Why should you stop what you are doing right now and head over there? Because she is giving away a FREE SUBSTANTIAL EDIT!

Omgoodness… do you know how much that is worth? 300-500 bucks! So really, stop what you are doing and head over and enter. It only takes a few clicks and a tweet or seventeen (who’s counting?).

CA is an excellent editor and knows her stuff.

So what are you waiting for… Go here now!

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Even got a snazzy blog update and a new business card for the event. Hoping to market myself as a MG author while I am there… maybe turn some heads in a good way.

It’s going to be a lot of fun regardless of what comes out of it. We all have a 10 minute pitch appointment with one of three agents we selected. We don’t find out who we received until we get to the conference on Friday. Which means little time to tailor your pitch… But it should be okay.

The pitching park should  make me mighty nervous… I mean really! But for some reason I’m just telling myself, “Be yourself Eisley… Knock em dead!” Haha Hopefully not too dead though, wouldn’t that be bad.

News at 10:00:: Agent falls over dead after talking with the fabulous Eisley Jacobs.

Hmmm, maybe I should tell myself something else. Something less incriminating.

In any event, I will be pitching DEGLAN RISING, which will hopefully have a more MG name by Friday… and a new query. Because something about my query just isn’t grabbing the agents… I think it’s just not MG enough. Which I get…

So, if you need me this week… I will be around working my tail off getting ready for the conference

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If you have never heard of Google Alerts… let me be the first to tell you how important it is to you.

I can almost guarantee Donita K. Paul, author of the DragonKeeper Chronicles; Robert Liparulo, author of the Dreamhouse Kings series; and Karen Kostlivy, author of Cyber Writers and the Zebra of Life all use Google Alerts.

(Kathy, Robert and Donita… can you please respond to this message so I may prove a point? Hehe… thanks.)

Other then simply typing their name in this post, I will not send them a personal note saying, “Hey I mentioned you”. Nope, instead I will let Google Alerts do that job and hopefully they will respond.

How does it work… It’s really quite simple. Follow this link to Google Alerts and you will get a screen that looks similar to this one:

You can see in the image above that I have put my own name into the “Search terms:” field. Basically I am telling google that any time anyone puts my name into a blog post or tweet or anywhere on the web, Google Alerts will send me an email (Deliver to box above) telling me when, where and who said my name.

Why is this valuable to you?

Because marketing is important to your novel! If you are releasing your first novel, like for instance Kristie Cook just published her first novel Promise (http://www.ihavepromise.com/ – She has a great Labor Day Deal going on if you haven’t picked it up!). She wants to see the awesome reviews that people are posting on their blogs and she wants to make sure she responds to each of them in a timely matter. Do you know how cool it is to have the author of the book you are blogging about comment on your blog post? For good old fashion readers… It’s way cool!

I have a great personal example. I used to have a blog with Veggietales theme. If you don’t know what the Veggietales are, I strongly urge you to check it out if you have preschoolers in your house. Not only is it hilarious to them but they throw in some great jabs for adults too. Bunny trail: So, one day I was blogging about Veggietales, wondering if I should facelift my blog. Lo and behold, Brian one of the Chief Officers at Big Idea itself comments on my blog! Besides the fact that I almost died right there on the spot, it really made me have a new found respect. I mean I was a peon, in their eyes. Not that I am still not one… I digress… yet he took the time to just give me a quick comment. THAT is fabulous marketing! I still buy every Veggietales that comes out… and this maybe the reason why. I appreciate the company and their personal touch.

If you need more examples of how Google Alerts works for you… I say try it. You can choose how many results you get (as you can see in the box) and how often. Usually I get 1-2 emails a day with up to 20 results on one page. All clickable so I can immediately go to the site and check it out.

It is a fabulous tool to help you hear the “buzz” of what is going on around the web about your upcoming novel or you!

Will you try it?

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Well, I am headed to the park in a little while so I only have a few minutes to Flash, but Flash I will. Today’s flash will be about the two cats that are arguing for placement here in my house…

Enjoy!

—

I was so scared sitting in that metal contraption surrounded but hundreds of other unwanted animals. Every time the humans would come to tend to me, I would panic and hiss. I just wanted to go home. But where was home? My Mommy moved to Japan, I heard my last caregiver say. But why would my caregiver bring me here? Wasn’t there another option?

“Pepper?” The voice of the man in the white coat called through the bars. “You’ve been busted out.”

What did that mean? Had my Mommy come to rescue me from Japan?

The man grabbed at me and shoved me into the plastic crate. I hissed as he carried me roughly through the crowded halls.

