New Year Resolutions, Dude Colds Stink, and What To Do After You've Written A Novel

 Happy Belated New Year!
As you can guess from the title, I've been a little sick recently. So has Baby Girl and The Husband. It's made for a rather interesting start to the new year, but we're working through it. And by "working through it"  I mean we have a crapload of tissues and cough syrup lying around. Which is always fun.
This cold has made me start my resolutions a little late. Just like a bajillion other people, I have goals of getting more organized, being better about money and losing weight. Actually, I've made it a goal to try and run a 5k sometime this year, which will be completely awesome if it doesn't kill me.
Let's hope for awesome.
Another goal of mine for 2012? Find a literary agent for my book.
A what, you say? An agent? Whazzat??
Basically a literary agent is a super awesome person who helps you get your book published. You can try and go it alone without an agent but everything I've read says that's really not a good idea. An agent is an amazing partner who wheels and deals with you in the giant crazy publishing world.
Problem is, you have to get one to like your book first.
How do you do that? Well, first you write a book (I know, duh! But hey, it's a lot freaking harder than it sounds. Believe me.)
So your book is all done. After you have done SEVERAL revisions and forced a friend or critique partner to go over it, you can start querying an agent. There are several super cool websites that can help you learn how to write a good query. My favorite is QueryShark, but watch out. The shark can bite.
Then you send your query to a few favorite agents you've found by either stalking your favorite authors online and seeing who represents them or googling literary agents.
Now I'm not going to recommend you stalk your favorite authors, but usually you can find out a LOT of information from their websites or blogs (do not confuse this with THE alot-and if you have no idea what I'm talking about check out Hyperbole and a Half. You're welcome).
I'd suggest at least taking a look at your favorite author's site before you query.
So you send an agent or two your query letter. Then you reread said letter. Then you freak out. If you're anything like me, your freak out will sound like this:
"Oh crap, this query is terrible, WHY did I press send, how do I get it back?!?!"
Then you groan and console yourself with Cheez-Its and wait for your "I'm sorry, but we are looking for other things" response. Because the sad truth is, you're probably going to get a no. Which sucks. :( But you have to keep your head up. Just because it doesn't work for that agent doesn't mean it won't work for another. And if you're lucky you get advice on how to make your query not suck. You go through and revise before sending it to other agents. (NEVER resend to an agent who has said no. They don't like that and then you become annoying query author which is never a good thing).
The good news is, all it takes is one Yes. So you hope and hope and hope that somewhere out there, SOMEONE likes your book.
In the meantime? You write another book. And then start all over again :)

It's the Holidays!

Today I realized I've been rather neglectful of being a blogger, which is kind of odd because I like to write. Weird. But since it's the holiday season and Burrito is doing all sorts of cute things I realized I better start writing them down and putting them on the internet. That way she can thank me in ten years (because I've heard that your kids LOVE you and COMPLETELY understand every rule and decision you make when they are teenagers. Right? Right????)

So since I've been Neglectful Blogger Momma here is a recap of all the insanely freaking cute things my daughter has done recently: 

1. Sing and dance to "Frosty the Snowman" I keep trying to record her singing the song and naturally she stops as soon as she hears the recording click on. Sigh. But it's super cute so I will keep trying!

2. Sing the alphabet. Burrito's version is more like "ABCDEEE!" To her credit though, in the last few days she's nailed the ending of the song. We'll just keep working on that pesky LMNOP part ;)

3. Counting is 2,3,4,6,8,10,14,14,14,14! I have no idea where she got that from. She absolutely refuses to start with 1, and I'm not sure why she doesn't like odd numbers! 

4. Much like her beloved singing Frosty, we have a singing and dancing Santa Claus that she is growing fond of. The only thing is that since he dances, she's slightly afraid of him and won't make him dance herself. So now if she wants to hear him sing and dance she says "Santa pwease, Santa pwease, Santa PWEASE!"

We're working on patience ;)

5. She loves Pixar. I gotta admit, if I have to watch a kids movie every night before bedtime, the Pixar films are the way to go! Momma is a big fan of the Disney Princesses --despite the horrible lessons they teach small kids and all--which you don't really think about at ALL when you're six...I mean, I watched The Little Mermaid about thirty million times and had no idea Ariel was teaching me to be stubborn, not listen to my parents, think men only love pretty girls who don't talk (which totally rubbed off on me, I mean, The Husband married me because I am quiet and NEVER talk, and have NO opinions....hehehe). Ariel also taught me that the best way to spend the day was in a clamshell bikini, but alas, I have yet to find one. 

And don't get me started on the bad things they say about Belle. A girl likes to read and all of a sudden she's a victim of Stockholm Syndrome. Which, okay, she does fall for the dude that kidnapped her, but he like, changed and stuff. And...All right, fine, they have a perfectly valid point with that, but I love Belle so don't diss mai girl!!! She READS. Be nice to the girl who reads a lot!!!

Hmm. First blog post and I got on my soapbox. Whoops. *hops down* *hangs head in shame*

So, erm....Burrito! She likes Pixar films. And it's super funny to hear her try to say "To infinity and beyond!" Or Mufasa, which sounds more like "Mumasa." 

Also, I swear I don't just let my kid watch TV all the time. We play and read (Baby Girl had a breakdown when Momma tried taking Chicka Chicka Boom Booma back to the library. The tantrum was EPIC. The kicker? I was taking it back because we now OWN THE BOOK).

But Momma is a big fan of snuggling so before bed we chill and snuggle and watch Pixar. Judge if you want but I love our couchtime snuggles :)

And that's all for now! I have more cute stories which means I will be better about blogging. I also need to figure out how to put pictures on here and stuff. If you know how, feel free to advise me in the comments! Or just comment on anything in general. TTFN!