Taming the savage beast.....

Or be-otch...whoever needs to be tamed.

I have to share this story because it's really quite funny and so true. I think there's something for all of us...something the soothes and comforts, that just makes any horrid situation all better!

Last weekend, hubby and I were on our way to see the No Doubt show. Instead of paying exorbitant amounts of money for cardboard that's passed off as food at the venue, we stopped at a little pizza/sub place on the way. We'd eaten there plenty of times...not my fav, but in that small town there aren't many options. We decided on a small cheese and pepperoni pizza, half with mushrooms, and an order of onion rings. Then we sat and waited...and waited...and waited....1/2 hour and we finally get our food. Mushrooms cover the entire pizza. Now by this time, I am starved. And I'm ornery when I'm starved. And I hate mushrooms. Hubby tried removing the disgusting fungi from my side of the pizza...no dice....it pulls off all the cheese. I'm livid; smoke is oozing from all orifices. He takes it up...doesn't even have to tell the girl at the counter...she says "They put mushrooms on the whole thing, didn't they?" So apparently they have screwed up before. She says they'll make a new one....and the wait begins again. Lucky for them I had a bag of onion rings to eat. I'm still livid as we now have to wait again and need to get to the show and will not have time to eat our pizza at the restaurant...we'll have to take it with us and eat in the parking lot. I was completely grumpy and then like an angel flew down and sang into my ear, a song from my most favorite guys on the planet came on the radio...an oldie but a goodie, playing during the retro hour. I looked at hubby and a huge smile spread across my face and I was immediately soothed. Hubby thought it was hilarious.

So...what soothes your inner beast (or bee-otch)???

Summer, divorce and some other random things...

Summer is officially here....which means my daughter is home for summer vacation. I never wanted to be one of those parents who one week into vacation is already asking how many days left till school starts. But I can identify......two kids all day annoying each other..... It's only been 4 official days...not counting the weekend- she would have been home anyway. So far it's been decent, aside from the times she comes and asks me to do this and that while I'm trying to get some work done. Does she not understand that her brother's nap time is my only time to get any work done? No, probably not. One more thing that makes working form home difficult! Hubby and I have talked and he understands that my writing is serious and I need to devote real time to it, especially once I start the editing process. It can't just sit...the work needs to get done. The sooner I do it, the sooner it will get published and start making me money!!!

Found out this morning that friends of ours are getting divorced...and it comes as a complete and utter shock. We don't see them as much as we'd like, maybe once a year or so. We had no idea they were having trouble. It's sad; we always thought they made such a good pair. We know the woman's family really well...like psuedo aunts and uncles, cousins. And the way I found out....not sure if I agree with the method. The husband posted it as an event on Facebook. He wrote a long detailed thing...it was well written and explained enough and for the most part, he did it in an unbiased way. Basically said...this is what's happening. Now I wonder if the wife knows he did this....not sure how I'd feel about my soon to be ex blabbing to everyone on Facebook. Though he did explain his reasoning- now everyone knows and he can avoid the awkwardness of telling everyone face to face and having to do that hundreds of times.

I'm pleased that I am (hopefully) back to my workout schedule!! My son seems to play better now so he allows me some uninterrupted time to exercise in the morning. I did some decent leg, thigh and ab exercises and did a bit of cardio. bad back be damned. I got out of my routine for like a month...longer actually, cause my back has been bothering me.....a lot. Well, I am just doing what I can and if it hurts my back I either work through it or do something that doesn't bother it as much. I read an article (after i already decided to workout through the pain, so I must have some kind of smarts here) and it said that you shouldn't stop exercising when you have back pain.

And my last gripe for the day...anyone with kids....boys....PLEASE tell me how to get my 17 month old son to stop chucking his food across the table when he doesn't want it anymore!

Website is up and running!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now it's nothing fancy...but it's there!!

We have Time Warner's Roadrunner as our ISP and they give us free web space. I used it before, when I had my floral business. Had my husband's cousin design it and take care of it and it was great. He did a fantastic job! But then I closed up shop and the website too.

But now.....now I have reason to have an official website again!!!! Don't really have the money to pay someone to design a new site for me and I really wanted to be able to make changes to it myself..instead of going through someone else. So I sat down yesterday and today and played around with it myself. It's extremely basic...but it has what I need for now. I'm not real fond of the banner across the top...but the space is free....how much can I really complain????

