Saturday, June 30, 2012

Work again?

You mean I have to go to work tomorrow?  Really?  I have enjoyed my 6 days off in a row!  Good thing it's a baby 4 hour shift.  I have noticed that normally my shorter shifts at the grocery store always produce more stories than my longer shifts.  Maybe something exciting will happen tomorrow that will be book worthy! One can only hope.  I have decided that Monday morning is the day that I'm going to continue working on my sequel...finally!  I opened up the document today.  It was a start and you have to start somewhere!  Alright, work in 7 hours, see ya!

Friday, June 29, 2012

I Love the Sun

I got a lot of reading done today.  After going to the gym to drown for the final time, I spent the majority of the day outside reading and relaxing in the sun.  I cancelled my membership to one gym for another gym because it was a huge price difference.  I won't start the other gym until September.  In the summer, I enjoy running and playing tennis for my workouts.  As I said yesterday, when it's sunny out, I can't work on my book.  I have to stay outside.  At night, I typically don't get anything productive done because I watch my TV shows or my sports.  Therefore, I think mornings might be the best time for me to get writing done.  However, that's typically when I work out.  I also might be working in the mornings in a couple of weeks.  I will make the time to write...eventually.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Having Discipline in Gambling is a MUST!

I spent most of yesterday and today at the casino.  To say a had a few ups and downs is an understatement.  I basically had more ups and downs the last two days than an elevator in a skyscraper has in one week.  Yesterday, I was low, then I got it back up.  I kept saying I was going to walk away.  Did I?  No, of course not.  Why would the title of my post today be what it is if I walked away at the right time.  Another understatement would be to say I was upset with myself for not leaving.  I think a slightly better term would be to say I was furious!  I am typically more disciplined.  When I was younger, I made stupid plays and bet more to try to dig myself out.  I don't do that anymore.  However, yesterday was a step in the wrong direction.  Today, I remained patient and confident and was able to win some back from my poor day yesterday.  Was I thrilled with my final outcome?  No.  Could it have been better?  Absolutely.  Could it have been worse?  Much worse!  Therefore, I'm not too upset with how I did overall.  Some people tell me it's only money.  This is true.  However, I don't play to just play it.  I play to win the game!  Enough casino talk.  I keep saying I am going to pick up with writing the sequel but always get sidetracked!  The nice weather the next few days will not help matters!  I can't bring this laptop outside or it will probably fry.  I wish I had the "problem" of having to finish it by a certain day.  Unfortunately, I don't.  See ya!

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

I completed a teacher application, so that I could complete another teacher application

I've been searching for teacher jobs all over the nation, literally.  Well, I guess up and down the east coast to start things off.  Anyways... I spent several hours the past few weeks uploading all of my information onto this website that posts teacher jobs.  Today, I finally started sending out applications to various school districts.  When I hit the send button, several of the districts would send an auto-reply email saying something like, "Thanks for sending in your application.  Now you need to click this link to fill out our district application.  We look forward to hearing from you!"  Are you kidding me?  I would click on that link and I would have to fill out basically exactly the same information that I just spent weeks filling out on this website so that I wouldn't have to do it again!  I completely understand that finding a teaching job isn't going to be a walk in the park, but are you kidding me?  I just filled out everything and sent it to you.  Why do you need the same exact information two times?  Are you going to lose the first application!  Oy vey!  Needless to say, that upset me!  Gahh!  I did however, send out my application for 20 jobs out of state, yes 20, and 3 in state today.  Now, I can say that I have actively been trying to get a teaching job as well as working on my books.  Speaking of that... I got a response from the kindle formatter I told you about yesterday.  She is going to format my book for lower than the original price I was told!  Woohoo!  The only bad thing about that is that she cannot get it done until July 18.  I will take it though!  I will probably not be writing in this blog tomorrow night because I will be spending the night at a casino and will not have access to a computer.  See ya!

