June, 2003 Went to the BEA in Los Angeles. I guess having plants on the west coast did come in handy for something! Now, I had postcards and writing samples. I handed out postcards to introduce my book to other writers, agents, and editors. Ran into Jenoyne again and gave her a postcard. She actually recognized me. Then she told me about her gettiing into agenting and she requested a sample. Well, I just HAPPENED to have the first three chapters handy. So I gave her a set. It's only been 2 - 3 weeks since having up the website and already, people are starting to recognize my cover. Not me...but my cover. LOL That's cool because I'd rather have the cover in the limelight than me.Went to the Rawsistaz Affair this month too. Picked up a publicist and made contacts for reviews. Once again, people are recognizing the cover, which means I'm doing an okay job of getting the word across the internet. Met some other writers. A great deal of them are sooooo helpful. I'm so amazed and overwhelmed.Finished the first draft too! It's pretty much been edited once and now I need to revise. I've adjusted and added to my publishing plan. Also developed a separate marketing/promotion plan.Went to the VONA Master's Workshop with Terry McMillan. It was such an honor. Terry received our writing samples ahead of time. I was lucky enough to be one of the 2 that she used as an example to the class. She pointed out good things, and bad things. This was such an awesome experience. Took pictures, and she read from her current work in progress, The Interruption of Everything. She shared with us her hobby of painting light switch covers and passed out some. This was so funny because I'm so designer-challenged and I just had a hard time with this. Decorating or anything creative in that aspect is a challenge to me. But that was so cool of her to share that part of herself with us. She signed books later. I didn't read what she wrote in my book until after she had gone: "Cheryl, you can write your butt off, but find the voice." At that time, I had the first chapter written from the perspective of a child and the remaining chapters from the perspective of Vanella as an adult and it just wasn't working. So, I worked it out and changed it. So, Terry, I FOUND THE VOICE!!!! :-)