Tiffany Rambles

I had a weird dream/nightmare last night. Half of it took place in my room, and the other half took place on a boat. See, I don't like boats and, at least to my knowledge, nor does anyone in my family. I can't swim all too well, and the idea of being surrounded by loads of water scares me for the same reason that being surrounded by the sky does (yknow, airplanes) - the uncertainty, the knowledge that everything surrounding me is huge enough to swallow me whole.

I don't really remember the half that took place in my room, 'cept that half was less interesting than the water half anyway and was probably just about the problems I'm having with my family. In the water half of the dream, I had a cousin who lived on a boat and all my family was there for...some reason. There was a window on the boat where, if you looked from a certain angle, the clouds would spiral open and reveal the kingdom of heaven. When approaching the window, the image of heaven would shift into a mass of destroyed boats covered with dead bodies.

I...don't know what that's about. Maybe the boat is like that boat/yacht from Triangle and trying to approach heaven from ze magical boat is a fool's errand?

Nearing the end of the dream, I separated from the family to write and read. This is something I often do at family events. I just can't help it. Like my nightmare was scripted by a bunch of horror writers, me separating from everyone trapped me in an area where the only way I could escape was jumping into all that damn water. I turned back. No door. No walls. I was on a raft, and all I could do was jump.

So I sissied out and woke up in a deep sweat instead.

This dream probably means that I'm holding back and I need to learn how to jump into the unknown or some shit like that. Or maybe I just need to learn how to swim? Ah, probably.

Now that I'm done sharing that dream (I just had to. That image of the clouds spiraling apart to reveal a bright image of heaven was just...wow, beautiful. I can't get it out of my mind, and I'm not even religous, though I'm not an atheist either. It's like that time me and Matthew were lying on his floor after wrestling and the light from his window shined on his face at just the right moment to make him glow. Jeez, I was mesmerized like a total spazz), it's time to talk about other things. Like, more professional things. Let me switch back to my professional voice and get out of this foul-mouthed vernacular that I hide for...whatever reason.

I am going to self-publish a how-to guide on marketing for writers. It won't be the absolute everything guide on marketing. Instead, it'll be a guide of al the things I've learned and tried over the years. I realized I had a lot to say about marketing and promotion when I wrote 'Market Your Book Without Emptying Your Bank Account' for Rhemalda's blog.

Now, I know I said I was publishing a workbook for writers, a checklist of sorts, on my 'Support Honest Crits' page. After summarizing the marketing book and the workbook, I realized that the workbook would take me muuuuuch longer to write and research than the marketing book, and I want the book published in 3 months. The sales from this book will go to the business and my education, but I only have five months to at least figure out how I'll get the semester out of the way.

Here I am, switching gears again. Have you heard of that Lucky 7 meme? Well, here are the rules:

The Lucky 7 Meme Rules• Go to page 77 of your current MS/WIP
• Go to line 7
• Copy down the next 7 lines--sentences or paragraphs--and post them as they're written. No cheating.

Because my story is separated by chapter numbers and not in one full document, I don't know what page 77 is. Instead of going to page 77, I went to chapter 7 of Savior of the Damned's 4th edit. Here are the next 7 lines after line 7.:

The blinding white light at the top was always out of reach. The steps were disintegrating faster than I could run. If someone didn't acknowledge my screams for help, I would fall.

My mom, almost angelic in image, appeared in the doorway. I grabbed tight hold of her hand. Afterward, the basement became a replica of hell, with fire everywhere and monster hands dancing around a colossal hand with a mouth instead of an eye.

"Mom, you can help me up now."

"Shut up you demon spawn."

And here it is from the original draft, the one I wrote when I was a freshman in high school:

When I first met him he gave the impression of being a very talkative person, but, then again, second expressions are seldom exactly like the first.

Augustine’s footsteps stopped, and mines stopped shortly after his. We were now at the door to the house. My mind was still blank. I found I couldn’t make myself think. Why couldn’t I make myself think about anything? It was just...fog.

Augustine began to talk. “Levi Haze, if you’re eating then”—

“I am not,” he interrupted. “You know I’m not. Now bring her in already. I already told you how important this was.”

If you made it all the way to the end of this loooong past, here's a congratulations for you. This video just cracks me up. Here's the explanation, explained courtesy of good old TV Tropes:


And here's a song I really like.



February 2012 - the most active month for Honest Crits/Reader's Den

A couple of days ago, I finished reading a great book for writers and small business owners called "Business Tips and Taxes for Writers." The section on record keeping talked about spreadsheets and the importance of consistently recording a business's finances. At first, I was a bit bleh about this method of record keeping. I'd never used a spreadsheet before.

