The Day I Thought Would Never Come

It has arrived.  The day I thought would never come is finally here.  The first day of school.  But this is a special first day of school, because it is the first time in fourteen years that I have not had any kids at home.  I better not have any surprise pregnancies!!!

And now that it's here, I'm not quite sure what to do with myself.

I have plenty of things to do.  I have a book revision that needs revising.  I could actually cook a real dinner (that hasn't happened in a long time either.  I wouldn't go so far as saying fourteen years, but close . . .).  I could blog (already doing that.  Check.).  I have paperwork that needs to be filled out by doctors about medicine for allergic reactions and a sprained ankle dating back to last week.  I could venture in my son's room to deep clean it, but I'm afraid of how much dust and dirty socks I might find.  I could worry.  My oldest daughter took the bus for the first time today to go to a Magnet middle school to be in an accelerated program = not knowing anyone since it is not the school we are zoned for.  But I really think she will do great.  Although the sprained ankle might not do so great.  My youngest went to school with a medium/bad cold.  She didn't want to miss her first day and I didn't want to discourage that kind of enthusiasm.  I just hope she doesn't sneeze, because watch out there may be flying boogers.  Lots of them.  And she gets to eat lunch in the cafeteria.  And she'll have to write, which she hates to do.  I don't know how that happened, because as we all know, I LOVE to write. . .

So I think I'll go make an official list of things to do today, and maybe another one for things to do this year and get busy catching up on all the things I have let slide since my kids came along. 

Wish me luck!

About me. Takers? Anyone?

I have been busy doing homework.  But, that's okay because it is good homework.  It's paperwork for getting the book published.  Crazy enough, the thing that has been the hardest is writing my bio.  I am supposed to come up with something other than where I was born, where I live now and that I have four kids.  I am supposed to write something that would catch the readers attention and make them want to read my book.  It was easier for me to write a 300 page book than it has been for me to come up with a one paragraph bio for the back of the book.  Seriously! 

My attempts have been fraught, yes fraught, with self-doubt.  I find myself funny, but am I really?  Will I just sound like a weirdo if I say I have an over-active imagination that sometimes gets me in trouble?  I'm not imagining naughty things, or people talking to me that aren't really there.  It is purely an innocent, active imagination.  Like the kind that makes it possible to write a book.  Will readers understand the joke when I say I live in Las Vegas but not in a hotel?  Am I not the only one who had a hard time believing people actually live in Las Vegas, and not just vacation there?  It would be nice to live in a hotel since room service and maids would make my life much easier.

So I keep writing and rewriting drafts about me.  I haven't gotten any more interesting.  So I came up with a plan.  Like maybe one of you would like to write my bio.  Anyone?  Anyone?

Cast of characters

So I have had this cast of characters up since February, with not so much as an explanation.  I was amusing myself by choosing out actors and models that looked like how I imagined my characters in my book to look like.  Or, of course, when a movie is made of it.  :)  It was a fun way to pass the time while waiting to hear about my manuscript. 

 Well, I heard.

And it's a . . .

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everyone has been so nice with the congratulations and some wanted to know what it's about.  So here's a short (illustrated) synopsis.

Sophia Davis is a beautiful, 19 year old freshman at BYU. 

She also has a secret.  The year before she got married, and then 4 months later her husband walked away from the marriage.  She doesn't want to tell anyone she is divorced because she feels it's a stigma.  And what if Travis changes his mind and wants her back?  She struggles to adjust to her new single life, making it to class and dealing with her roommates.  Her secret eventually unravels in a big way, much to everyone's surprise. 

Travis, the ex husband

Bradley Benson, the interested guy

Luke James, the sensitive guy



Rhonda, the Molly Mormon roommate

Claire, the uptight, serious student roommate

   




Sarah, the sweet Returned Missionary

Justin, Luke's roommate



Okay, so my picture placement needs some help. 
But, at least you have a little visual about my book.  Yay!



Oh where, oh where have I been?

I know, it's been months since my last posting.
But's it's my book's fault.
I heard from the publisher I sent my manuscript to, and they requested a revision.  So off to revising I went.  I mistakenly thought I could get it finished and returned to them in six weeks.  But obviously I didn't.  After eight weeks I thought I was still making good time.  Thanksgiving was my goal.
I felt lucky in that I had a rough draft of the sequel already written (I'm a little bit excited about my book), so I was able to cut and paste in a couple of chapters to accomplish the changes the publisher requested.  But then I had the great idea to change the sequence of events a little bit, which in turn changed the story line a bit, so I had to make sure any changes I made were consistent throughout.  So that took a little more time than planned.
Then I was lucky enough to have two friends/published authors, who nicely agreed to read my book and let me know what they thought.  I took their pointers and read and reread my book a billion times and happily sent it in on Christmas Eve.
Then.
I went to visit my parents the week after Christmas and my mom wanted to read my book.  As she read it outloud, I found error after error.  I was embarrassed that I had been so sloppy in my editing, but also realized how easily my mind auto-corrected my story because I knew it so well.
So I made the corrections, resubmitted it and blamed the mistakes on too much non-alcoholic egg nog over Christmas. 
And now I'm back to waiting.  I think the time frame is two months, give or take.  So I'm hoping I'll hear by March, and I'll be sure to announce any good news.  Any bad news, I might just keep quiet :), but I have a good feeling about it . . .