Dena's Ticket to American Idol Fame - Yeah, baby!

Mark your calendars for the big event: October 2007 will see the world-wide release of my short humor story, Under-dawg, in the new "Chicken Soup for the American Idol Lover's Soul." Oh yeah.

I just got the release form e-mailed to me today. Don't let those Chicken Soup people fool you--they don't play around when it comes to contracts. They demand all rights now and forever (seriously) from you AND your heirs, dependants, etc.  Given however that I currently have no major motion movie plans for my American Idol story, I'm willing to let it go.

My story revolves around the influence Randy Jackson has had on the American vocabulary, and how my oh-so-white husband complimented me on my cooking last year by calling me a dog (dawg), amid a flurry of "Yo, yo, yo's!"  Trust me and just buy the book.

I did my thing, baby. I did my thing...

When the Work Comes Flowing In...

Yesterday morning, 6 AM. I was sitting in front of my computer, glancing to my right at the bulletin board with my list of current assignments. A Pet-A-Scopes column is coming due for Banfield magazine and the editor has given me permission to try some new formats for the column, but other than that, the slate is blank. I tidied up all my loose ends before we left for vacation and purposefully avoided actively seeking out new work. Seemed a good idea at the time but hmmm... no work = no income. What's a writing gal to do?

Give it 24 hours. I love days like yesterday where I headed out thinking I knew what the day held and arrived home bombarded with new opportunities. To wit:

• Looks like I may be writing a wedding speech for a Guru.com client. The 2 page speech is due by tomorrow evening and the client and I have yet to connect by phone but hey--I love a challenge.
• I was tapping away on my laptop yesterday at Panera and ran into a client I may be ghostwriting a book for. She was with a man who runs a web site solution site and we exchanged cards and there may be some interest in me writing for site clients.
• At my leads group, someone asked me look over his company's national web site and make suggestions on how it might be improved and he's putting me in touch with the new marketing person at their headquarters.
• Someone saw my ad in Piedmont magazine and called to ask me to write an introductory letter for his business to several chambers of commerce.
• Another client of mine referred me to someone who needs a resume rewrite and possible ghostwriting project.
• I received an e-mail from a former client who may have a new project for me to work on.

Friends, the above is the definition of a good day. I kept waiting for someone to pop out and announce I'd won the lotto--and never mind that I don't buy lottery tickets.

Now if you'll excuse me... I have work to do.

Dermatomyositis Is My Life

The vacation blogs entries are momentarily on hold. At the moment, I'm up to my eyeballs in research on dermatomyositis, an inflammatory skin and muscle disease most commonly found in Shelties & Collies. I just yesterday received the 1700-word assignment and need to send interview questions to the top veterinary medical expert in the country by Friday. I'm frantically printing out research and trying to educate myself on the topic so as to be able to ask informed questions and not waste her time.

This by far will be the most technical article I've ever written. But I'm excited. I am term-paper queen. Give me a topic and let me research and write up the findings and I'm a happy girl. For me, the fun is in organizing mounds of research into sub-categories and then fitting the pieces together like a puzzle. Yes, I'm great fun at parties too...

Dermatomyositis research today, rewriting a new client's website tomorrow, hopefully completing both by Friday. I'm selling books this weekend at Madison's annual Artists on the Sidewalk. For those of you in the area, stop by on Saturday for a fun day of roaming around cute, historic Madison, NC. Sunday I may allow jet lag to kick in and catch up on sleep.

Have a good week...

Bogged Down In E-Mail

I get way too much e-mail.

Some of it comes unsolicited. I can say with the great certainty I have never asked for or shown an interest in Viagra, Viagra substitutes, or any of the other "male enhancement" e-mails that come my way. Likewise, I don't want energy pills, weight-loss pills, and I don't care to hook up with former high school classmates.

But I also receive a lot of e-mail I ask for. I'm signed for probably, oh I don't know, let's say 8 newsletters. Some are weekly, most are monthly. These range from public speaking to writing centered, humor to business oriented. I signed up for most of them thinking that browsing through them on a monthly basis would keep me immersed in a fresh flow of ideas for columns and articles, as well as keep me "in the know" on subject areas I profess a desire to stay abreast in.

That might work, if I read the e-mails. Instead, 9 times out of 10, I'll delete the e-mail newsletter w/out ever reading it, but with the thought of "I'm too busy this month. I'll read it next month for sure."  Which means I receive all these e-mails only to delete them and gain no knowledge. Seems a bit silly.

But I can't bring myself to not subscribe. Maybe one day I will need them but will have forgotten they're there as a resource because I unsubscribed. Or maybe I really will find the time next month to skim through them.

Chaos rules around the world, but hope springs eternal here at Harris manor...