Finished my course!!!

Just finished a community course on writing for children! So thankful for the encouragement from family and friends!!!

Just keep writing, Just keep writing, Just keep writing, writing, writing...

Hi All,
So sorry for the long pause between my last post and now. I really don't have any one excuse as to why, just the craziness of life.

My work has me hopping on a plane in the morning to Hawaii. So i've packed insanely too much, run around crazy getting the house, husband, and kiddo settled for me being gone for 2 days and now it's time to settle before I wake up before having to wake up before the sun.

Jude is now three, wearing 4t clothes, size 10 shoes and is sillier than ever. He's not a fan of water at all, but bathtimes are starting to get easier. We are a couple weeks away from attempting a major potty training extravaganza. Being goofy and jokey is one of his favorite things.

On the writing front I've been enjoying a Writing For Young Readers online course through a community program. It is a lot of fun and very informative. It's given me the push to start on a new project I've had rolling around in my head for awhile. It's about a kindergartener with OCD who is struggling to learn what is different about him and how to fit in. I've got 3 completed manuscripts that I've been submitting to agents and publishers for awhile. I've got one lead at the moment, but no offers or guarantees at this point in time. All happy thoughts are appreciated and hey, if you know anyone in the writing world who may be interested feel free to pass my name along. :)

It's getting late so I need to head off and finish prepping for my trip. I will be trying to post more frequently and hopefully will have some book news sooner or later. All in good time.

Happy Reading!

My Kickstarter is Live! Details inside

Hi All!

Long time no blog...which I know is my fault.

I have exciting news! I have launched a Kickstarter project to raise funds to illustrate and self publish my very first children's book. Heepo The Hippo is a fun rhyming adventure book inspired by my son and his best friend, his stuffed Hippo. Please visit my project here and share it with everyone you know! Even if you donate now, the funds will not actually be processed until, and only if, the project is fully funded. The funds will cover, illustrations, publication, and the production of books.

Any and all support is welcome! Even if you can't donate, just passing along the link and sharing it with the world is very much appreciated!

Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns you may have.

Still Truckin' Along!

Good Morning All,

I am having such a wonderful time exploring my passion for writing children's books. Some days I go with no writing at all, but then I get a burst of inspiration and take to pen and paper, or computer and let the words flow. While the process is time consuming from start to finish, when you read your final product and feel an overwhelming sense of 'Holy cow, that sounds like an actual book,' it is pretty surreal. While I do not yet have any publisher's of accepted works, I do have almost 3 fully finished manuscripts that are being sent out and submitted and at least 2 more in the works!

I am so very blessed and thankful to have the support of my close friends and family during this adventure. They help me with encouragement, editing, and honest opinions that are so very important. I couldn't imagine getting through all this without them behind me.

I am also very excited to announce that I may have a publisher for one of my manuscripts! They have shown interest and we are working to setup a phone call to discuss further. It is in no way a for sure thing at this point in time, but it is very encouraging!

I have kept my notebook of ideas going after the PiBoIdMo event and have come up with a few that I think could really be good. It will just take time to really pan out their story lines. But when an idea hits you as you're falling asleep and just the idea of it causes you to giggle out loud as you scramble for paper and your glasses so you can write it down, it must be good...right?! :)

I hope you are all having a fabulous day! Hopefully I will be back to share more news soon and in the mean time I will continue to update on my adventure!

Much Love!

First Rejection Received....Check!

I apologize for the length of time between posts. During the holidays I had sinus surgery, enjoying time with family, and getting back to a normal schedule. I have continued to work on my writing and even have a completed manuscript!

I took part in a Twitter pitch event called #pit2pub and much to my amazement received the opportunity to submit my manuscript to a publisher for consideration! Just the opportunity was more than I could have asked for. I readied my query letter and sent it on it's way. Unfortunately it was rejected, however, I could not be more grateful for the chance and feedback received. The story itself they enjoyed, it was the mere fact that it did not fit what their company was looking for in age range and plot that caused the rejection. It is just the first of many and I am so happy that I have it under my belt.

