Summer in the City Blogfest

Two posts in one day?  You betcha!

I just got a friendly reminder about a blogfest I signed up to do, and now need to post for it!  (Thanks for that reminder Bess!)  Bess Weatherby is hosting the Summer in the City blogfest.  The goal of the fest?  It's a two part fest:  First, to post what our WIP looks like at the moment.  Second, to share some of our goals for this coming summer.  Can you believe it's summer already... Oh man.

(And boy is summer coming!  Here in Portland, we have had sun all weekend now and most of us have no idea what to do with it.  I for one could never live in a mostly hot climate... I am already dying!)

So here it is!

My WIP.  I will take this literally and actually show what it looks like right now. Ha ha.

To be exact, that is a shot of:  My paper edit.  Topped with the final grammar edit a friend did for me.  And in the background on my monitor:  The doc of a one other grammar edit another friend did, and finally my WIP doc, all open and getting polished.  PHEW!

I am currently on the final edit round of PN.  (Prison Nation for those of you just joining me.)  I hope this is the final round.  Ok, I need to make this the final round.  You can only edit a book so much.  I am so excited to see where this thing I call a novel goes.  Now I just need to get my butt back in gear and finish the round.  The sun has been tempting me too much, and my computer and WIP have become neglected. (Good and bad thing, I suppose)

And now for part two of the Blogfest

My Summer Goals:

- Finish PN.  I am so stinkin' close it's crazy.

- Submit PN to the few agents on my list.  Scary scary thought, but I don't think I will ever feel like a full out author unless I have submitted, and been potentially rejected as well.

- READ.  I think I am still grumbling about not having a book review for last Friday.  This summer, I plan to sit out on my back deck whenever the kiddos allow, and devour my TBR shelf. 

- Finish In the Blood.  This was my WIP before I took on NaNoWriMo and created Prison Nation.  ITB is about 1/3 done and I really would love to finish it by the end of this summer.

- Plot out this year's NaNoWriMo novel.  I am still torn between two ideas... I hope one wins!

- Photograph.  Photography is my other passion, when not writing.  I just got a new camera (Thanks to my hubby's amazing mom day present!) and I am slowly learning how to use all of its DSLR awesomeness.  This August I am second shooting a wedding with a friend... and am very excited!  Time to click away even more.

- Self-Publish PN.  If all else fails, and all the agent responses are those lovely "Thank you, but..." emails, I will be self-publishing PN via CreateSpace.  This will be the tail-end summer goal.  I will let the hope that maybe I will be swooped off my feet and carried into the "I have an agent" world carry me through the summer.  And if it doesn't happen, I WILL be joining the awesome Indie Author ranks.

- Get out.  For those of you who don't know, I have a family of four, and we live in a two bedroom apartment that has been under construction and repairs since February. It is literally in a huge white tent.  I feel like ET being fumigated at all hours.  This summer, I plan to get my kiddos and myself out into the sun.  Beach, parks, zoo.  All of that.  Sorry computer, you can't come.

I think that is a good enough list for these coming summer months!  Do you have goals for the summer?   
Remember: Where lots of sunscreen, eat Popsicles, invest in aloe, and never forget to write.

Thanks for hosting such a great Blogfest Bess!