Published!

So after many, many denials from agents and after several edits...and more edits...and maybe one or two edits after that...I'm published! Okay. Not really. I suppose self-publishing is still "publishing" in its loosest form. But, in my opinion it's just barely squeaking past that "officially published" line. Basically, I gave up on the traditional route and decided to forge my own path. I wrote a book and didn't want to sit on it for the rest of my life. So, I researched and debated on which way to go and how much to sell it for. I decided to use Kindle Publishing for E-books (it's digital) and now, I am proud to say, that I am officially live and ready to go on Amazon.com! My book is called The Gateway to Imagia: The Tale of Sam Little and it is going to (fingers crossed) be a part of The Imagia Trilogy. As of today, I have sold 11 copies. Most of them are to friends and family, but just this week I sold my very first word-of-mouth copy. Yeah! I have a page on Facebook for my book. I am pretty proud of how it turned out. You know...for a digital book. I have plans to release the paperback version of it for sale on Amazon.com. But in order to do that, I have to purchase an ISBN for my book to sell it. I need to sell 48 digital copies to fund my paperback version. Only 37 copies to go!

So if you feel so inclined, check it out! You can download the sample of it for free at Amazon.com. If you like it, it's for sale for $2.99. If you like it, and even if you don't like it, I'd love to hear what you think! Like my facebook page and let me know.

It's official. I'm a writer! Yeah, baby!

To buy my book or download a free sample, click here: 

The Gateway to Imagia: The Tale of Sam Little 

To visit my official Facebook page, click here:

The Gateway to Imagia Fan Page

Summer Vacation - Swim Lessons Round 2

My fish were at it again this summer! I decided that signing the kiddos up for another round of swim lessons would be great for them. Last year, I went with the YMCA and it was a great program. This year, as Josh was barely working and we've been up and down with our union issues (that's for a whole other post), I decided to give the local pool a try. It's a small town and a small pool. But here's the deal: They were exactly the same as the YMCA. Oddly enough, I'd go as far as to say that it was better. Not only did they get to go to the pool five days out of the week for two weeks, but they also got to swim with kids they knew from school. They had a blast! My kids are fish in the water. I guessed at their level and was totally wrong. I put them in level two, but the instructor said they were really level three or four. Seeing as how those two classes were so full, I figured we'd just go with level two and I'd bump them up next summer. It was a cheap class and totally worth it (even for the extra pool time they got at the end of lessons).

The best part was watching Alex and Abby do something I didn't really think they could do. They both jumped off the "high" dive. It's not really that high, but it's higher than the low dive. I couldn't believe how proud I was when I saw those two kids leaping like crazies off into the deep end. They swam great! I was popping with pride! I love keeping them busy during the summer and they love it too. I am totally going to sign them up again next summer. Oh...and as for miss Evie during swim lessons? She loved the little splash pool they have for wee ones. She loves water! I even squeezed my post-partum, fat butt into a bathing suit multiple times so that I could take her out in the water in her fancy lady-bug floatie. I have a feeling she'll be a fish too. Here's some pictures of my little divers (well...cannon ballers, at the very least).