Bring It On, Baby!

This weekend, I was at the Ozark Creative Writers conference in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Last night, at the awards banquet, I won 3rd place with Navajo Rose! :) (NR is a romantic suspense novel.)

Yesterday afternoon, I had an appointment with an agent. She said to let her think about it and ask her at the banquet last night.

Well....

I couldn't find her. So I asked some friends if they knew where she was and one said she'd just stepped out, but he'd have her get in touch with me.

Later, I was walking around just for the fun of it and I heard her talking to someone else. I went to her, apologized for interrupting, and before I could remind her about what she'd said, she asked me to send her the FULL manuscript for Navajo Rose.

:D

And today, I'm still excited!

OK, here's the deal...

I was on vacation for two weeks. I hadn't planned on going, but I did. And I loved every minute of it. We went to see family in California and stayed in Sedona for a few nights on the way home. It was NICE.

Then, *the day* after I got back, I left again. This time I came back to Eureka Springs for two weeks at the Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow and then a week in town, then home after a writers' conference.

Home.

I don't want to go home.

Every time I come here, it's like my soul/heart sighs, "I'm home."

I've sent out a couple job applications here. Nothing yet.

This coming Sunday, Grandma will come up and I'll move from the Writers' Colony to the Inn of the Ozarks. So there's still time. But...It just feels like it's really running out.

I could keep going on and on and on about that, but I won't.

Check Créatif for blog posts I've made since I've been here.

Oh, and I've made quite a bit of progress. I had to reprioritize what I wanted to do because I knew I brought too many projects. But, I'm within 2 1/2 chapters of being done with the rough draft for Navajo Rose. :)

Finally home. Been here an hour & a half. Transcription to do (how UNfun) and repacking like a wild woman.

Hello, everybody.

I'm sorry for the extended absence lately. We've been on vacation to see family in California, a wee bit of gambling in Laughlin, NV, and a short stay in Sedona, AZ.

I'll be going straight from here to Eureka Springs, AR. Wow. It might be a bit much at once, but it's been nice. :)

I'll get caught up on blogging later this week. OK, not "caught up," per se, but back on track.

If any of you are familiar with Simon Gabriel, you already know about this.

For those of you who are not, Simon was born at 24 weeks' gestation. He is in one of the best NICUs in the country in Denver, Colorado.

A group of freelance writers, work-at-home-moms, and friends have gotten together and are holding auctions to benefit Simon and his family. Please visit Auctions for Simon to see what is being offered.

For more information about Simon, you can visit One Woman's Heart and SimonGabriel.net.

After reading a book and thinking about things myself, I got to wondering about something.

Would anyone be interested in a creativity e-newsletter for a small subscription fee? I'm thinking $12/year for 6 issues.

Nothing's set in stone yet, still just thinking.

There's a post on Confessions of a Fat Chick about sending love to Simon. I'll explain who Simon is when you get there.

If you choose not to visit, that's OK, but please say a prayer for Simon & his mother.

So according to my main page, I haven't updated here in 8 weeks! Wow. Sorry about that. Part of the reasoning is that I had forgotten my password and had been a bit lazy about getting it changed. Bad Jen. lol

There have definitely been some things going on since the last post. Of course!

1 - Two articles on WritingForDollars.com: 10 Tips for Getting Organized (June) and 3 Keys to the Kingdom (August).

2 - On spec assignment from Oklahoma Today magazine to cover Stratford's Little Jelly Factory. Deadline is Labor Day-ish for possible inclusion in the November/December issue (though no guarantee on anything since it's on spec).

3 - Putting a plan together and following it to get to a point where I freelance full time and transcribe no time. :) (That day can't get here soon enough, IMO.)

4 - Moved my work office from the house to Mom's new office in Ada.

5 - Bought my own laptop! (Staples had them on sale for a GREAT price!)

6 - Confessions of a Fat Chick hit the 10,000-visitor mark!

7 - I now own the domains for fatchickconfessions.com and confessionsofafatchick.com and am working on getting something put up for them.

8 - I've been giving a series of presentations on blogging as my project speeches for Toastmasters.

9 - I'm on Plurk and Twitter (twice). Drop by & see me. :)

I think that covers it for now. Since I know the password now (again?), it shouldn't be quite so long between updates.

Peter Bowerman's new book, The Well-Fed Self-Publisher is in the spotlight at Créatif (link will open in a new window).

A few days ago, I posted about the acceptance for that article.

Wednesday, I got the check in the mail!

A couple weeks ago, I sent an article to WritingforDollars.com.

Today, I got a reply.

Bet you can't guess what it is! lol

I don't know when "10 Tips for Getting Organized" will run (though I have a guess), but if you don't get the WFD newsletter, I'll be darn sure to let you know when it does! :)

I hate waking up with a headache. There's pretty much a virtual guarantee I'll have it all day, no matter how much Tylenol or whatever I take.

That's pretty much the only "ugh" thing right now. That's a good thing. :)

Now for other stuff, have you seen the WWII Registry that's online? Someone pointed it out to me yesterday. You can go in and search for anyone. If they're not on it, you can submit a request to have them added. I did that for my Papa (dad's dad) yesterday.