Monday, June 25, 2012

I'm a Writer, I Write

I was just at the bar with my two brothers celebrating the fact that my younger brother got a job.  My older brother says, "I'm going to bed after this."  I said, "I have to write in my blog after this."  He says, "You write in that thing everyday?"  My response, "I'm a writer, I write."  It's as simple as that.  However, shame on me... I haven't worked on the sequel of The Teacher That Didn't Teach since April.  That is a problem.  I did get some important things accomplished today, though.  I cleaned my desk!  It was scattered with sticky notes and papers of my third book and a bunch of other junk.  I also made some more progress on formatting my first book to kindle.  In addition to that, I contacted someone who formats books to kindle version for a reasonable price.  We will see if she gets back to me.  I still need to work on getting the word out about my first book more than I have been.  I don't know why, but I all of a sudden got a feeling that my book could make some serious noise in the real world soon.  I hope it's not the little bit of alcohol that I just drank doing the talking!  You never know when the right person could see my book.  Until then...I'm just going to keep plugging along!

Sunday, June 24, 2012

4 states, 1 day

Well, somehow, my friend dragged me into going to New Hampshire with him and his brother to get fireworks.  Worst...idea...EVER... The reason I went was because I wanted to do something different and get out of the house.  Let me tell you something.  This was DEFINITELY different for me!  My friend's GPS was not working.  We took the GPS app that comes with my iPhone.  The guy driving said, "Get the directions for the walking route.  It's the quickest way."  Oh wait, that was the worst idea ever!!!!  None of us were thinking about the fact that the walking route would bring us through side roads and one way streets because this route means we would be on our feet and not in a CAR!  I cannot tell you how many u-turns we took.  We also drove through so many sketchy side roads, many dirt roads that could only fit one car yet somehow two were able to squeeze in, and one way streets that we drove on in the OPPOSITE WAY!  To say I was scared shitless was an understatement.  Not only did my friend's brother drive on dirt roads that looked like one way streets, the speed limit was 35 and he was going 70!  At one point, he transitioned from a side road to the main road and started to lose control of the truck and I almost lost control of my bladder.  I still have not mentioned the fact that if we took the NORMAL roads the trip should have been 80 miles and about an hour and a half to get there.  At almost 7 o'clock (after being in the car for three hours...), my friends mom calls and he is explaining that my phone is almost dead because of the GPS app, his brothers phone is near dead, and his own phone does not have a GPS.  We had just passed a sign for Troy, yet neglected to take that.  After my friend talks to his mom, we decide to turn around and head home via I91 and I90.  No side roads!  We look that up on the GPS and we were 95 miles away from home.  Yes, 95 miles away from home even though it should have been an 80 mile trip!  We also still had at least 40 miles from that point to the original fireworks shop.  About 15 miles into our trip home, we passed another fireworks shop.  Because my friend's brother had not done enough u-turns today, he did another one and we spent about 20 minutes in there buying $250 worth of explosives.  I bought zero!  I have no interest in that junk.  As I said earlier, I just went for the ride.  After that rendezvous, we headed home.  At about 9:30, after 5 and a half hours of driving, we get home SAFELY with the fireworks...WOW!  I am happy to report that I am home safely, in one piece, with clean pants!  Phew!  There's nothing like going from New York to Vermont to Massachusetts to New Hampshire and then back again just for some fireworks that will last half an hour!

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Lake George

We walked and walked and walked and walked and walked today in Lake George.  When we weren't walking, we were walking.  It was fun, though.  We went to a ton of shops.  They all sold basically the same junk that no one buys.  We planned on going to the beach, but then it stormed and we didn't go :(.  I was also upset that they didn't have paddle boats.  I haven't been on one of those in years.  Oh well, it was fun to get away and take a day trip.  I haven't done a day trip like this in such a long time.  Maybe next time I go it won't storm!  I can't wait for Monday when besides going to the gym to drown, I plan on doing NOTHING but relaxing for once...hopefully!

