I cant' believe tomorrow is Labor Day and the summer will be over. Well, summer isn't "officially" over for a few more weeks - maybe a month or more based solely on the weather - but Labor Day is the end of the summer season. Wow, where did it go?

If I had to sum up this summer, I'd call it a perfect reflection of real life. There have been highs - like publishing a book, and lows - like 2 friends dying of cancer. And everything in between. It hasn't been perfect, but I honestly can't call it bad either. And I feel I must add that there were so many great movies out this summer too - the DVD's coming out this fall are going to be awesome!

I know a lot of people say it's been a long, hot summer. I'll agree with hot, but long? No. It seems we were just having our spring free thrift day at the church - but that was in mid May. It doesn't seem like over 3 months ago but it was. Time flies. Granddaddy always warned me to not wish my life away, but I suppose it's equally futile to cling to the past. Best to live in the present.

Am I ready for fall? Doesn't seem to matter - it's coming at the speed of time and it is what it is. I suppose one thing I do need to accomplish this fall is finishing up Splinter. That's the novel I was working on before the contracts for Blurry and Anywhere But Here came along. I suppose I better get that wrapped up before Anywhere But Here goes into pre-production in early 2012 if I want to submit it for publication next spring.

Well, that's my musing for the day. Enjoy your Labor Day. It's supposed to be a rainy one here, but that's ok. The summer came in with some vicious storms (and power outages at interesting times and under interesting circumstances too). I suppose it's natural it should go out that way.

Goodbye, Summer 2011! It's been real.

Hi folks; I hope you're doing well and having a great week. It's been busy!
On top of trying to catch  up with the work I didn't get done last weekend,
the galley came back for Blurry, so I have to go through that to check for typos
and formatting errors. Dull, dry work, but necessary. But Blurry is in book
format now, and will be released soon. I'm excited! 

So yes, I'm still alive and no,  I'm not missing. I haven't been
abducted by aliens. I haven't been held hostage by angry parrots (although that
could happen if I run out of peanuts!). I haven't fallen off the edge of the
earth. Just working, and cleaning house, and updating the website, and now
reviewing my book one last time before publication. 

I hope you're doing well. God willing, I'll return to the land of the living
this weekend. 

Happy Friday to you tomorrow and I hope you have a great start to the
weekend. 

Bye!

Well, I suspected it would happen: Just before the long weekend, publishers for both of my novels sent informationto complete. Fortunately, they gave some time and I got everything done. I suspected there would be times like this when I signed that second contract, but I still think it's worth it. 

I have (relative) publication dates for both novels now. Blurry, the young adult novel, will be released in August 2011. It's been edited and now I'm waiting on the copy editing, cover art, and website setup at Wings ePress.  Anywhere But Here, the supernatural mystery, will be released in April 2012. I just turned in the pre-publication information to Whiskey Creek Press and it's going to the editor and the cover artist next.

It's been a lot of work these past few days, but I've been glad to do it. Both books are in motion now, so I wait to hear back on the next steps. It's exciting! I'll be sure to keep you posted as they progress through the publication process. And now, I also pray for wisdom (and luck) in promotion and sales.

Since I've been busy with returning to work and on the novels, there's not much else to report. I am looking forward to some time away from the computer, though. Maybe I'll get back to reading, if I don't get caught up on the Star Trek episodes that Netflix has on streaming video now.

That's all for now. Here's hoping you have a good rest of the week.

Bye!

Finally, some success with short stories! My flash fiction piece titled "One Day" is the featured paragraph at Paragraph Planet today. You can read it today at http://www.paragraphplanet.com/index.htm . After today, you can go to http://www.paragraphplanet.com/archive.htm and look up the feature paragraph for June 27, 2011.

I know it's just a 75 word story, but after a four year dry spell anything is welcome!

I thought I was having a great week until I got knocked flat on my rear with a sinus infection today. I guess that cold really didn't go away, eh? Back on antibiotics. Ugh. At least I should get better now. I think I caught this one early.

I got my first round edits on Blurry yesterday and started going through them today. It wasn't the nightmare I anticipated, but I felt sheepish nonetheless. Man, my grammar is terrible. I really thought I went through that manuscript with a fine tooth comb before I sent it off, but egads. I have comma and capitalization issues, as in I don't use enough commas and I capitalize too much. I am learning. But really, I am glad for the feedback. It is making the manuscript better. I bristled a bit at the use of the word "whom" in a young adult novel, but I don't think I'm going to the mat for that one. It's not that big a deal and it only popped up twice so far.

A strange thing is happening these days. People from my past are popping back up. Not that it's a bad thing or that anybody I didn't want came wandering by, but it just seems odd that it should happen so often in such a short period of time. Last week, I ran into somebody I went to high school with, and Rick ran into somebody I went to college with. This week my cousin and an old friend from high school band found me on Facebook, and Rick saw my old boss. It's good to see and hear from them. It's just odd that it's all happening around the same time. Eh, who knows. Life is strange, right? It's all good. I'll keep rollin and they'll see that I'm still weird. Yea, they might find a name for what's wrong with me yet!

I'm trying to build up things over at Twitter. It's moving at about the same pace that building myself up on Facebook did, so that's ok. By the way, let me know if you're on Twitter and I'll be glad to follow you. I'm on there as SherritheWriter. I think I must have the worst online alias ever. But it's honest and simple. I'm Sherri, and I'm a writer. Makes sense, even if it isn't flashy or snappy.

Wow, the birds in a mood. I think my sick day threw them off. I spent some time explaining to Zack and Chloe that biting human fingers isn't considered a delicacy in any country on earth, and Ollie got fussy this afternoon. They rarely get like this. I must have really busted up some big birdy plans today. Sorry guys!

That's all for now. I hope you're having a good week. Happy Friday tomorrow and I'll see you later.

Bye!