“Is this Pepper?” The man asked the small girl who stood nearby. She looked vaguely familiar. I crept forward and meowed my gasp. I knew her. I’d seen her at my caregivers house many times. At last, someone I knew.

“Please, please take me home!” I meowed at her. And she did.

The ride home was nerve wracking. All the new smells and sounds, but there the girl was. Petting me, telling me it was going to be okay. And I believed her.

When we arrived at the girls home, the smells immediately caught me off guard. It wasn’t smells I was used to and it told me another feline claimed this as home. I hoped she would accept me.

I sat on the windowsill of the human’s dwelling quarters, thankful I was no longer in that horrible jail, when the other feline rounded the corner. She was beautiful with dark grey tipped ears and a smoky white body. I tried to smile at her but that seemed to make her awfully mad. She darted at me screaming her hisses, “You aren’t welcome here!”

Panicked, I raced toward the shelter of my room. The human grabbed the other feline and subdued her, but it didn’t prevent her from shooting looks of hate my way.

Was I not wanted in this house? My heart fell into my stomach, I couldn’t bare not being wanted.

The human approached me cautiously, her words soft and sweet. “Pepper, it’s okay baby. Are you okay?” She scooped me up and I nuzzled into her arms, afraid that she may return me to jail. She stroked me lovingly and with ever rake of her hands, my anxiety melted away. She did want me here. “Lucy will get used to you, Pepper. Just give her some time.”

The purr erupted from my belly and I closed my eyes, I had found home.

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The thing is… While these stories are based on actual events… they are fiction. In the first Chronicle (Ishmael) he clearly states that angels are only servants. But someone, who obviously doesn’t read my blog, took this part of the little story out in her mind and well, she has elevated the angels higher then I ever intended. Which bothers me.

Yes angels exist. Yes they are servants of the most high. Yes they have names. Yes they fight our UNSEEN battles. No they should not be worshiped. UNSEEN was intended to show how the servants are used for HIS glory and well… in a certain instance I feel like that fact was bypassed.

So, in so many words… UNSEEN is on hold until I get clear confirmation on what I need to do with it. To those whose stories I have written, it’s probably a little sad because you know they are powerful testimonies of God’s provision. I just can’t push this project until I know for certain HE wants me to.

Make sense? I hope so.

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Really? How am I surviving? I am a 10-12 hour girl. Not a 5 hour girl!

THIS IS NOT OKAY… Someone take note. Then stick that note to my brain so it can read it when it’s attempting to wake me up too early.

But, I refused to nap today. In fact, I got a lot of work done and even Alpha read 50 pages tonight for one of my critique partners! So all in all, lack of sleep = productive… today.

Tomorrow… all bets are off. I hope everyone is okay with take out… cuzz I may just be a zombie or something.

Though, Zombie’s eat brains… and while I am going on a missions trip in December… that is not on my to-try list. #justsayin

I should go… before I have to delete this post in the morning.

(side note… I tried to find a couple pics to go with this post… I may have nightmares tonight.)

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Enjoy!

The woman walked at a quickened pace down the empty street, “Jeremy, hurry up.” She called after her child on the bright red Radio Flyer tricycle.

Jeremy weaved circles in the sidewalk, making customary vrooming sounds as he imagined himself darting the bad guys. He was a superhero, after all.

The mailbox loomed at the end of the street, mocking every step the woman took towards it. The chances of anything being in the box was slim, just as it’d been the last four weeks she’d checked. But still, each day after the white truck shuffled down their street, she would make the decent under the guise of an afternoon walk with her cape wearing son.

“Mommy, will we stop at the mailbox today or keep going to the park?” The three year old questioned while purposefully running over the ant hill piled in the grass beside him.

The words stung the woman. Maybe she should just continue to the park and forget what brought her out on the hottest day of the year. Maybe if she passed the box this time, the letter would magically appear in the box when she came back. Maybe-

“Mommy,” her son whined from behind her, stuck on the edge of the sidewalk.

She helped her son right his getaway vehicle and turned her attentions again on the box.

They told her she would receive a letter by now or some type of communication about the accident. It had been far too long since the news went viral on CNN about the helicopter crash in the gulf. The crash her husband was pilot of.

She cursed the military and their semantics. Why is it considered okay to leave a spouse waiting for news of her husbands mortality? If he is dead or missing, she just wants to know. She wants to be able to prepare her son for… for what? A funeral?

She gripped the silver mailbox at the end of her street as her legs threatened to crumple underneath her.

No. She had to think positive. No news is good news.

“Mommy, are we going to the park?” Jeremy asked as she fit the key into the small hole.

