Don't Be Afraid: A Big, Random and Somewhat Lengthy Post

So, my computer has not been my friend lately. It came down with another virus, this time requiring my hubs to completely wipe the whole hard drive and reinstall everything. So, yeah. Add that to my already inconsistent blog posting, and that to the fact that I'm headed to Italy on Sunday, and you get one BIG post to catch up and tide you over until my return.

First, random news:

• I got an email last week from an agent I queried last summer, who had already rejected me (very nicely I must say), rejecting me a second time though I had not resubmitted. I had to get a little cosmic giggle out of this, because I am about to start querying my latest book, and it was like the universe saying, "Gear up, girl, it's time for some torture".
• I officially bombed out for the second half of the Campaign thing. Partially my computer's fault, partially me being lame. Sorry, guys.
• I've officially named by current book. I was calling it Noir, as a nickname, but since this had been used before, the new name is (drumroll, please): Martinis with the Devil.
• I entered Janet Reid's pay-it-forward agent contest. Universe, now is the time to repay me for that double-rejection thing and the computer virus thing.
• I will be in Italy from Sunday to Sunday. Yes, I will post pics when I get back!
• After that, I am doing a "final" read through of my book and beginning to query. I've done all the major structural edits and all the boring nitpicky edits, and now it just needs some polish. Then, Query Land! So, (and hold me to this) I will be querying by April 15th. Tax day.
• So, I may not post again until after the first round of queries is out. We'll see how it goes.

Okay, now for some fun! The lovely T.F. Walsh has tagged me in the Lucky 7 Meme! It is super fun (make sure you check out hers). Here are the rules:

1. Go to page 77 of your current MS/WIP
2. Go to line 7
3. Copy down the next 7 lines, sentences, or paragraphs, and post them as they’re written.
4. Tag 7 authors
5. Let them know

And here's my snippet from Martinis with the Devil. Unfortunately it hit right at a scene break.

It wasn’t Alexander.

It was a woman wearing a mask over her eyes, ninja style. At that moment, that split second when the shock of realization hit me, something smashed into the back of my head and everything went black.

* * *

Something acrid was being waved beneath my nose. I jumped up and moved across the room in an eye-blurring motion.

“Settle down, Zyan, it’s just me.” Eli was sitting on the floor of the safe room. The HR sat next to him.

“Oh, thank God,” I breathed. The HR was okay.

“Yes, I’m sure He had something to do with it,” the HR said, a gentle smile on his lips. Such a peaceful expression, despite coming within a hair of being murdered.

“How long was I out? Where’s the assassin?” I asked in a rush.


Hope you enjoyed it! I am tagging:

Abby Minard
An Alleged Author
Colene Murphy
Matt MacNish
Deana Barnhart
Jai Joshi
Rachna

Have fun, writer friends! Have grand adventures while I'm on my maybe-hiatus. Talk to you soon!

I haven't done a really random post in a while, so...

Won't you be random with me? I was sick and working long hours last week (busiest time of the year at my job) and slightly less sick so therefore working more hours this week (yay, eleven hour days!). So, you'll understand my brainpower is limited? Here's my random list:

* I'm reading Eon by Alison Goodman. It has dragons and ancient Asian culture and girlpower. LOVE IT.

* Also been loving Goodreads lately, to go on nostalgic trips into the past and organize what I want to read in the future.

* Had a fabulous book idea in the car earlier, despite working eleven hours. Yay, brain!

* Haven't done any editing on Noir yet. Need to get through this yucky day job craziness first.

* Signed up to do a V-Day blogfest about kissing. Will post link when I'm not braindead.

What about you guys? Dazzle me with your randomness :)

In the wee hours of the day after Thanksgiving...

Okay, well I started writing this in the wee hours of the day after Thanksgiving, but at about 2 am I gave up. All of my creative juices of the evening went into making a new blog titlebar picture or whatever you call it. I used pictures I've taken (well, one was taken by my husband) on different travels about the globe. Except for the sunset pic, that was from our front yard. Now that I've spent all the time making it, I can't decide whether I really like it or not, so if it comes down in a few days you'll know which side of the argument prevailed.

