Yes, I'm doing a reflection in February.  "Why?" you may ask.  Because this week marks exactly one year since I typed "Chapter One" on Vampire Vacation.

What has that year held for me?  I'm not going to count the doctor visits, the procedures done to me, or the amount of drugs they've pumped through my system - it's too depressing and best left un-counted at the end of the year.

So I'll focus on the other stuff - the WRITING part of my year.

- I've polished, to the best of my abilities, a 90,000-word Erotic Urban Fantasy manuscript.

- I've started three blogs, and kept them all going

- Launched a business page on Facebook and attracted over 1400 readers

- Designed and launched my very own website (the entire month of October was focused on that one task, not fun)

- Opened two Second Life accounts, one for my pen name and one for the MC of my book (and yes, I'm still learning how to use it)

- Joined two writing guilds (Romance Writers of America and Sisters In Crime) and four sub-chapters of those guilds (Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal, Passionate Ink, Kiss of Death and Guppies)

- Left one sub-chapter over a stupid disagreement. Maybe I was stressed that day, I don't know, moving on...

- Had my opening chapters of Vampire Vacation read by over 3,000 people who were willing to share their opinions with me (and thankfully only about 3-5% telling me:"I don't like it")

- Entered seven writing contests -- four of which V V made finalist or runner up.

- Joined two online critiquing sites and posted V V there (Writing.com and Critique Circle)

- Formed one and joined two critique groups -- which later fell apart or I left, but I did learn a lot

- Finally convinced an incredibly talented writer, editor and journalist to be my main writing partner and I'll be forever grateful to her. She has taught me so much and yet still doesn't believe me when I tell her (yeah, like I woke up one day in my 38th year of life knowing all this writing crap?)

- Started two beta reading groups - one with writers and one with readers - both totaling 280+ members to focus on Vampire Vacation and give me detailed feedback.

- Posted my work at Author's Den, Authonomy, Scribd, Textnovel, Vamplit and I'm sure a few more I've forgotten

- Opened accounts at Goodreads (for better or for worse ;-) and Library Thing

- Attempted National Novel Writing Month in November and wrote 20k words of my sequel to V V titled The Hunt, before I had to drop out to finish polishing V V for the Dorchester contest.

- Printed at Lulu, and sold for the cost of printing, copies of my manuscript to some of the beta readers on FB. Still amazed they wanted to read it a second (or more) time(s)!

- Have sent out at least four dozen queries to agents and small presses - most all of which I've heard back on, and yes, they were all ultimately rejections, even the ones that asked to see my work.

- Attended two online workshops for writing

- Attended my first and last RWA National convention - why last?  Because one thing the rejections have taught me this year is my book is not a Romance and I need to accept that and move on.

- Sent my manuscript to at least two dozen blogging book reviewers, most of which I haven't heard from, but I'm not going to dwell on what that might mean ;-)

It's been a busy year to say the least!  I bet I've left some stuff out too, you know, the petty time consuming stuff that you have to get done BEFORE you can finish one of the tasks listed above.

I've met more people sitting on my ass in front of a computer this past year then the previous four years combined.  I've met people with compassion, sincerity, and honesty as well as cyber bullies, mean-spirited critiquers, judges in contests having a bad day, and a random few that are watching me hoping I fall on my face and fail.

To those last ones I say - what have you done this year?  Or wait - what did you do in that FIRST year from when you decided I want to write a book and typed those famous words "Chapter One?"

To the others - the ones that are watching who want to see me sell this book, well... I'm not going to say thank you again.  You all know how I feel about you because I'm pretty liberal with my gratitude.  But what are your dreams?  If you don't desire to write, is it something else?  What's stopping you from giving it a shot?

If the worst that can happen to you is you fail then go for it.  Your failures in life define who you are, and what you do after that failure determines where you will ultimately go in life. If someone points and laughs at you when you fall down then inside you should be thankful - they were mean, nasty son-of-a-bitches for doing so and at least you know now so you can cut them out of your life.

Life's too short to waste it on "what if's" and suffering through the pettiness of jackasses. Look forward and don't look back. You'll be a better person for it and one day you will succeed.  Don't ever doubt it.

C.J.

Hey guys -

Pete and I talked about it last night and I decided to take my blog off of public access.  The reviewer I accused of poor timing with her review of V V on Goodreads has made it her mission this week to share emails I sent to her, conversations I had with my fellow contestant via email, any other post I ever posted about V V on Goodreads, solicitations for reviewers if they like vampire books to contact me, trash what my opinion of what her coincidentally timed reveiw looked like, and basically call in to question whether or not I have a grasp of ethical behavior.

