Things I Learned in New York

First, let me say, my trip to New York City was incredible! We covered more ground (on foot by the way) than I thought was humanly possible and ate the most incredible food – my favorite stop was probably the little bakery in Little Italy. Oh, cannoli!

Yes. These were all mine. Don't judge me.

 

So this is what I learned on my trip to New York:

1.      I am not wired for marathon shopping. There were nine of us in our group – 4 of them being 13 year old girls. And they like to shop. For many hours. In a row. I knew I was out of my league when we walked into a store and I immediately looked for a chair.

2.      The world is a small place. Besides the nine of us – two other families that go to our school stayed at our hotel (I knew they would be there but it was still strange running into them). We met a very eccentric woman in the elevator that lives two miles from my house and I ran into a family whose son is friends with my oldest walking through Times Square. On our last day, I bumped into a woman in Dylan’s Candy Bar whose daughters I have photographed numerous times. That’s insane to me.

3.      I love Broadway shows. We saw Wicked, Mama Mia and the Rockettes. We might have embarrassed the girls by singing and dancing in our seats during Mama Mia but we didn’t care.

4.      Fifteen seconds on TV is really exciting. We got up early and made our way to GMA where Sam Champion actually interviewed the girls on air. I think I was a giddy about it as they were.

5.      Can’t wait to go back in January for the SCBWI Winter conference!

Outside GMA. The girls stayed up until 2am making that sign. I know - it's awesome.

Really bad iPhone pic outside of Mama Mia.

It’s always good coming home, though. And as much as I loved hanging with all those girls – I really missed my boys.

And actions speak louder than words. I guess this is my youngest son's way of telling me he wasn't going to be left behind next time.

Baby Boy with his favorite pillow and favorite blanket in my empty suitcase.

The main difference between traveling with girls vs. boys – the amount of time it takes everyone to get ready to leave the room.  

Braiding hair before a night on the town. You would think mulit-tasking like this would speed things up.
It doesn't.

The 80s are calling...they want their hair back.

I almost hate to admit this…but I had my 20^th high school year reunion last weekend. Yes, 20 years. And honestly, I don’t know where all the time went because in my mind’s eye – I’m still 26.

But this is what I learned at my reunion (and I don’t do Facebook or anything like that nor do I live in the town where I graduated so most people were a surprise to me!):

1.      It really feels like you just left. Or for me anyway. There were a few girls I’d gone to school with from kindergarten to Senior year but haven’t seen them since. And I swear we picked up right where we left off.

2.     The guys have a lot less hair now – and some of them on purpose. Many a shaved head last Saturday night.

3.     My hubby is a super good sport! He listened to hours of “Remember when…” without any complaint. He really deserves a prize.

4.     High school nick-names stick. Quite a few guys probably wish that was not the case!! (You know who you are!)

5.     No matter how cute you want to look – 4 inch heels are a bad idea. Very bad.

And now for a really bad 80s pics:

Yes, that is a giant bow across my chest. My mother made me take this pic right before my date picked me up for prom my junior year. I look thrilled, right. And what's even worse is my hair looks the exact same! Maybe time for a new do.

Wandering around the Web

There are some really amazing people on the Internet. I’d love to share a few sites that you might not know about:

That Flighty Temptress – Blog by Kat Brauer. Kat is awesome. I found her blog earlier in the year after I finished the first draft of my manuscript. She was doing something really cool – a critique for a donation to her charity. You can find out all about it here. So I thought – why not? I need a critique and would love to help out a good charity at the same time. Win-Win, right? Her critique was spot on and helped me immensely. Love what she does!

The Intern – Blog by unknown intern in the publishing business. Now, Intern has been out of the country for a while – I think India – but she’s due back any day. It’s worth going through her archives – she has a ridiculous amount of information on the publishing business and one of the funniest sites I’ve ever read. Go snoop around over there – totally worth it.

Simply Nerdy Book Reviews – a blog that reviews young adult books by a young adult. She’s 15, I think. And this is why I love it! I stumbled across this site not long ago. Leah gives an honest opinion on some of the latest YA books out there.

There’s tons more, I know – not to mention the agent sites that are really helpful with everything from writing to revising to querying. These are just a few that I found really helpful. Enjoy!

To plot, or not to plot

Funny how certain topics seem to be in the air. I’ve been thinking a lot about plotting the last few days and noticed several other blogs are chatting about it as well. Or maybe I’m just noticing it more since I have plot on the brain.

I’m a pantser. For my non-writing friends reading this – A pantser is someone who writes off the hip, no real planning involved. This does not surprise you about me, I know.  

In everything I do, I’m a pantser. I follow recipes half-heartily. I stroll down grocery aisles without a list. I wander around the gym, picking machines randomly. But I’m thinking about converting. I can hear the gasps now. And yes, I could do it. Probably. Well, maybe.

Okay, so to start acting more plottier (I know, not a real word) – I’ll make a list of the pros and cons:

Pros:

1.      It’ll make revision time shorter – I won’t write 10,000 words of backstory before realizing where the real story starts

2.      It’ll show my agent what the next manuscript is about – I can say, “See, I was worth the risk. Look at all these glorious ideas all neat and in order!!”

3.      Well, that’s all I have right now but I like things in threes so okay. Moving on.

Cons:

1.      Plotting is super scary to me – I have to actually know what’s going to happen before it happens. This seems like a no-brainer but that’s not how my brainer works. (I know, not a real word either)

2.      My characters are a mystery to me – and they like it that way.

3.      What’s the fun in knowing what’s gonna happen, anyway?

Well, that did nothing for me.

But I’m still going to try it. Hopefully, I can find a happy middle ground like hating broccoli but eating it covered in cheese because I know it’s good for me.