A small celebration

I did it--finally. I finished my author questionnaires and sent them off. Man that was alot of questions. I hope they find my answers helpful. It was alot of pressure knowing people are going to read all these things about me. I am going to forget about it now so I don't stress out. La la la. Anyway, Woohoo! Now I can quit worrying about it and move on to something else. Like sleep.

How could I forget?

Yes, it's true! I have an actual, real-live copy of my book. I put it on my shelf for a week and just gave it passing glances. I don't know what I was afraid of. It was too overwhelming I guess. And I was super busy. Finally I dove in and read it. Soon I am going to have to read it out loud to actual kids. It really was surreal to see it as an actual book with cover art and pages.
My daughter told her teacher, who got very excited and wanted to see it, so I let her take it to class last Friday. She told the class about her Mom being an author and showed off the book. They then left it on a table for everyone to look at. She said there was one kid(who is usually out of control and very hyper) who just kept staring at the cover. He was mezmerized by the dragon. Amazing to hear of such a reaction. She also told me all the Moms checked it out too.(It's a homeschool outreach, parents can stay.) I'm sure there'll be lots of questions next time I show up in class.
So, now I am pretty much commited to reading to the class sometime soon. I would like to come up with some sort of project or worksheet for the kids to do too. Guess I'd better get to work on that. And bookmarks maybe?

B-day rant

I don't think I've had a moments rest since I got home. There's been so much to catch up on. And it's like I'm moving in all over again. It takes alot of belongings for five people to vacation for six months. Plus there's all the extra stuff I brought back. We bought a new car while we were in California, and it's not a cross country trip if you car isn't filled to the brim with stuff(according to my mom). So, my house has been a total disaster since I got home and it's driving me crazy. I'm not a good house cleaner anyway. I always make more of a mess. And that's what I've been doing. I want to get rid of things, the kids have outgrown alot of stuff since we've been gone, so I don't see the point of putting it away. I end up with piles of boxes that have nowhere to go. It's a long way to any place to drop a donation around here. So, there's that.

And the first day I was home I made the mistake of going into the library and was immediately pulled back into all the things I have to do there. I was told there was a meeting in an hour and I was coming right? We're having an author fair, which I helped come up with, so I have to help with that. And the board had been waiting for me to come back so we could have the booksale. I'm the one who usually heads it up, so I'm the only one that knows how to do it, right? So that's done now, mostly.

Whenever I have a free moment I've been trying to answer the eight pages of questions I received from my publisher. I've had them for almost a month. I hope that's not too long. There are some hard questions like: please list competitive books on the market and, list any special groups that should be alerted to your book. Okay, those aren't questions, but you know what I mean. I feel like I need to get this thing done though asap.

I am starting to get a little freaked out because the conference is almost here. What am I supposed to wear? I actually went shopping. I don't go shopping. I hate shopping. I actually bought two outfits. I made myself buy outfits since I do have some nice things, they just don' go with anything else I own. Anyway, I still don't have shoes to go with anything. Can't I just wear my uggs with my skirt? Or maybe I'll just go as me and wear jeans and tennis shoes. I don't know. That's what I decided for my author photo that is probably going in the paper tomorrow. I dressed nice and took some photos, but it seemed like I should just be myself and opted for the jeans and comfy shirt pick my son took of me. Speaking of that, I told my friend(who is also my librarian) today that I'm not coming to town for the next week since I'll be in the paper. But she said, "You have to. You have to set up the booksale." Yeah. Thanks.

Am I complaining? No. Things have just been so weird since I got home. It's like I left a writer and came home an author. I've got a copy of my book. It's almost ready to release. I am going to do a reading at the book fair.(The me part of me hopes nobody comes, the library promotion part of me hopes tons of people come. I'm making myself promote against everything in me.) My librarian has been telling everybody about me that will listen. I got an ovation from the library board and had to talk about my books. It was not totally awful I guess, but was a bit nervewracking. And now all sorts of people know I'm a writer. After Thursday the whole town will know. But what's the big deal, right? It's part of being a writer. The part I never really wanted to think about. I'll have to take it as it comes and be prepared with some good quick description when asked about my books. That's a lesson I've learned.

And I'm procrastinating. I should be finishing up my author faq's, making business cards, typing up my one-sheet. I am hesitant. I like to be the one in the corner. Not the one everyone is looking at. And I know they're not all actually looking at me. It's just feels like I'm taking a new step in my life-towards some new me. Maybe it's because I'm 35 today. There's a theory that every 7 years your life begins a new cycle, a new era. It has seemed true so far. -And no, I'm not saying this so you'll say happy b-day. It just came up.

Hallelujah!

We finally got our internet hooked back up. It was getting really old; stealing a minute at the coffee shop, going insane trying to keep the kids under control at the library, and protecting the open laptop in the car because my two-year-old insisted on climbing over it, to check my email. Now I can work, maybe even all alone once in a while, in my cold dark basement office. Oh how I've missed it.

I'm back

I made it! Two days of driving with a two year old. It actually wasn't as bad as I'd imagined. He was pretty wonderful, of course he had his moments, but don't we all. I wrote two stories on the way too. I had no expectations that the trip would be so fun.
I'm on a library computer and the minutes are ticking down quickly. Our internet provider is being a pain. Hopefully we'll be back online soon cause man, we depend on it. Then I'll have to get blogging and writing and all that sort of business.
Well, I'm off to my first interview for the local paper. My hometown friends are excited about my books and are spreading the word. Yikes!

On my way

My boys are home safe. Now I just need to get there. I am leaving tomorrow and driving home. Mapquest says it takes sixteen hours. That's without a two-year-old factored in. I'm hoping we'll make it in three days, maybe four. Should be an adventure.

Speaking of travel, I've been told Bedtime Monster will be traveling to Italy in June, looking to expand it's market. Who would've guessed my little story would travel so far.