I was a bit bummed though...stephaniehaefner.com was already taken...though when I typed it in, nothing came up except a godaddy.com thing saying it was taken. I could have had a .net or a .org...few others...but I don't know....I really wanted a .com. Got stephaniehaefnerthewriter for three years and maybe by then stephaniehaefner.com will be free to take!

And I even paid for domain registration all by myself and set it up to forward to my free web space!! So proud of myself!! I am usually not good at this kind of thing at all!!! But I used Yahoo and it was all really really easy!!

Check it out when you get a chance: www.stephaniehaefnerthewriter.com

Forms galore! I love it!!!

Got an email from Lyrical Press yesterday.....attached were all the forms I need to fill out...personal info, bio, my ideas for cover art, tax forms, etc... Some of them I expected...the tax stuff and all my personal info. I didn't expect them to ask my thoughts on my cover!! I had a small vision for it, but in all reality, I never let my thoughts go that far. I wasn't going to count my chickens before they hatched...put the horse before the cart....any other cliches I can use???

But now it is a reality! I am completely open to what they come up with..their cover art is phenomenal!

And I need to join a couple online communities specifically for Lyrical Press authors! One is for technical support, another for interacting with authors and readers. They're for networking and getting your name out there, and hopefully, to help sell lots of books!!!

Looks like I am going to be spending lots of time online!!!

The process is finally underway!

Two copies of my signed contract were in the mail this past Friday. It's quite a relief to know the process has officially begun!!! And quite exciting too! I can't wait to start editing and see what they have to say about my story. And then the cover art.....very interested to see what they come up with for that!!! The publisher...and since I have officially sent in my contract, I will reveal their name: Lyrical Press, they have some FANTASTIC cover art!

I'm going to be part of a huge literary festival in Buffalo NY!

I was born here, grew up here, still live here (well...a little to the east now, but still in the area). I truly do LOVE this place. And we have a HUGE cultural community...something most people are clueless about!!

One of the biggest events of the year is the Infringement Festival: http://www.infringebuffalo.org/

One of the organizers from my writers group secured a spot just for our group...two spots actually! We have an hour and depending on how many of our group members sign up, we'll get between 5-10 minutes to read...whatever we want!

For something fun and different, she plans on having a dry erase board. While she's reading our bio, we are to go up, write our name and maybe draw a picture, something that represents us and our writing. The organizer said she can draw a glass of lemonade....a poem of hers mentions lemonade, (it's quite famous amongst our group!) and her hidden meaning is not so well hidden.

So I've been thinking, what represents me??? I write romantic fiction. What's the basis of all romance..."Love conquers all". I thought of writing the word 'Love' and showing it conquering the word 'all'...a rebus type of thing, but not sure how to draw that. Then I thought of writing 'Love', drawing a line under it, then under that, in smaller print 'all else'. "Love above all else". Would people get that immediately?? I don't want them trying to decipher my drawing instead of listening to me read!!

Any other ideas??????

Have to share my piece of exciting news!

Thought it has absolutely nothing to do with writing...not even a tiny but.

Those that know me well, and even some that don't, know I have a couple obsessions. I'm not talking about the things I love with all my heart, like my family and kids, or my writing...these are silly things that just make me who I am, things most people think are completely stupid.

#1: New Kids on the Block. (Can't help it..loved them since I was 11.....and they've only gotten better with age)

#2: My ever growing pressed penny collection. (It's quite hard for me to walk past one and not dig in my purse for 2 quarters and a penny)

#3: Walt Disney World (Just like my writing and what I like to read, nothing brings me more joy than being immersed in a fairy tale)

And #3 is why I'm posting today. I booked our next trip and we're going almost 5 months earlier than planned. I poke around online from time to time...one of my friends recently booked a trip and another is looking to. They work fill time jobs and when I need a break from scanning my latest WIP, I pop online to check things like airfare. Well, today I came upon direct flights to and from Orlando, fabulous times (arriving in Orlando at 10:25 am and leaving at 6:35 pm) for $59 each way! Disney's Free Dining promotion has been in the back of my mind, but I had a bunch of reasons why it wouldn't work for us. Until today when I actually sat and priced it out and compared that with what it would cost to go in January when we originally planned. The deal was just too good to pass on.