Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I'm not sure that anyone is going to be thinking of reading blogs today, but I'm posting anyway.

First off, Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you're having (or already had) a fantastic day. I'm going to an early black Friday sale unfortunately, actually two different stores. One in the AM and one at midnight. Really good deals, so I've got to brave the madness.

Anyway...This is day four of my week of thanks and today I am thankful for my family. We have our problems sometimes, but what family doesn't? And I love them even when they're not being very loveable. Family has always been really important to me and I'm spending my day with mine. I hope all of my online buddies celebrating Thanksgiving are getting to spend time with theirs as well.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! :)

Thanks, Day 3

 (Late posting this. Just now realized I hadn't hit the publish button...)

Today I'm thankful for life. I've had and still have health issues, but I can move past those. It sucks to not feel well, but it's better than not feeling at all. I don't always have great days, but as long as I'm waking up each day, that's what counts.

Short and sweet I suppose. Nothing to really elaborate I, lol. So, day three of my week of thanks, I'm thankful to be alive.

I hope you're all having/had an awesome day. And I for anyone who will not be online tomorrow, Happy Thanksgiving. :)

Thankful Week, Day 2

I'm thankful for my CPs and crit group over at Agent Query Connect. If it weren't for them, all of them, there's a good chance I would've given up writing. They all showed me how to improve without tearing me down and making me feel worthless.

Caterina Torres is now the best friend I've ever had. She's there for me when I'm struggling with getting the words out. Even when I kept redoing my first MS, she kept recritiquing it. We talk every day and when we don't I feel lost. She picks me up when I'm down, knocks sense into me when I'm being stupid, makes me laugh, and everything else that a real friend is supposed to do. She's like a sister to me and I don't know what I'd do without her, but I know I never want to be. What makes her so much more than my CP is that she's there for me in general, not just writer stuff, but life stuff. I love you, chick and thank you. :)

Kendra Conine is a close second to Cat. It's funny that I call her a CP-she hasn't really critiqued critiqued my stuff, but she's given opinions and she's awesome. We BS about everything not writerly and we still manage to squeeze some writerly talk in. She also is there for me when I have silly requests that most people would find annoying. You're really awesome, Kendra. I'm glad I wasted time in the AQC chat room so that I got to meet you. :)

Lori Sjoberg, Gina, Jen, and Cami are my critique group and had it not been for them, that first MS wouldn't have been rewritten 500 times. And I'd be the idiot with a terrible MS, no conflict, no real plot, and no chance in this business. These ladies told it like it was, called my MS out for all the tons of flaws it had. I'm thankful for all the harsh words that need and needed to be said. I'm thankful that Gina sent me a message all those months ago telling me about the group because I need you ladies and I'm glad I met you. (The inspirational views that Lori posts for us are a fantastic bonus :P )

Okay, now that I've gushed on and on about these fabulous people. That's what I'm thankful for on day two of my week of thanks. CPs and friends are wonderful. Especially when they're both and can still shred your work without a second thought about it.

I hope everyone has a fantastic Tuesday. :)

A Week of Thanks...

I had a plan for the month of November for the blog, but it didn't happen. The plan was to write a post everyday leading up to Thanksgiving about what I'm thankful for. Since it didn't happen, I'm going to do a few this week.

Monday: I'm thankful for my followers and all my writer friends (all of which are online friends). Each of you have been there, helped out, made me laugh and smile, you notice when I'm MIA and you're all just so great.

I'm going to spotlight someone right now, but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate everyone else just as much. But really, Alex J Cavanaugh deserves some special recognition on this thankful post. Even when I'm busy and having trouble getting to blogs, I still try to stop by and read his. But even then, I never get the chance to leave a comment. For all he ever knows, I just don't get over there at all. Yet, every time I post, he's here, commenting and supporting me, and to me that's beyond awesome. The fact that he still takes time to stop by my blog when he's got SO MANY, means a lot to me and I'm really thankful for that. I don't get a lot of comments, but when I see his, I feel like I've got thousands. He's such a special person and I'm thankful I found his blog and 'met' him. So, THANK YOU ALEX for being the AWESOME person that you are.

It's not a long thankful post, but I just wanted to let you all know that I'm thankful that you stop by to see me, tweet me, chat with me, and everything else. You're all wonderful.

