Putting it out there

I'm overweight. I have been for most of my life. Luckily for me, I've been supremely healthy save for the weight problem.

I've tried just about every diet known to man. I've had some success but then I end up putting it all back on plus some more. Chronic yo-yo dieting. Same story as most other overweight people.

The problem for me is that I think of it as temporary. Also, I'm not a big exercise fan. Put those two quirks together and you've got a recipe for failure.

In June, I started watching what I eat. I lost 5 pounds in six weeks. Then I went on vacation.

I tried to be somewhat good, though I wasn't as vigilant as I should have been. The good news is that I didn't gain the whole 5 pounds back. Just a couple.

Last week I made a decision that is a long time coming and I'm hoping that by putting it out here for everyone to see, that I will be motivated to finally make the changes that I need to in order to stay healthy. I know that if I don't make serious changes in my life, I'll end up with diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and who knows what all else.

No more diets for me. I'm looking to make lifestyle changes that can carry past a time limit. So I joined SparkPeople.

Perhaps you've heard of this. They help you track your nutrition and fitness while teaching you the tools to make lifestyle changes. So far, so good. I've lost almost 3 pounds. I'm sure that most of that is water as I'm back to drinking my 8+ glasses a day. I've started walking my dog more regularly. We do a 2 mile loop around town when the weather's good. I'm checking out an exercise class on post next week that is a combination of cardio and strength training. Basically, I'm becoming more active.

That's important now that I will soon be spending the majority of my time everyday sitting at the computer. I want to be more active and healthy. If I lose some weight along the way, that's a bonus.

Have you heard of SparkPeople? Tried it? If you're on there, shoot me a note and we can be buddies.

There will be singing

There was a lot of singing going on at National.

National kicked off on Wednesday night with the literacy signing. This is a big event where the general public is invited in and everyone buys books from their favorite author and gets them signed right there. Before heading to the literacy signing, we stopped off at the goody room.

The goody room is the room designated for authors to put their bookmarks, samples, books they're giving away, etc. It changes all the time so we usually make several trips during the course of the week.

What a surprise we got when we walked in. It's fairly empty and there is the lovely Maggie Shayne, signing the books she's leaving there in the goody room. That was a bonus in itself. Then the singing started.

While Maggie was signing my book, I noticed her ring. I commented on it and she flashed me a tattoo. We talked for a minute, discovering we had some things in common. She started singing and I knew the song so I sang along. Autumn joined in and it was a lot of fun.

After we left the goody room, I commented to Autumn that we should have gotten our picture taken with Maggie. So, during the literacy signing, we found her again to get pics. Again, we burst out in song and the people standing nearby applauded our efforts.

Later that night, we joined the Romance Divas for karaoke at the Kimonos restaurant. Autumn and I got up there twice, singing I Love Rock 'n Roll and Walk Like an Egyptian. 80's moment, anyone?

We were able to coerce Denise Golinowski up there and she was great!

I met Denise through Roses Colored Glasses and we've become writer pals. She's a regular commenter here. We met face to face for the first time that night and let me tell you, she's great!

It's been so wonderful to be able to put faces to those I've been meeting online.

The literacy signing was packed. There was a good response from the public and I haven't heard yet how much money was raised but I did my part, totally spending more than I'd planned.

Do you like to sing? Like karaoke? Do anything crazy (fun-crazy, not stalker-crazy) when meeting one of your fave authors?

Good News

I'm going to start off the conference posts with good news. There was plenty to be had.

I believe I mentioned here that I had an agent appointment at conference. I met with the lovely Emmanuelle Morgen (formerly Alspaugh). I was excited and nervous in turn, but in the end, Ms. Morgen was very good at putting me at ease at the beginning of our meeting.

It was my first time pitching and I had no idea what to expect. I had a whole spiel memorized and turned out, I didn't need it. She asked about me. Seemed interested that I wrote erotic romance. Asked about my novel. Said it sounded interesting and like something she represented but wouldn't know for sure until she'd read some of it. Asked me to send the first three chapters.

That's right, my friends. A partial request.

I'm sure that's par for the course, but it's exciting for me anyway. So, I'm running it through one more spit and polish, one more round through my fabulous critique partners and then I'm going to send it off with REQUESTED MATERIAL big and bold.

That's my personal good news.

I've mentioned on here that 4 of my chapter mates from the Austin chapter were up for Golden Heart/Rita awards. I'm proud to say that 2 of them won!

Sherry Thomas won the RITA for Best Historical Romance with Not Quite a Husband and Laura Griffin won the RITA for Best Romantic Suspense!

Another chapter mate, Jane Sevier, won the Scriptscene contest.

Very exciting.

And my last piece of good news for the day. I'm going to be a full-time author again. At least for a little while. I turned in my resignation letter and my last day will be 2 weeks from today. I've enjoyed the craft shop and it's definitely helped keep my creative juices flowing but with everything on my plate, it was too much.

Do you have any good news to share? I'd love to hear it.

New Look, New Attitude

As you can see, I've got a new look. Isn't it great? Rae Monet did an awesome job for me, designing my website and matching my blog to it. Over to the right is the link to my site. Head over and take a look. Let me know what you think. Personally, I'm thrilled with it.

I spent the past 2 ½ weeks in the States, returning home yesterday. While I was there, I got to see my parents, my brother and sister, their spouses and kids, including meeting the twins for the first time (they're 7 months old). I also got to see my grandparents, one of my aunts and her husband as well as both of her daughters and 2 kids of the oldest. I reconnected with my best friend from high school and her mom, who was like a second mom to me growing up. This really refreshed my spirit. I like it over here in Germany, but I miss being able to see my family and friends more than once a year.

