Guest Blogging...

Hey all,

The wonderful Hasty Words had me over at her blog today, where we wrote a poem together. Go check it out! :) 

You Angst Nobody- Guest Blog Post

DFWcon 2013 Review – and how I thought I was being Punk’d

I just got home from DFWcon in Dallas. This is the third one under my belt and I feel like it was the best one to date. There were so many great moments with great people!

Friday- I actually arrived to Dallas on Thursday with two of my friends so we could go out, but Friday was the start of the conference for me. Since I know what it is like to be at a conference where you might not know anyone, I decided to host a Pre-conference Mixer at the Hyatt. It ended up being a great success. I cannot tell you how exciting it was to see some many people show up and get to know each other. I was also able to see friends I had made at previous conference. Around 10, I had to leave, though, since I had other plans at LaBare – anyone who knows me, knows the humorous stories behind this.

Saturday- Saturday started early, since the official start of the conference was at 7:45. I was begging my friends to go to Starbucks, but had to settle on Diet Coke instead. The opening ceremony was beautiful and started the day on the right note. My first class was called “Is it Soup Yet”, and was about how the Chicken Soup for the Soul books can help an author build their publishing credibility. The next class was Jenny Martin’s “finding your writing voice” class. For the second year in a row, this class was standing room only.

  I had to leave the class early because I had a pitch session with the fabulous Louise Fury. Let me tell you – if you’ve never pitched before, it can be a nerve-wracking situation. But… Louise made me feel right at ease. Okay, I’m going to sound a little fangirl-ish right now. I don’t remember everything that happened because it felt very dream-like. I pitched my book and Louise seemed interested and ended up requesting the full manuscript. Then, we got on the topic of the RT Convention and I mentioned something about the Ellora’s Cave ‘Cavemen’ (The Cavemen are the book cover models… some of them are also performers at LaBare). Then, while I was sitting there talking to Louise, she live tweeted about me. It was everything I could do NOT to squeal! We even talked about maybe going out to LaBare, which I thought would have been awesome.

  The rest of the afternoon was a blur after this. I attended Lindsay Cummings & Louise’s panel, which was so interesting. I loved hearing their story! I also got to see my friend, Birdy Jones, KILL it in her self-publishing class (this is a good thing, by the way. There was some confusion after I tweeted this, ha-ha). After that, I went to Roni Loren’s Romance Class. If you write romance and ever have the chance to hear Roni speak, I would recommend it. She is amazing!

  After relaxing at the hotel it was then time for the Cocktail party and second keynote speech. Let me tell you, the cocktail parties are always fun. I think my blingy jewelry made an impact, as well as my signature drink, which is a Coke and Baileys. It tastes just like a Coke float, if you were wondering. My friend and I then called it a night.

Sunday- It was SO hard to drag myself out of bed, but I did it. This is when I had my “am I being Punk’d” moment. I was walking down the street from the hotel to the conference center when a truck slowed down. I glanced over and saw Louise smiling at me from the passenger’s seat. She asked if I needed a ride and I was thinking ‘OMG!’ It was surreal. I accepted, of course.  

  The day was a blur of classes, friends, and photos. I even won a bracelet from one of the vendors, which was awesome. Roni Loren taught a class on ‘author websites’, which I found helpful. The best part of the day was the Gong Show, where writer’s query letters are ready aloud to 5 agents. The agents are allowed to hit a gong when they would stop reading the letter in real life. Louise always makes the Gong Show extremely funny with her comments, which is why so many people stuck around for it.

It was soon time to head back to Oklahoma and back to the real world. I felt so inspired after the conference, which is why writers go to conferences. I cannot wait to see what the rest of the year brings!

DFWcon 2013 is coming up!

I’m gearing up for DFWcon in Dallas next week. As I mentioned before, this is the 3^rd time that I will be attending and I can’t wait! I’m looking forward to meeting up with old friends and making a ton of new ones!

If you are going, be sure to follow their Twitter page (@DFWCON) or #DFWcon. There is always a LOT of info there during the conference and it is a great way to meet others who are going.

For those of you who are going for the first time, check out the blog post I wrote last year, “5 Things I learned at DFWcon”. LOL learn from my mistakes involving trying new face products during a conference! ;)  http://sarah-okc.blogspot.com/2012/05/5-things-i-learned-at-dfwcon.html

Also, if you are staying at the hotels sponsored by the conference, hang out in the lobby. There is usually some kind of meet-n-greet going on with fellow attendees, like last year there was a Tweet-n-Greet. It’s a really good way to meet other people before the conference starts.