But, when I stayed up until 2 AM recording my income and expenses for Honest Crits, I learned that I loved spreadsheets and seeing exactly where the money from and for Honest Crits/Reader's Den goes. As of lately, most of the money has been going to my office and research, and more people pay for the Promotion Plan than anything else. Of course, this all makes sense. My business is not at a point where I'm actually making any profit. The money I make from the business goes to the business. Pretty soon, though, the money I make from the business will go toward college as well.

I have five months to figure out how I'm supposed to pay for college. All four years is about 28,000, so one year is roughly 7k. I already have 800 (which is really only enough money to pay for one class and a half -_-). When I went to IUB for the summer and the first semester, I worked my ass off and did almost 2 scholarships a week for months. I won enough money to pay off the first year and parts of the other 4 years. Because of a scholarship mix-up, I still ended up having to take out a $2500 loan to pay off the first year. Already, I have loan money that is building interest.

So this is the plan that I've come up with to help pay for college: Sure, little-by-little, I'm making more money with my business. But I could be making more. I need to change my editing prices; I need to better promote my websites so that I can offer advertising; I need to enter into more writing contests and freelance for paying markets; I want to self-publish a helpful book for writers; I want to make a donation page.

It'll be stressful, I know, but the best way to push myself is to push myself. If I tell myself that the money I make with my business will help pay for college, at least the first year and a half, then I'll have even more incentive to work harder. Whatever doesn't get paid for with business or scholarship money will have to be paid for with loans (ick). Because I have to spend these next five months working specifically on Honest Crits and Reader's Den (when college starts, most of my Honest Crits services won't be open. I don't want to make college even harder on myself), I'm officially taking a break from working on my novels.

So, what'll I be doing in college? I plan on getting a Bachelor of Arts in Human Resources and minoring in English: Writing. A B.A. is perfect for me. There's not much math and science, and getting into the business school at Purdue University Calumet is nowhere near as hardcore as getting into the business school at Indiana University Bloomington. If you fit the qualifications, you get in.

Yep, that's all.

Okay, so the Snowflake Method isn't new. I first learned about it about six or seven years ago, when I was big on writing high fantasy and found the idea of planning a whole story and world very overwhelming (I found it overwhelming in the seventh grade and I still find it overwhelming as a freshman in college, which is why I've put all my high fantasy stories in a dusty box in the back of my closet).

I still remember preteen me sitting on the floor, filling page-after-page of my flimsy notebook with notes on the plot and characterization. I actually finished all of the steps. Unfortunately, preteen me abandoned that story when she realized she loved horror and wanted to delve into stories about the supernatural world.

Still, I never forgot about the Snowflake Method. It was a lot of fun to do and very insightful. Now, years later, young adult me is using it again - this time for a story I've already written and rewritten about five times (Savior of the Damned) and a brand new story I haven't started on yet (Dream Catcher). The snowflake method is helpful for both stories you've already written and stories you plan to write.

For instance, I really struggled with Step 2 of the method for Savior of the Damned. I realized the middle of my story didn't really have a defined act, a second major disaster. And, while it's okay that not all stories follow the three-act structure, I realized adding a major disaster in the middle - emotional disasters, as of now - would only enhance the plot overall. Had I not done the Snowflake Method just because I've already finished SotD, I may have never come to that conclusion.

Plus, me and the boyfriend brainstormed a wonderful one-sentence series summary and first book summary.

Series Summary: The Savior of the Damned leads supernatural creatures in a war against an all-powerful demon.

Book One Summary: An ex-drug addict travels within her mind to clear inner demons and become a goddess.

Now, about this info overload and consistency stuff. For me, they go hand-in-hand. When the year started, I made a big deal about unsubscribing to a bunch of newsletters and blogs. So I did. And, three months in, I've started subscribing to stuff again. People, this is a problem. I think I'm an info junkie. And I think there's a thin line between an info junkie and a procrastinator.

What doesn't help matters is that, instead of checking my e-mails once a week, I've instead decided to check 25 e-mails a day. 25 e-mails when each of those 25 e-mails are FULL of 5+ articles on writing, blogging, marketing, and editing is way too much info for everyday, definitely when you consider I'm also reading many more articles and blogs outside of my e-mails.

