I never said I was going to stay.

I borrowed the idea from preyforhuntress.

Here's a sample playlist of what I listen to when I'm working on my novel. Some of the songs just set the mood and others are associated with the characters. This should make it easier for me to keep all my songs in one place.

Enjoy!

Gah. I've only been watching True Blood for two weeks now and I'm already going through withdrawal with no new episode this week. I need my daily fix of Eric and Sam with a side of Jason.

You know, Eric is basically Sark, but as a vampire. It all makes sense now. Maybe I should do a compare/contrast picspam just for the fun of it.

**

Nerd alert! Congrats to us graduates!

I just sent out my query to the editor and 10 agent query letters. Wish me luck! I will probably be stalking my inbox now until I hear something (or maybe I won't, who knows?) BUT after I had already sent out four letters, I noticed I had a typo (forgot the word "a"). I really hope I don't get a rejection over one freaking letter! We'll see :( I'm not gonna stress out about it. Hitting the send button was still the best feeling ever.

Anyway, sending out the queries was just the start of a big week. More details to come.

So. The Heart concert was cool. They didn't play for as long as I would have liked, but they played the songs people expected (Alone, Crazy on You, Magic Man, Barracuda, etc.) But it was such a beautiful day--weekend actually. It was totally worth the trip. And I have Lacuna Coil to look forward to on Friday!

I saw "The Hangover" today. It had its funny moments, but it was pretty underwhelming to me. Bradley Cooper is still a hottie! Although I wish he could play a nice guy in just one movie! And Ed Helms's character was basically Andy on the big screen. *shrugs* Supposedly, there's gonna be a sequel.

I should really upload my school pics soon. I know you guys want to see me in my cap and gown :)

I know it's not 1976, but TONIGHT!



**

( I also caught up with True Blood )

Okay, the fact that I just looked up Alexander Skarsgård's astrological sign must mean I have a new fandom crush.

So.

SPAM ME! I want pictures, trivia, interviews--anything!

I also listened to Ryan Kwanten and Stephen Moyer do interviews and I know the show takes place in the South, but why couldn't Sookie's brother be, like, adopted from Australia or something so Ryan could use his real accent? Because guh. Same with Stephen and his British accent.

ETA: Does anyone know if there has been a recent True Blood friending meme? I need more TB fans on my friends page :)

**

Wrote my agent query letter last night. My goal is to send at least 10 of those out on Sunday along with my pages to the editor. Eek.

**

HEART in two days!!

Back home with a master's degree. I think it's finally hitting me that I am done with graduate school. No more monthly deadlines, critiques, school e-mails or bills, essays, week-long residences...and for the first time since 2006, I may have a free summer!

Yeah, I'm sad, and I'm sure it'll be just as bad as the post-Odyssey blues, but how about some happy news? Aside from the graduating thing ;)

SO. I pitched to Kate Seaver, senior editor at Berkley Publishing and she asked for a cover letter, synopsis, and the first 50 pages. Um. Whoo! Hold on. I mean, WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

She told me it would probably take 3-4 months to hear a response, but my plan is to query agents at the same time. So during those months Kate has my pages, I can put in my letter that an editor already has my proposal. I'm sure that will look good to an agent, so even if Kate passes on my book, I hope this will at least get me an agent.

That's my next big project.

Residency was a blast. The teaching module went really well. I love it when I see it click for the students and a couple of them came up to me after class and even a day or two later to tell me how much they liked it. Thesis presentation made me bawl. You know, the moment you start thanking your parents, the tears come out! It didn't help my parents were actually in the audience. They weren't even normal tears. They were the sobbing, can't talk or even breathe tears. Once I recovered, I read from my book, answered questions, and let out a big sigh of relief. And, I gotta say, nothing beats the feeling of going on stage to receive your diploma and hearing the words, "I'm proud of you" from your mentor as you hug him.

There's so much more to tell, but I'm exhausted and I don't want to go back to work. This is why I write fiction, so, I don't have to live in reality! I feel like the whole world is there for me to take. Gah. I don't want to come down from my cloud.

Alright folks. I'm signing off for now. By this time next week, I'll be someone with a master's degree! Wish me luck on my teaching module, thesis presentation, editor pitching session, and of course, graduation!

What is it with me and guys named Sam?

Anyway, I totally ODed on True Blood (the show, not the drink). Watched the entire first season yesterday, plus the season two premiere.

( Thoughts behind the cut )

So. Come on, people! Talk True Blood with me!

Yesterday's to do list included:
1. Panic.
2. Don't panic.
3. Rinse and repeat.

I pretty much went through another round of edits/revisions of the book last night after I realized I needed a clean copy for my school's library. We have to turn our thesis into a PDF for the library so that others can check it out and read it (weird and scary concept). I didn't want to turn in a copy with typos, missing words, etc. so I fixed all of that, plus did some more tweaking. There are still a few areas where I can beef it up, but that's for another day. Anyway, I didn't have as much editing as I thought I did based on my mentors' notes so I was pretty pleased with that. I also have to tell myself that it doesn't have to be 100 percent perfect now. Once an editor gets his/her hand on it, who knows what else is going to change?

But the best part is that I still fall in love with my book a little bit more each time I go through it.

And it occurred to me as I saw fanmix's posts on my friends list that when someone out makes an actual fanmix for my book, that would be the day I knew I made it as a writer. Haha. Dumb, I know.

Tonight, watching "Let The Right One In" (finally!) and practicing my thesis presentation.

It also looks like the Heart concert on July 3 is a go! Whoo!

Now that I've posted my Big Bang art for morgan32 and valiant, all my fandom obligations are done. You think this is the right time to take a step back? Hmm...

Thanks to wisteria_ for the link.