Am I Tan Yet?

Okay, so the blogcation wasn't really on a beach in the sun somewhere tropical. Maybe in my head. That counts, right?...right...?

HELLO! Glad to be back! Missed you guys!!! Hope you had a great month! Welcome my new followers! So pleased to have you!

I accomplished the great query write of 2011. The novel is looking pretty shiny thanks to my awesome crit gals, and no, I didn't write the synopsis. I'm holding out hope that I wont really need it. Don't rain on my parade. Denial is a real process. Be cool, guys. Be cool.

The query wasn't as hellish as I expected. Maybe to the gals it was. (3-5 emails from me a day with minor tweeks "IS THIS BETTER!?" while I do the peepee-dance of anticipation and hope to GOD they don't boot me out of the group for being a major pain in the ass.) But truthfully, it wasn't as hard as I expected. Picking out the necessities and leaving out the stuff that isn't NEED TO KNOW is probably the hardest part.

If you're there plugging away at a query or about to, I suggest getting badass crit partners who you can bounce different versions of queries off of (yes, need more than one) and ask yourself at every sentence "do they need to know that to get the story?". I'm no expert. This is the first query I have ever finished, but without the gals and the debate, the query would still be in pieces in my writing folder. Not ready to send off!

Got some balls together and asked the awesomely fantabulous Matthew MacNish to give me a hand too. So that may be up this week at some point on his blog!! SCARY! Will let you know if/when that goes up.

Either way, by Thursday I hope to begin the query process.

Lastly, this time off from blogging has made me realize something very important that is ultimately going to lead to changes around here. I miss writing. I had not realized how much time I devoted to blogging, and don't get me wrong, I love you guys and blogging, but the reason behind it all is for writing. Which I neglected...seriously neglected. SO the changes to come, I will be cutting from 3 days a week to 1-2 a week.

Still on the fence about whether or not Funny Fridays will be axed. But Mondays will not be.

I need to refocus on the dream. Ya know? THE dream. Which has taken a back seat for too long. Rededication. Yes, indeedy.

So all in all, this April I made some good progress, watched some great TV/Movies, went on a diet, lost 5lb, gave up diet cause I have no real willpower, started an exercise regiment that is pretty frikkin awesome, and had a really wonderful time getting even closer with the crit gals. So, I would say HUGE success!

Since I missed so much in April, feel free to tell me some great news you got, any news I might have missed, or anything about yourself in general. I am anxious to know what you all have been up to! 

Hazzah! And Happy Monday!