There's a such thing as trying to cram too much knowledge into your mind. It's overwhelming. Writing after reading all of those articles is much more stressful because all the things I've just learned are fresh on my mind, bothering me while I'm in the middle of writing a sentence. Then consistency is ruined. I find myself constantly wanting to keep up with these articles and posts, but there's just too many.

Because I'm a coach and an editor, it's great that I keep tabs on the writing world, but there needs to be a limit for both the sake of my sanity and my productivity. So I think I'll need to go back to checking e-mails once a week or once every two weeks.

Now I leave you with the first episode of Charlie the Unicorn and the song playing on my playlist as of now.

Last summer, I lived in a dorm in Indiana University Bloomington, took classes, and went to a number of meetings courtesy of the scholarship I'd gotten. It wasn't easy, that's for certain, but I knew it wouldn't be easy from the get-go. Three things in particular made it especially hard for me.

1.) Before this, I'd never been so far from home, let alone for such a long amount of  time. I didn't want to admit it, maybe because I like to see myself as an independent individual very capable of doing well enough on my own with the right resources, but I was severely homesick - not just from my home, but from my environment. I've spent most of my life in Hammond, Blue Island, and Chicago. Bloomington had very little in common with the places I grew up in.

2.) Before this, I'd never been in love (at least not real love) and had no idea how much being a part from the first person I've ever loved would hurt. This is also another thing I didn't want to admit to myself, namely because doing so would make me feel as though I were too attached. But hell, I missed him a lot.

3.) I discovered that I sucked at math. When I say sucked, I really mean sucked. I failed the placement test so bad that I ended up in the lowest math class they could put a person in. For the most part, I base my life around intelligence and determination. However, here was something I wasn't smart enough at no matter how hard I tried, and the more I tried and failed, the more defeated I felt.

Suddenly, everything I held close to me - love, environment, and intelligence - seemed out of my grasp. Coupled with financial issues, college became hell for me. I developed a fear of it. I wanted out. And, after one hell of a semester where I struggled with depression, I finally did get out. I unenrolled, came on back home, and decided to take a break from college.

Honestly, I didn't know how long this break would last. Part of me had plans to never go back again. The other part of me did want to go back. Guess what? Finally, after many nightmares about college where I realized I actually felt guilty - like I was letting myself down - and a good conversation with my dad about college, the latter part of me won out.

I'm going back. Fall 2012, I'll be going to Purdue Calumet to hopefully get a B.A. in something business related and minor in English. I feel incredibly stupid for not taking this route in the first place. My dad tried his hardest to make it clear to me that going to Purdue, a college in walking distance from my house, would be best financially and mentally. For some reason, I saw that as him not supporting me. Plus I really wanted to get out of the house.

Sometimes, though, you have to learn something the hard way.

This is my chapter outlinem Messy, yes. ^_^

Speaking of learning something the hard way...I've discovered that I can not write a chapter of a story unless I outline the chapter first.

My chapter outline (or the picture to the right) follows the same formula each chapter and every story. Basically, I put the title of the the chapter, a T-chart with the characters and setting, vague summaries of the important things that need to happen in the chapter, and then an in-depth summary of the important points. These in-depth summaries have all the dialogue, all the descriptions, and all the things that need to happen in the chapter. They're so in-depth that these often take me a day or two to write and 5+ pages.

The best part about this system is that once I sit down to write the chapter, everything comes together. I'm excited to get everything I sloppily wrote down in the outline into proper story form.

For some reason, when I finished the 6th draft of Savior of the Damned, I stopped doing chapter outlines. Instead, I sat down in front of a blank piece of notebook paper like I could really just...poof out a chapter from nothingness. My boyfriend can do it, many other writers can do it, and even I could do it back in middle school and high school, but I can't do it now.

And this plays a part in why, even when I do spend an hour or two on writing, I *maybe* complete a page. I don't like not knowing where the hell I'm going. For me, it leaves too much room for me to second guess myself. As thus, I'm returning back to the system of chapter outlines because that would be, I don't know, the smart choice. -_-

On another note, the first vid is something I find amusing while the second vid is my most recent favorite song:

Holy hell, I have a massive migraine. I also woke up this morning with a mind deadset on relapsing back into depression. This isn't new, though. What *is* new is that I've gotten much better at pep talks. All I had to do was get indignant with the doubts and the bullshit and tell myself, "I don't want to be a better someone else. I want to be a better me, and I can be a better me without being blind to the good things about me now."

It worked. These days, that always works. Now, apart from the migraine and what I think may be a sore throat in the works, I feel just fine. Fine enough to do a more upbeat post about the cool things on the internet. I'm sure this will be a series of posts. There are LOTS of cool things on the internet I'd love to talk about, like Cracked and TV Tropes and Memes and Creepypastas and Let's Plays....

