My Birthday Wish...

So my birthday is tomorrow and I've got mixed feelings. I'm not one of those folks who gets all depressed about birthdays (I may feel differently some day - but my mom doesn't either - so I don't think so) but I don't really know how to feel about it. Every year I feel a little wiser (whether I am or not - I feel it) because I try to learn more about myself all the time and from my mistakes and relationships. That's what life is about to me - I don't want to ever stop that - that's when people become stagnant and stop evolving. Being a person who is averse to change, this isn't an easy thing for me - but absolutely necessary.

Here's what I'm looking at right now... (1) waiting to find out (next week) if a publisher is interested in a picture book submission that I teamed with an illustrator to do - keep your fingers crossed for me (2) waiting for my All About Kids article to come out at the end of next week/beginning of the following week -hope people learn something from it (3) trying to follow the advice of my own article and get my work life back on track in the new year (26 days in!) ... I have so many ideas floating around in my head. I really need to get some outlines going and get back into the market. I'm way out of the loop on what's new with what publishing companies and what submissions are hot right now.

Here's my birthday wish ~ acceptance... every variation of the word. I want to accept people for how/who they are; I want for others to accept me just the way I am; and I wish for others to also accept each other for the way they are. Totally hokey, but differences are good... great actually. Accept them!

It's not you, it's me...

I've thought for a long time that friendships are like romantic relationships in a lot of ways - only harder. You invest time and emotional deposits into a relationship with a friend who may or may not pan out for the long haul. The reason friendships can be more difficult is that you can't break up with a friend - there aren't conversations about you just not being compatible... it's not you it's me. It's also harder because you can't just be a friend who plays the "friend field." When you run into a friend and you are with another friend - it's awkward; let's be honest. The whole - 'why didn't she invite me for coffee,' or 'we went here for lunch last week together' is so hilarious to me. Are you truly expected to call every single friend you have every time you want to do something? I'm not even touching on the disconcerting nature of families doing something together and running into a third family while doing so - are we expected to get a table for 25 every time my family wants to do something with another family? At least when you have a romantic partner (boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife - whatever) - you don't feel bad when you run into someone when you are on a lunch date with them or having coffee or shopping.

The funny thing is that men don't have that problem - my husband has different degrees of friends - almost seasonal friends if you will. Friends that he talks to much more during certain sport seasons. Most men could care less if one of their buddies includes someone else and not them on activities. If they do, 9 times out of 10 it's because the woman in their life pushed them into being bothered by it (which they probably still aren't bothered but say they are to get the woman off of their back). Women who try to arrange their husband/boyfriend's social life is very annoying - ex: 'Oh -so and so is just going to be hanging around the house on Saturday, why don't you have Bob call him to do something.' Ugghh ... that's a whole other topic all together.

My trouble is that I give way too much personal info too quickly when I'm building friendships - this gives leverage in the friend transition stage. I end up trying to prove that I can open up and in doing so go way overboard in that department. Let's just cut each other some slack... like I always say about my son - there are much worse things in life than having too many people enjoy your company. Put yourself in other people's shoes when it comes to friendships - don't act like the stalker friend who spies to see who went where with whom and when... I've seen it done - trust me; it's not pretty.

Here's to friends who pan out - you know who you are

So far so good...

So far, 2008 is pretty good. I have a good feeling of professional things to come this year as well. I just submitted my "real mom" article for February - All About Kids Magazine. It turned out to be what I was hoping for and with the patient editing back and forth with the managing editor, I think we reached a nice consensus. I also submitted (at the buzzer of 2007) a picture book with storyboards for illustrations and 2 final illustrations - I should find out about that by February 1st as well - so I guess I should say February is looking good so far!

I went and spoke with a 1st grade class earlier in the week and the class was adorable! They were so attentive and asked really good questions about the book, writing, VCU, and me. One of my nephews was in the class and his classmates made him feel lucky because he can look at the book any time he wanted to - very sweet. They wrote me the cutest "Thank you book" wherein each of them took a page to write a note and draw a picture - some were of me reading and some were of basketball and some were of them with me. Very creative and thoughtful of the teacher.

There are a few fresh ideas floating in my head, but I feel like I should sharpen some old manuscripts first. Sometimes it's good to let a 1st draft breathe for a little bit to get fresh ideas in and old ones that seemed fun at first out. It does frustrate me that there are some stories that I've submitted over the years that are technically still in limbo. You never know - I had an e-story published after the company called about a submission from a year and half prior. I'm absolutely not complaining, but I am so impatient - that's tough for me.

Hope everyone else's '08 is "so far so good" as well!~