Friday, June 22, 2012

What a Year

It took me about four hours today to clean up everything I needed to and have an evaluation with my two bosses.  I am still amazed at how fast the year went by.  I learned today that I will have a little over two weeks off until I am back doing technology help for the summer.  Part of that time will be spent at my school doing inventory...AGAIN!  It will be like I never left.  I have so many plans for the next two weeks.  I hope to FINALLY finish formatting my first book to kindle.  Then I hope to get a good chunk done on the sequel.  Luckily, the start of next week is supposed to be rainy.  Therefore, I have no excuses to not get work done!  I'm looking forward to going to Lake George tomorrow.  I haven't been there in years.  As usual, I'm quite tired, off to bed early tonight.  Peace!

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Last day with the kids

Graduation went fairly well.  I basically ran the show.  Although I did not make any speeches (thank god), I was in charge of starting Pomp and Circumstance, showing the lyrics to the kids song they sang, showing the slideshow, and playing the recessional.  So basically, without me, they had no graduation.  Unfortunately, the DVD skipped a little bit in the middle.  That wasn't my fault because I didn't make the DVD.  I was able to update the laptops today and unplug everything.  I think I should be done with cleaning the laptops and computers by 11ish tomorrow (hopefully).  I also have a meeting with my principal to go over my evaluation.  It should be a good time.  A couple more hours of work until freedom for the summer!

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

The end sneaks up fast!

Tomorrow is the last day with the kids this year!  The year FLEW by.  The one great part about having a room full of computers is that I have an AC in there.  It was just so horrible being in my room with the AC on the entire day while everyone else was roasting (sarcasm).  Many teachers came to see me today.  I wonder why.  I do love the heat, though.  So many people ask me why.  I've always hated the cold and love the heat.  I don't have any better reason than that.  We are in for another scorcher tomorrow.  Being in the hot gym during graduation will be tough.  I will just keep thinking about my icy cold room I will come back to in the afternoon!

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Home Poker Game

Exhausted.  I just played four hours of poker and only got 2nd out of 8.  I made a little bit of money.  I had a very large amount of chips.  I'm mad I didn't win.  However, I'm glad I didn't get third for the second straight game.  Before that, we had an amazing staff luncheon at school given by parents.  What a great treat!  Then, I spent THREE HOURS cleaning the closet out in my room at school.  Some of the stuff in there was outdated by at least 10 years!  There is still a bunch of junk in there.  At least it's now an organized/labeled mess instead of just a mess.  Two more half days with the kids then who knows how long I will be there Friday.  So...close...!

Monday, June 18, 2012

The job search picks up again

After doing absolutely nothing in terms of looking for a teaching job after I received my current job at the end of September, I finally started looking again.  Yesterday, I updated my application on the teacher website.  Today, (just now) I personalized cover letters and applied to 6 elementary teacher positions that are available locally.  At least now I feel like I finally put some effort into finding a teaching job rather than putting too much time into my book.  I also booked a hotel for the casino for next week for an overnight stay.  That will give me a much needed trip away from home.  Tomorrow starts three half days of school.  Hopefully I will be able to accomplish something tomorrow while the kids are gone!

Sunday, June 17, 2012

My days always fly

No matter how many times I say I'm going to take it easy and not do anything productive, it never happens.  After work, I vacuumed the pool, played tennis for 2 hours, picked up my parents from the airport, cooked a DELICIOUS steak dinner with twice baked potatoes for Father's Day, and then updated my application for teacher jobs on a website.  There are shockingly 8 elementary jobs open in the area!  Once I finish uploading a few documents, I will send out my application and see what happens.  I have decided that next week when school is done, I plan (hope) to do NOTHING productive for a day!  I just want to relax.  We will see if that actually happens.

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Why do I always eat so much?

I just got back from going out with my friends and I had a ridiculous amount of food.  Now I have to go to bed stuffed and get up in a couple of hours...ugh!  I did make $40 mowing and raking my grandpas lawn today.  Annnnnnd, I spent it all already...  Money sure does go fast!  Let's see what stories I can get from the grocery store tomorrow!