Since I can't answer any of this hoopla without sounding defensive I've decided I will restrict my blog to feed to my friends here on Facebook.  You guys are really the ones I wrote it for anyway.  I had hoped I could share some of myself and my journey with you so that you might get to know me as a person and I would become real - rather than just a name on a book.

I've been under a huge amount of scrutiny this week - and while I know I can take it in the long run, the short game is incredibly difficult and highly personal. To know that people read what you have to share because they are excited for you and want to be a part of your journey is completely different then knowing people are watching you and happy to twist your words around to make you look bad.

Why is this woman and her blogging buddies doing this? I can't really answer that - in the big picture of books and book writing I'm basically a nobody.  To think my actions - ones I've done right and ones I've done that skirted a line should be held up by strangers whom are happy to think the worst and tell everyone they know honestly never occurred to me.

So while today I find out if I made first or gladly and proudly take home second I feel sad.  What should have been the most exciting time of my career so far has left me feeling flat and empty with the pettiness of others.

Thanks so much for being real people - for watching from the sidelines, for supporting me with votes and comments where you could, for advising me to back out and rise above the hoopla, for not jumping into the fray to have these sharks aimed at you and for helping me see that in the really big scheme of things a handful of angry bloggers will not make or break me - it's readers like you who will.

Here's to hoping today that I do well and win and if by chance I don't - here's to moving on and continuing on this path to getting V V published.  It may be a rocky and sometimes scary path, but I am so grateful I'm not traveling it alone.

Thank you,
C.J.

Things took an interesting turn at the doctors yesterday.  He too was unsure if my neuropathy is related to early MS or the Lyme's.  There are risks of blood clots and other things associated with a pict line so he's taking an experimental approach.  He said guinea pig, but in light of yesterday's gerbil death I did not find that reassuring.

I'll be on a new oral antibiotic for two weeks and if the numbness goes away then it can be concluded it is related to Lyme's and then I need to get the pict line installed (following the theory that an IV treatment is more aggressive and effective than an oral one).  But if the signs don't go away then I may be experiencing a stress related relapse of a new mild case of MS.

Come on Lyme's! ;-)  I know in the big picture MS is not that bad.  Lots of people have mild cases and it never progresses past that. It's not Cancer and it won't kill me.  It's just one more autoimmune disease that I can live with, but will make life a bit more challenging at times on a personal level.

The Gerbil saga has some history to it.  Before I address that I've had a whole bunch of new readers lately so I'd like to say Welcome!  Pull up a chair and travel along with an inexperienced writer as she attempts to get a publishing contract. Will she succeed?  Will she fail?  Come along and see!  There's a nifty counter on my site that keeps track of all sorts of fascinating data and since last Friday I went from 19 hits whenever I posted to now well over 60 each day!

Here's to hoping you enjoy what you read - maybe if you're a writer or a friend of one you can find something useful to share with them about what worked for me and what hasn't so far. And if you're researching me for a contest please stop by my personal website at http://www.cjellisson.com or the new blog I'm part of with some talented writers at http://wickedwriters.com.  I'm excited with the new steps I've taken in the past few months and it feels like things are really coming together for me.

Now - on to the gerbil.  Old readers of my blog know about the tragic first day of school here at my house.  So many of you reached out on Facebook laughing and crying with me that day I won't be forgetting it any time soon. In light of that incident and that this is the second gerbil killed in our house my husband and I opted for a white lie.

I told my children when they got home from school that one of the connector tubes on Midnight's cage came off (true, it was on the floor) and that when I came down in the morning the library doors were open (another truth). I told them the gerbil was missing and possibly loose in the house. This may have been true the night before for a time, but obviously, that is where I lied.

My nine year old daughter then goes to the fridge to get a carrot and proceeds to wander through the house calling Midnight's name. I stopped her, explaining that unlike the cat and dogs the small gerbils don't answer when called.  My son looks around the room and his eyes well up as he states "Why is it my gerbils keep getting killed and not my sister's?"

This is where I could have jumped in and told the unvarnished truth - that I found the stiff little body on my antique rug, that the fur was matted with dried saliva (which the first corpse in September never had) but otherwise unmarked, and the dogs won't met my eyes and keep lowering their bodies to the floor whenever they see me. But I didn't.  I had four hours and fifteen minutes of sleep and was not at my best.

