Happiness Beats Perfection

I think television shows are teaching my three-year-old strange things. Yeah, imagine that.

A couple months ago, she started using "Oh, crackers," as a kind of expletive. I had no idea HOW she came up with that term; no one I know uses "crackers" for anything except food references. Then I watched Jake and the Never Land Pirates with her, and what do you know, The bird likes to say, "Crackers!"

Then came her interpretation of a cat sleeping. She'll fake snore and follow it up with "meow, meow." I just figured out this weekend that this came from Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood.

She quotes Daniel Tiger constantly. If she wants me to take a bite of her banana (which I won't; I hate bananas), she's all like, "Daniel the Tiger says try new food, it might taste good." She even sings the quote. Or if she wants me to help her with a game she's playing on her iPad and I get frustrated because I lost the level too, she starts singing some Daniel Tiger song, telling me not to give up and to try again. There is also a Daniel Tiger song for going potty and picking up your toys, which she sings when she does both.

She might have learned this one from me, but nowadays when we approach a door, she races ahead to hold it open and say, "After you, my lady." The hubby gave her a strange look when she did that for him; he's just not used to being called 'my lady,' I guess.

And now...now when you ask her a question, instead of just saying Yes or yeah, she says, "Yep, indeed." I have no clue where she picked that one up. The girl is definitely a sponge though.

Two more sponges in my life over the next two weeks will be How to Resist Prince Charming and Kiss it Better. They're going to be soaking up reviews because they're currently on a review tour!! Yay!

If you want to read what people are saying about either book, you can follow the tour on these days at these blogs:

July 22nd- Toots Book Review
July 22nd- T's Bookish Moments of Escape

July 23rd- Save Your Money For Books
July 23rd- Readaholics Reviews

July 24th- Queen of the Night
July 24th- A Novel Affair

July 25th- Romance Bookworm
July 25th- Wine Relaxation and MY Kindle

July 26th- Busy Moms Book Reviews
July 26th- The Serial Reader

July 29th- Toots Book Reviews

July 30th- Queen of the Night
July 30th- Sniffer Walk Books

July 31st- Busy Moms Book Reviews

Aug 1st- Book Labyrinth

Aug 2nd- Readaholics Reviews
Aug 2nd- Crazy Four Books

Lots of thanks to Lisa at Tasty Book Tours for setting it up.

And my biggest self-publishing fear came true. It's so sad, and I feel a little sick--okay, really sick about it. I've seen reviews for stories where readers get upset over the bad editing, and I told myself I wouldn't be one of those.

Since How to Resist Prince Charming and Kiss it Better were both published before, I didn't pay a professional to look them over again since an editor and proofreader had already gone over the first version, and frankly, I didn't think they'd sell that well (They didn't the first publishing trip through). So I just re-read them over, and over, and over again (until I never wanted to look at them again).

It feels like I spent all day scrubbing my house clean, taking care to wash the windows precisely, mop the floors, pick up the clutter, polish the wood, put away the dishes, sterilize the bathrooms, only to have an open house where people stepped inside and gasped. "Oh, my God. Look at this mess."

**Morale plummeting**

So, I guess I missed some spots on my stories. How many, I have no idea. Too embarrassed to check it out just yet. At least two people have commented on editing issues.  One person was even kind enough to address me specifically in her review: "Again I say to the author - edit, edit, edit!" So, yep indeed. I feel all amazing about that.

I've paid two professionals so far to edit/proofread Price of a Kiss, and I have no idea how many times I've read it through myself (and am STILL reading through it), but this time around, I asked my huge family to help me look at it just one more time. (That's another favorite saying of Lydia's lately: "Just one more time.") I have the most amazing family. Seriously. Lots of relatives are actually willing to help!

I shouldn't whine about my bad-grammar reviews, though, because honestly, I'm blown away by how many people actually do like my the republished stories. I guess I was just striving for 100% flawless perfection. And I should've just been striving for happiness instead! That might actually be a reachable goal, plus I'd be much...happier in the end!

Good life lesson right there!  Daniel Tiger totally needs to make a song about it. :)

How have you been?

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There are six weeks to go until PRICE OF A KISS is released for the world to read.  But you can get started today by taking in a sneak peek quote from my wonky heroine, Reese: