Crossing off my list...

I have decided to get this book out by April 1, 2014.  Here are the things I can cross off of my list:

1. Contact cover artist
2. Redo end scenes
3. Get blog up
4. Get Facebook up
5. Find Editor

1.  The Fan Girl cover is going to be AMAZING.  Najla Qamber Designs are going to blow my mind.  I can feel it.  I've already picked the image I want to use, told her my vision.  I fully expect her to run with it.  Thank you S. L. Jennings for recommending her, I can't believe how affordable she is! 
2.  Several Betas were unhappy with the way I ended the book.  I turned up my Ellie Goulding after putting the minions to bed and wrote three thousand words that ripped my heart out.  Sniveling at my computer I was surprised when my husband pulls an ear bud, "Why are you crying babe?"  I cover my face with my hands and cry, "It's so good!"  He laughed, relieved nothing was wrong and went back to his X-Box game.  Poor guy.  I was in bed until 2a.m. tossing, turning and slapping him on the shoulder still sniveling, still teary but completely high on what happened.  My first Beta, that hasn't read the first ending is going to read it shortly and I can't wait for her reaction.
3.  Blog is up.  Obviously.  Upon setting it up I realized I have very little pictures of myself so I'm working on remedying that.
4.   Facebook is up!  Every day I yell through the house, "I have 6 likes!" "I have 8 likes!" 
5.   My search for an editor has been so frustrating.  One small company asked for my first chapter, said I had a ton of mistakes and then sent me an edit of the first page, with two added words.  She tells me I had two sentences that start with I, and then she started them with As I.  So I sent the same first page to the second company while talking to a fellow author that I am beta-ing at the moment.  She says, "Send me your first chapter and I'll look."  Getting the first page from the editor, and then reading what my fellow author did with it is like night and day.  She suggests another editor, someone who did great work with her sample chapter, and enhanced her story.
       I feel like I have the meat and bones.  Now I need the skin to contain it, hold it's shape and be pretty.  Reading all of the self-publishing articles I've seen the point made time and again how important it is to choose the right person to revise your work.  I get it.  Now, for some tunes:

 

 

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2014 Resolutions....

 What happens when I've written 50k words in seven days, have my first alcoholic beverage in over month and it's New Years Eve?  I went to bed at 8:30p.m. foolishly thinking my husband would wake me up at midnight.  Nope, next thing I know it's 5a.m and the first kid is popping out of bed.  Why then am I so happy?  I'll tell you.  It started like this:

As with every morning upon hearing a child's voice I reach simultaneously for my glasses and cell phone to tell me what ungodly hour they've woken up.  5:02 a.m. flashes my phone.  This is actually normal, anything earlier and I can hope to give an essential oil and/or sippy cup and go back to sleep.  Under the time on my beloved IPhone I see that I received a message.  S. L. Jennings wrote me back in regards to my earlier email asking her advice on self-publishing overseas.  She suggests I talk to Calia Read, another amazing author who happens to be stationed at the same base in Germany I am.  Yay! 

After changing a diaper and getting breakfast for the gang I sit down with my coffee and laptop to check my email.  One of my Beta's left me this:

Hi Brandi, 

It's 3:04 am on New Years Day. I just finished "Fan Girl" and I can happily say I couldn't put it down. I'll send you more of a review after the holiday "#, but I just wanted to let you know I finished it and LOVED it! I want to trade places with Ali - and I want a hunk like Deklan! LOL! 

Happy Writing, 

 More yay!!  2014 is starting out A-MAY-ZING!  So what are my resolutions and goals for this year?  I thought I would post them a) Because I need to get better at my social media voice #awkward and b) If it's out in the world I'm held accountable and have to do it.  Here we are:

1. Self-Publish Fan Girl, Baby Girl and Farm Girl on CreateSpace and Kindle Direct Publishing.
2. Lose at least twenty pounds.  Everyone has weight loss resolutions and I'm no different.  I have an image in my head of what Brandace Morrow- Author looks like and it's not Brandi- post four kids.  Last last year (2012) I lost twenty pounds, and kept it off for a year.  I'm going to do the dreaded thing, exercise.
3. Take more family vacations.  We know this will (better be) our last full year in Germany.  I want to take the kids places, do things, before we leave.  Having said that...
4. Save save save save save, because when we leave here we aim to buy our first house. Fingers crossed for Alaska.

 Now, to bring #1 to fruition I must get back to editing with my lovely assistant. 

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