Awards! And other Friday miscellany

My first blogger award post!  I actually have three awards and I'm so excited.

My first ever award was given to me by Jen at Unedited.  Jen just finished her first draft of her novel and is entering that nightmare world known as Revisionland.  If you don't follow her you should absolutely head over and check her out.

I would like to pass this award on to

1. Amy Jo Lavin

2. Cynthia Reese

3. W.Z. Snyder #167 Dad

4. E. Elle

5. Karen G.

The next award also came to me from Jen and this one made me blush.  I got the Awesomesauce Award!

I'm going to give this one to

1. Jaydee Morgan

2. Nicole Ducleroir

3. Talli Roland

4. The Alliterative Allomorph

5. Matthew Rush

6. Rebecca

And finally, I received the Sweet Blog award (apparently my dash of snark the other day wasn't enough to disqualify me for this. Whew!) from Nicole at One Significant Moment at a Time.  Her blog has a lot of really great posts addressing many different aspects of the writing journey.  Check it out if you haven't already.  I also have to say thanks to Nicole for helping technologically challenged me figure out how to get these award images on to my blog so I could pass them along.

I would like to give this award to

1. Jen at Unedited

2. Charmaine Clancy

3. Carolina Valdez Miller

4. Lola Sharp

5. Kelly Lyman

6. Crystal Cook

Thanks again to Jen and Nicole for giving me such great awards!  I've so enjoyed passing the love along.

Couple other end of the week odds and ends.  So the other day I posted about a book I really hated.  I figure it's only fair that I now post about one I'm currently reading and loving.  I've seen the book The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters mentioned on several agents' blogs. I read another of this author's books, Night Watch and thought it was superbly written.   I decided to check Stranger out (literally, went to the library to get it and everything).  This book is a gothic horror novel in the tradition of Turn of the Screw  (which I loved). The book starts out almost agonizingly slow and for awhile I was ready to give up on it.  However, when it got to the part where the actual haunting starts, folks, this lady knows how the send a chill up your spine that lasts for days.  When I was younger I was a huge fan of R.L. Stine, but couldn't stand to have his books in the room when I fell asleep at night because I was scared that the creepiness contained within their pages would ooze out and get me.  I thought I'd overcome that fear when I was able to keep a bookcase loaded with Stephen King books in my bedroom.  Guess what?  Last night found me creeping shame-facedly down the stairs to stow Stranger in the living room so I could fall asleep.  

If you aren't fans of Turn of The Screw you probably won't like this book because it does take a long time to ratchet up the tension.  However, if you're looking for a very old fashioned shiver up the spine book, this is definitely for you. 

As far as my own writing, my WIP is approaching 65,000 words and I'm almost (I think) three-quarters finished with the first draft!  Maybe I'll make that iron clad June deadline after all.

Also the agent that requested the full of SEEDS has now had it in her hot little hands for five weeks.  She said she would try to get back to me within six weeks.  I know that in agent speak usually six weeks translates into something closer to three months.  However, since passing the five week mark yesterday I've sort of reverted to the wild eyed lunatic self of my early querying days.  I can't bear to be away from my email for longer than the time it takes to use the bathroom or address little blond person's shrieks of dismay or need.  I'm considering seeking professional help. Anybody looking for a nanny position? I need someone else around to address those shrieks.  They're seriously cutting into my email fixating time ;^)

Happy weekend everyone!