oh happy day

I've got SIX great things to share today from the Ka'ao blogfront.

1) I reward myself with a book cover design (which may or may not involve begging the husband into designing it for me) when I finish the first draft of a book...it's amazing how motivational this can be. Now that I'm querying my first novel, I decided as a reward for whipping it into query-shape I'd order myself a tangible copy of the book with said cool cover. And look what I got in the mail last week:
Talk about satisfying. I think I spent five minutes just smelling it and running my fingers across each page. Isn't it beautiful?

2) I hit 50 followers last week, and still growing. Who-hoo. I love the blogging community and the many friends I've made. You guys rock! Stay tuned for a fun giveaway when I hit the elusive 100 followers!

3) I finally got past the planning stages of my new WIP, the YA sci-fi, and started writing the dang thing. My notes are only about 22 single-spaced pages...I told ya...*anal writer here*. But I am so excited about this first chapter. I am revising it heavily, and it usually takes me a while to get that start right, but wow, I can't sleep at night because I'm so pumped. Also, my first chapter alone includes the following words: breasts, sex (twice), naked, damn, hell (twice), and genitalia. Not a big deal for the YA market, I know. But when the worst thing in my first book was the word damn three times (and one of those is in a different language, so doesn't really count), this kinda makes me laugh...and nervous for what else I'm gonna have to write in this one. *still excited though*

4) I am going to the LTUE conference at UVU this weekend. It's my first time and I'm so excited! Anyone else going? I hope to share some helpful notes I learn there on the blog so stay tuned.

5) I've been awarded some fun blog awards from Kelley at Between the Bookends and Victoria at Confessions of a Twenty Something Fiction Writer. Thanks ladies! Go check out their blogs right now--they are fantastic.



Each blog award comes with a slightly different set of rules, but for the sake of simplicity, I will just share 5 random facts about moi:

a. My favorite food is avocado, and if I could eat an avocado-tomato-cucumber sandwich every day for the rest of my life, I would.

b. I have a degree in Physics with a minor in both Math and Dance. Naturally, I became a writer. But, you never know when my mad tap-dancing and astronomy skills may come in handy.

c. I am part-Hawaiian and grew up on the north shore of Oahu. Of course, it took moving to the 'mainland' as an adult to realize how cool that really was. Now I get to write about all that coolness whenever I feel like it (and take frequent trips home to see my parents...for research purposes only, of course).

d. I have four amazing kids...and we homeschool. Do not ask me how I find time to write, because I honestly don't know. It involves a lot of late nights.

e. I can do hard things.

I want to pass these awards onto four of my favoritest peeps in the world, my critique partners Emily, Katherine, Taryn, and Robin. We all met in a class taught by the wonderful author Louise Plummer at a writer's conference, and it was one of the best things to ever happen to me and my writing. I LOVE these girls, so go and check them out right now.

6) And my final bit of great news: One of those lovely CP's of mine has some BIG NEWS to share very VERY soon. I can barely keep it in. I will let you know who and what as soon as I am allowed. Ooooh it's so hard for me to contain.:)

Have a happy day, all!