New Critique Group

A couple of years ago, I met a woman in one of the toddler classes I teach. We got to talking and the subject of writing came up. She had written some plays and other things, but was currently working on a Young Adult novel. I shared with her that I had begun to write picture book manuscripts and was going off and on to the Houston SCBWI meetings downtown to learn all I could about the industry. We decided that we would go to the next meeting together. She has been a big motivator and encouragement to my writing ever since. Her name is Susie Basso McCauley, remember it, you are going to read her books also. You can visit her facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/SBMcCauley

Between kids' schedules, husbands' schedules and life in general, it has been pretty hard for us to make it to the meetings on a regular basis. But we have decided to make it a priority, and we have been to quite a few in a row! Yay! Another piece of the writing puzzle is being a part of a critique group, a group of writers who share their writing, give feedback and keep each other accountable. Susie and I have been doing this for each other, but we needed a GROUP. Unfortunately, there weren't any open groups in our area (there are a few closed groups who are already established, but aren't taking any more members). So, we decided to start one up on our own. Susie posted about it on the listserve at the Houston SCBWI website that we were starting a new critique group in the Humble/Kingwood area. Our first meeting was last night and we had five women there.

It was a great meeting. I loved meeting the new women and hearing their stories about why they are writing, or why they want to start writing. I loved the camaraderie. I even felt slightly knowledgeable about the industry and figured that I had indeed been learning things as I stumble along the way to getting my book published. I enjoyed being able to pass along information to others and to give feedback on writing that they had done. I enjoyed getting feedback as well. I do think we have to work on giving better feedback, we were maybe a little too polite to each other. After all, this is a critique group. :) It doesn't surprise me though, who wants to be terribly negative on the first encounter? I think next meeting I will ask for five things I should change or that don't work in my next manuscript. Again, it was really nice to meet these women and find out where they all are in their writing and what their goals are. I am super excited to see where we all go from here. We are going to be meeting the third Wednesday night of the month if anyone wishes to join us.

It's Gardening Time!

I love gardening! I love getting my hands dirty (Okay, my gloves dirty, who wants dirt under their fingernails?) and seeing the work I have done as it grows. I won't make a parenting connection here, but I could. I especially love when the plants are in bloom and when it's time to harvest. It's the planting time of year down here in Texas, and I am SO excited to get a move on!


However, we have a little problem. Our backyard is floodingbig time this year. I think that when I made all my landscaping improvements last year, I somehow messed up the flow of the water out of our backyard. Oops! We have always gotten some standing water along the south side of our backyard and I thought that by building it up and planting some water-loving plants there it would help the situation out. I was wrong. Now the water backs up halfway into our yard and just kind of stays there. Yikes!

Pool of water on the south side of the patio

The rocks are doing their job of holding the dirt/mulch from getting into the yard,
but may be the cause of the water backing up!

You can see the pooling of water into the middle of the backyard
and the lovely effect it has on our grass. Gross!

Well, Adam and I decided we had to put in some sort of drainage system. Adam got started on that yesterday while I had a friend in town, so he worked on it by himself. He did a lot of digging, moving dirt and raking and he continued today while I went to work. I have to hand it to him, he did A LOT of work! I do feel pretty bad about not helping him. I do enjoy that kind of physical labor and I hate that he did it on his own without me. I will post pictures of the progress in a future post. We have a lot of work still left to do, but as I said, I love it...it's like a backyard makeover!

What are some of your thoughts on gardening? Love it or hate it? Leave a comment!

Ten Pounds Down!

See? I told you I would blog about other things than writing ! :)

This year was hard on the old waistline for me. This holiday season, I didn't hold myself back from ANY treat. The result...not pretty. Here are the top reasons I knew I had to do something to lose weight and get back into shape.

