While I Was Gone...

I'm back from my road trip!!!!! Thanks so much to everyone who continued to check my blog and leave feedback and encouragement during my absence. You guys are wonderful.

As you can imagine, I'm pretty wiped out. Driving 1200 miles in 4 days, plus keeping up with 30 students between the ages of 12 and 17 as we scamper from one historical site to another really puts a girl through her paces. But we got to see some amazing things, had loads of fun, and learned a LOT --- and what more could you want out of a school field trip?

HOWEVER....tired or not, travel-brained or not, I would count myself as no real human being if I didn't take a moment to say a couple of very important things....

First of all - THANK YOU to everyone who voted, and THANK YOU to the marvelous Lyn Midnight and her judges over at the WriMosFTW! website; because guess what - I won first place in the first line contest!!!

This is amazing to me because I never win anything. EVER. Not even the "gag gift" door prize of the 50 lb bag of dog food at the company Christmas party. (Put this in context:  I don't have a dog.) So it was a huge honor to be included in the top 12, let alone to get the most votes overall. Not really sure how that happened, actually....there were some stellar entries!!

Congratulations also goes out to the fantabulous Jenny Adams and the magnificent Regina Grey, who both scored some pretty sweet prizes. Hit them up on Twitter if you haven't discovered them already!!

As for my own prize - it makes me the proud owner of Rochelle Melander's book Write-a-Thon, which is itself an amazing tool for taking my NaNoWriMo project to the next level. I can't wait to get my hands on it! With two working rough drafts and a soon-to-be third, I know this volume of writer-ly insight is just what I need to help me with the next step in my quest to be published.

But the best part of all this?? I have made some amazing friends. These gals, and others I have met through NaNo (and especially through Twitter) have proven to be the most encouraging bunch of die-hard writers I've ever met. Go check out their websites, and find them on Twitter if you're in that corner of the social networking universe.

Now....to make tracks with my word count!! Have a great day and keep on writing!!!