I’m up to episodes 9-12 of Twenty-Somewhere for Kindle/iPhone/iPod! So far I’m really enjoying this “experiment.” I’ve only sold about a dozen copies between the 3 episode “bundles,” but it’s fun to obsessively check see my Amazon Sales Ranks and to realize that someone liked the stories enough to buy all 3!!

I think the plan for 20SW is to continue writing episodes until the end of 2009. Then I need a break. I will leave off in such a way that MJ, Claudia, and Sophie get some closure, but of course we’ll know there are more adventures to come. I’ve already envisioned a novel for these 3 women, but I have at least 1 other book to finish before I get started on a project like that…

Speaking of things I don’t have time for, Angie and I recently redesigned our joint blog. I love the new look, and now I’m itching to redesign my site…

Too bad that would be silly right now. I have too many other things to write do. Sigh.

Speaking of distractions, yesterday I received my copy of Bad Things Happen by Harry Dolan, an Amazon Breakthrough Novel from 2007-2008. BTH didn’t win, but it was my favorite entry, and I am SO excited to be reading the whole thing!

(Other 07-08 ABNA books coming soon: Casting Off by Nicole Dickson and The Wet Nurse’s Tale by Erica Eisdorfer!)

Speaking of funny — I wasn’t? Oh, oops. Well, I’m not funny, so I probably won’t enter/win, but if you are funny (JOE) then you should think about entering the Funniest Analogy contest at Writer Unboxed. You could get a lot of attention for your blog/site, or at the very least, some good laughs.

Andy left for a business trip at the butt crack of dawn on Monday morning and was supposed to return at I-don’t-know-what-the-right-saying-is on Wednesday night. Instead, bad weather stranded him in Baltimore. Also, we were supposed to drive to Rochester today for his sister’s wedding tomorrow. Instead, he flew directly to Rochester (after spending an extra night in Baltimore) and I got to pack my stuff, his stuff, the puppy’s stuff, and the wedding presents and drive all 7.5 hours by myself.

>_<

Despite my anxiety about this long and completely unexpected solo road trip, it went quite well. I made good time, even though I stopped twice to get gas and let Riley walk around, and I didn’t really feel too bored or tired. Thank goodness my iPod lasted the whole way… (And thanks to Angie, who chatted with me for half an hour!)

But, since driving + typing is probably worse than driving + talking on a cell phone, I decided not to finish Twenty-Somewhere. My apologies to those of you who care. Those of you who don’t, go read and start caring!

Since I promised you more juice & spice, here it is, albeit in a slightly different form…

JUICE:

• Fellow ABNA contestant Eric Shonkwiler has a great series of posts about how to write a novel: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.
• Alice Hoffman’s new book The Story Sisters sounds awesome!
• Agent Jessica Faust of BookEnds, LLC posted a glossary of key publishing terms.

SPICE:

• Margot posted this AWESOME picture of herself to Flickr. (Click to see larger version.) I told her I want her to take pictures of me, but she has to make me look as gorgeous as she does herself.
• Pseudo guest-blogged a hilarious post about being “the cool aunt,” which I unfortunately have never been (or had?).
• Cardamom. Thyme. Oregano.

Love is playing Prometheus, strapping yourself to the side of the mountain and sewing up your own side so the birds might pick at you afresh.

- fellow writer and former ABNA contestant Eric at My Heart’s Porch

Dear friends and lurkers alike,

I just wanted to let you know that I did not advance to the Semifinals of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest. Don’t worry, I’m not upset at all. I knew the second half of my book had some problems that I hadn’t fixed, so I was very happy just to get this far.

The best part of this whole thing for me has been the overwhelming support I got from you all. It really energized me at a time that I was feeling a little burnt out, and now I’m ready to get to work making the whole book just as good as the opening excerpt – or better!

So thank you very much for your kind words and encouragement. It’s the end of the Amazon line, but definitely not the end of my journey to publication. ;)

“Everybody in this league is successful,” Allen said. “Everybody in this league has made it to this level where they’re a flagship in their society and their community where they grew up. People look up to them. They’re outliers in their world.

“We’re not outliers among ballplayers, but we’re outliers amongst the people that we grew up around. I started analyzing why that is. What made me successful? I was successful because of the opportunities that I had, outside of the other opportunities that people had, the breaks, people pushing me forward. The communities I grew up in, people were always adding an extra five bucks to get me to camp. The same thing that Bill Gates went through with the computer access. I had access to a gym, just the same. Once I started going there, people started seeing my passion for it, they started helping me.

“That’s why I always tell people, no matter what sport you’re in, whether it’s team or individual, everybody has a team. There’s a crew that helped get you where you are, no matter how you see it, how you look at it. You start thinking about it, analyzing situations. Anybody in this locker room, people helped you achieve your goal.”

(From a great ESPN column by J.A. Adande. Emphasis added by me.)

Any publicity is good publicity, right?

• Green Pasture Christian Bookstore – The Good Daughters (link gone)
• Intelligent Investor Club – The Good Daughters (link gone)

I’m neither a good Christian nor a good investor, so I’m not sure what to think…

Anyway, there’s just about a week left until I find out the fate of my novel The Good Daughters in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest. If you haven’t gotten a chance to read, rate, and review it yet, I’d love for you to check it out before the 15th. After that, it will probably be taken off Amazon. Unless of course it makes it to the Semifinals (top 100 entries), but that’s highly unlikely.

(That’s not modesty, haha, that’s insider knowledge. The excerpt is WAY more polished than the rest of what I submitted. But I’m working on getting the rest up to par…)

For those who have already helped me rack up my ridiculous number of positive reviews, thank you so much!!