As much as I'd love to stick around and play, there's a stack of reports to edit at my elbow that is calling my name. I guess I need to get to those.

I got to looking for my digital camera last night before I posted anything about the conference this past weekend.

I can't find it. It makes me wonder if I left it at Grandma's. Hmm... I'll have to call her later.

Anyway...

I came home with two awards.

3rd Honorable Mention for a poem, "Paris, April 1998"

1ST PLACE for a how-to article, "10 Tips for Getting Organized"

As soon as I find my camera, I'll post a pic or two. It's actually a good pic of me. lol. ( usually hate pictures of me.

Creative TIPs has been an ongoing project for a while. IT started out as only The Idea Pocket and has grown substantially since then. Feel free to visit if you like. :)

Also, I've started a forum/social network thing to go with it. It's also called Creative TIPs. Come join us over there if you like, even if you don't think you're creative. ('Cause I guarantee you are. :) )

A week and a day ago, Missy disappeared. We droven all over this neighborhood and then some. We talked to everyone possible. We left flyers at garage sales and at the store.

I was beginning to think that we wouldn't see her again.

Today, I went to town with Dad. Since the office phones are forwarded to the house, we forwarded the phone to Mom in Ardmore. She said her heart just about stopped when someone called asking for "Jen, Joyce, or Mike," because that's how I put it on the flyers.

SHE'S HOME!!!!

I cannot say how glad I am, how relieved I am, that she's home and well.

GIve your puppies or kitties some extra loves today. :)

Today, we were going down Francis road on our way home. We were passing a house where a little boy played outside with two dogs. One was a weenie dog.

"That looks like Missy!" Mom said. "She even has a stub tail!"

When she got to a place where there was a shoulder on the road, she turned around and we went back to look.

Missy doesn't have any black on her at all. This dog had a black spot on its back. Needless to say, it wasn't Missy. :(

Last night, sometime after midnight, I kind of woke up just enough to feel something pressed against my back. Missy loved to sleep snuggled up against me, either in the bend of my knees or at my back.

I reached around to pet her and touched the cold squishy pillow I sometimes hug to go to sleep.

That pillow hit the wall across from the bed, although I honestly didn't know I'd thrown it until I got up this morning. Good thing I didn't knock any pictures down.

It's past time for that goofy little dog to come home!

It's no secret I'm not really a dog person. I've usually preferred cats to dogs.

Finding and getting Missy was actually kind of an accident. She had me when I first saw her at the animal shelter.

I was going to be gone all day yesterday. It was supposed to be a nice day (which it was), so we (Mom and Dad and I) decided to just let her be outside all day instead of being in the house and having someone come over to let her out to do her duty.

She's gone.

No one has seen her since early yesterday afternoon. :(

She wouldn't run off on her own. ANd if she were anywhere near, she'd hear us calling for her.

Last night, Mom and I drove around for close to an hour looking for her. This morning, when he left, Dad took a missing poster down to the store here. We've got a $25 reward for whoever brings her back.

I don't want a cat. Just bring my Missy back!

(swiped from xo_kizzy_xo)

Come on, play along. You know you wanna. :)

A body of water, smaller than a river, contained within relatively narrow banks
Creek

The thing you push around the grocery store
Buggy

A metal container to carry a meal in
Lunchbox

The thing that you cook bacon and eggs in
Frying pan

The piece of furniture that seats three people
Couch.

The device on the outside of the house that carries rain off the roof
Gutter

The covered area outside a house where people sit in the evening
Porch

Carbonated, sweetened, non-alcoholic beverages
Either call it by name (Pepsi, Coke, etc.) or "pop"

A flat, round breakfast food served with syrup
Pancake

A long sandwich designed to be a whole meal in itself
Sub or hoagie

The piece of clothing worn by men at the beach
Swim trunks

Shoes worn for sports
Sneakers or tennis shoes (more popular)

A flying insect that glows in the dark
Firefly

The little insect that curls up into a ball
Roly poly

The children's playground equipment where one kid sits on one side and goes up while the other sits on the other side and goes down
Teeter-totter or see-saw

How you eat pizza
Pointy end first.

Where private citizens sell their household goods/stuff in their driveway/front yard
Yard sale

The thing under a house where the furnace and perhaps a rec room are
Basement

The thing that you can get water out of to drink in public places
Water fountain

The "Leave me alone, I'm isolating" icon is how I'm feeling in general, coupled with the other one I have "Life is hard." It was a toss-up which one to use. Don't think just because that icon is up I won't respond to comments. I will.

Yes, in small measure. But you have to start small sometimes. :)

Did I mention here that I'm a book reviewer now? Yup. For a southeast publisher. My first review is done.

I'm also approved to be a contributor at two sites. One I'm working on my first assignment. The other, I've reviewed their guidelines and the information they sent me and now I'm looking over their site to get a feel for their tone, as requested. I think I've got it, so I'll be sending them an e-mail soon letting them know, as requested (again), that I'm ready for my first assignment.

These are all very good things. :)

Now if acceptances on articles, book proposals, and/or synopses will start coming in... :)

(Yeah, I know. Sometimes I can be a bit impatient.)