Mother, MAY I?

See what I did there? hehe

Hello, everyone! Happy May! Who survived the A to Z Challenge? How did it go?

As I said, my April was busy. I somehow got cast as Mary Magdalene in my church's Easter play, so I had rehearsal every Thursday night. My Pastor is also getting elevated to an Apostle, so we've had rehearsals for that Tuesday nights. Then, I had to get ready for my choir's anniversary cruise to Key West & Cozumel! So that entailed cleaning and packing. Phew!

I went to Key West & Cozumel two cruises ago, so I didn't take too many pictures, but I had fun with most of the people I went with. lol Mexico stole my driver's license. How did that happen, you say?

Well, it started when I was swimming in the water, enjoying myself and the fish that were swimming around. We decided to step on this rock, which actually looked like a petrified turtle when I stared down at it, when a gust of wind burst through, carrying what also felt like burning debris. (In hindsight, I'm pretty sure the sea shack on the shore had set the grill on fire and turned on the emergency fan.) As this happened, our pianist's towel went flying through the air, followed by what we realized were my pants. Later, I would replay in my mind that my ID and Carnival Sail & Sign card had been the tiny objects I saw falling out of them. But in the moment, someone got my pants and laid them back out where they were.

I didn't realize my cards were gone until we were preparing to get back on the boat, where I almost had a nervous breakdown because I had no idea how I was going to get home. One of our tenors helped me get back onto the ship, where I got a new Sail & Sign card, and Guest Services printed me a photo ID so I could get home. I got frisked in the airport, but all was well.

Key West had the best weather, being not too hot and overcast, so I didn't burn up. You miss it dearly when you come home to 50-degree rainy weather. But as we say, April showers bring May flowers. So, let's get to it!

This is longer than I meant. But anyway, I did acquire one beta reader for RUBY before I left. There was a mix-up in communication, though, so hopefully I hear back from him soon. I'm currently working on getting another, so I'm excited and ready to get back into the swing of things.

See you guys next week! :)

IWSG: Back in the game!

Yes, I'm free! I'm never doing A to Z again.

Now that May is here, may I get back into writing! This month, I am going to do a few things:

1) Jump back into submitting to contests on Duotrope.com. It's a great source. I have 4 days to write a short story about shapeshifters...Let's hope I get on that.

2) Work on my stories!

3) Work on the ideas for stories that are in my head! Some are stories that I've already done but want to revamp into something more tangible and, well, readable.

4) Have some darn ME TIME! I have set aside May 18th for Jack. My mom asked me yesterday who Jack is. lol Jack is NADA! May 18th I'm doing JACK! NOTHING! I'm not leaving my house, and I will play computer games and video games, watch a movie or two, and RELAX. I haven't had a Saturday to myself in about 2 months. I'm wiped out.

5) Find betas/CPs. Unfortunately, schedules and time constraints didn't make the one I had the best fit. I still have another helping me, but I would like more than 2 eyes on my work. Hopefully I can jump deep into Critters.org this month.

I hope everyone had a good April, and I hope your May brings you writing, and if you've been writing, MORE writing! And maybe when June comes around, I'll be able to tell you I started working on my query again (eep).

Thanks to Alex J. Cavanaugh-sensei and his co-hosts for keeping this group up! (Click this. I always forget to post it. The list of participants!)

I Miss You

This A-to-Z thing is wiping me out!

I wanted to stop by to say hi to everyone, and express how much I miss keeping you posted. Fortunately, May is next week, and my weekly posts will return!

I return Wednesday, May 1, with my Insecure Writers Support Group post.
Every Tuesday, I will post my Express Yourself Meme.

I will also be on the lookout for two more permanent posting days! Thursdays seem good. I might even do an early morning Saturday post. I'm almost always awake by 8 anyway.

Is anyone else participating in the A-to-Z Blog Challenge? How has your April been so far?