Just a Quickie

So I am running on limited time as I invited the boy over for homemade nachos and Supernatural watching before I have to leave for work. I clearly over estimated my "wake up and go" drive.

This week I am querying my favorite lit agent, Barry Goldblatt. I haven't been this nervous since High School. What if he doesn't like me? What if he turns me down? What if he laughs about my silly little plot with his friends in the Literary locker room later?
I stumbled upon a term, "Exclusive" and perhaps. like with boyfriends, this is the term one uses to snag a literary agent. An exclusive basically means I am giving him first dibs. He will know that I picked his agency to be the first agency to ever see my book. (lesson from HS: guys LOVE knowing they are the first to see what you're showing them).

So please, wish me luck. I am off to go shop for some nacho supplies.

On (Halloween and) Writing

Well, my favorite holiday is done and I am left with an empty place in my heart (stomach) where the halloween spirit (candy) used to be. I went to Covington Ky. and saw some mighty interesting costumes. There was a nun having Satan's baby, a California raisin, and a VERY convincing Allen from the Hangover complete with full beard and front baby carrier. There was also Zombie Marilyn Monroe, a martian, bert and Ernie, and Slash.

There was Sarah, who was "a shitty lion tamer" (note: she has no legs and only one arm IRL)


and me and Branden, a voodoo doll and a voodoo doctor

Our Halloween Miracle happened after the first bar. We were all trying to be conservative with our money this year and had a drink budget. Leaving the first bar Sarah found a $20 bill on her wheelchair. Someone had dropped it and it fell right in for our broke asses to find.

Now that Halloween is over, it is NaNoWriMo. This year I am actually editing the novel I did for last year's NaNo and writing one that has been in my head, rolling around for years now. I'm pretty excited about it.

Halloween has started

Since last year I was sure that I was going to be Sherlock Holmes for Halloween. Last week I changed my mind. I was worried that it would be hard to decipher what I was and that the need for specific costume elements would convince me to pay more money for them. As I was thinking this over I flipped on The Skeleton Key and it made me realize two things. One, once I move I am NEVER going into the rural areas and Two, I should be a voodoo doll. So thats that. In my head it will be the cheapest (for sure as I am known for spending cringe worthy amounts on costumes) and the most creative (since my mom used to hand make my costumes anyway.) Even better, Branden has been talked into going as a voodoo priest/witch doctor guy.


like Dr, Facilier from The Princess and The Frog

Last night I went to my first Halloween event. Me and Branden plus his married friends, Joey and Chrissy went as nerds.

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Nerd-tastic!


We all had kick me signs which resulted in Branden and Joey getting kicked by a little kid in the gas station.



It was so much fun and it makes me even more excited for my next costume.

Morning in Michigan

I seriously think that I am finally getting back into this writing game. Even though I haven't edited too much recently I think about my story a lot and the direction that I want it to go in. I have also found a part time job for Patch.com where I would review different businesses in the area. It is meant to become a hyper-local publication that has a listing and review for every business in an area. The best part is that I can do it for as long as I want. There aren't any reviewer's in Ohio or Louisiana at all yet. I spoke with one of the head people for my phone interview and we talked about my desire to be a travel writer. He said that after a few towns under my belt I should talk to my local editor about having my own travel column. So not only does it pay remarkably well for freelance but it is also an awesome stepping stone for me.

At work today Branden was telling me about how his aunt drives cars to different states for dealerships and such. He said that he was going with her while she retrieved a car from Michigan tomorrow morning. My first thought was that I have never been to Michigan. I checked and after I realized that I don't work until five tomorrow I asked if I could ride along, offering up my eclectic iPod and conversation skills. So, now I am leaving for Michigan at five in the morning.

A lot of people are starting to take a Gap Year. Canada, along with many European countries, are encouraging students to take a year off between graduating High School and starting College. The Gap Year is supposed to give students a taste of "the real world", or time for travel and prioritizing. After becoming more and more frustrated with my education the longer I was in school the more I started to seriously consider the Gap Year. If I had taken one before starting school I think that my whole experience would have been different. I think that I would have applied to more places and I would not have went to the college I chose. I never wanted to go there but listened to too many people tell me that my High School grades were too poor to get in where I wanted. In all honestly, they were but my SAT score was pretty damn good. I would have at least stood a chance. I also probably would not have majored in Writing. I don't think that writing is something that can be taught in class. I don't think that taking three creative writing classes and ten thousand literature classes is going to help me in the long run.

