Finally got my contract! Whew, I tell you. This is a mighty long process. The contract looks good. I had previously bought a couple of references on first contracts for writers. Guess I was kinda hoping for this day way back when. But anyway, it appears that my publisher has done right by me. I think this is going to be one fine partnership. So, anyway, as soon as I hear back from the attorney who will explain the legal language in terms I can understand, it's on to the next stage. I'm so much looking forward to getting things squared away. I'm finding it hard to really focus on writing when I have things hanging over my head. It's funny how issues can creep there way into your mind when you're trying hard to focus on something else. Speaking of that though, I'm doing good with some of the changes I made in my life. I think I hit that mid-life crisis thing I hear about all the time. I started searching for spiritual enlightenment, which I found and I'm still learning. But mediation is something that helps me to clear my mind and focus better. Ahhh, but still, even that, you have to practice. :-) I became a vegetarian two months or so ago and I'm feeling great. I don't have any cravings for meat because I was never a big meat eater anyway. I'd take a bowl of cereal over a steak any day! LOL But I'm feeling much better and I'm um...regular. LOL Now I'm trying to learn how to eat right. How to get enough protein and fiber and lower my carb intake. Yep, I'm trying to lose 15 pounds too. I keep saying 15 pounds even though I've lost weight, but the goal somehow stays the same. I want to look better when I mount my Ninja 600 this Spring. I'm buying a bike and my cousin's going to teach me to ride it. Been wanting to learn to ride a bike for a long time and I'm finally going to get one. So, is that a mid-life crisis thing or what? LOL

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This weekend I got in my author photos to my publisher. Sounds like nothing major, however, I was freaking out. They needed photos right away and my hair was a mess and I wouldn't be able to get my microbraids re-done before they needed it. However, after discussing with my agent, she found that I could just send the pic on the back of the self-published version so that's what I did. Goodness! I just signed and didn't want to give the publisher the impression that I might be a "diva." LOL

I'm excited that my contract is finally in. Boy do these things take a long time. It's funny because you're not worried about it because you know it's coming. I had no plans of actually even needing the money. But then I got off the road from selling books. Man, I knew that personally pushing your book was important, but I didn't realize how much until I stopped touring. Subsequently, I stopped promoting too. Because of transistion, moving, etc. Just no time at the moment. And I tell you, sales dropped tremendously. I'm not pushing, promoting, and selling and these books do not sell themselves! LOL So anyway, I'm not receiving the income that I was when I was on the road. Man, I was able to pay bills, finance my road trip, plus have a little spending change. Well, that's gone now and wouldn't you know it. As soon as I'm at a financial low, EVERYTHING, and I mean EVERYTHING happens. The main thing was the car. I knew I needed tires, but then I had this expensive problem with something that effected the steering, then brakes, and something else that I can't even remember right now. And you know everytime you go to let a mechanic breathe on it, that's and automatic $2oo bucks right there. So, I ended up having to use my rent and moving money to keep the car running. Then, I used the savings to stay afloat on bills for awhile and a sistahs head is just a mess! And I had, or I THOUGHT, I had a sizable cushion too! To make a long story short, a sistah is now watching the mail twice a day (just in case the mailman meant to leave something the first time, forgot, and had to come back to drop it off!). It's getting real ugly.

So in the meantime, I'm doing what writers do. I'm pimping my skills in corporate America. I'm doing it the writers way though. Making sure I don't have a job that requires my mind or body for more than 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week. Still, you lose a lot of time not being a full time writer and actually spend a lot of working time thinking about (and secretly writing) stories. I'm just dying to going back to writing full time. But a writer's got to do what a writer's got to do. It's funny. I was getting moral support from my agent who knows exactly what I'm going through because she's a writer herself. And although it doesn't solve your problems, it helps to talk to others who understand. (Unlike a non-writer friend who said that this is not working for me and I needed to get out there like him and "hustle." Um...meaning "street hustle", if you know what I mean. Yeah, right. Can you see me out there on the corner in my white T and baggy saggy jeans with my hands in my pockets trying to hold my jeans up? I don't think so.) She told me stories of having to beg, borrow, and steal. She even worked construction! Like I said, doesn't solve your problems, but let's you know that you're a bonafide writer. :-)

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