I hugged him and explained that the cat was wiley, that he did open the door, but that the door was open wide enough for the dogs to get in too.  I explained that they are predators and they are only following instinct.  I capped my nice little story up with the reiteration that Midnight has been an escape artist for months, that perhaps he was living in the walls but that if he wasn't this was a clear sign that we could NOT ever get another gerbil.

In the end he was accepting and what more can I ask?  The little cage is on the floor with the door wide open in case Midnight gets hungry and finds his way back. Is this over? We'll talk some more when he gets home today and see. Sometimes the truth needs to be doled out to the person hearing it at a pace they can accept, not necessarily at what may be  convenient to the person doling it out.

Off to get my new meds, do some girl scout cookie booth organizing for my service unit and put together some care packages for my nephews in Iraq and Afghanistan - I've been busy and neglecting my post office duties lately but I will catch up this week I promise!

Wishing all of you with gerbils a better week then the gerbils in our house have had!
C.J.

I'm up early today because I've had a rough time sleeping lately - contrary to what some may think, it's not because of the past weekend.  I need to move forward this week and revel in the fact that I've at least made second place in an incredibly grueling contest. No small feat and one that still leaves me shocked and a little shaken.

I've made some new friends and pissed off some people along the way and hey, that's just life. (And par for the course in my life if truth be told.)

The real reason I'm up early and can't sleep (and my dogs playing rough with pent up winter energy at 5:15 didn't help) is because this week starts the rounds of follow-up doctor visits.

Today I visit the infectious disease specialist to follow up on whether or not my Lyme's symptoms have returned. None of them seemed to have except one - the numbness in my fingers and toes.  Will that be enough to make him think I need more treatment?  I feel so much better than I did back in September, granted the stress lately has been crappy, but still so much better.

If the symptoms have returned I'll have to have a pict (sp? or pick?) line inserted in my arm and will have to undergo a self-administered 20-minute IV drip of serious antibiotics each day. The alternative is it's not Lyme's and it's early stages of multiple sclerosis. So while I'm not looking forward to a pict line it's much better than MS.

There is still so much doctors don't know that it's really hard to go to one appointment after another and have them all disagree.  Two say MS and one says no.  If the ID doc today doesn't think it's Lyme's the hematologist doctor suggests to do a second lumbar puncture and read my CSF results again. I'd rather not dwell on that particular hell today so I won't.

I meet with the neurologist again on Thursday as well - here's to hoping my latest MRI's and blood work give him the answers he needs to make a sound diagnosis.  I'm also still waiting for a call back from the hematologist who ran a blood panel to see if I have more than just two auto immune diseases (EE and Celiac's.)

Ahh...and now to address what made my dogs go ape shit at 5:15 this morning.  I cleaned up the evidence before getting my kids up for school but haven't quite figured out how to address the issue.  I let Pete sleep in and I'll have to get his input.  The cat (I think) somehow worked the eye hook off the latch on the library door - and I know it was latched b/c I check it every damn night - and killed my son's gerbil.

I joke about the little mini-rats being annoying, but I never would have wished a death like that on any child's pet - this isn't the wild, it's our home and the pet should have been safe here.  My son hasn't been too enthralled with his gerbil lately but I don't think that will mean he won't be crushed.  I need more coffee to figure out how to solve this one.

This week I plan on exercising, doing some yoga, working on The Hunt and staying off-line as much as I can.

How do I think things will turn out on Friday?  I'm not sure.  All the writers in the contest are talented.  I'm clearly out of my league when it comes to experience with actual years spent writing when compared to all the other writers in the top ten - heck, even from all 21 of the semi-finalists.  I clearly don't have a thick skin yet when it comes to accepting unprofessional behavior. I clearly don't have the connections within the industry and among my peers like most of my competitors do. But I'll get there in time.

What I do have is readers - and I thank every last one of you for being along for the ride. I never knew when I embarked on this distraction last spring that I could have come so far in such a short time. I never could have done it without all of you.  Thank you for reminding me of what is important in life, thank you for helping me to rise above the pettiness I never knew was in store for me so soon, and thank you for picking me up when I'm down. To think I've earned all of this by just sharing my book with you leaves me with tears of gratitude. I look forward to meeting you one day at a book signing so I can thank you in person.

I've certainly come far in these 11 months from typing "Chapter One" -- and I'm glad to have you by my side as I move forward and get my book published. I've said it before but it bears repeating - there would be no book without you.  I'm not some dedicated and driven writer who is pushed by demons in my head to get my words down on paper.  Nope.

