Send (#atozchallenge)

Welcome to today's post on the A-to-Z Blogging Challenge. My challenge, as I have chosen to accept it, is thus: I have asked on my Facebook and Twitter accounts for people to contribute random words beginning with today's letter. From Random.org, I have selected one of these words, and will below challenge myself to connect said word to writing.

For the letter S, I received 58 suggestions. Random.org selected number 46: send.


Send

For me, the "Send" button on my email can be intimidating. Does anyone else feel this way? I'm not talking about just to send an email to my friend, or respond to a blog comment, but when I have added that oh so gentle Word or PDF attachment to that email and am sending it to someone for critique or just general comments. Honestly, I can feel the tip of my finger sweating as I reach for the mouse button.

Click.

And let the nail-biting begin.

Really, this is just the beginning, because I haven't started querying yet. How am I going to feel once I start sending the blurb for my baby out into the wilderness, waiting for some helpful woodland critter (agent?) to help it on its way to maturity and its reemergence into the world? I'm worried it will feel akin to an outright fever, with the shakes and sweat and nausea.

So, folks, I ask you: What's your way of handling the anticipation and waiting during the query process?


Also, today I'm taking suggestions for the letter Y. Have any? Leave them below. Thanks!

ACK! Book Overload!

So, this should not be a problem.  It just shouldn't.  I shouldn't have to complain about this at all, but here it is anyway.

I have too much to read.

And it's all stuff I want to read—meaning, it's not for research or homework! :)

*sigh*

1) Eat Pray Love, of course.  I need to keep up with that for my book club obligations.  And I'm loving it even more now that we're into the Pray part.  I'm really interested in her spiritually journey.

2) I still have my copies of Lizard and Kitchen, both by Banana Yoshimoto, from the library.  Lizard is due tomorrow, so I think I'm going to try and get through that tonight (I've already renewed it once).
Update: Already finished Lizard.  Still haven't started Kitchen.

3) Today in the mail I got my copy of Lindsey's Leavitt's Princess for Hire.  What I didn't realize is that I would ALSO get a copy of Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick.  I thought the other winner from that drawing would get it, not me.  How excited was I when I opened the box?!?!

Admittedly, I'm going to wait at least a little bit on Princess for Hire.  I'm going to read it along with my sister-in-law.  It's a YA book (Disney/Hyperion), so it would also be appropriate for my niece.  I think it would be fun for us all to read it together.  But she needs to get the book first :)

4) We got a notice today from the library that The Passage by Justin Cronin is waiting for me.  With all the hype around this book, I just couldn't wait.  I just get giddy for vampires, what can I say?  The problem is that it's 766pp, and since it's so hot and there's a waiting list as long as Rapunzel's hair, I won't be able to renew it.  That's going to be pretty intense, I think.

So there will be more book reviews in my future.  I can't tell you which will come first, but keep an eye out.  And keep your fingers crossed that I get enough sleep and get my homework finished :/

Insomnia and the Art of Half-Dreaming

Yeah, it's 5:30 as I start this.  I've been up for at least an hour.  Technically, it's not really insomnia.  I slept for maybe six hours.  Please understand, I LOOOOOOOOVE sleep.  While six hours is more than sufficient for some, I will need a nap by noon (and my class doesn't end until 12:30... whoops).

Please forgive any typos or horrible uses of grammar.  I'm tired.  I would forgive you under the same circumstances.

The only reason I'm not more bitter about being awake is that what woke me was a half-dream—you know, the dream when you know you're dreaming but you're still completely a part of the dream as well—that seemed wild enough to come with its own entire plot.  I love that.  In fact, I think everything sitting in my "extra ideas" folder came from a half-dream.  My entire three part series started from a half-dream.  I have well over 150,000 of my epic (War-and-Peace style, five-book über-novel) story of vampires and demons and slayers (oh my!) that started from a pretty nasty recurring dream.  I think the only story I've recently created from a completely awake state was this one.

Point being?  I'm excited.  I'm always excited when I wake up and there's some wild story playing out in my head and I'm completely aware of it.  I do everything in my power to stay in that semi-conscious state for as long as possible and try not to let my conscious self tamper with that dream world.  And then I get up and write as furiously as possible.  Even if it's 4:30am.

Where do your plot ideas come from?  Dreams?  Memories?  Places?  Daydreams?  Silly things your friend said?  Inquiring minds... and all that jazz.