Tired of Chewing

I'm sitting at Evolution 4x4 writing this. I got off work early and decided I need to put in some serious work on my book--I am determined to finish it by Christmas. But I needed a change of scenery, so I came to the shop, and once I was here got the pleasant surprise that they have a wireless network. So here I am! Feeling much brighter about the day in particular. It really is the little things that make a difference.
This morning I was chewing my cereal--and chewing and chewing and chewing, pretty much spraining my jaw in the process. I got to thinking, how long have I been chewing? A long time. At least 24 years. And I realized I am tired of chewing. Maybe because I was tired this morning anyway, all that chewing just irritated me. I suppose I'll need to choose something that you can just swallow, like oatmeal or applesauce, next time.
So I finished making all the changes the lady who critiqued my book said to make. Now I just need to write that pesky synopsis and I'm putting it off because I'm feeling intimidated by it. Blast. I bet once I sit down and actually start it, I'll feel differently.
The atmosphere is different here. They've got 'guy' music playing, I can hear one of those air-wrenches, and if I glance up I get to watch a 4x4 video. And my butt is getting tired of sitting on the ground. Oh well. I think I'll get some good work done here.

Hurry Up and Wait

I got my critique back--Thanksgiving night, no less. Do those people ever stop working? Anyway, it pretty much enforced what I already knew about my grammar, spelling, and punctuation. No areas to work on. They told me it was really nice to read a polished manuscript. Also, they told me that I have a wonderful grasp on how to make it easier for a person to read my book, the way I break up my paragraphs, etc.
The dialogue! I have always wondered about my dialogue, however, they told me it is sharp and witty and shows my characters instead of me having to tell about them. So again, no changes necessary.
The plot is apparently interesting and well-written, so I guess I can keep forging ahead with that.
I have to write a synopsis, which I already knew, because a good synopsis will take me forever to write and I just banged one out for them. They enjoyed what I had written, but it was too short. I need at least a page, preferably longer. That won't be easy to write, but I have some good tips on it now and I think I can get one that's respectable enough.
Anyway, the overall consensus is that my book is solidly written and stands a good chance to be picked up by a publishing house somewhere without many more changes to it right now. So we are moving forward into the marketing phase of things.
However, I wrote my agent back and said that I have to finish the book! That might take a little bit longer. According to whoever did my critique, though, I might want to look into turning my book into two books, as it is too long right now. I don't know what to do about that. I guess I'll wait and see what the editors think.
This whole process has gone so unbelievably fast so far! And now we enter the period where everything is wait, wait, wait. They told me to expect at least 6 to 9 months before there is any activity surrounding my book, so far as publishing goes. I just hope someone wants it. It certainly sounds promising...so far, my poor little book has met with nothing but support, but I'm sure there are going to be lots of rejections before I get a break.

Not So Much

I haven't actually played World of Warcraft since the first time, so I guess that means I'm not such a geek, huh?
I'm waiting for my professional critique to come back on my book. I'm not too nervous, because I know my grammar, syntax, spelling, and punctuation are all good. However, I am excited to find out about my plot and dialogue. It will be good to hear someone tell me what's good and what isn't so good about my writing.
Work is a see-saw experience. One moment it's ok, and the next I hate it. I think the ok moments are trumping the bad ones, as I have not quit yet, but I still am not too crazy about my boss and his bipolar mood-swings.
Can you believe Thanksgiving is already here?? Crazy. I'm excited to have 4 days off though. I do enjoy sleeping in. Why is it that I can wake up at 6:30 every morning in the summer and be a-ok, but when I have to get up at 7:30 here, it's never enough sleep? Maybe I sleep deeper at Bryn Mawr because I'm so exhausted and here I don't fall asleep that fast. I don't know.
I am excited about this summer, though! After I am finished with camp, the plan is for me to fly directly from Newark to Frankfurt and then we'll spend about 3 weeks over there. I hope everything comes together for the trip, because it will be great.

Agent!

They like it! I heard back on Wednesday night and they said they believe my book has commercial potential and that my writing is polished and also has potential. I was so excited when I heard that! Now I just have to finish my book. We are now in the process of getting it critiqued, I'll meet with my new agent, and we'll go from there! I hope that by this time next year I'll have it published!
My family was here from Wednesday night to this morning. It was absolutely fantastic. I loved having Brandt here especially. We don't get to hang out very much, so it was nice to spend some time with him. We went hiking to the waterfall and decided to go to the top the fast way--which entailed climbing directly up the waterfall. By the time we made it to the top, we were about 100 feet up and at least I was tired. The rock was all slippery and there was no place soft to land if we fell. My arms and legs were tired by the time we got to the top. Bouldering is hard work!
And now it is back to the everyday grind. However, I am hoping that once I really get into the book process I can quit where I'm at right now and get a very part-time job so that I can be home more often to work on it. After all, I do need to be committed to making this work! I need to be giving it my all. And making money...I've got some things to pay off and plane tickets to save up for.
I'm going back to Bryn Mawr this summer and then we are planning on going to Germany with Kurt and Kat. Very exciting!

Warcraft Geek

I have officially become a World of Warcraft geek. I think it's only slightly below a Trekkie, but somehow less cool. At least in my opinion. I mean, I suppose I could dress up like my character--who is a blue Orc with tusks protruding from her lower lip and size 16 feet--but that kind of costume is hard to come by. And I guess I can blame this all on my brother. He became the geek first. I only started because he's been talking it up so much and now we can play side by side with our matching computers. Sheesh. So I started last night, played an hour, and you know? It was fun. So here we go, on this odyssey of Warcraft.
As for my character, she's quite interesting. She's supposedly an assassin-type, but so far all she does is chuck a mean throwing knife. And those feet! Seriously, I think she can walk on water with those boats.
For the record, I do not plan on this becoming my entire social community, nor will I quit going outside so that I can concentrate on my life in Warcraft. I know you're all relieved. Maybe we better warn my brother...

Hmm

Still waiting to hear about my book. My fingers are so firmly crossed I'm finding it hard to do everyday tasks, but other than that I think I'm waiting patiently and with a minimum of stress. After all, my Dad pointed out that it is only one place and possibly one person, so if they don't like it, there are plenty of places to send it. Besides all that, it isn't even finished! I'm just really enjoying working on it.
Finally, people at church have started speaking to me and I now have a Sacrament buddy, which is always nice. There has been a bit of interest from some guy who recently returned from Sri Lanka on his mission and can't really speak English anymore, but considering he is at least 5 years younger than me, that is not happening. I'm up for being friends.
Today I rode with a friend of Kamil's to drop off Kamil's Jeep at Evolution 4x4(Kurt's shop) and completely got chatted up. His name is Roman, he's also Czech but living in Savannah, Georgia, and is only in town for a couple days. He had cool hair and is very interesting to talk to--but I really have to concentrate on what he's saying because I have a hard time understanding him. And he's lived in the States for 11 years! Anyway, he was all for a skiing expedition later or just hanging out, but I was vaguely non-committal. It was an interesting experience, I must say. He hung around the office all day and detained me at 5 when I was leaving, but finally I had to say, "Nice to meet you, Roman, but I'm freezing!"
Mom, Dad, and Brandt come on Wednesday for Kaelan's birthday and I'm so excited! So is the little guy. He keeps talking about it and chanting their names and saying how he's going to share his birthday cake and wrestle with Bubba on the big bed. He's cute.