list of people I sent it to. It was also the nicest form rejection that I've ever gotten. It was very pleasant.

It makes me consider sending the new one in to them as well. ^_^