Happy Monday everyone. :)

Thankful for Thanksgiving

I love holidays. My absolute favorites are Thanksgiving and Christmas. Both of these holidays are about love, giving, kindness, thoughtfulness, and thankfulness. Since I can remember, Thanksgiving has always been a holiday of joy. It is only suiting that Christmas comes shortly after.
We always talk about what one has to be thankful for and this year, it means so much more to me-and I was not even sure why at first. I think I have it figured out.
When I was little, Thanksgiving always meant-food, family, friends. Each year we would go to my grandmother's house-the whole family, with a dash of friends-and we would eat, talk, laugh, and enjoy each others company. Never forgetting to take time to discuss what we are thankful for. I always had a couple of things that came to mind. I am thankful for my family, my friends, my life. As everyone in the family grew older, that traditional thanksgiving at grandmas was not the same. Did it still happen? Of course. But it was also clouded by everyones own Thanksgiving feasts. We all became adults, with families of our own, some moved away, and some gained extended family. Whatever the reason, once we all had SEVERAL Thanksgiving feasts, that one special one became less special.
I lost my grandma on December 26, 2008 and I think our family got a little lost as well. My two aunts that live out of state do not visit as frequent and therefore our family Thanksgiving gathering at Grandmommy's was no more. When they come, we still have something, but it is rarely planned well or celebrated on the day Thanksgiving falls on. (This is also a little of what had begun happening prior to Grandmommy's passing) With the family tradition becoming more of a task and less what I so loved growing up, it took away the joy of Thanksgiving, thus causing me to have conflict with what I was thankful for. This year I have a different outlook.
This is what brought back the joy that I had lost. It happened when my 5 year old came home from school and said, "Mama, we learned about the pilgrims and Thanksgiving today. We also learned about being thankful, and I want you to know that I am thankful for you. What are you thankful for?" This, warmed my soul and changed my feelings back to what they once were. It caused me to look at it through her sweet innocent eyes and truly see.
I realize that even when Thanksgiving was such a wonderful holiday to me years ago, I did not really grasp the meaning. With her simple, yet sweet statement, I realized that Thanksgiving is so much more. More than being thankful, it is a time where you can sit back and really think about your life. If I sat down and began to write a list of what I am thankful for, it would go on and on. It would be easier to answer what am i unthankful for. The answer to that would be, nothing. I am thankful for EVERYTHING-my daughters, my parents, my grandma, my aunts, uncles, niece and nephew, cousins, sister, friends-my loved ones period. I am thankful for my life, and I am thankful for the time I have had and any time I am blessed with in the future. The roof over my head, clothes on my back and shoes on my feet. I will leave it at that because as i said, I am thankful for everything. So, enjoy this holiday-full of happiness, love, family and friends-and food and giving-and next time someone asks you what you are thankful for, answer with your heart, it may open up a view that you or they could not even see.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING

I Love My Fellow Authors...

And I love Query Tracker and Agent Query Connect.

I recently posted a question on Query Tracker in a topic that I had posted my query(and some revisions). I was so confused because I have a problem understanding what is really supposed to be in a query. Even after researching and reading SO many things on how to write a query and all other reading about writing queries, I was at a loss on exactly how much of my book to put. I kept getting feedback on my queries saying they need conflict where's the conflict, what's the conflict, etc. So once the question was posed I didn't get the exact answer I was looking for, but I did get some answers.

The posts by my fellow authors had me almost doubting my book, at first, but then they made me sit back and really focus. Once I focused in on the book better I realized where I was messing up. I am so excited now to realize something that has been missing! I have NO IDEA where or how I am going to fit it in, but I know what I need to fit in.

So, I just wanted to post that I love the sites out there where aspiring authors (and even agented and established authors) can get and give advice and I love the people on there that do just that. I know that not everyone can appreciate the raw, blunt, honest opinions of people who are truly out to help you. I APPRECIATE ALL HELP.

I have absolutely no followers right now, but hopefully if you read this (and you are one of those people who help other authors) you will know you are appreciated-and if you are one of those people who post something and don't like the bluntness you get, get over it, suck it up and enjoy the fact that there is someone out there who is willing to give you an honest opinion, someone who just wants to help you in the best way.