Maybe You Should Just Pray for Shrimp

It's really not any secret that Tom Hanks is my life. I have serious issues distinguishing reality from fiction (which is a problem because, after all, I write fiction.) and I find myself being absolutely convinced that Forrest Gump is a real person. Don't even get me started with the fact that Jenny totally dumped little Forrest on him because she was obviously dying of AIDS from her years of shooting up on hotel balconies. Yup, went there.

But enough about that..

I was watching it the other night because, much like a car accident, I can't not watch it. This scene came on and it meant something different to me.

F: "Still no shrimp, Lieutenant Dan."
LD: "Yes, I know that."
F: "Well, how we gonna find them?"
LD: "Maybe you should just pray for shrimp."

B.I.N.G.O

Not because I plan to be a shrimpin' boat captain (though that would be AWESOME), but because it got me thinking about my book and the idea of how to get to the next step. In a few weeks, it will be a year that I sat down to write my book. I remember thinking, "This won't ever work out for you." Not because I was discouraged, but because, really - how was I going to do this? Work a full-time job, travel with that full-time job, take care of a house, a husband, empty the dishwasher, go to the gym, be asleep by 9:15 because that's how I roll, AND write a novel?

But I did it. I wrote it. It's been edited. It's ready to rock - with the exception of a proofread.

What do I do now?

All along, I thought I would self-publish it until a few weeks ago, a point was made to me that made so much sense and I still haven't stopped thinking about it. "You should pitch to agents. Would you rather have it be a book to read this summer or THE book to read this summer?"

I know that I can't wait for things to happen - but I do get intimidated by the very idea of the impending rejection I'll receive. I'm not that naive; I've done enough research to know what I'm getting into. It doesn't mean I'm not scared. It doesn't mean I won't pray for a Hurricane Carmen to blow through and drop 15 agents at my feet. But I'm doing it anyway.

I'm about to get my query letter on. And pray for shrimp in the meantime.

the debut

and here I am again.

I've been blogging off and on for two years now. I've had two other blogs by different names, but this makes numero tres (that's three in Spanish. Just in case you weren't familiar, ya know?). The thing is - I'm not good at blogging. I have the attention span of a butternut squash. When I sit down to write a post, I usually see something shiny, or I get thirsty, or I have to poop, or I fall asleep, or I end up YouTubing kittens doing funny things like yawning and farting at the same time. I mean, I just can't help it.

I've decided to give this a third and final try since three is one of my lucky numbers and third time is a charm and good things come in threes - you get it, right? Good. Let's go.

I've started this blog to document my experience of completing and publishing my debut novel. I've been writing for most of my life, starting with NSync fan fiction when I was thirteen. (Hey, I'm not proud, but I wrote bitchin' stories about Justin Timberlake. What about it????!!!) It's been fifteen years since those days of writing about JT and 'fro and here I am, still writing - but my genre has advanced. Thank God.

In an effort to not take away from the writing of my novel, I waited until it was with my editor so that I could give enough time to starting this blog. And here I am. As my 83,600 words of fiction get edited away, I've arrived here. I hope to post about the many ups and downs of what will happen as I work through my drafts and my hopes to self-publish in the coming months.

So stick with me. There's bound to be laughs, tears, and kittens. Definitely kittens.