Taking all of this into consideration I think (think being the operative word) that my "new" plan is to graduate from UNO and take graduate classes at Loyola. I always wanted the "college experience" and let other people talk me out of it. I don't know if I will ever forgive myself for that but if it encourages me into grad school...maybe it was for the best.

a story about how I STILL have no candy corn

I went to the doctors office early this morning, earlier than I like to get up at least, and she looked at my foot. It's still gross but the bandages came off and there is this thin line of stitching and tape and its all blue for some reason. She gave me more couch days and told me that by the weekend I should be fine.

Last night I applied for about ten thousand writing jobs and have already heard back from two of them. I realized that if I am going to all the trouble of worrying about my future (I realized that I need a bike, a schwinn cruiser bike with a basket, so that I can take My-Future-Pug-Watson to my favorite gelato place on Magazine street...who worries about bills?)I might want to start going through with that idea I had where all money from writing gets saved. To do that, I need writing jobs.

Branden was going to bring me candy corn last night and I did the whole "oh, don't go out of your way" bit and...well, he didn't. He may be coming over after work "to give you hugs and cuddles and massages." Perhaps that will include the elusive candy corn.

In conclusion, though I like how nice my family has been to me these past few days I am ready to be walking again. I have work to go to, things to buy, hair to get cut (tomorrow!), haunted houses to scream in and halloween stores to browse.

experimenting with pictures and technology

tehe, beach ass


this is my cat, Goblin


this is my dog, frodo


this is me and my adorable friend/future roommate, Sarah

The Commandments of a Modern Living Arrangement

I was reading http://www.rachelintheoc.com/ today and fell in love. Honestly, here is a lady who makes it her business to examine how the man/woman dynamics are changing and share her genius with the world. It really got me thinking about what the commandments of a modern living arrangement.

1. When in doubt talk it out
no relationship is going to work if you can't talk to each other. Talk about what you expect from each other. Do you hate to do dishes? Maybe your "other" doesn't mind them but hates laundry.

2. S/He who cooks shall not clean
This only applies for the house. If your roommate toasted a hotdog and didn't pop one in for you then you don't have to do the dishes. However if they made an actual meal and you benefitted from it then you can only repay them by getting elbow deep in dish soap.

3. know thy own pet peeves
you need to know what drives you bat shit so that you can share that information. You also need to know what drives your roommate crazy.

4. The prophet, Aretha Franklin, knows
RESPECT baby. Think about how your decisions will effect your roommate. Don't use their stuff without asking, give them some alone time, and warn them if there is a naked man sleeping on the couch.

5. whistle while you work
Seriously, it's a shared space. Pick up after yourself and if your roommate doesn't then refer to commandment number one and talk to them about it.

Seriously I had the worst roommate experience ever and I can honestly say that I may be well on my way to becoming an expert on bliss worthy living arrangements.

Miami's (post)Secret

Every week I check Post Secret. I love the way funny secrets mix indiscriminately with the serious, tear-to-your-eye ones. I love the idea that reading someone else's secrets can help a person confront their own and start to heal wounds that holding something in can cause. This week, before I could check it for myself I saw the above secret.

I've seen secrets from other schools before but since it wasn't MY school I didn't think anything of it. Was it a student who posted it? Could it have been the professor? What, if anything, is going to happen now that this is out?

sleepy, itchy, and bitchy

One of my best friends, Bridget (above) has a blog here now breadjitjownz.blogspot.com is going to be all about her hilarious encounters with customers she deals with in her job as a front desk clerk at a hotel. It will be a blog version of the texts I used to get from her at two, three, and four in the morning.

I'm so ready to be healed by now and it's only been two days. I got my crutches yesterday though and though they help a little (I don't have to hop everywhere) I am all together too unbalanced to be comfortable with them. They do have red parts in them though and that makes them about as stylish as crutches can be. As if to increase my frustration I have to be determined future plans with an old friend to learn how to do some sexy latin dances and go out to The Underground's Latin night.


