Oh my, it's hard to believe the year's coming to a close.  But it is.  That begs the century old question-have you come up with your New Year's Resolution? No worries, you still have time, and depending on which time zone you reside in, either you've lots or the clock has run out! Rack your brain and either come up with something zany or snappy, something that will be sure to impress your friends and family. Right, forget it, that hasn't worked in the last several years...ah, go with something novel. Right. I mean, write. Yeah, right, I'll write way more than last year. Exactly. That's what I shall do, I shall write.

Write on.

Right.

Happy New Year!

Don't forget to write :)

Right.

 It's official, I ordered my 2015 Writer's Digest Guide to Literary Agents, yesterday. With all of the Holiday shipping, it ought to arrive in the next couple of days, and that's sufficient time for me to get it together in revising my synopsis, go through my query letter, for the umpteenth time, grab my coat and wait for the UPS delivery :)  I'm very excited!

For those of you who missed it last night, the best thing happened on the Internet  at 8 pm EST, and can still be found for your viewing pleasure, if you go to this link:

http://pubtalktv.com/

An awesome group of agents gather to answer your questions, via Twitter, and it's the most fun and informative hour you will spend.  Believe me, it's worth it! They cover a tremendous amount of ground, such as what to put into your query letter vs. a synopsis.  They also address the real meaning of  "we didn't quite connect, but continue looking for an agent," a question posed by me :)  It's an issue a lot of us face, and they're not merely being polite in telling us that.  It's honest encouragement to query on!

Watch! You'll be pleased you did :)

The next airing is January 20th.

Oh look, an interview over at Book Country:

 http://blog.bookcountry.com/member-spotlight-meet-jean-marie-wiesen/#more-2044

How cool is that! My very first interview, ever!  Please go check it out.  Thanks :)

Guess what tomorrow is folks?  Another pitch contest! Yay! Get yer pitches together, and do them, now. Time's a wasting.  Where should you go to attend this madness? Why, #PitchMas. Put it in your search engine, and it shall bring you where you need to be.  It's being hosted by @JessaRusso and @FeakySnucker.  Okay, that last one makes me laugh every time I read it.  Gotta love it.

Here's the link to their Blog w/ all the necessary info for tomorrow's Twitter pitch party:

http://pitchmas.blogspot.com/

I hope to see you there, b/c all kinds of top level agents, editors and publishers will be attending and it's a wonderful opportunity to pitch your completed, polished ms.  Who knows, Santa might even show up?  Hey, it's close to Christmas :)

I'm participating in #PitMad, today, and I'm taking a tiny break. Only a short one, to...I don't know, be here, b/c if I go anywhere else, I might take a nap, and that would be disastrous. So, instead, I shall write nonsensical sentences and bore myself to tears. Then, I shall go tear into some delicious treats I purchased the other day prior to sending out the next Tweet. After that, I shall attempt to walk my pups, take along my prepared Tweets and hope that they make it to the cyber sphere.

Alas, 'tis time for another Tweet!

Good afternoon Ladies and Gents, my Muse is working overtime, but I wanted to take this brief moment to tell you all to be safe out there among all the Thanksgiving food shoppers many of whom are not paying attention to the cars around them.  It's a lot like bumper cars out there...whack and wham and an uptick in body shop business.  It's Christmas for them, that's for sure.

Meanwhile, I'm well into the next novel!  I couldn't be happier with the way it's flowing.  My typing can't keep up with my brain, but that's okay.  As long as I get the basics down, I can go back and fill in the rest when I'm done with each session.  That seems to work the best for me.

Stay safe all!

I think I'd like to attempt a reverse cartwheel followed by a front flip, but I won't because I would most likely cause severe injury to myself.  However, in my insane excitement, it sounds like a really good idea!

Book Country just emailed me to let me know that, Case of the Missing Look-Alikes is now in the top rated section. Okay, I'm over the moon.  The downside?  Every single person I called isn't home! Is that even possible. Now, if it were bad news, they'd all be home.  Why is that?  

Here's the link: http://www.bookcountry.com/ReadAndReview/

Waiting, waiting, and more waiting.  That seems to be the name of the game in the world of writing. My novel, Case of the Missing Look-Alikes was chosen as an Editor's Pick by Book Country, a Penguin Community site for the month of November http://blog.bookcountry.com/book-country-editors-picks-november/  I'm doing cartwheels and back flips, virtual ones, mind you!  I still don't have either an agent or a publisher, but having my book in this venue might find it a home. In the interim, I'm updating and polishing my query letter for the umpteenth time in order to send it out.  This is all part of the publishing process.

My Muse says I need to get busy on the next book in the series and quit worrying.  I believe my Muse is correct.

I haven't visited my own blog, what's wrong with me?  I've been busy, that's what.  First, I had to vote, and that took forever.  The lines were insanely long, well, they were.  It was very confusing since there were so many offerings: Girl Scout cookies, and we all know how tasty frozen thin mint cookies are :)  This is all before you even get to the voting line.  Then, there's the line for the flu vaccine.  There was also something the poor Boy Scouts were selling, but alas, no line.  Must not have been too appealing. 

I skipped the flu vaccine line, too many people sneezing and coughing.  Seriously, keep your germs at home!  That included the person giving the injections.  Ick!  I'll go to my local pharmacy later on, thank you.  I voted w/o incident, and collected my beloved cookies.

Since then, I've managed to embarrass myself only a few times, and the worst of them was in Church, last week.  I consider writing to be a gift, and love the creative process, and all that goes with it, but why does my muse have to show up while I'm in Church with a great name for a character?  On the surface, it doesn't sound problematic, however, the name struck me as absolutely hysterical. Well, once I get the giggles, it's a tad difficult to stop.  I bit my lip, which made it worse.  I put my hand over my mouth, then the tears began rolling down my face. The person next to me gave me an odd look. I shrugged.  Fortunately, I had to leave my seat to tend to my duties.  Shaking my head, as I walked to the front of the Church, I thought, next time Muse, could you please choose a more opportune time and place to plant a character name on me. Thanks pal!

Well, here we are, in blog world. Okay, here I am. I'll have to see how I feel about it, the furnishings and such.  The chair seems okay, so far. This wasn't as easy as I thought it would be to set up, mostly because I had one under a funky name and had to figure out how to change it.  Took a bit since I'm not so techie. Yeah, that. I'm on Twitter, too! Go figure, and this has all happened in a matter of two days! Gah!

Too much for my brain. I must stop this and go vote. That I can deal with.