In other news....

Did I mention that I recently started contributing to a writer's blog?  No?  Oh my! Where has my brain been these days??

Well, here's the skinny... I'm currently the Wednesday poster on Mimosa Mornings Writers.  It's a great group of writers who post about writing, anything that inspires us to write, or the mimosa's or Irish coffees we drink while writing! ;-)  Okay, mine is the Irish coffee, but they let me in the Mimosa Mornings group anyway!  So, if you don't get enough of me here, hop on over to Mimosa Mornings Writers on Wednesdays to see me.  And look around while you are there because otherwise you will miss the terrific posts by Christine Gasser, Denise Leton, and Natalie R. Ratcliffe. I'm completely honored to get to work with these amazing ladies and if I ever find myself needing some inspiration, I turn to these word wizards to help get my creative juices flowing!  Plus, Denise is great at sending pictures of my favorite actors that inspire me!! ;-)

So, If you want to read my previous posts at MMWs... follow the links below.  If you want to read the bios of the amazing peeps I surround myself with (them with mimosas, me with my Irish coffee)- click the "about" link once you are on the MMW page!

I look forward to keeping up with you all on both pages, so comment away my friends!  :-)

Mimosa Mornings Writers

I'm Mary-Freakin' Poppins

I'm An Introvert Who Plays An Extrovert In Real Life

Pitching Your Baby

To zip line or not to zip line

The title sounds random--I know, but I need some serious advice. I'm terrified of heights.  I should clarify that my fear is more in the "If I fall from here, I'll die" way. It's a little different from the "being up here makes me panic completely" way. In my brain it's the normal fear that comes with evolution.

I mean, I love roller coasters. Being strapped into that cart that goes hurtling through the air while twisting, turning, and ultimately throwing me for a few loops (if it's a good coaster it does all of those things!) gives me a rush that I eagerly anticipate each and every time I get in line for my next coaster ride. I DO NOT do drop towers, free fall rides, or that haunted elevator in Disney that makes me have nightmares about any random elevator dropping me to my death. See, there's a huge difference in my neurosis fears.

That being said, I have the opportunity to go zip lining in a couple of weeks and a part of me is totally in. However, a bigger part of me screams, "falling off the side of a mountain is what crazy people do!  And paying to do it is even crazier!"

So, I'm looking for some feedback here (preferably from those of you who've done this and lived to tell the tale...) that can tell me if I should xanex up and go for it or sit it out with a glass of wine at the bottom of the mountain.

Leave me a comment and tell me yay or nay... I need the advice!

Thanks! ~ Jeni

It's 1 am... Do you know where your manuscript is?

It's one am. I have edited the first three chapters of my manuscript for an entire week. You read that right. Words that it took me mere hours to write originally took me a week to edit and re-edit and ask trusted friends to help edit again.

And now it's as done as I can get it. So, instead of waiting until morning (I know it's morning now, but I mean the sane hours of the morning) I sent those three precious chapters with a heartfelt and genuine letter to the editor I met with last weekend.

I realize rejection rates for new manuscripts by new authors are high, but still I sent my baby manuscript with the hopes that someone other than me will love it.

With that, I am finally going to try to get some much-needed and well-deserved sleep so that I don't sleep-walk through mom's chemo tomorrow.

Before saying goodnight I have to thank some very awesome friends and family for taking time to read, comment, and edit with me this week. So thanks to all you wonderful people who's names have been changed to protect the guilty!

Thanks from the bottom of my heart!

~Jeni <3

Pitching

I'm not talking about baseball here... I'm talking about making an actual pitch to an actual editor or agent.

This weekend I have the opportunity to pitch to an editor and it will be my first ever pitch.  So, what do I do to get prepared you ask...

Simple. I panic.  That's how I roll ladies and gents.  I take an entire day to meltdown in full-fledged panic mode.  I write a pretty good pitch at 1 in the morning then I spend the following day telling myself I'm crazy for attempting to do this.  I distract myself with editing and writing.  Then I write a kick-ass chapter for the book I'm pitching.  (A chapter I didn't initially see being in the book, but now I can't imagine the book without I might add...)

And now I can't not pitch the book, right?? I mean that chapter is probably one of my favorites now... so I can't let it sit home with my 'balls' right??  No!  I will not be that nervous nelly!

Instead I will pitch to the kids until they roll their eyes, pitch to myself in the bathroom mirror until I can count my eyelashes as I do it, and attempt to pitch to the poor, unsuspecting UPS guy who I've already scarred for life anyway when he delivers my new book today...

So, yeah.  I picked out something professional to wear and I am working on memorizing a pitch that I wrote so feel like I should already know like the back of my hand (but apparently I don't).

Yeah, I think I'll go edit again for a couple of hours... then I'll work on it.  Tomorrow there's a good chance I'm going to pitch my book to my mom's whole oncology team while I'm there... yeah.  I'm that desperate!  lol!!

Wish me luck and let's hope I don't strike out!