Anyways, I hope everyone had a lovely and delicious Thanksgiving. I did (my Tofurkey was scrumptious as usual). Speaking of giving thanks, I was honored and delighted to receive the Honest Scrap Award from Colene Murphy at The Journey! Thanks, Colene! I started out this blog with the intent of writing a completely honest account of my adventures in writing and trying to get an agent, and I'm glad that I'm doing my job. Colene's blog is super awesome. I haunt it with regularity. And if you need more reasons to visit, I put a link below to a hilarious Harry Potter interview she posted.  Check it out!

So, the award rules state that I am to share 10 things about myself. Here goes:

1) I like to talk about myself. I don't think I am overly narcissistic (for a writer), but I'm just an open book and like to share my stories (again, writer).
2) I live on five acres in the country with two horses, a pony, a dog and three cats, two children, and one husband. My neighbor has cows and a vineyard (interesting combo, right?).
3) My 'real' job (the full-time one that pays the bills) is for an educational non-profit corp. I'm a manager, and seriously hope I am not like Michael Scott in real life (like I was for Halloween).
4) None of my coworkers know how serious I am about writing. I amuse myself with the thought that it's my secret life.
5) I'm kind of like Garfield. I love food and sleeping. I don't cook much, but I like to eat the delicious things my husband makes, and could go nuts in Fresh Market or Whole Foods. I've never even been in a Whole Foods, but I am waiting for them to bring one to my city.
6) I used to bleach my hair blonde, and then accidently went pink for a weekend while I was changing to red, which lasted for a while, and then eventually I went back to my natural brown. Black hair has always been my favorite, but I've never been brave enough to go there.
7) I'm a major crier. I cry when I'm happy, sad, angry, or when something just makes me emotional (something beautiful, triumphant, sweet). Seeing other people cry makes me cry. Sometimes I really annoy myself with it.
8) One day, I'd like to become really involved in some sort of global project. I'm passionate about protecting the environment, and stopping animal cruelty, and women's rights. My degree in Sociology, while pretty much useless in my day job, added a lot of fuel to my save-the-world fire.
9) I am a certified equine sports massage therapist. When I was in my teens, I used to compete with my horses, and flew out to Colorado to learn how to massage them. I actually had quite a few paying clients at one point. I haven't done it in years, though I still get the occasional request.
10) When I was 15, I started working at this awesome cafe run by hippies and earned the nicknames 'Lex-Ann' and 'Lexicon'. I find the Lexicon one amusing since I am a writer and considered fitting that into my blog title, but then figured I wasn't really quite fantastic enough of a word smith to get away with it (I should be; but since we’re still being honest and stuff…).

So, now that you know 10 random things about me, I'd like to pass on this lovely award to five fellow bloggers that I think have honest and delightful blogs full of great writery stuff:

Lola Sharp at Sharp Pen/Dull Sword
Jai Joshi at Jai Joshi's Tulsi Tree
Melissa at Through the Looking Glass
Donea Lea at Queen of Procrastination
Shallee McArthur at Life, the Universe, and Writing

Check out their blogs, they rock!

Now, as a bonus for everyone, here are a few things that caught my attention on my blogging adventures this week. The Rejectionist is having a New Year's Pre-Resolution Uncontest, and she also had a hilarious Harry Potter music video that had me LMAO. For more on Harry Potter, check out this interview on Colene's blog. More LMAO. And, to wrap things up on an educational note, here's a really good post on query letters by the ever-awesome Nate Bransford. A cool way to look at writing them if you are in the mood to revamp yours.

Random Thursday

Not much new to share, other than I sent out a couple more queries last night. And I got lots of compliments on my not-quite-black Purple Rain nail polish at work today, especially since I rarely paint my nails.

I've added some links to my website and the blog... as I distract myself from waiting to hear back from agents I'll undoubtedly scour some more writing sites and keep adding to it.

Last but not least, I thought I'd upload a few pics that I've taken recently, because my blog seems to lack nice pictures. Sometime soon I'll have to start playing around with creating a book trailer for Eternal Memory and can post some of the pics I'm considering using. Fun!

The first hydrangeas I've grown (my favorite flower)

Literary Kitty, the purring prima donna known as Aislinn

Live Oak tree - being from the South, I'm obsessed with them