I've always wanted to write for magazines. Always. The problem in college was that I wasn't cut throat enough to work in publishing and I didn't have the guts to go for a freelance type of career like I should have. So I've started a little late in life but I've been steadily working toward a few writing goals:
- My first byline. As a writer you want to see your name under a title that says by Jennifer Famiano. I've never had that before and it has been a dream. A little one to many, but a big one to me.
- See my name in print.
- Get a steady stable of clients so that I can become self-sufficient.
- Publish a book.
Well, we can cross #1 out.
MY FIRST BYLINE! I'm so excited and I have to admit, I was kinda misty when I saw it! Upward and onward friends. Upward and Onward.
There's a lot going on in my life and much of it I can't talk about just yet. It's a big thing and while it can be great, it can also be earth shattering. We just don't know which way our lives are going to go right now.
So I've been at a loss as to what I should be blogging about. I'm really not so sure, to be quite honest and I've been kinda stuck. So I just thought I'd give an update.
I can tell you that Drew, as a pro-golfer this halloween was just the cutest thing ever. He looked adorable and we snapped some pix though I loaded them to snapfish and don't have the photos on my work computer. If you are interested, CLICK HERE to see the pics on my snapfish account...
He's a stunner, my boy. I'm tellin' ya... :)
Like most bloggers, I also have a twitter (@butterflyDivajj). I didn't want to begin tweeting but my good friend Joanna, made me do it. Okay made me as in mentioned that I should and that it was cool.
But over time I've found that I'm actually learning a lot from the people I follow. I'm learning tons about freelance writing, publishing and even my health. Here are the people I follow and why:
- @PublishingGuru - VP of Yorkshire Publishing Group, Todd Rutherford provides a ton of advice and links to amazing articles on everything from what publishers look for in writers to how to blog professionally.
- @JillianMichaels - As much as I curse this woman, I worship her. She's just a really amazing woman and I admire her physique.
- @MarkCoker - Founder of Smashwords and Dovetail Public Relations. Smashwords is an e-book publisher making huge waves in the industry. And Mark tweets about relevant topics that publishers are talking about. If you write and want to be published, follow Mark.
- @NathanBransford - Agent with Curtis Brown Ltd. Nathan doles out relevant advice on querying agents, writing technique and business acumen with a great sense of humor.
- @momlogic - MomLogic.com is an online magazine that posts top of mind news storying that will either make you laugh, shake your head or disgust you. Either way, I usually love to read whatever they write about.
And there are some embarrassing people on my follow list like @LaurenConrad (Yes, I adore her simple, classy style, what?), @MariahCarey (if you've been reading this blog and couldn't figure that out, I really don't know what to tell you) and @PerezHilton (love/hate baby). But I get more from the 5 above than any other Twitter account.
Who do you follow?
I've been impatiently waiting for a client to update her site with copy I wrote for her and FINALLY about a month, that felt like a year, after the finish of the project, my copy is up on her site.
I found this client through elance and I have to admit, it was fun. She is a very busy lady and difficult to get a hold of but in the end I think she was happy. We started with an interview so I could gather my information to write with and that part was actually fun. She's had an interesting life Miss Patience Brown.
I wrote the About, The Team, Contact and the Menu pages. I edited the FAQ page but that's not much to boast about. The other stuff is! I'm pretty excited and I love seeing my words up there!
And as always you can visit the dog site, Happy Dog Connections. We just revised the home page too so that was written by yours truly. Plus there are some new articles up including my favorite story of my angel Max.
I have some other things "in the works" but I'm going to keep them close to the chest for now... I'll update when things are concrete.
Happy Reading!
If you aren't around me physically you probably don't know that I've battled with bloody noses during the winter months for years. And by bloody noses I mean, multiple times per day, 3-5 minutes per bleed type of nosebleeds. And it always happens during the most opportune moments. For example, when I'm getting my year-end review or in a meeting with a client. Or alone with my son. Yep. It's fun.
After ignoring it for years, I finally went to the eye-ear-nose doctor to see if there was anything he could do. I showed up for my appointment right on time, with my boy in tow since it was a work from home day and the appointment was at the very end of the day. I waited about 30 minutes to see the doctor.
