Just Another Manic Sunday

Yeah, I fudged the lyrics a little, because I decided not to wait until the morning to post.  Shh, let's keep it between us.

So, I didn’t get anywhere near the amount of stuff done this weekend as I’d intended. You know, this whole work thing is seriously going to put a crimp in my social calendar. Especially since I’m expecting it to take a couple weeks before I learn whether I can covertly sneak onto the internet from time to time. (Yeah, like you don't)

Anyway, I need some help from my loverly blog buddies. Pretty Please.

With my new job comes a trip to San Francisco, at the end of the month. I’ve never been to California, and I’m excited . . .  though I’m half convinced the Big One is going to happen while I’m there. So if California slides into the ocean any time between May 28th - June 3rd, you can feel free to blame me.

If you haven’t noticed, I have a bit of a fatalistic sense of myself. I’m fairly certain I booked a room on the Titanic in a previous life, but I digress. 

One of the good things about six hours on a plane, with a layover – okay the ONLY good thing about six hours on a plane, with a layover – is the excess time I’m going to have to dedicate to reading!!

Since I don’t feel like carting along a stack of books in my carry-on bag, only one of my trade paperback “To Read” pile is going on the trip.  But Nookie is going with me, and he can hold umpteen (it’s a real number) books, and I need help filling him with good reading ideas. 

So what I’m asking from y’all is to point me in the direction of your favorite book or two. Not saying I’m going to read them all, but I like the idea of being turned on to books I might not otherwise have come across on my own. So here’s what I’m after, if you’re so obliged:

Title

Author

Genre

What’s the general story line? 

My taste in books is pretty eclectic, so no worries there. The only types of stories I’m not crazy about are hardcore Science Fiction, Literary with no real plot & Westerns.  Otherwise, throw it at me!

Eight Questions

I'm about to head out to do some writing at Barnes & Noble. I haven't been in a couple weeks & I'm going through withdrawals. Then I plan to spend the afternoon in blog land, which I've been neglecting this week.

In the meantime, I was thinking. How well do I actually know the people who follow my blog and/or I follow?  So anyway, if you could look at my questions below and give me your social security number and blood type that would be great! Obviously, I'm joking -- I can't even remember my own social security number half the darn time.

These are just some easy questions I think it would be fun to know about one another! If there's one you don't feel comfortable answering, it's okay to skip it. :o) And even if you're new, or lurking, I still want to hear from ya!

*raises hand*

I'll go first.

1) Name: Tracy

2) Family Situation: single, no kids. Hope to change that someday, but for now it stands.

3) Project Status: Gemini Cursed is my first ever finished story. After a brief false start, it is now polished & ready to re-begin the querying process.

4) How long did it take me to write? From first word, to finished revisions (and even now I'm still playing around with the ending a tad) -- it took me seven months total.

5) First thing I'll do upon landing an agent/ publishing deal? After I scream into my pillow for a good five-ten minutes, I'll start furiously working on my third ms. Wanting to stay ahead of the pace for when my agent (hopefully) asks to see more work.

6) Favorite non-writing activity? My love for baseball has obviously been covered, so I'm going to have to go with reading. I'm the kind of person that doesn't mind doing "short reads", as in if I've got five free minutes I'm fine with knocking out a page or two of whichever book I'm currently reading.

7) One totally random fact about myself?  I'm actually certified to be a canine obedience instructor -- yet the only dogs who have benefited from that are my own. I wanted to look into a future of training service dogs, but for some reason I haven't put in the time or energy to pursue it further.

8) Why do I think people will want to read my story if/when it's published? Hmmm, good question. On the days when my insecurity isn't telling me that my story sucks and no one will ever want to read it, I'd have to say ... it's a fairly unique twist on a love story. More than anything, I believe I was lucky enough to create characters that I think people will like and want to root for.

Okay, so now it's your alls (a phrase that will not be found in any of my writings) turn!