And, last, but not least… if anyone is going to be in Dallas on Thursday or Friday night, there will be a girl’s night to LaBare Dallas, ha-ha. This is a great place to visit if you write romance of any kind. Trust me- these guys are definitely inspiring!! Hit me up on my twitter page @Sarah_OKC if you are interested! ;)

Baaaaad Blogger. *Sad face*

I’ve been a bad blogger, people. Sorry about that. I’ll catch you up on what’s been going on:

-     -  Finished my MMA-themed Romance book and submitted it to some agents. Hopefully I’ll have some good news to share soon

-      - Gearing up for DFWcon. This will be my 3^rd year attending and I can’t wait

-      - Also about to head out to the Arkansas Literary Festival … like I’m literally leaving tomorrow

-       -Working on two very different projects now. One was planned. The other, not so much.

-        

Also, here’s an angsty poem for you all…

I feel like screaming until I can’t scream anymore

Why do I let you do this over and over

You would think that I’ve had enough,

But apparently I haven’t

I get so sick and tired of seeing you everywhere

And then hearing how great you are

Why do they get to see that side

And all I see is the side I know

Maybe one day I’ll have enough

Stop giving a f*ck about you

But until then I sit here and wait

And each day start to hate you a little more.

LOL, love to you all. <3 p="">

Welcome 2013

Happy New Years

I would like to wish you all a very Happy New Years. It seems that 2012 just wasn’t a good year for a lot of people, myself included. I just know that 2013 is going to be amazing, though. I’ve challenged myself with a few goals this year.

 1)   Get a Literary Agent and/or Get Published – This one is more important that ever to me. I feel the time I right and that I have grown as a writer. I really feel this is going to happen this year.

2)   Spend more time with my family – I want to spend time with those whom I don’t see very often.

3)   Weight – Goodness, isn’t weight always on a goals list? I’m not going to say much, other than I am serious this time.

4)   Work on my Debt – I have been working on this one for a while, but I am going to be more aggressive with it.

5)   Continue my path to a higher education - Going back to college at 28 was a bit rough for me at first. But I am committed to going until I get my degree.

So, dear readers of my blog… what are your goals for 2013??

How do you make a tissue dance? Put a lil boogie in it…

The other day I picked my two-year-old nephew up from his Grandpa’s house. My Dad thought it was a great idea to give my nephew a magnet shaped like a car since my nephew liked it. It was big enough that I wasn’t worried about him swallowing it and I figured he would drop it when we got in the car, like he usually does with his toys.

So I am driving and I glance over my shoulder. My nephew is staring at something between his fingers very intently. Right away I think that he has somehow broken a piece of the magnet off. Well, crap. I can’t pull over, so I reach behind my seat and hold out my hang.

“Give it to Sarah.” I say as I glance in the mirror again.

I can see the debate etched across his face. He likes whatever he is holding and doesn’t want to give it up. Finally, he reaches forward and puts something in my hand. I pull my hand back and look to see what he placed there.

Good God, it is quite possibly the biggest booger I have ever seen in my life! And it’s in the palm of my hand. I grab a tissue and wipe my hand, still grossing out.

My nephew laughs gleefully from the backseat and I look over my shoulder again to see his grinning face.

Well… I did ask for it, I suppose.

A Day with Thomas the Train, a 13 year old, and a 2 year old ready for his nap…

Thomas the Train made of Mega Blocks

Yesterday my family and I had the wonderful idea of taking my nephew to see Thomas the Train, live and in person. The Oklahoma Railway Museum was hosting a special event where kids can meet the life-size blue train.

On a side note, my nephew loves watching Thomas on TV. Before he could even speak, he would make the ‘choo-choo’ sound when the show started. Now that he can speak, he yells out “Thomas”, or the equivalent to it.

In theory taking him to see Thomas was going to be great. And even though he wouldn’t remember it, it was something that we would enjoy as a family.

So, we get to the Oklahoma Railway Museum and have to park in a muddy field. That’s okay. We were lucky and got a spot near the road, so we didn’t have to drive through too much mud.

Grandpa carried him through the gates and right away we saw Thomas the train. My nephew was VERY excited and began making his ‘choo-choo’ sound, which got some chuckles from everyone.

We bought our tickets, which included a twenty-five minute on Thomas (technically it was on one of the passenger carts, which were old school). The train ride was fun, but those old carts were rickety, rocking back and forth.

After the train ride was over, we went through the museum and it’s themed events. As each event passed, my nephew began to get more and more cranky… until we reached the point that we were THAT family -  you know… the one with the screaming kid that you stare at, but try not to get caught staring at.

Oh, and I forgot to add one little detail here. My niece was also there (of course). You all remember my niece, who comes up with the off-the-wall stories? Anyway, yesterday was her birthday. Now, she is a great kid. But spending her 13th birthday with Thomas the Train didn’t go over too well, even though we have a ‘real’ party scheduled for later in the week.

So, by the end of the day this is what we had:
1) A Cranky 2 year old boy who needed a nap
2) A Cranky 13 year old girl who wanted to leave
3) Two Grandparents who wanted to leave
4) One Mom who was trying to keep it all together
5) And one Aunt, who was just laughing (that’s me, by the way)

I can say that we all survived our day out with Thomas the Train, though. And it definitely made memories.