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To my horror, last night while I was playing Everquest2, both of my monitors just went all crazy colored. I have no idea what is wrong with my computer, but it was completely frozen and the images on the screen were barely visible beyond the colors. I turned it off, waited, then rebooted, praying it would be okay. More crazy colors. G worked on it most of the evening, trying to get it to work, but I am scared to try to plug it back in today. Right now, I have my laptop hooked up to my keyboard, mouse, and…

As our wedding count-down ticks over to 59, I find myself a little bit freaking out. Not over the marriage itself. I know without a doubt that I’ve got the perfect groom (and husband) for me. I just want to make Vegas the very best wedding and honeymoon that it can be. So what am I freaking out over? Two things. Money. And Weight Loss. Making a lot of extra money is not easy, and even though I’m looking around for ways to make more money on the side, it’s difficult and somewhat tedious. As for the weight loss, I’m…

Yesterday, I hit the jackpot when it comes to invitations. Since we’re not doing a traditional wedding, we didn’t want to spend too much on invitations or announcements. But at the same time, I want to let people know the name of the chapel and the online address so they can watch the ceremony online. Having invitations printed from an online boutique or even a discount shop means spending at least $60 on 50 invitations. Since we need at least 60, basically I have to order 100,. which was going to mean spending well over $100. Yes, I know some…

It’s real this time. No more harsh critiques to stop me in my tracks. Just my full manuscript in an envelope, nicely printed out along with a query letter and synopsis. Today, it will go out to New York, priority mail. Then, it’s out of my hands for a while. It could be six days or six months before I hear back from them. How scary is that? Let me tell you: It’s terrifying! The most I can do is pray that it’s a quick turn-around with a happy result. And in the meantime, write the next book! Zombies come…

Being able to handle criticism is not an easy thing to learn. You would think that after more than 14 years of it, I would be used to it by now. And maybe back in the day when I was at Vandy, I was better at it. I can’t say for sure because 10 years ago doesn’t come back with that kind of emotional clarity. (At least not when it comes to criticism.) I remember being told that I was terrible as a singer, and I remember having people say things in critique like “If I sang that song, I…

The ending stages of getting a novel out are much more tedious than I expected. Once the book is finished (all three drafts or however many it took), there’s still the query letter and the synopsis. Not to mention figuring out the packaging itself. A synopsis is basically a 3-5 page summary of your entire novel, but it’s not that easy. It’s also got to show your “voice” as a writer and make the editor or agent reading it hunger for more. Until you’ve tried to do it, you have no idea how hard it is to shorten a novel…