“Yes, baby. Just let Mommy check the mail.” Her fingers trembled when she turned the rusted lock. She held her breath and allowed a tear to trickle down her cheek. Please God. Please. she pleaded, Let there be something. Anything.

“Mommy?” Jeremy’s confused voice drifted off into the muggy air. She ignored him and reached into the narrow opening, fumbling with the circulars.

“Mommy?” Jeremy called again. She wished he would just remain silent two more seconds. She just needed to see. She just needed to know.

“Mommy!” He screamed, making her jump and drop the contents in her hand. Mail flew in every direction. She wanted to scold him but instead she frantically dropped to her knees and began to search through the mess

It had to be there. Please. Anything.

“Gretchen?” The voice echoed in her head and immediately made the tears spring to life. She cursed the memory of his voice. It had been a long eight months since she’d spoke to him voice to voice but she could still hear his voice like he stood beside her.

“Mommy?” Jeremy’s voice seemed pinched and struggled, but still she refused to look up until she had turned over ever piece of mail scattered on the ground.

“Gretchen?” The voice echoed again, this time she couldn’t push it away. The tears sprang anew down her cheeks. When she heard the voice again, this time closer and more labored, she gasped.

No. No. No. Please don’t torment me. Please.

“Gretchen. It’s me. It’s really me,” the voice she longed for filled her ears.

She fought the haze of her tears and looked up to see her husband, still in his desert fatigues, standing just four feet away.

Time stopped as she raced to his embrace, instantly happy the letter had not come.

What is a Friday Flash? It’s when I see something and without thinking too hard about it… write a short story. Could be anything… Last time it was about a beat up van. You can read that one here. Enjoy!

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Dear Husband (DH) has to stay behind and work because he can’t take of 3-4 weeks at a time, but we will have fun anyway! And he will have the ultimate bachelor pad for a few weeks! Big screen HD Plasma television, surround sound, all the movies he can fathom… Yup, he won’t miss us.

I should be able to check in often enough from the road and at our various homesteads while there. So I won’t be a stranger to facebook, twitter or my blog. I will however will on a mission to find that “right” agent for DEGLAN RISING… yes, even on vacation work never ceases.

We leave Tuesday morning at 5:00am… and should arrive in SLC area 9 hours later… Our second day is 10 hours long with a stop off in Reno to hopefully see some friends.

My kids travel awesome, so I’m not dreading the trip at all. We have our MP3 players charged up and loaded with audio books (such a nerd family lol) and we will enjoy the drive together across the deserts of the west… I am sure a story or twelve will come out of it

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Beside the point… While I was out I came across this awesome van. See exhibit A.

You can’t tell in the picture but this was an awesome van. The dents in the side. The bumpers all mashed up… Heavy metal stickers all over the back and window. And the dude behind the wheel, didn’t look like he belonged there! At the stoplight… I see some small punctures in the gate at the back… is that… BULLET HOLES?!?!

*GASP*

Cue writers mind… and back story pondering. And more pondering… still more.

Enter Flash Fiction for today:

Colin ran his fingers down the length of the bumper, tracing the massive dent pressed into the rusted metal. The way that SUV had charged him, it’s a wonder how the bumper was still attached.

He laughed. A similar dent adorned the front bumper. Last month, he hadn’t taken into consideration the tab he might incur parking in a paid lot for seven days. He hadn’t brought any cash and he wasn’t about to give them his credit card to be pegged anywhere near that location. The arm on the security gate snapped in two when the rust colored 1988 Toyota Liteace he’d picked up back in Denver barreled through it.

He wasn’t an outlaw, quite the contrary. The law paid him… well at least that is what he told himself. The steel voice on the phone reassured him every time he got a new assignment that he worked for government. But he knew better, the less he knew, the better off he was.

Colin reached into his back pocket and pulled out a Metallica sticker. The last five he’d stuck to the back gate to cover bullet holes. This one was just because he liked even numbers. He stepped back and looked over the van. He didn’t know how long this piece of metal would hold out. He estimated with the damage done from the last confrontation that he might only have one more head to head before he would have to find another vehicle to destroy.

The cell phone on his hip roared to life, bringing his admiration for his stickers to a close.

“Yeah?” His deep surly voice echoed through the dry air.

The voice on the other side was cold and quick, “We need you in Vegas, tonight.”

“On my way,” he said and disconnected the line. He flipped the keys in his hand and grinned at the dent in the driver’s door. He needed one to match on the other side.

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Forget the crappy white pastey make-up of movie one…

Forget the crappy costumes and acting of movie two…

And just think movie three as –THEY GOT IT!

No spoilers…. but it was truly the better of the three and it won’t leave the book readers unhappy.

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