Alexa Toolbar

Yes, I kinda suck.

Yesterday I went into extreme marketing mode and got fixated on finding stats for Reader's Den. Of course, just as I expected, stats for Reader's Den are pretty damn low. Sure I get 50-99 views a day and, on a day where I post new content, I get 100-200 views. But, in the grand scheme of the internet as a whole, I'm like a baby mouse in space.

In spite of the fact that my Alexa rank is so low (for now) that I perhaps shouldn't have it on my front page like I'm proud of it, I went and downloaded the Alexa Toolbar.
That was an awesome choice. Even if you're not a website owner obsessed with you and your competitions' website stats, downloading the Alexa Toolbar would still be an awesome choice.

I spent a lot of time yesterday going to all my favorite sites, looking at their ranking, and clicking the wayback button to see what the very first post of the site looked like. I learned that the top four websites are as follows:

1.) Google
2.) Facebook
3.) Youtube
4.) Yahoo!

I really wish I could guess what number five is. I mean, I knew those four sites would be the top four even before Alexa told me. The ranking was fun, but not half as fun as the wayback button. Ohhh boy. Wanna know what Myspace looked like in the 1990s? It looked hilarious, that's what. Wow has Myspace changed over the years.

I giggle every time. -_- But hey, it *was* the 90s. Limited internet abilities and all.

Same thing for Youtube.

Youtube has changed so much that it's hard for the robots to even capture it.

I really wanted to see Google and Facebook, but those sites make going wayback impossible.

Beside the fact that the wayback feature often makes me giggle about website design in the 90s, I kept going wayback because I love progression. There's something wonderful about comparing the beginning product to the current or end product, about jumping between the past and the present and being able to easily say, "Wow, things have really changed."

For me, that's motivation. It's a way of saying that just because your Alexa ranking is embarrasingly low today, and you have limited website capabalities now, doesn't mean that it will always be that way. If I work hard enough, I can press wayback for my site and giggle at the past as well.

Plus, I also find something eerie about the old versions of this site still being there and archived. It's like they're perpetually trapped in the past but...also not.

Anyway, next time I'm gonna talk about Googling yourself because that's also a cool (yet sorta scary) thing about the internet. Now I leave you with a funny vid and whichever song is currently playing on my playlist. The first vid is much funnier if you're into Skyrim or know about the FUS RO DAH meme. On another note, the migraine calmed down by a lot. ^_^

In my most recent post, I talked about the Special Syndrome I suffered through throughout highschool. It was a hard post for me to write because for the longest time I hated the idea that I always wanted to feel like a special snowflake. I hate stories with 'special snowflakes.' Those types of characters irritate the hell out of me. Yet I spent so much of my life hypocritically wanting to be that way. Putting the post up, though, was a way for me to let those feelings go and get them out in the open.

I got three comments on the blog and one on Facebook, which is much more than I'm accustomed to. The comments were a great help, so thank you Aaron, Michelle, Jawan, and Cindy! Because Cindy asked me to post how I got to where I am now, this is the follow-up post where I will do just that.

How I go to where I am now? Well, I don't particularly feel like I'm anywhere right now, to be honest. I feel like I'm in a limbo of trying to get somewhere, like I'm on this loooooong highway trying to get to some semblance of independence (a car and a steady income) and some semblance of my idea of success (a published novel and a consistent stream of clients for Honest Crits). But because I'm a progressive person who is always trying to reach that next big goal, I mostly always feel like I'm in a limbo. Of course I do stop to admire what I've done along the way and what I'm doing now, but I'm not the type of person to just stop and remain in one spot. Love is the only thing where I prefer sticking along for however long me and the guy can make the love last, and even then I like progression. I want us to grow with each other, to talk, to figure out what we want and what we don't want and respect each other as a result of knowing that.

But I digress. I'm sure that when Cindy asked that question, she meant how did I (for the most part) get past all those terrible emotions I faced in high school and find enough confidence to post it all on my blog and put it behind me.

Well, it was rocky. I got to this point after a couple of panic attacks from being overwhelmed and realizing that I was living the life others wanted me to live and not the life I wanted to live. See, that's what happens when you're a people pleaser. When I was in college, miserable as all hell, depression almost ate me whole. Of course, having Matthew by my side did help by a lot. He makes me feel beautiful and most of all he makes me feel loved and cherished. I know my own value now. So I thank him for that.