#1: A child asked if I was pregnant.
#2: An adult asked if I was pregnant.
#3: My muffin top was beginning to look appetizing.
#4: I realized I was setting a bad example for my kids with our eating habits.
#5: I was tired of being tired

So, I decided to do something. I am usually pretty self motivated when it comes to eating and exercising. As a family, we generally eat healthy and are constantly outside riding bikes or walking around the lake. But it seemed that we were "treating ourselves" way too often. I needed something to kick my butt into gear, show me results quickly and get me motivated. I usually don't look to "fad diet tricks" or the newest sensation in weight loss, but I needed something. I have heard great things about Advocare for years and I new someone that sold it, so I looked her up and ordered a 24 Day Challenge Bundle from her. Here's the link to her page if you want it: https://www.advocare.com/0007378/default.aspx It came with a 10 day herbal cleanse and 14 days of meal replacement shakes, metabolic nutrition suppliments and Spark, an energy drink that DOESN'T give you the jitters.  I gotta say I loved it! It was a bit hard to get used to taking the suppliments 30 minutes before you eat breakfast and lunch, but it was worth it.

I lost a FULL TEN POUNDS in the 24 days!!! Come on folks, that is pretty spectacular for a woman! ;)

I fit into my clothes a lot better and I am motivated to lose more! I never took a before picture, because quite frankly, eww! But I am mad at myself for not taking inch measurements, because I would have liked to see the results from that. Another benefit I have noticed is my complextion has improved noticably. Bonus!!! I am impressed!!!

I also had another handy little helper to help me on my way, an app called MyFitnessPal. You can find it in the app store or at www.myfitnesspal.com What an amazing tool that has been! It has been such an eye opener to see how many calories we truly are eating in a day versus what we should be eating.

I am also doing the 90 Day Weight Loss Challenge at Life Time Fitness, where I work part time, so my goal is to loose at least ten more pounds for that. I started that February 5th, so that is a totally obtainable goal!

All in all, I wanted to let you all know that it has been a good thing for our family. My kids and husband are all eating healthier, we are becoming more aware of what goes into our bodies, which is great. I hope that maybe someone will be inspired to do the same.

Critique Submission Day!

Nothing like waiting until the last minute! Today was the deadline for sending in my picture book manuscripts to be critiqued by local author, Kathy Duval and Heather Alexander, an editor for Dial Books for Young Readers. Whew, I made it! Got it postmarked by today and I am feeling good about the changes I have made to my story over the course of this year. I am eager to hear the feedback they will provide.

I will get to sit down with each of these two ladies during two seperate 12 minute one-on-one face time meetings at the Houston SCBWI annual conference on March 31st. They will give their professional advice about what works and what doesn't. Last year was my first year to attend the conference and the first time anyone had professionally looked at my writing, so I was pretty nervous. I am feeling much more relaxed and just plain excited about it this year.  I really enjoyed last year's conference. I felt like my head was going to explode from information overload. Looking forward to cramming even more information in there this year!

Why Blog?

Well, I have known for quite some time now, that if I want to be a serious writer, I NEED to blog.

I've been avoiding it though, because I didn't want to put myself out there. I haven't wanted to tell people about my desire to be a children's book author because, what if I couldn't do it? Getting a book published  is a LONG, complicated, confusing road. However, I realized that keeping my writing under wraps and not telling people was holding me back.  Editors and agents these days want their authors to have a blog and a website. (The website will follow, eventually) If I want to be taken seriously, I need to bite the bullet and tell the world my intentions:

I know I have great ideas for picture books, and I know that someday through my hard work and persistence, my name and my work will be in print for children to read and enjoy.

I am hoping this blog will be my way of communicating with everyone about what I am working on and where I am in my writing process. I am hoping to share with you when I start a new picture book idea, when I am really working hard to put the final touches on a piece. I want you to all cheer me on when I put manuscriptions in for submissions and when I get rejection letters. There will be rejection letters, probably a ton of them. But, that's okay. From the time I have spent being involved with the Houston chapter of SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) I have learned that it takes time, and that very few success stories get a contract right off the bat.

Now, in addition to blogging about my writing, I am going to be sharing other things that I am up to as well. I chose the name "What's Next?" because I am a bit of a busybody and I am always looking for something to do next.  I really love looking at the ups and downs of being a wife and mother of two boys, while trying to find the humor in it all. I also enjoy traveling, fitness, sewing, crafting, gardening, photography, cooking, and organizing. So, look to see a bit of this and that scattered throughout the blog. Basically, I want to do it all, and I want to share it all with you. I hope you will follow along to find out What's Next?