I'm just a regular person floundering to make good choices and who sometimes steps wrong - a person with a love of books and Urban Fantasy who had a neat idea in her head. So what are your dreams?  If you dare to dream about writing keep in mind that if I can do it so can you.

May your week be filled with good news, good friends and good food - you'll all be in my thoughts,
C.J.

This week one of my fellow writers on Wicked Writers, Gregory M Smith, wrote about being burned in effigy at his last journalist job in Texas.  I asked my writing buddy, who was a journalist and knows lots more than I do, what it meant because it sounded bad to me and I felt for Greg.

She explained that no, being burned was a good thing.  If you are able to write something as a journalist that prompts hate mail you are doing something right.  To be able to stir such strong opinions with your work is what the best journalists aspire to.  You're never going to be able to write a piece that will appeal to everyone and the haters do as much to spread the word about you as the ones who agree.

I'm trying to take that attitude with a recent review on Goodreads for my book.  Let me start by saying I entered my own unpublished book under the unique authors program at Goodreads (which allows for unknowns like me to do so) and then joined some groups to see if anyone on there who reviews the UF genre would like to give V V a shot.  I found all the reviewers to be nice, approachable and unfailingly honest.

Imagine my surprise when yesterday someone who read an edited version of the first seven chapters (less than 20% of my book) on textnovel.com decided to post a one star review on Goodreads.  The reviewer stated that my book was not finished when she read it and not worthy of finishing (as in Did Not Finish, or DNF) - and even referenced the Dorchester contest I'm in.

Why is this so startling to me?  After all, people will not like my work and I know that.  I've already had so many people not like my work I think (and hope) I can laugh off just about any bad review that comes in.  What really bothered me on this review is that the reviewer is friends with one of the Dorchester finalists and it's the last week of the contest.

I tried to email the reviewer and point out that what she did lacked integrity and that caused a flurry of emails between her, myself and my fellow contestant.  Both of us (the two final contestants) backed out of making comments on the review and agreed to leave the review alone.

No - the point here is ethics.  It is ethically wrong for this reviewer who is a friend and co-blogger of someone I'm competing against to rate and review my unpublished book (which she admits she hasn't read all the way) when I am currently in a contest with her buddy and to then post that review on the very day the top two in the contest are announced.

I asked for the review to be removed and re-posted when the book comes out in print.  I'd never ask a reviewer to change an opinion of my book - like I said, people will hate it.  And even though I know the writer I'm competing against had nothing to do with the review, or her friend posting it, it just looks bad.

Not many people read my blog (but they sure as hell have been lately) - more people read Goodreads reviews and that's okay. I know this reviewer may not have intended any of this - and it's fine to attack me and say I have no class for responding to a negative review or I need to get a thicker skin (because if you seriously think this is about a one star review you're missing the point entirely).

 You're entitled to your opinion and I'm entitled to mine - I don't mind a bad review but I'm not going to turn the other check on what appears on the surface to be an interestingly timed review from a competitor's co-blogger. The writer I'm up against doesn't deserve to have a friend "support" her this way. She's been supportive of me and professional throughout the entire contest.

The V V followers online helped me to rise above this mess and see the light. Thanks for that kick in the pants everyone, I needed it. And a HUGE thanks to Bertena from Vampire Examiner and JjAdair - your responses on Goodreads renewed my faith in sincere reviewers.

People can only insult me if I let them, as Nicole Hadaway recently reminded me of with a famous quote in a comment on my blog. The review makes the reviewer and her incredibly coincidental timing, not me, look bad in light of all these facts, and that is what I need to focus on. I'm proud to say that no one I'm associated with or blog with has rated my competitors unpublished work publicly yesterday - because I can only imagine the backlash if the shoe was on the other foot.

Off to work on the blog post for Wicked Writers for tomorrow.  Wishing you all a better weekend than I've had! ;-)
C.J.

Famous quote by Donald Trump.  Considering he's had his share of good and bad publicity throughout his career I think I'll take that statement as a truism.

Yesterday was an amazingly nerve wracking day. Actually the whole week was hell.  I blogged almost every single day, I scheduled more doctor appointments for next week (let's not dwell on that though), pushed the new Wicked Writers blog every chance I could, and I spent countless hours on the phone with my writing partner calming her, encouraging her and just plain old listening to her.

She took the biggest leap in her writing career this week in THREE years and I'm incredibly proud of her.  If it wasn't for her I wouldn't be where I am and my book would not exist.  Did she have any idea last January what force of personality was driving behind my calm hazel green eyes?  I doubt it or she would have run screaming from the car.

