Friday FIll-Ins: Edition 140 (my edition 2)

Graphic courtesy of Tonya!

1. That's a bitch to be.

2. You who! I'm over here!

3. The possibilities include: life and death.

4. Chili spaghetti & cheese is one of my favorite cool day recipes.

5. How will you know me after all these years?

6. A day off, a soft bed, a hot guy and a stormy sky. If no hot guy, then a steamy romance novel.

7. See my other # 7 from #140

I'm a week late for this version #140 so if I get the chance after the day job tomorrow I'll add edition #141 beneath this. 1. I feel inspired - I just watched Julie & Julia again and have a lot more ideas for my blog. For instance, I'm still going to write about writing and my books, but I'll add more tidbits for transparency, like Julie did with her cooking project. 2. Blogging is always fun. - Even when it feels like working. :) 3. Right now, I can hear these things: my husband complaining, my daughter rolling her eyes (yes, I can HEAR that very LOUDLY!), the TV in the other room (undoubtedly a cop show knowing my hubby), and the hum of the ceiling fan. 4. It's TGIF and I'm glad I don't have to wear fancy shoes and clothes for the next two days! 5. The last time I saw people dress like Julia Child was in my parents' wedding photos. (It was pretty cool to imagine what it was like when my parents got married in 1950 about the same year Julia Child's sister Dorothy got married. I'm a genealogy buff so I love this sort of thing). 6. Except for seeing Transformers 2 at the theater, I vegged out this past Labor day weekend. 7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to blogging and Twittering probably, tomorrow my plans include baking in the Sun and walking at my daughter's softball games and Sunday, I want to see Star Trek at the dollar theater - I hope it's still there! Let me expand on what I mentioned in fill-in number one: Although I've done it to a point, I'm going to TRY to express more of my feelings about writing and the publishing and promoting process in this blog. I'm also going to TRY and log at least one promotional thing I've done new each day. To kick this off, I found "LinkMommy.com" through a tweet on Twitter which I'm exploring as I blog. Did I mention I was ADHD? I have to multi-task or die. My idea of the worst torture is to make me do only one thing - well, maybe it's second next to getting eaten alive by an alligator or shark. On LinkMommy I found job ads which isn't exactly promoting, but if you've been following me, you know I'm anxious for my adult daughters to get gainful employment. I very happily and quickly sent the link to them to check out. I can't exactly vouch for LinkMommy, but I am going to check it out. The quote about free and very low cost advertising caught my interest. Of course, "low cost" is in the eye of the beholder. My idea of low cost is usually no more than $30.00 and really more like $10.00 or under. Free is extremely good for me. :) Weekends, like I mentioned in Fill-In #7 is the time I usually tour blog land and surf the net looking for promo opportunities and fun things. While most other people are taking weekends off, this is my main time to partake of my second job (writing/promoting). You'll also want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anika Hamilton, Anny Cook, Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Kelly Kirch, Molly Daniels, Sandra Cox, Regina Carlysle, and Cindy Spencer Pape are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :)

Editing

Like yesterday, my blog posts for the next few days are inspired by the movie “Julie and Julia”. If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll know that Julia Child and her co-authors were not happy when their editors asked them to make big changes in their cook book. They said goodbye to the publisher and took their book elsewhere. How realistic is that? Oh, I’m sure other authors have done that and still do it. But is it RIGHT? I don’t know that it’s exactly WRONG, but every editor, every publisher I’ve ever worked with requires edits. Some more than others. It seems childish of me to take your toy and run to another playground just because the publisher wants changes. Julia Child got lucky that they found another publisher that wanted their book as is. However, I give Julia and company credit for having tested each recipe and rewritten the book at least once in the beginning. For those who are just beginning the writing journey or who haven’t tried yet, that’s par for the course. Sometimes we have to rewrite our books at least once and edit several times. Even though three of my books were edited by their first publisher and had been previously released, the second publisher who re-released them still required more edits. For better or worse, edits are part of the package. I used to hate edits. Ask my critique partners. I’m still not in love with them but see the merit and opportunity to really polish and perfect my stories. I try to make the process fun now.

Julie and Julia

A friend gave me a card for $20 worth of movies at AMC theaters. I’ve been dying to see “Julie and Julia” so we schlepped down to Ft. Lauderdale to the only AMC theater within 15 miles. Where did all the AMC theaters go?

The drive was horrendous. I hate driving into the big city, even on weekends. I don’t do well with crowds or crazy drivers and of course we ran into both.

Even though two movie tickets only cost $14.50 I still ended up shelling out an additional $28 for nachos, hot dog, and drinks. Not such a free movie.

I don’t know that I would drive that far again.

Still, we loved the movie. It was delightful and entertaining. I wouldn’t say it was thought-provoking for most, but it was for me.

Since both Julie and Julia were both authors and going through the trials of trying to get published, I could commensurate. I burst out laughing when Julia’s husband asked if she’d get an advance of $10,000.

God, I wish!

Aspiring authors seem to think they’ll be a millionaire once they get the publishing contract. First, that they’ll get a huge advance. Second, that they’ll sell a ton of copies immediately.

Honestly, I’m sure some do. It’s not true for me or most of the writers I know, unfortunately. We write because we love to write. Or because we’re obsessed. You’d have to be to write after a long hard day at work and on precious weekends. It’s very much a second job.

Like Julie, I’d love to have my books made into movies. Maybe one day, but again, I don’t think that happens for the majority of us.

Like Julie, I work in an office customer service department where people scream at me and lay their problems on me. Lots of times I feel insignificant like Julie did in the beginning of her story.

Like Julie, my husband (and kids) sometimes get fed up with my obsession. They think I’m ignoring them, that I spend my home waking hours on this machine. It doesn’t matter that I’m earning money that helps pay the mortgage and allows us extra income for fun, like movies.

Unlike Julie, I haven’t had a day with 52 comments on my blog. Not even close. No editors or agents have left voice mails for me.

Hopefully, that will happen one day.

For now, I am happy to give “Julie and Julia” a high recommendation. I think women like me will very much enjoy it. I don’t know that my sons or my husband would.

Sshhhh! Don’t tell my friends I already saw the movie. I’ll still join them for our girls’ night out Wednesday and see it again.