1 down, 3 to go

Goals that is. For January. I've revised my Linda Howard Award of Excellence finalist entry, polished an accompanying synopsis and sent it off. One day early (for a procrastinator like me, that's a big deal)! I'm so glad it's done with. I found it really difficult to work the synopsis on this one for a number of reasons. Firstly, I just hate to do them. I know a lot of people say that but I really, truly HATE to do them. Secondly, I wrote this manuscript in at the end of 2008 into early 2009 so it's kind of a long time ago. I found it hard to connect back with the characters, their motivations and their conflict to easily pluck those themes out so that they came through clearly in the synopsis. Thirdly, I felt my voice had changed since I wrote the manuscript. A lot!! Sometimes as I was reading it, it felt as if someone else had written it. That added to the challenge. It was an interesting process. Now I can forget about it until March!

My other goals? I may have been a bit ambitious considering it's already the 13th, but I like to work under pressure, so we'll see. I'm ready to sink my teeth into something brand spanking (no pun intended) new :).

I'm an International Sensation ;)

Firstly, my tongue is firmly planted in my cheek, let me assure you! I found this gadget/widget thingy a few days ago so I put it on my blog (the small map with the red dots). I love to mess around with these things. It's meant to show you the locations of folks visiting your blog. It's just the generic geographical location only, and provides nothing else, but WOW!  It took a few days to kick in, but since then people from 11 different countries (11!) have visited my blog. Understandably, the US has the most hits, but there have been visitors from Australia, United Kingdom, South Africa, New Zealand, Canada, Sweeden, Netherlands, Spain, Philippines and the Ukraine! Not everyone has left comments of course, but I was so flattered, tickled and humbled. WELCOME to those who've found me. I hope you'll come back often! I'm new to this blogging business, but it is way cool to think people have managed to find me amid the chaos of the social networking scene out there. I'm still not certain exactly how that happens. I think it's a product of our information age that georgraphic borders and boundaries really mean nothing, but I think it also speaks to the broad and mass appeal of the romance genre overall. You have all made my week!!

I got a Kreativ Blogger Award!

Yay! OK, I have to admit, I'd never seen this before and had no idea what it was, so I had to look it up.  It's been doing the rounds for awhile. I get to thank the person who bestowed it on me, reveal 7 interesting things about myself (that might be a stretch) and then pass it on to 7 other bloggers. So, here goes:

Thanks Cari Quinn! Cari is a fellow Sagittarian who seems to be writing the same type of material as me. Well, not exactly the same - she's published, after all! We stumbled across each other on the boards. Cari published her first novel last year and if you want hot and steamy (and I mean HOT and STEAMY), you can check it out here.

7 things about myself? I decided to list things that people would likely not know about me (even if they kinda 'knew' me):
1. I grew up in the Australian outback, or close enough to it for it not to really matter. Yeah, that makes me Australian!
2. Everyone complains all year about the weather in Miami, Florida but I LOVE it. There's something about the humid weather and palm trees that tricks the mind into thinking you're perpetually on vacation. Well, almost.
3. I'm the mother of identical twins. They're 4. It's fascinating, aggravating, joyous, aggravating, special and rewarding, and you guessed it, aggravating! I'd like to think I'll have enough material one day to come up with a unique twist on the twin story line.
4. I have a thing about frames. Picture frames. Just the frames. I really think it's an addiction. I just seem to collect them but never get around to actually putting anything in them or hanging them up, but I can never have too many!
5. I've never cooked a meal in my life. When we were renovating our kitchen, someone once asked me - 'Are you getting a gas or electric stove?' - and I'm like - 'I'll have to get back to you on that.' I've never been interested in cooking and don't see that changing anytime soon.
6. My first job out of university? I was a computer programmer. My, how far I've come :).
7. Last year I did something scandalous and daring. I hired a professional photographer to take pictures of me. What's daring about that you ask? The pictures were...well, naked!! I had them made into a coffee table book for my husband for his birthday. I look back at them and still wonder, where the hell did I get the nerve to do THAT? BTW, the book is nowhere near the coffee table!

Now, for my nominations. They're blogs that I look to for inspiration, for a laugh, for their educational value or just because they seem to be on the same path that I am and I can relate (plus they don't appear to be already nominated) LOL:
Jackie Ashenden
Wendi Zwaduk
Hetal Pinal
Waiting for the Call
Romy Sommer
Dee Tenorio
Donna Alward

ENJOY!

Now that I've settled..

... back into some semblance of normal, I would like to offer congratulations to the other finalists in the Linda Howard Aware of Excellence! Yeah, seems along with stammering through my notification call and not being able to recall any details of what the lovely woman said, I also completely forgot my manners :)!! It was all ME, ME, ME. But hey, I've never finaled in a contest before, so cut me some slack this one time, OK? I'm at work on my revisions and plan to get it back in their hands by Monday at the lastest (a few days early!!!). Kudos to everyone who entered. I know it takes guts to just get out there. I hope the feedback was constructive and helpful. Best of luck to everyone in the next round!

I also learned yesterday I was given a Kreativ Blogger award. Thank you Cari!! I'd never been given an award for ANYTHING. I was excited, elated, flattered, till I thought 'What the heck is a Kreativ Blogger award?' When I figure it out, I'll let you know LOL. It appears to come with some requirements, so stay tuned for that tomorrow while I mull it over!!!

2010 is off to a REALLY good start!

I finaled! In a contest! An actual writing contest! I'm not sure it's really, truly sunk in, but the nerves feel like they are about to burst forth because I have to revise and resubmit the entry by the middle of January. Gulp. I finaled in the 2010 Linda Howard Award of Excellence in the Series Short/Long Contemporary category. December 31st came and went and I gave up hope of hearing anything. After all, they'd said finalists would be notified by January 1st. Perhaps I was being too literal (because I can be like that)? When the phone rang on New Years Days from an area code I didn't recognize, it didn't even register. The nice woman told me I'd finaled and I felt ... like such a dork. I think I thanked her (at least I hope I did), but I couldn't really think past anything except 'I finaled' and inside I was jumping up and down and screaming it over and over like such a girl! I've often wondered how I would handle 'the call'. Now I know. I'll be tongue-tied, speechless and forget completely about asking any basic or pertinent questions. Oh, and I won't recall any details about the call afterwards!

I finaled! I finaled! I finaled!