The Big Book Cover Reveal

I get so happy when you comment that you can't wait to read my book. First of all, I'm still kind of amazed that I wrote a book that people will be able to read. But also, I think it is just so sweet that you've said it without knowing a single thing about the title or the story. I've been pretty tight lipped about it. Up to this point, it's pretty much just been me and my manuscript. My mom read it in it's infancy when it was super rough. Then, beta readers, my publisher and editor, but that's it. I wrote this thing alone and I didn't tell anyone I was doing it. In my first mention of it here on my blog I'd already been working on it for nine months. My online peeps have been hearing about it for years, but to this day, very few people in my life even know I wrote a book. It's so cute, but my husband has mentioned my book to more people than I have. Nobody at work knows. Writing this novel has been my baby, my passion, and also my secret for so long. The time has finally come to share, and I'm terrified. That was always the goal, even when I wasn't sure I could even write a book but I didn't realize how scary it would be.

The Moving Diet & Exercise Program

I don't mean to sound like a whiner, but I have to say that moving was a really really terrible experience. Something about putting every single thing I own in the entire world into 24" boxes was almost enough to send me over the edge. I felt so overwhelmed. My husband has more experience with moving and living in limbo. I have to give him a lot of credit for taking the lead and pulling me along. He knew what packing materials to order, and how to pack all of our glass while I stood stunned and motionless in our bedroom. Time was limited, so I knew I needed to do something, but I looked around and just didn't know where to start or how to do it. He takes everything in stride, and it didn't bother him too much, but the disarray in our house, having to decide what to put in storage for three months and what to keep, and the pressure of having to make everything disappear in three days was a lot for me to handle. We purged a lot of things from our house in preparation for selling...and still I felt so disgusted by all the stuff we had to move. It really makes me want to get get rid of everything! Burn it all!! Well that won't happen, but this experience has definitely renewed my desire to continue working towards becoming a minimalist or at least a quasi minimalist.

How We Enjoyed Lake Tahoe without a Rental Car

A few months ago I realized that Southwestern Airlines credits for flights we didn't use last November was set to expire. I didn't want to spend too much more money trying to go somewhere, nor did we really have a lot of time considering we were in the middle of trying to sell our house, but I absolutely could not let that money go to waste.

Me: Okay, where can we go? Hmmm. How 'bout Lake Tahoe? Reno isn't that far.
Him: Why? 
Me: I don't know. I think I've always wanted to go there. Seems like a cool place to visit.
Him: Okay.

He was like, cool whatever, let's go and left it up to me to plan the entire trip. I had to tinker with days and times a lot to get reasonably priced direct flights so it wouldn't take us four hours to get there. Before everything was finalized I'd made and cancelled two different hotel reservations, and still hadn't decided on what our outings would be, but I got it together the week we went. Even then, I had to re-book our shuttle, and our cruise for different times. Ugh. But it all worked out in the end, and we did it without a rental car.

Moving Sucks, Moving Twice Sucks Harder

Real estate is weird. I feel like everything happens backwards. You sell your house when you don't yet have a place to live. You buy a new home, before you've sold your old one. You pay a hefty commitment deposit and agree to buy before you've had a home inspected or even built. You choose flooring and other design elements when the necessary funding for it won't be finalized for weeks or months. Every single  detail for moving or buying a home has been set in place, yet nothing is truly final until those keys are in your hand. None of this makes any sense, whatsoever in my head. Nothing is done in the order you'd think it should be done, and yet this is how it works.

How can anyone function like this? The answer is very stressfully.

Line Edits Are Done

I was definitely a little bit nervous about line edits. I worried about what I might be asked to change, and if I was capable of making requested changes satisfactorily. Or what if the whole thing was so bad that the editor tells my publisher he should pull the plug?

Yes. My mind went there.

There are three types of editing as I understand it. Developmental editing, line editing, and copy editing. Developmental editing is a process by which an editor helps a writer along by providing feedback and possible solutions regarding big picture concepts like plot holes, character development, and structure issues. Grammar isn't really a thing at this stage, and the point is to get the story and characters in good shape. Line edits, as the name suggests, is when an editor goes line by line with an eye for dialogue, tense, tone, inconsistencies, style, flow, and word choice. Copy editing is a detailed look at spelling, grammar, and punctuation. This would be the last type of editing before publication. I was super lucky to have a very competent and knowledgeable editor who really took care of line and copy together. I edited the hell out of my manuscript on my own for years. I read and re-read it, ripped it apart, put it back together, and rearranged it, some more. By the time I went looking for a publisher it was pretty clean, but it still needed extensive editing.

Family Time Is the Best Time

I eat this pizza every year at the fair, not even kidding

I really wanted to get these pics on my blog this month...because it happened THIS MONTH. Lately, it's a big ask to get my  blog updated in the same month in which it occurs, but I've done it. Only three weeks late.

Aim high.