The main character in my book is incredibly manipulative and highly intelligent.  While I would like to say I have those traits it would be fairer to report that I imagine I have those traits and sometimes things go exactly as I plan.  All along I've been trying to give my partner the kick in the pants she needed to get her work "out there".  To get her to take chances and to get her showing off her true potential.

I'm of the firm believer that the worst that can ever happen when trying something is you can fail and once you accept that and the fact that such a failure won't kill you, just bruise your pride a bit, that you can do anything in life.

I stand by every decision I've made so far - even the ones that back-fired on me and didn't go according to my plan.  I may not do everything right, I may make mistakes, but I'm out there trying and that's more than most people can say. I've literally had dozens of people write to me privately in the past eight months telling me how my story has inspired them to pursue their dreams.  I can't begin to tell you how unbelievable it is to receive something like that. It reinforces that I'm doing some things right and implies I've helped a few people too. Unreal!

Me - little 'ole fake pen-name, pretty picture I'm now 15 pounds heavier than, going through a hell of a year with medical tests and multiple life-changing diagnoses, wrote a book to distract myself - ME.

I can't say I've always had a dream to write.  I can't claim it has been my life-long ambition to have a book in print with my name on it (hell, it's not even my real name).  I've never taken a writing course beyond one in college (which had a kick-butt female ninja assassin in one short story that got a B, hey, we're talking '89 here).  But one friend made me believe.

My writing partner. She made me believe in myself and that my idea was a good one.  Never once did she say "First-person present-tense is the way we learned to write in high school, switch it to past tense."  But I can tell you a least two dozen writers and judges (and even a few agents) in contests have told me that or something close to it this past year.  She believed in my book and she made me believe in it too.

She has been plagued this whole week and questioning me on topics I've answered before and have forgotten my witty answers on. (I'm blaming the Lyme's, it's shitty for your memory and I'm still being treated.) What she needs is for me to listen and support her, so that's what I've done.

The people who've done that for me lately, besides my writing buddy, have been my facebook supporters.  What started as a way to see if my book had potential has snow balled into an incredible group of people pulling for me and traveling on this scary journey every step of the way with me. My eventual success will not be my own - it will be because of them. (oh - and on an aside here, I'm sorry for all my anxious song twitter and status updates yesterday, what started as a twenty minute wait went on hours longer than I thought.)

The best writing books from authors tell you never to discount your readers.  And I'd like to think I never have.  Their opinions matter to me - some of them helped choose the character names in the book, some helped devise the ending chapter with me, some helped my to flesh out my scene with the killer more, some entered a cover contest, some tried their hand at penning the tag line, a large group of them became my private readers reading the rough drafts of chapters mere days after I typed them - and in thanks to some of the most vocal supporters I even changed minor character names in the story to match their names.

This latest contest I'm in has been a grueling one - but it has taught me a lot.  Dorchester is incredibly smart to have done things they way they have - I can see that even if I think it's been hard to be a part of.  It's taught me to be more careful with what I write and type on the internet than ever before. It's taught me that the actions I take to re-pay supporters and friends can backfire on me when the people watching me want to bring me down.

I never thought that people on my FB fan page would be spying on me or be there if they didn't truly want to support me but this contest revealed that is not the case.  I'm kind of glad the wool has been taken off my eyes early on.  I won't make the same mistakes and I'll be on the look out for my words being used against me and posted in a public forum from here on out.

Most of my fellow entrants in the Dorchester contest have a huge advantage over me - experience.  They have been writing for years, have developed thick skins and have established relationships with other writers in a close knit support group.  I'm starting to get those last two things but the first one won't be a reality until my third book is done.

What do I have that my fellow entrants don't have?  Well, to list that here would be arrogant and inflammatory, especially since I don't know them well enough to have a laundry list - BUT - one thing I do have is a great big bunch of people ready to buy my book the moment it hits the shelves from a real publisher.

And seriously?  Why do people feel the need to question rules and split hairs so much?  What it comes down to is one simple fact:  Publishing is a business and publishers are in it to make money. A handful of manuscripts out doesn't hurt their sales - it helps them.  Building a buzz and thanking friends is positive energy. Saving screen shots and ordering a copy of my MS for "evidence" is funny as all hell.

