Happy Morning everyone!

(trying to shake things up by replacing "Good" with "Happy"...living on the edge!)

So, here's my question to you:

Let's say that you are phone-less and stuck in a Doctor's Office waiting room, where you will be for the next fifteen minutes, and on a nearby table you see the following literature options:

  • Celebrity News Magazine
  • Photography Magazine
  • Easy Recipes Magazine
  • Diary of a Wimpy Kid (a novel by Jeff Kinney)
  • Safe Haven (a novel by Nicholas Sparks)

Which one would you choose?

Your honest opinion really makes a difference because I'd like to update this site with articles and/or stories that will be useful to you.

So, I invite you to take the poll below and let me know what kind of a reader you are : )

Thanks so much for taking the time to offer your opinion!!




 
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So...in the 90's there was this movie called Twister.

Anyone remember that?

Yeah, Helen Hunt starred in it as a scientist (I think she was technically a scientist) who chased tornadoes.

I remember watching it and thinking, "Wow, that's such a cool job- but kind of difficult to say the least." *

But you know what? In some ways, taking on writing as a career choice is very similar to becoming a professional Tornado Chaser.

Every day, you do your research to find out which areas have weather conditions that are perfect for the possible appearance of a tornado.

A writer, everyday, does their research in finding out how s/he can bring attention to their work- either through self-publishing or through an agent.

You pick an area that's not too far from your home base, travel there, set up, and yet keep on the lookout to either move to a better location or chase the tornado when it happens to pass through.

The writer decides on the most logical method of bringing attention to their work, sets up their website, their strategy, and yet keeps on the lookout for a better avenue, one that may work a little better...they keep writing...they keep looking...they work, wait, work, wait, etc...

So, it's a lot of waiting.

The smell of rain is in the air, the sky is dark, it even starts to drizzle, but is the tornado going to come?

You're tempted to move but you know, according to Murphy's Law, that if you move to a different location, she'll come and she'll be an F-5.

Writing, as a career, definitely has it's similarities.

Finding either an audience or an agent is the tornado that we chase and I'm thinking that I need to change my strategy because I've been standing in the rain for a while now.

Even my shoes are soaked.

Aww...I was going to end there, but that's so depressing! 

Sadness!

Instead of ending on such a sad note, I'll finish this with a picture of the most handsome*** man in all the universe- click here to be amazed.



*Footnote:
Please note that this was a paraphrase of my thought process.
During the time, I was but a wee lass (suddenly I'm an Irish chick from the 1900's!) so I was probably thinking something more like,
"I'm so hungry- oh he's cuuutte!! I wish I had a box of Pop Tarts- oh no...Mom's pulling into the driveway argh! Quick, turn off the TV and pretend you're doing homework**, ouch! Hate it when I stub my toe! Pain-pain! I'm so glad I'm not a tornado chaser like Helen Hunt in Twister, that's way dangerous and I'd probably stub my toe tons more than I do now..."




**Just kidding Mom.



*** The phrase "the most handsome" is used loosely. Very loosely.






 
Ever felt kinda ugly?Yeah, me too.

But it's okay because as an unattractive woman who is unsuccessful in every area of her life, I must confess that living in the land of ugly loserdom does come with a few perks!

Here they are:

Ugly Perk 1:    Most women are not intimidated by an ugly peer, so ugly women have lots of friends!

Having friends who aren't intimated by me is great. They know there's no reason to compete with me and therefore, feel comfortable enough to talk to me about things that they may not share with prettier friends. This makes for a great sisterhood of the traveling pants bond, although I'm usually too fat to fit into their pants...but whatever.
 
Also, when I'm  having one of those really rough ugly-girl days, I get to hang out with one of my BFF's, watch The Holiday or Pride and Prejudice, gossip about nonsense, and eat tons of chocolate (and then I really can't fit into anyone's pants- not even my own)!

Perk 2:     The Unattractive Female is Not Distracted By Hot Guys Chasing Her Down!
Yeah, so naturally, good looking men are attracted to good looking women. I used to feel pained when some hot guy would be like, "Hey Paula!" and I'd turn around, he'd walk up to me, look deep into my eyes and say, "So, where's your friend Llama?" (Noooo...I don't actually have a friend named Llama, I just figured it was a safe enough fake name to use)

To be honest sometimes it does still bother me when stuff like that happens, but I've also learned that being in a relationship is a lot of drama and instead of relationship drama, I get to fake-live all of my drama in the stories I write.

That sounds sad and pathetic, but it doesn't bother me, I like focusing on my work instead of on some real-life Jude Law look alike (yeah, I'm still thinking about The Holiday) whose got tons of baggage that he wants to dump on me.
 
Perk 3:     The Life of An Ugly Makes For Great Material As A Stand Up Comedian!
There have been tons of times (and maybe you, a normal-looking person, have also experienced this) when I've been in a really bad situation and I'm crying like a little girl (I know- sooo embarrassing) and then I stop crying and start laughing because it's so stupid it's funny.

In any case, there's a silver lining in everything.

Everything.

Even in having the face of a beat-up calculator that's lying in the middle of the street and has, clearly, been run over by a mac truck...even when, a monkey runs into the scene, screeching as he picks up the calculator, shimmies up a tree with it, and then throws the calculator into a lake.

Even having that kind of a face comes with a silver lining.