I'm trying my hand at using social networking as more than just a way to keep track of the goings on of my friends. I believe that the internet is a sort of modern day deity. Every time I put things into the internet, a request or some such thing, I get a perfect answer back. My first writing job? I googled something along the lines of "help me internet I need a writing job." I posted that I needed an actual job on my facebook and some one I have never met/known/heard of messaged me with a job posting. Now, I want friends, computer friends, networks of like minded people.

P.S. I think I am the only person I know who had never had surgery before. Why, oh why, did no one warn me that a side effect of pain medication is itchiness?

oops! the link is http://www.talesfromthepornstore.com/?cat=48

my future home edition

So I'm sitting here at home with my foot propped up after surgery today. I have had a ganglion cyst on the top of my foot for about four years and finally had it removed. I'm not nearly as entertaining as I thought I would be what with my pain medication and the drugs they put me to sleep with. Mainly I am thinking about how dangerous this could be for my bank account. As my friend Amanda over at Glows Novel Addiction can attest one of my favorite ways to pass the time is to look for things to think about (hardly ever actually) buy.
As of now it seems that as of next summer I will be a student at either UNO or Loyola and a resident of New Orleans. I am currently looking for things to fill my future home.

Things I think I need that I probably don't:
coffee table books- top contenders being vintage pin ups and travel photographs
paintings/pictures
an apron-my obsession with procuring and apron is strange and fairly needless as the only reason I can cook is because of my blind devotion to Martha Stewart.
and that brings me to...
Martha Stewart cookbooks
signs
knickknacks

Things that I am pretty sure I can make
coasters- I can get titles and stamps and make my own
a cool clock- maybe from an old record or an awesome plate
a cook book- if I can get all my friends to write me one recipe :)
paintings- ummm...my future roommate is an artist and i am skilled with stamps and stencils

Maybe I can make some of these things while my foot heals so I can get them off my mind. I feel like I could end up like that ginger kid on the fruit roll up commercial who had to hop on one foot as that is my mode of transportation right now.

And since Amanda asked so nicely here
are my first ever attempt at erotic horror :)

I'm Baaaack.

Not sure what happened there but hopefully I can get back into the habit of blogging.
Last year I stopped doing a lot of things that I loved doing. The commercial for that depression medicine, the one with the little blob, yeah they got it. You just don't want to do ANYTHING and that includes things that you loved doing before. The biggest crimes against myself were to stop reading and to stop writing. This month has been an epic month for reading. I have zoomed through books in the same way that I once did and just spent two hours in Borders with Amanda the other day buying four new books. I am reading The Dark Tower series, The Mortal Instruments series, The Hunger Games series, and The Demons Lexicon series. That's a lot of series.
I also started to edit the last thing I wrote. I "finished" a rough rough rough draft of a story for NanoWriMo last year and have started to edit that as of this week. I hated my main character, had a confusing and rushed plot, and was worried that I wasn't getting the gothic/creepy/halloweeney vibe that I wanted across. Chapter by chapter I now at least have a main character that I like. Editing feels really good after so long, like cleaning out the closet that you shove everything into when you clean the rest of your room.
I'm having surgery on my foot next week and will be house bound for two weeks. What a perfect time to get back into my habits of reading and writing.
I'm also excited because I write some short stories for another blogger a few months ago and he should be putting them on his site soon. Super excited to see how my first attempt at ...well...erotic horror went.

Good Book Tuesday

Look at that, it's Tuesday. I have my Aflac interview tomorrow so wish me luck as that job would make all my financial dreams come true.

This week's good book is On The Road by Jack Kerouac. Considering my last post I thought it was fitting. The book has intrigued me for years and it was always one of those books that people tell me I will like but I wait forever to read. I love the stream of consciousness writing and I went a step further and got the "Original Scroll" version. For some background information; Jack was a beat poet and went on this drug induced road trip across America. he wrote the whole book as one giant thing. No punctuation, no page breaks, no paragraphs. I thought that this style would bother me more than it did. The story read like it was being told to you by your over the top hyper friend. The only reason that style bothered me at all was because there was no convenient place to end reading.

