I finally jumped in!

What I am reading:  My Sailing instruction Book for my Sailing class.

What I am working on: His Father's Bride

Well, It is official!    I have queried an agent with a query letter and full manuscript according to their guidelines.   This was for the my Children's picture book Grandma's Lake House.   I sent it out tonight, and I am so nervous.  I guess the waiting will be be worst part, waiting to see what happens.  

Next on  my goal list is the Golden Claddaugh Contest from Celtic Hearts online RWA chapter.  I joined this January and although I mostly lurk, I am enjoying the topics of conversation.   Lucily for me the Contest deadline was extened a week, so I am going to rewrite, as I hate the begining of my story.  I have three different beginnings actually, with three different personifications of my heroine.  #1  The nurturer who is facing the kind, #2 the waif who is seeking an annulment, #3 The crusader seeking justice.  #3 is my favorite, but it does not fit as well with my GMC. Goal, Motivation, Conflict.    I will keep you updated on where this goes.  

Sunday Procrastination

What I am working on: I should be writing, or eating breakfast even, but I am vegging on the computer while Annika plays Lego Star Wars on the Wii.   

What I am reading: The Thrall's Tale

So, I found another fun little quiz....What kind of Muppet are you?

You Are Kermit

Hi, ho! Lovable and friendly, you get along well with everyone you know. You're a big thinker, and sometimes you over think life's problems. Don't worry - everyone know's it's not easy being green. Just remember, time's fun when you're having flies!

The Muppet Personality Test

Getting inside Cinderwriter's Head

What I am working on: Query for Gramma's Lake House

What I am reading:  The Thrall's Tale by Judith Lindbergh.  I am also reading it in Norsk.  My cousin Lasse is translating it into Norwegian as we read it together.  

A Meme for Today

I found this at Alyson's Blog, and she picked it up from Macy's blog. There are many good new questions here. 

Tag, you are it!

You're feeling: Crabby, hot, and fat.

To your left: Hickam Kukini newspaper checkbook, phone, and a book on calories.

On your mind: getting all the yucky tasks done so I can get back to writing. 

Last meal included: Rootbeer and Pizza Hut personal pan pepperoni pizza - total YUCK, I hate fast food, but my daughter had a Book-It reading award she wanted to share with me.  When a seven year old shares, you do not turn down the generosity! 

You sometimes find it hard to: get all the things I want to get done during the day.  I am the queen of procrastination! 

The weather: Warm, 76 degrees, light trade-winds.

Something you have a collection of: Books & DVD's.

A smell that cheers you up: Gold Canyon Candles - especially Cobbler on the Porch scent!

A smell that can ruin your mood: Burning Pine Cones, Doritoes, dirty litter box, dead rats - ewe ewe ewe! And yes, Doritoes fit in that category with dead rats!! 

How long since you last shaved: No clue..I wax.

The current state of your hair: messy, very long and scraggly.

The largest item on your desk/workspace (not computer): Dictionary.

Your skill with chopsticks: excellent. 

Which section you head for first in a bookstore: Children's section and then to romance and the featured selections table.

Something you’re craving: a long juice fast, and long trail run.  I was supposed to do the tantalus today, but my buddies backed out last night and so I wimped out today.  I am really mad at myself for doing that. 

Your general thoughts on the presidential race:   I want the defender of the constitution and American Liberties for president, I want....RON PAUL!

How many times have you been hospitalized this year: none.

Favorite place to go for a quiet moment: snorkeling or diving, or anything in the water.

You’ve always secretly thought you’d be a good: Photographer - If I had some training.

Something that freaks you out a little: Sexual Deviants. 

Something you’ve eaten too much of lately: Calories.

You have never: gone to jail.

You never want to: Hurt someone I love. 

Query Query Query

I am sending in my first query this week.  I am pretty nervous.  You can say that you are a writer for years but to actually put your work, your baby, part of who you are, out in the world to be judged, can be frightening. The person who reviews your work does not know you, is not your friend, and does not love you. The most terrifying prospect is that this person will tell you the truth.  To never submit is to never have to face the possibility that you really suck as a writer.  

One of my Affairs of the Pen writing friends gave me a kick in the butt this week to submit my children's picture book story to an agent she knows.  I have a query, but it is not very creative and the submission guidelines request a creative query.  When your book is only 79 words long, how creative can you get?  My goal is to have my query ready to send out by tomorrow night.  I will send it to my hubby and a few friends to review before I send it off.  

I wrote Gramma's Lake house years ago, originally as a poem. When my children were small, I changed it into a picture book format for my daughters.  Every summer they spent a few weeks at my Grandmother's lake cottage from the ages of two until my Grandmother passed away last year.   Annika loves the book, but Bryn says that it is boring.  Bryn did add "maybe little kids would like it".  

I will let you know when I send it off, and I will also let you know if I get a response. 

Cinderwriter is back! 'Ano 'ai ke aloha e!

Helehele mai kakou e

I wish you all were with me on this beautiful day in paradise.  I am lamenting my imminent departure from the land of Aloha. 

There will be claw marks left on the tarmac at Honolulu International Airport as they drag me kicking and screaming on to that plane in November.   Other than my grandparent's lake home in New Hampshire, there has been no other place on this earth that has let me feel at home.   Over the past six weeks I was able to immerse myself in all the old and new of this beautiful Island Nation of Hawai'i. 

Here are some shots from my recent trips to Hawai'i (the Big Island), Molokini, Lana'i, and Maui.  We will return to Maui and Lana'i, I hope as our trip was cut short due to a round of the flu.  Could have been from all the Vog from  Kilauea . 

Click on the Photos to see them without my blog's velum finish.  Photo #1 Honu on the black sand beach at Punalu'u. We snorkeled here in the thermoclimes.  It was so cold, and so hot! There were so many turtles you had to just hold still so you did not bump into them.  We called it turtle soup! #2. The latest lava flow and growing point of the island of Hawai'i.  #3. Annika standing at the edge of the Waipi'o Valley. #4 Annika and Bryn exploring an old lava tube that emptied out of the side of a cliff 80 feet above lava boulders! eek! #5 Ko'olina Cove Beach, back here on O'ahu.  More Photos to come.  And, of course a blog on writing!