But what really got me here now was being able to analyze my emotions and understand the main reason I've been depressed.

The voices. For me, it's the voices. When I'm depressed, the thoughts in my head always put me down. You're ugly. You'll never make it. That was a dumb choice. He'll leave you. Why do you talk? Blah blah blah. I think...A LOT. I'm constantly analyzing, theorizing, creating, arguing, but all in my mind.

Those voices are bad when you've mistakenly trained them to attack yourself. However, those voices are wonderful as hell when you apply them to something in life that DOES need analyzing, theorizing, creating, and arguing.

Ever wonder why I'm a reviewer, editor, and writer? Well, my thoughts work perfectly for all those tasks. Because I'm focusing all those voices on a business, on something not me, on something I could make money from, the voices are too occupied there to turn on me. Sure, I wear a lot of hats, but that's because I have enough thoughts in my mind for two people anyway.

I know that sounds crazy, but these are how I got where I am now and how I hope to get somewhere even better as life goes on:

• I fell in love and allowed myself to trust my heart with another who respects me.
• I analyzed where my problem lies - in the voices within my head that put me down - and applied that problem to the things I'm good at. By doing that, I was able to make something positive out of the negative.
• I've practiced retraining my thoughts to not attack me because, I don't know, that's rather silly.

And, because I always do this, here are two videos for your enjoyment. The first one is just ridiculous and funny. The second one is a song I currently like:

For the last couple of days, I've been arguing with myself about this blog post. Should I put it up? How will people think of me? Can I really write about something that, for the longest time, made me despise myself?

And you know what? I can put this up and get these thoughts out. It's time I fully accept myself, enough so to talk about things that bother me on this here personal blog. So here it is...

Maybe it started with all those romance books, where the heroine would always be so 'special' that this guy would fall head over heels for her no matter what she said or did. Maybe it was all the video games, where the main character was special enough to be chosen to rescue everyone. Either way, by the time I got to high school, I was a terrible mixture of the following:

1.) Stepford Smiler
2.) I just want to be special
3.) Romantic Runner Up
4.) The Perfectionist
5.) Always Someone Better

I've finally stopped being a 'Romantic Runner Up'. Matthew and me are still together, going strong. There finally isn't another girl in the shadows that he'd prefer to be with. I finally don't feel like a guy is only with me because he couldn't get his number one choice. And boy that feels good. The stepford smiler syndrome has also lightened up by a lot ever since I hooked up with Matthew. He was the one that pointed it out to me that I was a stepford smiler. It was a realization that bothered me as much as it bothered him. For me, being a stepford smiler goes hand-in-hand with being a people pleaser. People pleasing is one hell of a dangerous disease.

However, I still struggle every day with perfectionism, wanting to be special, and feeling like there is always someone better. I want my life to be worthy of my parents, my family, and my boyfriend being proud. Some part of me feels like I have to, yknow, make up for leaving college and my job back at the school and the only way to do that, the only way to truly be redeemed, is to be a success story, is to work my ass off every day until I'm a success story.

People say I work too hard. I'm actually better now than I used to be, like much better. I take breaks to watch anime or Let's Plays and talk to people and eat candy while I blankly stare out the window. I hang with my boyfriend. But I won't deny that I probably do work too much. In my mind, it's not enough work.

And I think the deep void in my soul or heart or whateverthehell always gets darker when I start thinking of shit like, "It's not enough." Then I start thinking of how witty this guy is or beautiful this girl is or blah blah blah.

Sometimes I'm sure I'm getting a lot better and that I'm confidently becoming that girl I've always dreamed of being, but other times it's like I'm terrified. Like I almost want to delete this post and forego publishing it altogether. I'm araid that everyone will see...everyone will think that I'm frail. I don't want to be underestimated. I don't want to be told to change. I don't want to be pitied. I've survived a lot of stuff I probably shouldn't have. I *know* I'm not defunct and weak.

So I'm gonna publish this rambly post that has all my top fears and problems and let you all see what I've been silently holding inside. Here are two videos that make me happy:



Hey, this is my ACTUAL to-do list. Putting my camera to use. ^_^

This morning I woke up at 8:30 am instead of 9:30 or 10 am. I had tea, oatmeal, and sausages instead of soda, an omelet, and waffles. This is me, trying to wake up earlier and eat healthier, and I'm happy I'm finally trying. What pushed me? Here and there, I've been reading posts about the daily lives of professional writers and entrepreneurs who work out of their home. The majority of those posts drilled into my head that if I'm aiming to be more productive, I need to take better care of my health and start my days earlier. I knew that before I read those articles, yeah, but they were the push I needed. I now want to eat more fruits and veggies and drink more juice and tea. I feel proud to admit that.