In addition to the lovefest, I attended RWA National conference in Orlando, where I got to spend the week with my friend, Autumn Shelley, as well as soak up new information. I met a ton of other great writers there and even some that didn't write but loved to read. Autumn brought her friend, Rachel, who roomed with us and I'm adding another friend to my list. I've got some stories, and pictures (oh no) and I'm going to post about conference the rest of the week.

Along with my new look, I've got a new attitude. My spirit refreshed, I'm ready to get back to work. I've got 3 chapters to comb through again and polish. I've got a new project that I'm starting while I polish Out of the Shadows. I've got other ideas spiraling through my head and lucky you, you'll probably hear about them at some point. LOL

So, keep checking in. Let me know what you think of my new look. Tell me what you've been up to for the past 3 weeks.

Conference Bound

I know, I've been a bad girl. Last week was crazy and this week will be even crazier.

Tuesday I had to go to work early to teach a kids' crochet class and then had to work the rest of the day. Once done, I raced home to get my stuff together and then on the road to Frankfurt. No internet at the hotel.

Wednesday I flew to the States. Got stuck in Newark for over 6 hours but finally made it into Dayton for my mom to pick me up about midnight.

The next few days were family whirlwinds and I wasn't online much. I finally got to meet my new niece and nephew though. My SIL had twins in January and they are 6 months old now. So adorable. I'm wondering if she and my brother will notice if I smuggle one or both into my suitcase when it's time to come home.

Today I'm back in the air. Actually, I'm sitting in the Orlando airport right now waiting on my friend as my plane just landed. We're going to the RWA National conference. This is my second and my friend's first. It's going to be so much fun. I can hardly wait.

I most likely won't be posting anymore this week and next week I'll be on the road with my mom and won't have internet so next week is a bust too. But when I come back, I should be full of fun stories, great pics and *fingers crossed* good news.

So please stick around during my hiatus. Have a great two weeks!

Medieval Fest

This weekend hubby and I went to the medieval fest in Nabburg.

We've always like going to the Renaissance festivals in the States, and that's pretty much what we expected. Not so.

This fest was located in the middle of town instead of a open field. People still dressed up. Quite a few, actually. They still had people working in the old ways, i.e. blacksmiths, chain maille, spinning, etc. Plenty of vendors hawking their wares.

The biggest difference that I saw was the lack of shows. Basically, once you walked through the town, you'd seen everything.

There is another medieval fest a little farther away. Apparently that one is more like what I expected. Hubby and I don't have time to make it there this summer as it's only going on in July and I leave in 2 days for the States. So, if we're here next summer, we'll check that one out.

The surprise of the day is that I found 2 pair of sandals. I have very wide feet and it's hard for me to find comfortable, cute shoes, but I did there. Bonus.

What about you? Do you like going to Renaissance festivals? What's your favorite part?

Living in my head

I haven't been very chatty this week. The truth is, I've been living in my head a lot and then there's been drama at the part time job. Revisions are hard copy at this point so I haven't been online much at all.

I've spent the last two weeks working with Bob Mayer and a group of great writers to come up with a pitch for my novel. It took almost the whole two weeks and 7 actual tries before Bob seemed to deem it appropriate.

Now that problem I have, and why I've been living in my head lately, is that in the course of these attempts, I've thought of other things to add to my story to make it stronger. This is okay, except that I won't have it ready for my agent appointment at conference.

I could still get the first 3 chapters polished and still pitch it, but then what if she asks for a partial, likes it and wants the full? I can't send out what I have to her now when I know I want to change it. So, I've been waffling back and forth on whether I should just cancel my appointment, get the book ready to my satisfaction and then query her later, or go and get the experience plus my PRO status with RWA.

Then the drama at the part-time job. Recently there was a new deployment of guys headed to Afghanistan. No surprise since we live near a military base. One of the women, C, that I work with is taking kind of hard, dealing with some depression. She's had this happen before and it was rough on her kids so she decided that it would be better for the family to go back to the States where her parents were there to help deal.

She's been talking about this for a couple of weeks and the manager of the shop tried to talk her out of it. Friday, C told the manager that she was definitely going back. Apparently, the manager yelled at her, told her she was stupid, etc.

C had planned to give sufficient notice, but this behavior angered her and when she left work Tuesday (the next work day), she left an envelope for the manager with her door key, company credit card and a note.

Yesterday when the manager found the note, she was upset. Called C who didn't answer the phone and proceeded to cuss her out on the answering machine. Since then, it's been uncomfortable in the shop as well as unstable as to how things will work out.

Now, I can see both sides of the coin. Must be my Libra ascendant. I can see how someone who is clinically depressed would feel the need to be closer to a support network so that her kids would be better taken care of. I can also understand why she would feel the need to leave her job as she did when she was treated the way she was when she told the manager.

I can see the manager's POV. She's now left with no credit card holder to purchase supplies and has to train someone on the fly how to help with the back office stuff that C did.

So, I'm staying out of the middle of it. I'm quitting the part time job soon (possibly Sept) and I'm leaving next week for 3 1/2 weeks of vacation. I need to get through tomorrow and Tuesday and then I think I can avoid most of the drama.

Now you know what's kept me away. What do you think I should do regarding my agent appointment? Anyone got any experience in this area?