Why write?

Short post tonight and a little encouragement for my fellow writers...
I have sent out 50 query letters in the last month and plan on persevering until I find the right agent.  When I started querying I just desperately wanted an agent, but now I'm on the hunt for the RIGHT one for me an my work.  I think that this mindset makes all the difference.
  I like to think of my query letter as bait that I cast out over and over again until it finally lands the perfect fish.  Don't think of the rejection letters as negative feedback-it just means that that agent was not the RIGHT one. 

Someday I'll land a big one...just you wait!

I believe that I will receive an offer of representation eventually, but if not I will continue to write because that's what writers do.   We keep going.  We fight on.  We struggle through the dark times and rejoice in the small triumphs.  I cannot think of a more exciting feeling than the thrill I get from penning the perfect evocative sentence.  That's what being a writer is all about.  It's not about being published (although that would be nice); we are authors because the compulsion to tell our stories is like an addiction.  We literally cannot fight the urge to create.

Can I get an AMEN-nah!?!

Is my southern showing?

Pound Cake

So I have two dogs.
 A Lab mix named Elinor, she's another post entirely, and Neville- my Pembroke Welsh Corgi. 

My Neville is the cutest thing in the world and he is the perfect dog in every way except one: he gains weight FAST.  It's like I blink and he doubles in size.  Something you have to understand about corgi's is that they get to a certain age and then pack on the weight like little champions.
 Like every true pet lover I call him cute little names.  Mine happen to be food related and I took pains to describe his growing bulk in the past year or so through edible creativity.
He started off as a twinkie, being roughly the same shape and color as the cakey pastry:

This is his first puppy picture.  God, he's so freaking precious.

I had to call him a muffin a year later because of his expanding girth:

He had to grow into the ears...they came that size.

And finally I had to break down and call the little chow fiend a pound cake:

This is Neville at 30 lbs.  I swear we ration his food reasonably, but it doesn't help.

He fell asleep with his bone in his mouth one afternoon while I was writing.  When he woke up the bone was stuck like that and he panicked for a few minutes before I could catch him and hold him down long enough to pry it out.
I don't know what I'll do for gastronomical metaphors if he gains more weight.  Anyone have any ideas?  How bout half sheet?  Like a half sheet cake? 
This is what Neville thinks of that idea:

"Oh Hell No!"

You know the type...

Have you ever had one of those days?  One of those butterfly-flapped-its'-wings-in-China-and-made-you-life-a-living-hell-in-Texas kind of days?

Well I had one today.  It was one of those weird days where everything that happened could have been avoided by my being a few minutes late throughout the day.  If I had been running late this morning I wouldn't have been nearly forced off the road by a green jeep that didn't see me until I honked at him because I was running out of road to drive on. 
Then I had to go to city hall for a job thing and it turned out that I was an hour early.  I didn't see the point in waiting for an hour because my work was 5 minutes away so I drove back.  On the way it started pouring rain and I couldn't see out of my windshield very well and I ended up running a stop sign with a cop car right behind me.

Red means stop.  Seriously, they mean it.

Yes, I got pulled over.
No, I didn't get a ticket because 15 seconds into the "If I say I'm sorry enough will you let me off with a warning" conversation a huge accident happened in the stop sign intersection I had just run.  So he told me to be careful and ran off to deal with the three car pile up.  On the one hand if I had been on time an hour later the cop wouldn't have pulled me over.  On the other hand if he hadn't pulled me over because I ran a stop sign he might not have been close enough to help the people in the accident. 
Freaky right?

I was also nearly mowed down on my way to the grocery store by a guy who ran a red light.  If I had been a few seconds quicker I would have been hit my the jackass who wouldn't wait three minutes for the next light.


My whole day was like that.  Just a little too late or a little too early. 

Internet dating sucks.

Every few months I go through this two or three day phase where I try internet dating for a few reasons:
1.) I work in a bad part of town with a lot of homeless people so no dating options there.
2.) I get restless because I get really busy with school, my book, and work; so sometimes its nice to know that there are still single people out there.
3.) It makes me feel better knowing that there are people that are worst off in the dating world than I am, I mean have you seen some of these people?  Dear Lord.   This bring me to my next point- House was right...

Everybody lies, and can tell you right now that 98% of all the profile pictures you see on dating sites are over 3-5 years old.  Why?  Because they think they look better, which yes they usually do, and cameras today make everyone look like a criminal. 
Take out your camera phone right now and snap a picture of yourself.  It's not pretty is it?  Cameras have gotten too good and they show every flaw on your face.  Older pictures tend to look better because they blur slightly and give you a smoother look.

(I was going to post an iphone picture of myself here, but my pride wouldn't let me.  Just look at my pretty 3 year old profile picture and be satisfied, alright?)

The really sad thing is that the two times that I actually talked to someone online all they did was make small talk and tell me how beautiful I was.  Seriously.  These guys had seen one photo and wouldn't shut the hell up about how pretty they thought I was.  Like that's the only thing that matters.
Now I think I'm fairly pretty, but I'm no Megan Fox and there is a point where they just start to sound like complimentary idiots.

The really sad part about online dating is that even if I end up liking a guy I could never bring him home because my family would ask how we met. 
Think about the last time you heard someone say that they met their husband or boyfriend online.  You felt a little sorry for them didn't you?  Internet dating still has a stigmata attached to it and if you try it them your labeled desperate or freakish. 

So there it is, my internet dating advice in a nutshell.  I could never take it seriously and I'll probably never dabble again because I always feel a little silly afterwards.

If you ever feel tempted to try it out remember this: all you know about these people is what they tell you about themselves and everyone lies.

Intro and Villains in Bathrooms

I never really know how to start.  I always want to post like four or five back posts so it feels more substantial.  I feel a little silly because I have no followers, but hey...everyone has to start somewhere!

My name is Hannah and I've written a book, but that's not all I want my blog to be about.  I'll talk about it later for sure, but first a question...

Why do villains always want to jump you in the bathroom? 

Seriously think about it:
 Freddie Krueger?  Bathroom scene.  Remember? The chick in the tub?

Norman Bates?  Unforgettable scene in the shower.  Yikes.  I don't mind the idea of dying, I just hope I keep my clothes on, you know?

Scream 1 & 2- Why dies Sidney bother peeing ever again after Ghostface follows her into the women's at school?  And! And!  The theater scene?  Blecks!

 And remember Harry Potter?  Good Lord the things that went on in those bathrooms!   If you wanted to survive the books all you had to do was stay out of the bathroom!

These are just a few of the restroom attack scenes out there, but seriously people...why bathrooms?
Anyone have any answers?