Anyway, my to-do list is HUGE today (hence why I call it the monster list). I know, I know, it's Valentine's day. Shouldn't I be spending today with a friend or with my boyfriend or TV? Well, as it turns out, the boyfriend goes to work today and I have a lot of work to do as well. We anticipated this already and decided to do our Vday stuff together yesterday. It was wonderful. I gave him things, he gave me things, we cuddled and talked and laughed a lot. Mostly the day was just like any other day we've spent together, in that he played video games and I worked on my business, but we didn't need the excuse of Valentine's day to feel extremely thankful to have each other.

Now that I'm done being a lovestruck goober, here is what I'm up to:

Yep, this is the card and candy.

1.) Start editing novella: If you don't already know, I'm a freelance editor who owns an editing business called Honest Crits. Because I had to edit the stories of those who won my Big Giveaway Contest over at Reader's Den, I had to wait to start editing the most recent novella that's been submitted to me. It's 74 pages long. If I give myself until March 5th to complete it, I can do 3-4 pages a day. Now all I have to do is make sure the writer is okay with that date.

2.) Promote my review of 'Spur of the Moment' by Candace Bowen Early: I'm very satisfied with this review. I wrote it without an outline and the words still easily came to me. The review also turned out to be longer than I thought it would be, which always makes me happy. Feels like the review has more depth. Today I'm gonna go into hardcore promotion mode and promote the review on more than 25 sites and pages, but already 3 people have particpated in the giveaway. That makes me incredibly happy! Since my promotion plan is 15 bucks, I always feel so terrible when an author doesn't get at least 3 participants and/or a discussion in the comments. Already, I won't have that problem with this review.

3.) Mark David down for second week of March: This means that, the second weekend of March, I'll be reviewing the second book in The Black Earth Series. I already reviewed book 1 here. Soon, David will be joining my Reader's Den team of writers. I'm thrilled to have him as a writing companion.

4.) Finish 'Common Errors' article: Actually, I need to start it too. -_- In March, I'll be doing a blog tour for Honest Crits, but first I need to write all 8 articles I'd like to promote throughout the web and then contact the blog owners whose blogs I'd like to appear on. The 'Common Errors' article will be a two-part article exploring the errors I see time and time again when I'm editing.

5.) Do at least 500 words of Dream Catcher, damn it!: If you read the last part of my previous post, you'll know that I'm very upset with myself for not working more on my fiction. I've been so into this business life that it feels like the creative part of my mind that allows me to write about creatures and alternate dimensions has been closed off. I can write articles and reviews with no problem, but work on my story? Fiction is where I started. I need to return to my roots, and making myself do at least 500 words today is supposed to help with that.

6.) Make sure dad gets boxes and 40 bucks: How handy is it that my dad works at the post office? Anyway, this is in regards to the fact that I need to send the books of those who won my giveaway contest out. It slipped my mind yesterday, but to make up for it slipping my mind, I finished editing the winning stories.

7.) Start polls for Reader's Den posts: There are two questions and two polls I'd like to have a lot of readers' inputs on. First question: Do readers really care about where and how a book was published? Second question: What do readers do with free Amazon books? Then, when these polls have been circulating for a while and I feel like enough readers have participated, I'll write two posts at Reader's Den about the answers to those questions. It should be fun.

8.) Submit at least 1 job application: My sources of income are rather shaky right now. Twice a month, I get 50 dollars from my dad, but my phone bill is 40 bucks and I have a tight budget. When all is said and done, only $7.50 of that 50 goes to me for general spending. Percentages of the rest go to self-publishing, savings, and my business. The business money I make is, of course, sporadic because Honest Crits is still in the process of being launched. Hency why I'll be doing a blog tour in March and advertising in April. So far, all the money I've made for the business has gone back to the business. As thus, I need a part-time job.

9.) Clear at least 25 e-mails: Even after going on my large unsubscribing spree, my e-mails still multiply very fast. And it doesn't help that I have about 6 e-mail addresses. I could very easily spend a whole day clearing e-mails, but I don't have the time for that. Clearing at least 25 e-mails today seems good enough for me.

Will I complete all of this? I don't know. Chances are, I won't. But it's not a big deal if I don't complete them all, as long as I complete 3-5 of them. As always, I leave you with the two most recent songs I love most: