New Mommy Status

Today, my baby girl is one month old. I had to take a few pictures of her to mark the day!

Yep, she's getting to be an old woman. But she's still a cutie pie in my opinion. I love the way she lifts her hands and shakes them around. Looks like she's conducting an orchestra, which makes me wonder...Will she be musically inclined? She HAS been trying out her lung capacity a lot more lately.

The day she was born, a handful of nursing students visited the hospital. They got to watch her c-section, then follow her to the nursery as she was measured, weighed, and tested. Since I didn't get to hold her--or even see her really--until she was two hours old, the nursing students were so helpful when they came to check my stats...They filled me with stories about how she was doing with her first bath and so on. I guess Lydia was a content newborn. She wasn't much of a cry-baby. But the maternity nurses needed to know she had a good set of lungs, so the nursing students had to "stimulate" her to make her cry. After a little back rub, she was wailing with the best of them.

When I finally got to meet her, she was still a quiet child. But in the last month, she's beginning to grow out of that stage. I guess she has more to say these days. That, or she's just getting fussy in her old age.

Since we've switched her over from nursing to formula feeding this week, the hubby and I worried about her indigestion (Okay, okay...we've worried about EVERYTHING in the past four weeks--hearing, crossed eyes, boogers, birthmarks, etc.). Maybe she has gas problems due to the formula. So...we're going to try a couple different types. Still haven't found one that totally satisfies me yet.

And so, that is how the life of new motherhood is progressing for me. It still feels strange...being "a mother". I don't feel any different, don't look any different (well, except for that big belly that's not so big any more). When other people have had children, I've gained a new perspective of them. But I still see myself the same way. My life has changed; there's this tiny, needy little person around that constantly demands my attention, but I don't feel changed.

It's the same way with my writing...My first book was published last month. But I don't feel like some big, awesome author. I'm just average ol' Linda.

Anyway, Lydia is doing okay. She's slowly getting more sleep at night (Hallelujah!) and she doesn't spit up...much. Comparatively speaking, she doesn't really cry THAT much. I think I found myself a gem in daughters.

She's definitely a keeper.

Lessons Learned...The Rejection Way #4

Easy Endings

This is number four of my "Lessons Learned" series. I started this sequence of posts, hoping to help others avoid rejection by telling them a couple of reasons why I myself have received rejections on book submissions. And today, the topic of rejection is the "Easy Ending."

How many books have you read or written that base their entire conflict on misunderstanding? The hero thinks one thing about the heroine and the heroine thinks something else about the hero, and this misunderstanding is the sole reason they are not together. If the two would merely have one honest, open conversation, then everything would be resolved and the story would be over...In fact, that is how the story usually ends...with the two main characters finally discovering the truth and everything being right in the world again. The end.

Well, this is a cope-out ending. I've been guilty of doing it, but that still makes it too easy of an ending.

In college, I learned that the end of a story has to show change in your main character or has to teach them something new about the world or themselves. And simply realizing they were misunderstood about a minor fact doesn't really help develop their character. It's not a very sustainable ending. They need to show some kind of growth or development by the time "the end" rolls around.

So, the next time you're working on a story, try come up with something more creative than, "Oh, so you've really loved me all along? Why didn't you just say so on page ten, so this could've been a short story instead of the long, drawn-out disaster it was?" Otherwise, you may be joining ranks with me in the rejections pile. But, hey, at least I would've be all alone in there then!

Good luck on your manuscript and your submissions.

Friday Forwards - # 3

It's Friday Forwards time again (my sharing with you of funny emails I get forwarded to me). Now, I usually say "If anyone ever finds out where these forwards originate, let me know so I can credit the source," but I swear I heard some of these on the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, recited by Bill Engvall.

Also, if you have some great jokes you receive on your emails, please feel free to forward them to me at Linda(at)Linda Kage(dot)com and I'll make sure they get posted (but they have to be clean--public forum here, remember!!).

The Ultimate Smart-Aleck Answers

It was mealtime during a flight.

"Would you like dinner?" the attendant asked John.

"What are my choices?" he asked.

"Yes or no," she answered.

***

A lady was picking through the frozen turkeys at the grocery store, but she couldn't find one big enough for her family, so she asked the stock boy, "Do these turkeys get any bigger?"

The stock boy replied, "No ma'am, they're dead."

***

A cop got out of his car, and the kid who was stopped for speeding rolled down his window.

"Son," the cop said. "I've been waiting for you all day."

"Yeah?" the kid answered. "Well I got here as fast as I could."

***

A flight attendant was stationed at the departure gate to check tickets. As a man approached, she extended her hand for the ticket. Instead of handing one over, he opened his trench coat and flashed her.

"Sir," she responded. "I need to see your ticket not your stub."

***

A truck driver was driving along the freeway when he saw a Low Bridge Ahead sign. Before he knew it, there was the bridge and he got stuck under it. Cars backed up for miles. Finally a police car pulled up.

The cop got out of his car and walked to the driver. "Got stuck, huh?" he said.

"No," the truck driver answered. "I was delivering this bridge and ran out of gas."