This work thing is interfering with my writing!

I’ll have to try and do something about that.

 Happy Tuesday. Yes, as in it has been a long while since I have last blogged. I can partially “blame” it on GUTGAA. It was Meet and Greet week after all. It was for a week, wasn’t it? Wasn’t it? I had to stay meeted and greeted.

This past week has been super-duper exciting. And I’m not even being sarcastic. It really has!

They look so meek. It's a LIE.
 They're savages!

First, I went back to school and met my new batch of 8^th graders. They seem pretty cool. Very tame compared to last year. But, it’s the “honeymoon period”.  Which is teacher code for “they just playin’ you, yo’.” They try and act all sweet and into learning, but as soon as you blast them with an actual assignment…BAM! Out come the fangs. Yikes. My carotid artery is pulsing. (Well, I guess that’s good news, otherwise I’d be dead.)

On to other news. Last week was the week of the contest. Pitch Madness over on the incredible Brenda Drake’s blog. If you haven’t visited it, you are missing out! Get on over there. Here’s a link. (Just come back!)Brenda Drake  I entered my 35 word pitch and first 150 into a slush pile of 300. I imagine reading through the slush was not unlike the movie 300. Blood everywhere, death, carnage, and really hot half naked men writhing about. And that's just the judges! (well, minus the half naked men part. Those were the entries!)



Wish me PAINT!

If you want to take a look-see at my entry, you can visit another fabulous blog from writer and agent intern, Erica Chapman. Here’s her link. (Again, please come back)Erica Chapman   Scroll down. E-7. That’s me. Isn’t it pretty? This time tomorrow, I’ll either be basking in agent request heaven, or drowning my sorrows in Cabernet and ice cream. Chocolate. Häagen-Dazs. Compliments the wine.

Why? Agents are paint balling as we speak. Making bids for the manuscripts they’d like to see. It’s madness. Lo to be the one with no requests. That. Would. Suck.

Another fabulous contest I’m in is hosted on Cupid’s Literary Connection. Another great blog. See here. Cupid (Do I even have to say it? BACK PLEASE!) This lovely little contest involved being the first of 100 emails with my query and the first 250 words. Scroll down. I am CAGI numero dos dos. For the non-espanol speaking readers, that’s 22. Well, actually it’s 2-2 to be exact. This little contest has judges choosing the best 4 entries in their set, which will then go on to be judged by agents. So, don't know my status there yet, but I’ve got everything crossed.

Then there’s GUTGAA next Friday. My email is prepared. Stand back. You won’t want to get whiplash when my hand makes a move toward the send button. I’m not kidding. It gets scary.

Kim Lionetti (A-Mazing Agent) is hosting a twitter pitch. My first sentence is in the running. Eegads.

My flash fiction piece is awaiting results with agent Maria Lamba in the Women on Writing quarterly contest. Prays. Prays. Prays.

Finally, the last fun news, I made a whole lotta friends from these contests. Namely one Fizz and one Apples. They crack me up. Seriously. Tweeting with them is the most fun I’ve had in a while. Which may just say a little something about my social life.

This one’s for you Summer!

If you want to see I'm why I'm going on about them, visit their blogs and see. Dee's blog and Summer a.k.a. The Fizz (Wouldn't blame you if you never came back. They're blogs kinda suck you in. Like a Hoover. Or a Dyson.)

If you are a writer and you haven't tweeted...get thee to Twitter. It's social networking at it's finest. I resisted for awhile. I was a naysayer too. But I caved. And shoot boy howdy was it worth it. Fantastic writing community. Uber support. Agents all over the place tweeting advice, query stats, and wishlists. It's Disneyland for writers. Except Writerland doesn't really sound that fun.

So, yeah. Basically a busy week in my writing life. As I said, this working every day seriously interferes. What’s that? Yes, please put your test on the stool. Talk amongst yourselves. No, no homework. I’m blogging here! Guess I should go teach.

Later cupcake.