1.  With categories like Agent Blogs, Publishing Resources, and Fun for Writers, Writer’s Digest’s 101 Best Websites for Writers is a cornucopia of interesting and useful information.  Check it out here:  http://writersdigest.com/article/101-websites-2009?p_PageAlias=101BestSites

2.  http://queryshark.blogspot.com/…sometimes bordering on mean, always hilarious this blog takes apart actual query letters, revealing their weaknesses.  The coolest part is that a participant (chum, my term) can send a revised query letter and have it torn apart all over again.  Oh, and when the query finally becomes acceptable, it gets posted with praise.  By the way, the chum is a willing victim, having to send in their query letter for mauling.

3.  Hooray to Kelsey Timmerman for conjuring a long, and obviously well thought out (not to mention fast) response from the powers that be at the Indianapolis Zoo.

4.  I luv my new dishwasher.

5.  Writing a short story is taking wayyyyy longer than I thought it would.  How the heck do I end this thing?

6.  Does anyone else have a Dear Abby addiction?

7.  I was thinking about country music earlier this week.  I listened the genre for awhile during  one of my “phases” as a teenager.  I kinda miss George Strait and Randy Travis, and even (I can’t believe I’m admitting this) Garth Brooks…’The Dance’ and ‘The Thunder Rolls’ people!  May have to investigate…

8.  I’m thinking about purchasing a Slurpee machine…okay, not really…but man alive, they are goood.

9.  Man alive!  There are men alive in here!

10.  So I read Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen a few days ago.  It was my first Dessen novel, good read, I think I like her.

11.  How did all those turtles get on the runway anyway?

12.  Learning about how to get more traffic to my blog is really boring, like high school economics boring.

13.  Can’t help it, I have to mention the House of Grey podcast again.

14.  It is 103 degrees at 1:30 pm in Fort Worth, Texas…that’s outside, not in my oven.

15.  Whew! Made it again!

1.  Writing short stories is fun.

2.  I found a new site, http://www.querytracker.net/index.php that is REALLY cool and helpful.

3.  Getting traffic to my blog is a lot of work for little results (so far)…does anyone have any suggestions?

4.  I wonder why mattresses go on such deep discount for the Fourth of July…freedom=sleep?

5.  One week down from when I sent my full manuscript out to an agent…just seven more to go!

6.  Sometimes doctors are just as clueless as the rest of us and sometimes schools make the right decisions.  This is shockingly different from what I’ve believed for many years.

7.  One of our cats, Cally, likes to leave “presents” on our front porch things like bunny ears, a mouse tail or birds legs…he always eats the best part and I guess he thinks he’s being generous by giving us the leftovers.  Not that long ago I burst out laughing when I saw that he left us part of a hot dog.  I really hope he didn’t have the nerve to hunt it during the actual cook out, but I wouldn’t put it past him.

8.  It’s very nice to have the Bird home from camp, but it isn’t so great doing the laundry he brought with him.

9.  I was going to put a pic of my dog on here, to prove that my dog is uglier.  That’s why we got her.  We went to the pound about 5 years ago in search of the most unadoptable dog in the place and chose our dear Lola.  When I looked at the pic though, I realized that she’s very photogenic.

10.  “Make it or Break it” is better than “Secret Life of the American Teenager” but not nearly as trashy…yet.

11.  I can’t help it, I thoroughly enjoyed “Princess Protection Program”.

12.  I have one minute to come up with 3 more things!!!

13.  Stuffed Salmon Bel Mar from Target it AMAZING…try some!

14. I wonder when I will watch a show or movie for adults…I just love the kid stuff so much…shout out to iCarly!

15.  This is number 15.

I’m thinking about giving a theme to my Friday blog post.  It has to be just vague enough to encompass everything since I am an expert at nothing, unless you count procrastination… and it MUST have alliteration so as to be interesting enough to read.  I suppose.  There will be no guidelines, no specific rhyme or reason…just fifteen things (experiences, thoughts, or interesting things I read about) from the week.  It may suck, and it may never show up again since I naturally rebel against anything scheduled or regimented.  Here goes…

1. Reading and writing all day long is not good for the waistline so I am sitting on a big blue yoga ball.  Not really sure how this is helping anything…

2. Quality is MUCH better than quantity when it comes to friends.  Someone who will spend the time to figure out how to get her fist pic in a link for your blog is a TRUE friend.

3. My song of the week: I’m Not Here from the Treasure Planet soundtrack.  Listened to it many times this week, so naturally I will hate it next week.

4. I bet Johnny Rzeznick never gets his name spelled correctly.

5. Too much fun is not good for kids.  They turn into little monsters if you let them get too worn out.

6. Husbands don’t like it all that much when you blog about them catching the house on fire.

7. Starting a sequel is hard when you decided not to write down all your ideas (thought there was no way I could possibly forget–then I went to sleep) for it when writing the first.  Lesson learned.

8. Online chats can be more fun than frustrating if it’s with the right people in the right forum.

9. Monkey hula shirts are sooo cute.

10. You can use a slip ‘n slide without knocking the wind out of your lungs.  At least my kids can.

11. Writers are some of the nicest, most helpful, supportive professionals.  As a newbie, I expected to be ignored for awhile.  Every writer’s blog that I’ve commented on has been replied to.  Great advice has been given, and these people are published!

12. House of Grey is a totally rad  podiobook.  www.houseofgreybook.com  It’s up for several Parsec awards…Way to go Collin and Chris!!!

13. Even the biggest celebrities are mortal…yet immortal when they leave behind piqued imaginations, new ideas and an example of either how or how not to live life.

14. I won the Dad lottery.

15. Funny or thoughtful?  I vote for funny, although thoughtful can be nice….no….funny.  By the way, I ditched the yoga ball 8 numbers ago.