Category: Best of the Bunch

  My Goings On in May: I went to the SCBWI Marvelous Midwest writing conference! I learned a lot and found some great inspiration. One of these days I’ll manage to post a recap. I attended an online class on verse novels taught by Cordelia Jensen. I started a new editing project, a book called Momoire by Alyssa DeRose. School finished up, so the kids are all now home for the summer. That means track season is done for Danielle, but she’s back to club swimming for the summer (she’s not so sure about it now that she’s taken so much time off–she’s definitely got a lot of catching up to do). My mom and I started volunteering at Bernie’s Book Bank, which has been a great experience! Things I watched:  My family got Lego Movie 2 from the library. It was really cute and we all enjoyed it! (Though… Read more »

  My Goings On in April: We went to lots of track meets (my middle daughter is in track). I volunteered at Bernie’s Book Bank with my mom and packed books for kids. I planned a trip to LA in August. We’ll be going on a family vacation and then I’ll be sticking around a few extra days for an SCBWI conference. A perfect blend of business and pleasure! Things I watched:  I rented A Star Is Born and The Miseducation of Cameron Post. I liked them both but didn’t love them (which inspired me to write post that will go up in a couple of weeks). I continued watching Umbrella Academy with my mom. With all the buzz around Game of Thrones, I started watching it again. (I had stopped near the beginning of season three for some unknown reason). I love getting to watch the whole series almost straight through!… Read more »

  My Goings On in March: My kids were on spring break. We didn’t go anywhere or anything (which I’m regretting now that I’m starting to look at our summer schedule–I should have taken advantage of the time they all had off). We went to a VR place, which was really interesting. I mostly let my kids do it, but I did spend 5 minutes or so as a clerk in a virtual reality convenience store, and it was great fun! I went to lots of track meets and my three writer’s group meetings (two groups, three meetings). Things I watched:  I went to see Captain Marvel at the theater (very rare for me). My husband and I both really enjoyed it, even though superhero movies aren’t our favorite. I started watching Umbrella Academy with my mom. Really liking it, but we kind of stopped watching for no apparent reason…. Read more »

  My Goings On in February: I SIGNED WITH A LITERARY AGENT!!! Which I’m sure you already know because I have no chill and I’ve been shouting it from every rooftop. Does the rest of the month even matter? I mean, I guess I’ll go ahead and tell you a few other things that happened, but… I celebrated my 45th birthday on the 11th. My mom and I went to see Dear Evan Hansen the Musical. It was awe-inspiring, and I just want to go see musicals every week now. Okay, that’s unreasonable. Every month? I went on a field trip to the Holocaust Museum with my son’s class. It reminded me how very precious life is and how easy it is for people to ignore other people’s suffering. I attended lots of writing groups and events (check out my Sunday Posts if you want to see what they all… Read more »

  My Goings On in November: I’ve been working on finishing up my first draft of the YA novel I wrote last NaNoWriMo. (This past year I focused mostly on editing the MG book I’m now querying and doing more writing workshops and study.) As of writing this post, I’m almost there. My goal was to finish in November, and I was so close last night, but I wasn’t feeling all that well, and I realized I was basically rushing so I could say “Done!” And that’s sort of silly. I hope to finish this weekend. (But this is a rough, rough draft that’s going to need LOTS of edits, so don’t get too excited for me. 😉 ) I attended my local SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) monthly meetup. This month our group leader did a talk about her picture book small print publishing company, which I thought was really interesting…. Read more »

  My Goings On in October: October was the month of bookish events for me! I attended (click on the links to read my recaps): The Epic Reads fall tour The Dear Evan Hansen book tour Anderson’s Bookshop’s 15th Annual YA Literature Conference SCBWI’s Prairie Writer’s & Illustrator’s Day 2018 Things I watched:  I’m almost done with The Walking Dead Season 8. I’ve heard that Season 9 gets less ridiculous—we shall see. I watched a bit more of the newest season of iZombie. My husband and I finished a rewatch of all nine seasons of The Office. (I really want to watch some of the new shows that are out, including the new Sabrina show. I hope it’s good!) Instagram: Apparently, I only posted to Instagram once in October. Oops! Features & Discussions: The recaps of the events I went to in October (I already linked to those up above, so I won’t do… Read more »

  My Goings On in September: September was filled with swim meets for my younger daughter and general back-to-schoolness for all three kids. I’m finding that high school swim meets are a whole lot more fun to watch than swim club meets (mostly because they’re a lot shorter, there are WAY fewer kids at them, and we feel more connected to the team, so we’re rooting for them more). It also doesn’t hurt that my daughter has been improving times a lot since she’s been on the school team.  🙂 Have I bragged about my oldest’s brilliance? I don’t think I have, so I’ll be a proud momma for a second and do that. She’s a junior in high school taking Calc II at the local community college—and she got the highest score in the class on her first test. Everything she’s learning is WAY beyond me, but she loves… Read more »

  My Goings On in August: I submitted to #PitchWars! I know it’s a complete long-shot that I’ll get chosen as a mentee (they got 3,452 entries), but really that’s the way all of publishing is, so I figured it doesn’t hurt to try. Cross your fingers for me!! Things I watched:  I binged all of the latest season of The 100. It was great motivation for working out! I also watched a bit more of Fear the Walking Dead, but I’m getting a little burnt out on it already, and I’m only in season two. I just watched the first episode of The Innocents on Netflix. I’m definitely intrigued! And I watched To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before on Netflix and Ready Player One on DVD. I thought both adaptations were really well done. (I think I actually liked the movie of TAtBILB better than the book. Shhhh!) I… Read more »

  My Goings On in July: I sent out my first queries! And got my first rejection. I guess that makes me a real writer, right? I haven’t heard from the other agents I queried yet, but I’m gearing up to send out a few more. I know that this process is going to be long and difficult with lots of rejection along the way, so I’m trying to prepare myself mentally. I keep editing my book too—I’ve been getting more feedback from critique partners—but I decided to take the plunge and send out a few queries after I did my edits from the WIFYR workshop. I have to start sometime! We celebrated our oldest’s 16th birthday! It seems crazy to think that Jade is now sixteen. How did that happen? I just … nope. Can’t get my head around it. I went on vacation to the UP Michigan. This was such a wonderfully… Read more »