When this loud, boisterous sounding older man came into the room, I think I was scared. He asked a few questions, you know, surgeries, medications etc. the normal doctor-needs-to-know stuff. Then he asked why I was there to see him. I told him about the bloody noses, usually on the left side and he quickly grabbed two instruments. One was a light and the other was a metal stick sort of thing. He looked up my nose, first the right. All was clear. Then he looked at the left nostril, and he said, Ah, did you ever have your nose cauterized?
I said no.
He put on this funny hat with a light on it, took the stick and tweezers, then pulled something inside of my nose and stuck this metal rod connected to a generator up there and said, Don't move or it will hurt!
I cried. I couldn't breathe and since Drew was there I didn't want to yell or get emotional.
Then before I knew it, he hit me with it again.
I walked out feeling as if he pulled the insides out. Turns out the capillaries in my nose are collapsing, causing the nosebleeds. Sounds grand doesn't it?
I have a follow up appt. in two weeks in the meanwhile, I'm finding another doctor. This was horrifying! I mean really, the man did this in front of my son! How about explaining what cauterization is, how i'll feel afterwards and during the procedure. How about telling me it is A PROCEDURE!
I hate medical professionals.
So today is my first week with a third day in the office. For the past 10 months since returning to work, I've been working two days in the office, and three at home. With Drew's first birthday came an additional day in the office and for that we needed to hire a nanny.
So we interviewed and interviewed through SitterCity.com and came up with two great candidates. We chose one and worked with her through September to get both Drew and her situated and comfortable with one another. Last week she called to tell me she was giving two weeks notice.
Nice that she gave notice but she didn't even start yet. Frustrating. I liked her. She was cute and had all the necessary safety certifications that made me feel safe. But I had this nagging feeling that this was just a job.
The other candidate didn't have the necessary safety certifications but she seemed to fall in love with Drew. The first candidate did not do the ooh'ing an ah'ing that I normally get when people look at him. This second candidate did. She was excited and affectionate and I loved that. I actually thought that was more important than any safety certificate. So when I got the two weeks notice, I called this second candidate and she was still available. Thankfully. And she was available to start today.
The day started rough. Andrew was running late and cursing. After taking him to the train, I ran home to get ready for work, Drew was tired but wanted to cuddle to sleep. The nanny showed up and we went over some things and off I went to work, crying all the way.
I get to work and see two texts with photos of my son fast and sound asleep. I begin crying, again. I get control of myself and not too long after, I get a smiling photo of him in his high chair.
I took a deep breath feeling like it's all going to be okay.
Then I got a call from the nanny saying they were playing outside in his little tykes house that my parents got him and he fell. She was in the house with him and he just tripped over something and fell hitting his forehead with a nice size goose-egg bump on his head and scratches on his nose.
PANIC.
After telling Andrew and my mother, I was running around between phone calls with her, trying to calm Andrew down, and trying to call my mother back who was answering the phone in sheer panic.
I can't tell you how rough it was. I am his mother. I am crying, throwing up at work on breaks and somehow I am the one calm and collected trying to get everyone else to remain calm. He fell. It was a mistake. The girl was near tears and feeling so so so guilty. I mean from her end, what a first day. Here she is trying to make me feel at ease and this happens. She was really guilt-ridden.
Hearing my mom in a panic makes me feel like I have to push my own emotions down so that I can calm her. My husband like any man, gets angry, then upset. So I push my own emotions down to calm him. Then finally my stepfather gets on the phone and I'm overwhelmed, I start crying uncontrollably.
I know he's going to be fine. It's a bump and a scrape. But the frenzy over him falling along with my own spiraling fears of leaving him today is getting to me. And I feel like no one (well, Sharon IM'd me to see how I was holding up) was saying, how are you doing today.
Is that selfish?
Two years ago, in July of 2008, my favorite legendary rock band Bon Jovi did a few shows at Madison Square Garden to complete their Lost Highway Tour. A tour that not only supported their uber-successful Lost Highway album that was recorded in Nashville and inspired by the country music scene but also spurned their first #1 debut in about 2 decades.
At the time, I was about 6-7 months pregnant. And due to some nasty and oh-so-comfortable swelling and high blood pressure I couldn't get clearance from my OB to go to any of the concerts that week. Sharon went to a few shows though with her fiance, and I was left to sit home bathing in jealousy. To be honest, even if I could have gotten the clearance to go, it was too expensive for us to afford while finishing the basement and preparing for the baby. Tickets were upwards of $200 for floor seats (and we are snobs and refuse to sit anywhere but the first few rows).