Friday, June 15, 2012

Last full day of school

It didn't even register with me that today was the last full day of school until about half way through the day.  Monday we get out 45 minutes early.  I have no idea what the point of that is.  Tuesday through Thursday we have half days.  That means the kids leave after half a day but the teachers stay all day.  We also got our yearbooks today!  I was the ONLY teacher to buy one...strange.  I don't care, I wanted one and the quality and the pictures in this years book are incredible!  I had a long talk with my principal today.  I love how we can talk about people without saying their names and know exactly who we are talking about.  That was funny.  Then she basically said I'm in trouble without a literacy degree.  She also said I'm better off leaving the district to find a teaching job.  Sigh, not a day goes by that I don't talk to someone about my job search.  It was a great talk, though.  My principal is an amazing woman!  I then went to a restaurant with a few teachers and some parents to get together a few months after we all worked on the 6th grade play.  It was a good day.  Happy weekend!

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Clean up time

I finally started taking down decorations from my room that I had on the windows the entire year.  I was very good about not ripping them so I can use them again next year.  Hmmm, what else do I need to do to clean up...  I need to, in no particular order: update computers, update laptops, clean monitors and keyboards on computers, clean laptops, organize the wires in the laptops, clean out some folders, dust my entire room, clean out the closet, try to throw away things we don't need, unplug all of the computers, cover them, and that's all I can think of at the moment.  All of that in the 6 days I have left this school year!  It should be a great time!  I might have a lot of free time tomorrow if the 6th graders do not come during their lab time.  I know they are finishing up a project in the classroom, so they probably aren't coming to the lab.  If they don't come, I will probably work on updating the computers in the lab and dusting.  I cannot believe how fast this school year went by!  It's insane!  It's only 9:52 and my eyes are extremely heavy, ugh.  Sorry for going off on a million different tangents and constantly changing subjects.  That's what my tiredness makes me do.  I got an email today with a job posting for my job in the summer.  I thought that was strange because I was under the impression that I already got it.  However, it did say it was only open to current computer aides and it doesn't start until July 9.  That means I have two full weeks off minus my Sundays at the grocery store!  I plan/hope to get a ton of writing done then.  Alright, time to inspect my eyes, later!

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

This week is flying by

I expected this week to drag on since it is the second to last week of the school year.  Luckily, the opposite is happening.  However, I've been so busy with taking pictures of numerous events and various other things to take care of cleaning up my room for the summer.  Let me tell you, there is A TON of cleaning to do!  Congressman Paul Tonko came to our school today!  I had the pleasure of meeting him and taking pictures while he talked to our fifth graders.  He had some great things to say and he only talked for about 20 minutes and then let the kids ask questions for 30 minutes. 

I forgot to mention yesterday/earlier today that I put a big dent in my online teacher application.  Unfortunately, my scanner decided not to work even though it worked perfectly fine last week!  I tried to scan at school, but when I uploaded the files, they were too big, ahh!!  After work today, I did some major work on formatting my kindle book.  I think I am making progress on it.  Key word...think.  I am frustrated because I still don't know my hours or days that I am working this summer.  I am supposed to help clean up technology.  I need to know my hours so I can tell my other job my availability!  One last thing, I need to thank my friend at school.  She helped/did my teacher portfolio for me and it looks out of this world!  Thanks so much, "Friend!"

This and that

I actually spent a lot of time yesterday preparing signs that I'm putting on each computer next year!  I better not leave this job!  Maybe I should focus on cleaning up my lab for this year and NOT worry about creating things for next year.  Ironically, I also worked a lot on a teacher application online that I can send anywhere in the nation.  Once I send that application out, then I can say I put some effort into getting a teaching job.  After that, I worked on formatting my book to kindle.  I feel like I might be making a little bit of progress with it.  However, there is still A TON to do!  Time to get ready for work and then bring my parents to the airport.  No parents in the house for 5 days, darn!  Unfortunately, I still have the brothers...

Monday, June 11, 2012

Devils fall 2 wins short of the cup

That game just now was pitiful.  The Devils were down 3-0 after one period and that was all she wrote.  However, I'm so proud of the Devils.  They went three rounds farther than I expected them to.  Yes, I expected them to lose in the first round.  Maybe next year?  I highly doubt it.  Now the only sport on once basketball is over in a week is baseball.  I can't sit and watch a 9 inning game.  It's too boring and I have way too much stuff to do.  8 more days of school left!