I am looking forward to the next couple Twitter pitch events and continuing this journey. I am in the midst of another revision for one story that is very dear to me and I cannot wait until it is finished, but it is definitely not one I will be rushing.

I'm off to work on some writing and take advantage of my little one napping and being home from work early. It doesn't happen often!

I will check in again soon! And if anybody reading this knows of a publisher interested in a 0-3 year old fun rhyming picture book of an adventurous stuffed hippo, please feel free to contact me! :)

Much Love
Vicky

Back To Life...Back To Reality

Hi all!

So sorry for the absence! Boy, has it been a week or what?! We had a whole weekend with no plans but to be home as a family and play! Come Saturday evening though, someone had other plans for us. Our little guy came down with a stomach virus…gross! I will spare you the details, but let me tell you, I have never seen so much come out of something so little. He finally passed out on a bed of towels around 11pm only to wake up bright and early at 6am and announce to me “Mommy, I’m better!” Which was great, don’t get me wrong, but I had slept next to him all night, and each noise he made I was on high alert in case we needed the bucket again…so 11pm to 6am of very interrupted sleep for mommy does not compute into as much energy as a 2.5 year old the morning after a stomach bug. Go figure!

Sunday went well for the little one thankfully. He was still a bit hesitant to eat, which I can’t blame him. But I woke up with one of the worst headaches ever. I’ve experienced these headaches since my teen years and have been through tests and medications, you name it, I’ve tried it. I finally discovered recently that if I take Zyrtec every single day that they don’t pop up as often, but if I miss a dose or two, man am I in for it. And sure enough with the chaos of sickness I had missed two full days of Zyrtec. My amazing husband really stepped up at this point as there were a few times that I fell asleep on the couch that I don’t even remember it happening. The pain was so bad that a few times I was just rolling on the bed trying to find some sort of pressure point on my head to press on and try to relieve some of the pain. Sunday and Monday are a complete blur to me, I couldn’t even sleep through the night because of it, the pain kept waking me up. I managed to make it to the Dr. yesterday and now have steroids for a short while and I see an ENT on Friday which I haven’t seen for my headaches yet. I am hopefully that they will be able to check something that hasn’t yet been checked on and maybe provide some sort of long term relief!

Anyway, onto my writing updates! I am super impressed with myself that I have been able to stay on track with PiBoIdMo so far!! I haven’t missed a day yet even with my house of sickness this past weekend. I even asked my son for some advice on what mommy should write about, his answer, “Draw circles mommy!” and “A book.” We have determined that he may only be 2.5, but he has already mastered the art of being a smart aleck without even knowing it. Most of the time when we ask what he’d like for dinner or lunch, his response is “food.” You just have to love the honestly of a toddler, lol. The circle suggestion didn’t quite go anywhere or make it into my notebook, however, his ‘book’ idea intrigued me a little. I may have a bit of an idea for something there, we’ll see how it computes to paper when I get a real chance to hash out my thoughts on it.

I was so excited to have been able to attend Wordstock PDX 2015! I wasn’t able to stay long because I wasn’t feeling too well, but I was able to meet Ripple Grove Press. They are a publishing company based out of Portland, OR, just a short distance from where I live. I have enjoyed following them on Facebook and Twitter and their work is just beautiful! Since then I have even been able to submit my own manuscript to them for their consideration. It is now a long 5 month or longer wait to know anything, but I am eager to hear any feedback they may be able to provide, positive or negative.

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you are all having a wonderful day!!

First Submission...check!

Good evening all!

This will be a short post and I will follow up with a better one tomorrow. I just had to share that I submitted my first manuscript for publication today!!! I cannot wait to see what or if anything comes of it. The waiting process will be grueling since I am horrible at practicing patience, but it will all be worth it in the end!!

I should go now before I start typing sloppily due to my dropping eyelids. Check back soon for a longer post!

Thank you!!