Now, a tradition when I go to concerts is that I will call my friend J or Sharon during specific songs. It's just kind of always been my way of saying 'wish you were here' with me. No one has ever did that for me but I like doing those little things for others, I think it makes people happy. And when I make other's happy I get this kind of giddy, corny high. Horrifically sappy, yes, true, absolutely.
During the concert I got a call from Sharon when Jon sang a song called Blood on Blood. It's a song about lifelong friendship. It tells the tale of three friends who grew up and apart but it also says that time and distance could never break the bond you have with someone you have known for your entire life. It's always been "our song". We have a lot of songs Sharon and I, for many different reasons, but this one was the first and it's just so us.
I cried. I'm a sap. And while I could completely blame it on the hormones, I won't. It was the first time anyone did anything for me that was out of the blue, just because, thoughtful. And I will always remember that moment. Hearing Jon on the phone and Sharon's "I love ya"! It was kinda awesome.
So there's a DVD coming out of that concert and I'm so excited to see if Sharon made the cut! Maybe you'll see her on the phone during Blood on Blood and think of me...
Andrew and I decided that every year Drew's birthday would call for a day off and a family day. So for our first annual family day, we went pumpkin picking. It was so nice to go during the week and avoid the crowds. At Drew's young age, he can't really participate in the rides and animal stuff, so it was perfect that during the week those extraneous activities weren't there.
The wind was however. It was so windy that my poor son was clutching me for dear life. And my flipping hair was all over the place.
But we had fun and I think Drew was fascinated by the pumpkin stem. So fascinated that he never looked up. :) He was constantly staring at them!
Enjoy my 1 year old at the pumpkin patch! 1!!!! He's 1!
Dear Drew,
I can't believe that it's already been one year. Today, is your very first birthday. The first of many birthday's, many celebrations of your life. A life your father and I tried so very hard to bring to existence.
I always thought that getting here to your first birthday would mean my journey to have you would be ever more distant. The little girl I could have had would have faded away but the thoughts of my journey and the sadness I felt are still there, pieces of a foundation that is ever present. I'm learning though, that those pieces of the foundation are parts of me. Those snippets of my life make me so very grateful to watch you grow, explore and learn. It deepens and strengthens my love for you in ways I couldn't explain to anyone who isn't part of that horrible sisterhood.
This year has been both amazing and rough. Learning about you the first few months was unbelievable. I remember bringing you home from the hospital and looking at Daddy thinking, What now? We tried for over a year to get to the moment when we'd have a babe in arms and there we were, at THE moment and we had no idea how to leap off. We were so in love with you. So very in love, in ways neither of us expected. We never realized that our lives would suddenly mean so much because you were now a part of us. And once we did, well, you have become our inspiration to do more, try harder, become better people.
There are still times I can't believe your mine. In the hospital after having you, I would hold onto you for hours studying your perfect face in complete disbelief that you were mine. For months after bringing you home, I would sneak into your room just to make sure you were there and this all wasn't some elaborate dream I was having.
But it wasn't. You're not. You are my son. My love. My heart. My entire life. You are everything. And I love you with so much more than just my heart my boy.
Happy Birthday Puppy. Happy Happy Birthday.
xoxo
Love, Mama
Drew's First Birthday went well! I think everyone had a good time and got to at least spend a second with him. My little cousin Samantha took a nap with him in the middle of it and I was so grateful because without her, he would not have slept. He adores her. Like beyond what's normal. She has this long, beautiful curly hair that he loves to play with and she patiently sits there allowing him to. With all the hoopla going on, it was truly the only way he would sleep and as luck would have it she was tired so, she took a nap with him on my bed. I so wish she lived closer, she'd be the perfect mother's helper after school.
My parents were instrumental for this party. This party wouldn't have happened without them, so thank you Mom and Wayne for your time and generosity, you guys amaze me with your ability to give and give and we're thankful.
And of course the gifts, well he got a lot of much needed clothes and pajamas. But he did get a great play house with a slide for outside from my parents, an indoor tent from RH baby and child from my father that is out of this world and an electric quad that my husband wants for himself from my in laws.
Now one more get together to go and the birthday festivities are done. I can't believe my boy is going to be one. ONE. Ugh. I feel the tears so it's time to end it...
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Tired Working Mom said:
Congrats! That has to be a great feeling. What you wrote about by the way, happened to me. Blah...up a... read more
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thanks everyone! read more
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