Sunday, June 10, 2012

I know this might be shocking, but I had a busy day!

Work at the grocery store was once again filled with memorable stories!  In other words, my book about grocery stores gets better by the day!  After that, I played tennis in the scorching heat.  Three sets completely drained me.  I tried yet again to play around with formatting the kindle version of my book.  I tried to save my file as an Adobe PDF, but my computer didn't have the newest software to do it.  Therefore, I installed Snow Leopard.  I originally had Leopard.  I started that at about 8 and literally just finished all of the updates.  I was able to save my book as an Adobe PDF once the updates finished.  When I uploaded my kindle book and previewed it, the formatting was worse than before!!!  However, that file was transferred from Word to Pages and then saved as a PDF.  I think Pages will be easier to work with than Word.  We will find out when I get a chance to play around with it again.  While all that was updating, I wrote about 25 more things customers shouldn't do in a grocery store.  I am going to have the time of my life writing that book that EVERYONE needs to read because everyone shops!  That's all for now.  Off to bed, see ya!

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Such an awesome day!

Lots of great sports on today.  I don't pay attention to soccer, but the Euros were on all day.  There were a ton of great horse races that were run today, too.  Unfortunately, I'll Have Another was scratched from the Belmont yesterday due to an injury.  He could have had the opportunity to become the first triple crown winner since 1978.  However, it was still such an exciting race with Union Rags winning by a head at the end!  I won a few bucks off of the race, too!  My aunt, uncle, and cousin came to visit today from Pennsylvania.  I had a great time catching up with them.  they were gracious enough to buy my book from the book store!  The Devils game just finished up.  They won 2-1!!!!  They are now down 3 games to 2.  Game 6 will be in LA on Monday.  I can't wait!!  I'm so happy they are making a comeback instead of giving up.  Game 7 is currently finishing up in the Miami vs. Boston series.  I don't pay too much attention to basketball, but still, another exciting sports event.  That's all for now, see ya!

DUNK TANK!!!

Yesterday was our field day at school!  I can't tell you how many teachers were NOT looking forward to it.  I was so excited!  I went in the dunk tank first.  IT WAS FREEZING!!!  I got knocked down about 10 times.  It could have been a lot more.  So many kids hit the target, but not hard enough.  The funniest thing was a boy, after missing, ran up and just nailed the target with his hand!  A parent took some great pictures for me.  However, the video another parent took, didn't work :(.  The rest of the day was a ton of fun.  We did a whole lot of carnival activities.  The weather was about 75 the entire day.  Perfect!  I was EXHAUSTED after that.  However, I still managed to hang out with a bunch of my friends until an obscene hour.  It was such an awesome day, though!!

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Brothers Birthday, My kindle book

Today wasn't too bad at work!  I was busy, but not overwhelmed.  A very nice change of pace.  Today was the last day of my contract with this guy for my kindle book.  He published my book in kindle version for me. Today, he took the book off Amazon and now I can do my own thing.  Before we went out to dinner for my brothers birthday, I started reformatting my book to work on the kindle.  WHAT A PAIN! Then we went to a steakhouse for dinner.  I had Tortellini.  SO GOOD!  After that, I continued to work on formatting.  I felt like I was getting somewhere, then I looked and saw that if you change the zoom on the preview, it obviously changes everything!  UGH...  I will continue to work on it more this weekend.  I also started looking at the horses running in some big races on Saturday.  Before the Devils play in game 5 Saturday night, the last leg of the triple crown will be run with I'll Have Another having the opportunity to be the first horse to win the triple crown since Affirmed in 1978!  I hope he does it!  I'm so excited to get dunked in the tank tomorrow during field day!  Good night!

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

End of year craziness continues!

