Busy Busy Busy

It's hard to believe I haven't posted since my big announcement, but with said announcement comes the hard work of doing what needs to be done with the submission process and writing the second book. It's strange how things have changed now that I'm another step closer to being a "professional writer" and I'm not just doing this as a "hobby" anymore. I got off to a stumbling start over Christmas break. I'm married to an Italian, which means the 24th to the 26th are nonstop food days. And they were great. I even managed to hammer out 1200 words on the 26th using Google Docs on my phone. I'm all business.

I'm just going to have to really buckle down in the next few months. I've got a lot of plates spinning. I'm a HS English teacher too. It's been an already insane year that has been compounded by a few things that have been thrown on my plate this month. I'm going to be working with an education professor colleague from Syracuse University that I've worked with the last few years in a professional development manner directly in my classroom. We'll be co-teaching and working hand in hand at improving writing for urban students. It's exciting and daunting. She's a pretty impressive lady. It just means my planning has to be stellar. The bonus being she and I will be planning together and it's already going really, really well. On top of that, we're going to be working with the social studies teacher on my team (we team teach Freshman) at integrating and rolling out the new "Common Core" that we're switching to. It's SUPER daunting considering some things that I won't talk about publicly. That alone means I'm going to be busy. Add on to the fact that I am planning not one but two major surgeries this year (I will blog about them in the near future) and I'm slowly integrating working out back into my schedule.

And I've promised my agent I am going to try and write a very big book in 90 days! I wrote up my writing plan and think I have outlined and planned enough that if I keep myself to task, I could get in a sick amount of words (750k).

And I want to keep blogging (Trope of the Week and add some more features.)

And I want to fire up a sports blog.

And I have never been more excited about my life.

Pay It Forward Blogfest

So, it seems that some nice folks have decided to get some people reading other people's blog and I am all for it. So here are some blogs about writing (and other stuff) that I follow fairly religiously:

1. Beanstalks and Bookends
Mike Winchell and I went to high school together....but didn't know one another. (You go to a school with 3,000 kids and see if you know everyone you went to school with!) We wound up getting together via Query Tracker about a year or so ago and became fast "Internet" friends, though at some point he and I have to get a beer together, hopefully to celebrate our first publishing victory!

2. University of Fantasy
Eleanor and I have known one another for a long time. We were both neophytes at writing, but she was 15 and I was 20 something. She from that funny little island England, me from the States. I've watched her come a long way as a writer and it's interesting to see the evolution. The Internet is a beautiful thing.

3. TK42One
Perhaps my most trusted beta and friend on the Internet. Has kept my head above water many, many times over the years.

4. Hoover's Corner
Kenneth Mark Hoover is a brash, opinionated scifi/dark fantasy writer.

5. Rene Sears, Slush Reader/Editor/E-Book Guru
Pyr Books editor and slush reader and one of my favorite Twitter conversationalists about all things bookish and geekish!

Give these wonderful folks a chance, will ya?