Either Dorchester buys my book or they don't, it's as simple as that.  I sincerely hope they do, but if they don't another publisher will and life will go on. Whether I'm out of the contest or in it to win it doesn't change things. In the big picture it's water under the bridge and since I can't change what's been done the only thing I can do is move forward - which is what I intend to do.

To my friends who had my back on this debacle - THANK YOU!  To the ones who hide behind fake names and remain "unregistered," I wish you a better 2010 than I had in 2009 (and if you truly knew how crappy my year was you'd know that was a great wish) and I hope you enjoy my MS! You never know, you may be holding onto what could become a collector's item one day (hey, a girl can dream, right?).

And yes, bad publicity may still be good publicity, but it's been a hard 24 hours to say the least.

C.J.

This first week of 2010 has been one filled with emotional ups and downs so far. Am I PMSing? Eh, maybe.

I'm in a bit of shock right now and decided to write about it to dull the feeling.

I'm thrilled V V made the cut and was not announced in the fourth place spot of the Dorchester contest.  It means my story still has a chance. Yay!

But after seeing what the readers posted about Confessions of a Shotgun Bride I'm afraid.  Some of the comments were harsh and a little over the top.  They mention the story did not have enough romance and had too much sex - yikes!  That sounds a lot like my story.

I stopped by to read the beginning of Gail Hart's story and thought her writing was good.  The story pulled me in and I continued on for a bit.  Does that mean I'd buy it?  Well.. my tastes run more toward the paranormal and less romancey-side lately... so maybe not.

Dorchester claimed this contest would have constructive feedback from the readers posted.  This elimination post didn't have much of that. The readers gave very in general comments but nothing really constructive to improve the piece - besides add more romance, take out some sex and make it not so predictable.

I'm scared to see if V V is cut on Friday and the harsh things they'll say about my book.  When a judge from a contest makes comments on my entry they usually do so privately and some even do it anonymously.  The contest coordinators usually weed out statements that come across incredibly harsh and ask the judge to re-word the statement to be more constructive before it's sent back to the writer (and kudos to them for doing so).

Such as when I judged one this summer I read directions like these: Don't use the word 'hate'.  Don't state that the heroine is too stupid to live.  Don't tell someone their writing sucks. You know - the basics.

But in that there are also subtleties.  Respect comes through in a statement - it's implied with the tone and sarcasm (or lack thereof) within the piece. Comparing a book to an ancient love manual in a creative slam by the judge is rude and insulting to the writer.

I thought Dorchester had more class than that.  Where were the editors on that one?

Will I get blasted out of the contest for voicing an opinion and showing some integrity?

Either they want my book or not - but anyone who works hard for months or even years to create a readable story and beats out over 300 other writers to get to the top deserves a little more respect.

If I want public humiliation I can strip naked and walk down the street.  But in an public elimination a professional publishing company should make sure "constructive feedback" is actually that.

C.J.

Wow. Vampire Vacation made the Final Five announcement yesterday. Some of the Top Ten I had thought would be there weren't. I'd like to say I'm still in shock, but I think I'm too hungover for that to be accurate. I'm noticing a suspicious trend. Big announcement, celebrating on my part, a tad excessive drinking and eating and then whamo - not feeling the best the next day.

Tomorrow is the big announcement. The moment I find out if V V made the Final Five in Dorchester's contest. Do I think it will make the cut? Yes.

Votes are in and Vampire Vacation won Fan Favorite on the Dorchester forums!! Whoot!! Hurray!! I feel like things are coming together quickly with the book and I'm incredibly excited. I don't know if the editors will choose to go with a story like mine in the end but I do think that some real progress has been made and that perhaps, just maybe, that things will line up with a deal in the next few months.

Lots and lots of thoughts whirling in the noggin today. I won't find out till Dec 4th for certain, but I'm pretty sure V V won fan favorite for the Dorchester contest. Exciting!!! But I'm not going to celebrate till I know for sure.

I don't know what to say. But since that's never stopped me before, I'll continue on with my ramblings. Today is the last day for fan voting in the Dorchester contest. I'm checking the forums frantically hoping that no other writer rallies and comes from behind to push V V out of the top spot.

On Sunday I was so low - not knowing how this Dorchester top ten finalist deal was going to pan out - especially after I received the rejection from them last Friday from another department. Sunday night I get the news that I've finaled in a different contest and an editor from a different NY publisher will be judging it. Whoot!

My in-laws have this "thing" they do in their family. If a dinner is off or a particular experience evokes an odd reaction their response is to politely call it Interesting. "That's an interesting shade you've picked" or "This combination of ham and chocolate is quite interesting."