Holy guacamole!  I had ANOTHER crazy day at work.  Computers decide to get viruses, printers don't work, programs don't work, and kids have no respect.  What a day.  It was just one thing after another after another.  I have no idea how I am going to survive the last 11 days.  I'm already running on fumes and reserves.  Somehow, I always manage to get it done.  I wasn't able to run any updates today.  I might have to put them off until the half days.  We will see.  There are still SO MANY to do!  On the bright side, tomorrow is the last day of school this week.  Yes, we have school Friday, but it's a field day where zero work will be done!  I hopefully won't have any computer issues to deal with.

After craziness, I was able to get ice cream with a friend I hadn't seen since Christmas!  That was awesome to catch up and of course... eat ice cream!  After that, I watched the New Jersey Devils.  They were down 3-0 in the finals series.  it was 0-0 in the game after 2 periods.  Devils finally scored, then quickly let up a goal.  Then they scored with 4:29 left and added an empty netter.  They are now down 3 games to 1.  Game 5 is Saturday after the last horse race of the triple crown!  There is still hope!  GO DEVILS!!!

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Thinking makes my head hurt

Although there is not much in my mind, I still think too much.  Today was yet another busy day with technology deciding not to work.  Since I don't do enough extracurricular activities after work with working out, reading, promoting my book, writing my other books, writing this blog, and trying to have a social life, I decided to add one more thing to my over flowing plate.  Normally, I LOVE an overflowing plate (only if its filled with food, though).  Anyways... I'm in the process of filling out an extremely lengthy online application for teaching jobs.  It's a website that I can send this long application to any job that is open in any state that I am interested in.  The reason I am doing this is because I feel like I am spending way too much time trying to get my book published and not enough time trying to look for my career job.  I know that eventually I WILL get a teaching job.  However, the chances of me getting a book published are sooooooo much worse than getting a teaching job.  This will NOT stop me from writing.  I love writing and am so excited to work on my books this summer!  Once I start sending applications out for elementary teaching jobs in other states, then I can go to bed at night feeling like I have done everything I could possibly do to get a teaching job.

Monday, June 4, 2012

busy/not a good day...

I did have yet another productive day.  I got to work and was able to update computers in 2 rooms right away.  I was just about to do a third when a teacher asked me to sub for another teacher who had gotten sick.  Naturally, I said yes and of course the kids were crazy.  Luckily, I had to bring the kids to my lab so they could work on their projects.  It made me feel more at home haha.  Somehow, I was able to do updates on 4 rooms total today.  After that, I went to the gym where I cancelled my membership for a much less expensive gym.  However, that gym does not have a pool.  Oh well, it was a HUGE money difference, so I couldn't pass it up.  Ironically, after getting out of the pool today, a woman comes up to me and tells me I make swimming look effortless.  I almost laughed, because it definitely requires A LOT of effort.  To top off my busy, not so good day, the Devils just lost 4-0 and are down 3-0 in the best 4 of 7 series.  They need a MIRACLE...

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Productive Day!

I have so much to write (type) today!  I hope not to bore you during this lengthy post.  First of all, work at the grocery store wasn't too bad for once!  The five hour shift actually went by rather quickly!  However, many months ago, I made a list of about 40 different things that customers should not do at a grocery store with hopes to get the list to 101.  That did not happen.  Instead of getting to 101, I came up with the idea today to write a compilation of stories from the grocery store that incorporate the 40 something rules I came up with.  I already typed out the beginning ideas of this book in my iPhone notes.  I look forward to writing this book as well as the sequel to The Teacher That Didn't Teach this summer. 

Anyways, lately, I have done a lot of reading (skimming) about publishing books and making my fictional writing better.  Some authors said that writers should not tell people what they are working on because it will not be as authentic.  By telling you what I wrote above, I haven't given too many details about what exactly is going to be in my next three (planned) books.  Everybody has different ideas.  Another thing I read today was that I should write out the first draft of a book really fast and then go back and edit it.  Since my mom writes reviews on technology toys that she gets, I asked for her opinion about that.  She said everyone is different.  Since she writes short pieces, she edits at the end.  I told her that I like to write a chapter, then edit the chapter.  I think it would be too daunting of a task to write the entire book and then edit the whole thing.  However, once the entire manuscript is done, I read the finished book and make any more edits that I need to.

One other thing I read over the last few weeks was that writers should utilize every moment they have to write.  Take notes here and there.  I have started to do that.  On the other hand, I cannot write a page to my book for a few minutes and then walk away.  I want to find a time that I can sit down and write the entire chapter.  When I wrote my first book, I stupidly would write a paragraph or two, have good ideas to finish the chapter, but would walk away and then come back another time.  Stupid, stupid, stupid!  If I walk away in the middle of the chapter, it ruins the flow!  Therefore, I don't want to write any part of my book if I only have 5 minutes here and there.  I am pretty upset that I started working on my second book during April break.  I wrote three chapters and edited them during that time.  I haven't even opened the document since then!  That's a major problem!  Now that I have skimmed through all of the books about publishing, editing, and writing that I wanted to read, I HOPE to start working on my summer projects shortly.

I went to a pitchapalooza in April where I was able to "pitch" my book to the judges.  I had to buy the judges book to pitch.  Since I bought their book, they are giving me a FREE 20 minute phone consultation where they will help me with anything I ask!  They normally charge $90 for that!  $90 to talk for 20 minutes!  Insane.  Anyways, I set that up for Tuesday.  I wrote down several topics I want to discuss with them.  I am sure it will be a productive 20 minutes and not a moment longer.  I mean, I only had one minute to pitch my book and they had the timer going for every author that pitched!

LAST thing I will elaborate on tonight... (maybe)  As you have (hopefully) read in my post a few days ago, I submitted query letters to 6 agents.  In the book I just finished, they mentioned a website that I can narrow my search down to find MORE agents that fit my specific needs.  I did a search and found only 190 agents that meet my search!  It looks like I have more letters to send out!

OH YEAH!  I forgot to mention (see I'm a writer, so I don't know how to shut up even though I said my last topic would be the last I would write about for tonight...WRONG!)  My local newspaper, the Times Union, had a section today with books written by local authors.  They mentioned my book and a brief description about it!  Very cool!  Ok, I PROMISE I'm done.  I have a busy week ahead of me at work ending with a field day where students will have the opportunity to dunk me in a tank full of water!  Can't wait!  good night!

Saturday, June 2, 2012

On time post tonight...

However, not a happy post.  The Devils just lost AGAIN 2-1 in overtime.  They are now down 2-0 in the best 4 out of 7 series.  It isn't looking good!  I had a pretty good day up until this point.  I went to the mall and then a restaurant with my friend.  After that, I pretty much did nothing until I watched the Devils game just now.  Time to get a little bit of sleep before I suffer for 5 hours of work at the grocery store 7-12 tomorrow.  Check out the Times Union Unwind section tomorrow!  They are supposed to mention me and my book in that section!

Oops I did it again!

For the second straight night, I forgot to post...  My bad.  Alright, so last night, I submitted query letters and some information about my book to 6 agents that looked like they might want me.  It was the exact same process as submitting to publishers.  Now all I can do is wait again.  It would be awesome if an agent wanted to take on my book.  That means he or she thinks it is good enough to sell to the public.  They make a certain percentage off of all sales of my book.  They will help edit my book and polish my query letter.  They will send my manuscript out to potential publishers.  No one can say I am not trying!  Now, I play the waiting game.  Speaking of game...  Devils play in game 2 of the finals tonight!  This is pretty much a must win for them.  LETS GO DEVILS!!

Friday, June 1, 2012

Fail!!!

I came upstairs to my room last night to write here.  However, as you can see by the date... that didn't happen.  Oh well.  I love watching the Scripts National Spelling Bee.  The words they ask are NEVER used in normal conversations.  Yet the kids can spell them!  I cannot spell ANY of the words asked last night.  I was close on a few, though.  My dad and I just watch it so we can laugh at how the words are pronounced and then see that they are spelled completely different.  I wish I had a national champion speller in my class.  Then, if I am confused about how to spell a word, I would just ask him/her how to spell it!  Happy Friday!