I liked the book, I like Jack Kerouac and his crazy road trippin' ways. His prose is pretty impressive and I would like to read some more of his novels. As great as it was to have the original format of the book I may go ahead and suggest getting it in the mass marketed normal format. It would be easier to read that way. If you like travel, road trips especially, pick it up sometime.

I want an RV for Christmas

Every now and then, more so in the warm months, I get a need to travel. Symptoms are looking for modes of transportation, searching for destinations, and a general restlessness. I get anxious and sometimes a bit panicky too. I think right now I am in some weird limbo of freedom and impending responsibility. School may not be an option this year so I don't have that keeping me here. I currently am hired at JCPenney but it's not a career. While everything (most things) is giving me the "its now or never" go-ahead I am still sitting in my house. How would I get the money to leave? How would I pay for my massive accumulation of loans and bills while I'm gone? How would I even pay for car insurance?

I had a plan for the longest time. The plan was that when I was free from school I would spend one whole year traveling the world. That plan has seen some major issues. One issue is that I have spent the last two years gung-ho on the idea of moving immediately after school. But once I have a monthly rent payment isn't that dream of wandering around aimlessly done for? The plan dwindled down to six months, since that's when my loans would start to need paying. Now its just North America. Ideally, right now, I want to get some sort of vehicle and spend a year (or six months, or hell even three) just driving. I have an overwhelming feeling that if I don't do this now I will never have another chance.

My dad asked me yesterday what I would do if I could do anything I wanted. I told him I would travel, continuously. I want to be nomadic. To have a home to go back to but to have the option to stay away. I just need to figure out how to do it.

Oh Me of Little Faith

I planned (plan) to update every week day but some where between getting a job and landing an interview for a better, full time one the days just got away from me. I've felt so much better since this happened and wanted to celebrate and enjoy the feeling of good karma.

On a similar note there is the story of the website I signed up for called Freelancer.com. Freelancer sends me about a billion emails and tweets a day. I have gotten so sick of it that I stopped following them on twitter and have tried to send their mail to spam. I can always just check the website for open projects. Anyway, you find a project, you bid on it, plea your case as to why you're amazing/perfect/gifted/their dream come true and hope they pick you. I applied for a lot. A lot a lot. My two jobs are fine and well but I need money for next years Big Move, I need a virtual hope chest if you will. All my money from writing is going towards the Big Move. Just as I was about fed up with freelancer, I got a project!

My mission for them is to write five "erotic horror" blogs. The horror part I can do. It's the erotic part that has me a tad worried. There are many words in the english language that make me giggle. 90% of those words involve erotica. It should be a fun challenge though and maybe there can be a link to my blog here so that more people than Amanda (hi Amanda) can read this because that would be cool.

On a side note, I saw Inception last night with Branden and it was much better than anticipated. I thought maybe it was all hype but oh my goodness it was one of the best movies I've ever seen. Go see it, you'll like it. Then we went back to his house and ended the night with some Supernatural. I have secret fantasies involving Dean from that show and I think if Branden knew that he wouldn't be quite so happy that I'm watching it.

Tonight is Amanda's belated birthday extravaganza and I am super excited to get to hang out with her and some of the other people who are going to be there. Should be a whole lot of fun.

About Me Wednesday: How I was convinced into wanting to write

While trying to find theme's to write about on each day I figured I could share a bit about myself on Wednesdays.

When I was younger (and possibly still today) I was much more fickle than most kids. I would change my clothes half way through the day, change my taste in music constantly, and change my desired vocation close to everyday. I remember wanting to be (in some order) a ballerina, an astronaut, an artist, a rock star, a scientist, and an actress. I was easily dissuaded too. I stopped wanting to be a scientist and an artist when I realized I wasn't the best in my class at either subject and when I noticed I had a slight fear of heights the whole astronaut thing went to hell to.

When I was in my actress phase during sixth grade I had a fantastic teacher. Mrs. Estridge is still one of my favorite teachers from school. She was so nice and very good at her job. I wrote something for her class about wanting to be an actress. She sent it back to me asking to see me after class. I went to her desk and she told me that she thought I should try to be a writer. Mrs. Estridge was the first person to tell me that I could write and more than that, make a career out of it. I thought about it and decided that if she thought that I was good at it I might give it a try. I already loved reading and could lose myself almost completely in a story, why not do it myself? I visited her when I was in High School and she still remembered me and told me that if I write something to let her know and she will find me a publisher. Whatever I write in the end my first book will be dedicated to her. She also turned me on to the Harry Potter books. I just got a lightening bolt tattoo on my wrist last month.

The second teacher who I owe my perseverance of writing to is Mr. Simpson. He was my Junior year English teacher and his style of teaching was captivating. He could hold everyone's attention and make the class time go by in the blink of an eye. At that age, being told that I could write may not have been enough. He told me that I have a distinctive style to my writing. I turned in pieces of my own writing for class and he always made sure to encourage me to continue with them. He assigned everyone in class a movie and asked us to try and figure out why he felt that movie related to us. He gave me "The Girl With the Pearl Earring." To this day I have no idea why and the closest I have got was when I told him I wanted to publish a book with an accompanying CD and he told me that was why he picked the movie.

These two teachers, more than anything else, have helped make me the person I am today. As flawed and mostly irresponsible that person is I have never lost the belief in myself that I can write and that my writing is unique to myself.

First Good Book Tuesday

I read. A lot. I once got in trouble for reading in an English class. I figured I might as well share a book that I like and/ or am reading on Tuesdays.

I started reading Franny and Zooey after the news broke that Salinger had died. I remember reading Catcher in the Rye in High School and my teacher telling us that Salinger was a hermit who had a cabin in the woods. The rumor was that he sat in his cabin and wrote. He had stopped publishing by this time and just let the manuscripts pile up. In his will it was supposed to be stated that he wanted his cabin, along with all the manuscripts, burnt. I had loved Catcher in the Rye and knew I wanted to read more of Salingers work.

Franny and Zooey is about two siblings. Franny seems to be going through an existential break down based around religion and her up bringing in a family of geniuses. Zooey, her actor brother, tries to help her get through her melt down while relating to her and her views of their childhood abnormalities.

I love this book. I haven't finished it because it is one of those books where the characters are so intriguing I want to keep hanging out with them for as long as I can. I love the relationship that Franny and Zooey have and the very adult like way that they talk with one another. With the semi- new term "quarter life crisis" being used more frequently I think that this book sums up the extreme panic that a person can have if they examine their own life too much.

Puppies Make Everything Better

I finally got a call for an interview! It's not an ideal job, being a cashier at JCPenney, but it will pay the bills just fine. My interview is tomorrow so hopefully I will soon have a way to start paying my student loans back.

Yesterday, after a day full of temp agencies I went to play with puppies at petland. This always makes me feel better. I played with an adorable basset hound. She was so sad looking and calm in the cage but when the attendant took her out she was crazy hyper. With her sad little face I just wanted to make her happy. I even let her chew on my shoes.

Today is full of pretty normal things. Cleaning my mess of a room, making dinner, and applying to more jobs (ideal jobs) will take me most of the day. After my parents get home though I'm going out to spend some time with my friend and fellow job hunter, Branden.

Tomorrow I'm going to be taking a stack of books to sell for some spending money. When shit starts getting sold thats when you know you're broke.

So, this is new

I'm perfectly aware that as I post this first blog there is no one to read it yet. Quite frankly that helps a bit since not since the days of Myspace have I posted a blog about myself. What I have posted are blogs for other people. I am a content writer and have spent the past year writing things that will go on other people's websites.

A friend of mine asked me today why I wanted my own blog. I said it was because writers need to network and for the most part that's true. I want to meet other writers and generally become an easy person to find online. But the second part of this new desire to blog is that I am aware for the first time that my life is changing, and in none of the ways I expected it to. I'm twenty two and I don't have a full time job, or a car of my own, or an apartment, and I may not be going back to school in the fall due to an unfortunate twist in finances. I am currently not tied down by anything but nervous about what that may mean.

I suppose I should maybe have an idea about what this is going to all be about...

It's about a girl who wants to be a nomad. About finding a career after college. About coming in to myself and becoming someone I am happy to be.

So please come back and check on me every now and then. If you want to say hi I'd love that.