Exciting News!

Hello all!

I have some exciting news to talk about this week! Earlier this week I found out that I was the runner up in a poetry contest that my campus held (Roxana Rivera Memorial Poetry contest)! I got to read my poem on stage in front of people, including the guest judge Nickole Brown who is a professor at Little Rock, Arkansas.

Brown read some of her work, and oh man it was awesome! It was really great talking to her afterward about the poem that she had picked for runner up. It was a totally new experience to me and it was really all around awesome! It was nice to know that my poetry is good enough that an author picked it, especially considering I'm a fiction person and not a poetry person.

Being chosen basically led to.. well... this!

Then turned into this...

But I made it through! I talked a little fast, and I felt a little awkward at first, but I got through it! And I enjoyed it! I won a notebook to write in and a 25 dollar Amazon gift card. Not too shabby if I do say so myself!

So guys, what have you won/been recognized for/etc!? Brag/share/toot your own horn!

Exhausted like a... kitten?

picture owned by Ella Mullins

So I've picked this picture for two reasons. One: I LOVE cats. Who doesn't? Look at it! Sleeping there! Two: This is how I feel right now. I would like to apologize for not posting yesterday, but as most of you know, I'm sure, sometimes life throws your curve balls. It's really not anything to do with writing or such so I'll just go ahead and jump back into the groove of this blog!

I'm very excited to say I've been asked to read at the open mic on campus for the literary magazine that is going to be publishing me in May. I plan on reading a poem, which is nerve wracking, because I don't consider myself a poet. But it's an adventure!... right?

Another thing is, I've never read my work in front of a group of people before, so this ought to be interesting. I will either stutter, vomit, or cry. Possibly all three, you never know! I'm also not sure if I want to read something I've already written or something new. They don't want me to read what I'm getting published because they want me to read that at the release party! So many readings, so little time!

Besides all that news, I'm about 10k into editing my WIP! I want it to be ready to be sent out to beta's within a month of two. We'll see if that actually happens! I'm very determined to get it done though because I want to start querying to some agents soon!

How is everyone else's writing/editing going?

RTW 170: Best Book of February

Hey all! I know I'm breaking my 'posting on Friday' thing, but as I said before I will do this from time to time!

So I have decided to participate in my first ever Road Trip Wednesday put on by the good people at YA highway. (If you don't read their blog, you should, CLICK HERE to get to their blog.) It's just something to get people to write about either reading or writing topics. They're quite fun and I suggest you take a look at them! A lot of great people take part in them!

Anyway, this Wednesday's topic is the best book you've read in February. Unfortunately, with how busy I've been this past month, I haven't been able to get much reading done. However, I just today finished a really amazing book:

The Animal Gospels
By: Brian Barker

This is actually a book of poetry. I know for a lot of you out there, this may make you cringe. For a long time, the thought of reading any poetry made me cringe. (Still to this day a lot of older poetry makes me scratch my head in confusion.) However, this book is really great. It's a quick read that really draws you in. Some of the poems in the book aren't as good at the others, but there are multiple within that really are a must read. His voice is fresh and stays modern throughout all of the poems. Some are sad, some are funny, and some are just out there. This book sells for rather cheap on Amazon (I had to buy it for a class) and I would definitely recommend picking it up!

What was your best read of February?