When I was a kid I didn’t really go tot he theater that often, but it’s something I always thought was really cool. I try to take the daughter as often as possible.

You know, so she’ll be cultured and such.

We have season tickets to the Casa Manana Children’s theater, and have never missed a show. They always make me smile, and this year the production quality went way up, so I really enjoy the plays that much more.

But, it’s nothing compared to seeing a play at the Bass Performance Hall. We took the daughter to see the most fantastic play there: The Little House on the Prairie Musical.

We had a blast, the actors were amazing. Especially the girl who played Laura (Kara Lindsay). Seriously, that girl knocked it out of the park. Her voice was phenomenal, she got laughs from the audience in all the right places, and she made me want to homestead on the prairie. (Or, you know, watch a movie about homesteading the prairie.)

The best part of the evening? I got to give my first ever standing ovation. They totally deserved it too. It’s really cool watching an entire theater rise to their feet in honor of someone’s art.

Anyway– I think you guys should all hitch up your giddyup, and mosey on out to see this freakin’ play! They’re still in Fort Worth for a few more days, so go see it!!

So, have you ever been a part of an audience that gave a standing ovation? Have you ever been given one?

Okay, blog-kateers, you may not know this, but I don’t really like talking about myself.

Well, that isn’t entirely true, I actually kind of love talking about myself when it’s like how *I* need to not eat that candy bar, or how *I* should probably start going to bed earlier–you know what I mean. I like to talk about all the things I should be doing in my life to make it more awesome.

So, when someone like, asks me to make a video bio of myself–I freeze.

What will I say? I can’t just complain about my nail color for an entire video…

Can I?

Okay, since that’s probably out, I need to come up with something awesome, something that represents me, and something that’s only two minutes long.

Crap.

So, if you had to make a two minute video all about you–where would you start? How would you make it fantastic?

Geez! May just flew by, and I didn’t even do an “all about May post. That isn’t like me at all.

So, here’s the big kicker for May–I sucked at blogging. Big time. Apparently when I give myself a little bit of a break and say I am only going to blog every other day, I take that to mean I can blog just whenever I want.

Well, that crap has to stop. You see, I love blogging. I love seeing comments because I am all ego-tripping like that. I love the perspective blogging gives me on life–I find the cool things each day and then get to come here and write about them! So–darn it all– I need to blog!

You hear me, people. The only thing I learned in May is that I can’t cut myself any Slack (haha that used to be my last name, you know).

And so–for the REST of June– you will see a blog post here every freakin’ day.

Dammit.

This weekend, my daughter decided she wanted to start a business.

She’s 5. (and the queen of making goofy faces)

She got serious about this, and quick. She took all her $ out of her piggy bank, before I knew it–I was at the store buying cupcake business supplies.

“How will you sell them?” I asked.

“I’m sure my grandparents will buy them,” she answered.

Smart girl.

My friend Heather teaches us how to use the Sone Touch eReader for AWESOME editing.

I love seeing people using technology like this!  I am such a geek.

Revisions with the Sony Touch from Claena on Vimeo.

A fabulous friend of mine, Leigh sent me her take on the storysaurus.

And, I love him so much I had to share him!

Adorable, right?

Have a Nice Day and Watch out for the Big Yellow Chicken.

I’ve started a new feature here at the blog. Wednesday is guest post day. It might not be every Wednesday, hell let’s be honest here–it might even just last a week, but I love the idea of a guest post. It’s the virtual equivalent of having someone over for ice cream and cookies.

And who doesn’t love cookies?

Today’s post comes from one of my very favorite twitter friends, Susan James. Once every living creature in her house has been fed and Frodo’s been walked, she writes and querys her manuscript. She blogs occasionally, too.

“I thought all you did all day was clean toilets and wipe my kids’ butts.”

Yep, those were the first words out of my sweet husband’s mouth when I showed him the manuscript I’d been pouring my soul into for the last six months. Before you rise up in outrage, let me assure you he was joking. Sort of.

And I’m partly to blame for that.

I didn’t tell anyone I was writing a book. I didn’t even know I was writing a book. I only knew I found myself sitting at stop signs listening to people talking in my head while the groceries melted in the back seat. I figured I could sit down and start typing or go see a psychiatrist.

After my husband’s stunned disbelief that his wife could “write anything this good,” I got the nerve to give my first chapters to a friend. She’s a very no-nonsense working mother of three, one of whom has all sorts of odd allergies and a propensity for pneumonia. Seriously, the kid is allergic to dog licks. My friend has no time to let one down slowly or beat around the bush. But that’s what I wanted- honesty. After all, my husband had to live with me.

Several days later, this message was left on my machine: I am absolutely SHOCKED that YOU wrote this….it’s so good.

I was getting a little pissed. Did I come across as completely unimaginative or inarticulate? Even so, bolstered by their left-handed compliments, I went to a writer’s conference  and began querying. I won’t bore you with that process, but I will say that writing the novel was a complete joy. Writing strong queries and crisp summaries takes serious concentration. Eventually, I had to bribe my kids to

• a. let me have the computer
• b. go away from the room while I’m on it
• c. take the dog with them
• d. turn down the TV (Darth Vader breathes way too loud.)
• e. quit reading over my shoulder and critiquing me!
• This was the final deal: “If you’re helpful, I’ll have time to personalize all these queries. Maybe, I’ll get published some day and when I do, I’ll buy you a present with my advance. Anything you want.”

Like fantasizing over the lotto, my kids dream of the gift I’ll buy them. (Jamie steps in here to say that she’s promised her own kid that if mommy’s book gets published, she’ll take her to Disney World just so daughter will let her write.) My daughter wants an iPhone. My son wants these really scary knives we saw in a shop in Chinatown. My husband freaked- the knives were seriously scary.  ”Don’t worry,” I said. “I have to get published first.”

But by his sheer, sincere fright at the idea of his son owning a huge ninja knife, I knew my husband really did appreciate me as a writer and not just a cleaner of his toilet.

If you’d like to guest post on my blog, just send me an email: jamie@totallythebomb.com. I’d love to have you!

My daughter turns 5 today.

How is that even possible?

How did she grow up so fast?

and more importantly…

HOW am I old enough to have a 5 year old?

I want to start a new guest post feature here at totallythebomb, so if you’re interested in writing a post about–well–anything in the whole wide world (because, let’s face it… when have I ever stuck to just one topic.) then please email me: jamie@totallythebomb.com

Natalie Whipple is one of those super cool people in the writing world that I love to read about. She has a super cool blog, and amazing drawing skills to boot. She’s like nine different kinds of fabulous, and the other day she posted a video where people ran on water.

(I couldn’t find the actual video, but it was something like this)

Well, being the queen know-it-all that I am… I jumped right in her comments section and told her what was up:

Gah! Why did I do that? Why did I spoil the secret? Shouldn’t I just let them have the magic?

Poor Natalie was so sad after I posted it that she tweeted:

Yup, I did that. I made her all sad. And for what? So I could be right… geez.

Well, I’ve been thinking a lot about that this weekend, and so I decided to search the internet and prove her right!

So, Natalie… this one’s for you:

It’s a mixture of cornstarch and water–sometimes it’s a solid, and sometimes it’s a liquid.

Turns out people CAN walk on water, as long as they have all the right tools.

Surely we can find some sort of writing lesson in that, right?

So, I’m not really great with change. That isn’t to say that I don’t understand it or respect the fact that it has to happen in life.

I just don’t like when it does.

There were times that changed rocked my world in an amazing way. Like, when I met my husband or when I had my daughter, but that isn’t change so much as it is growth. Those are things that happen, at some point in time, to most people–so I feel like we’re hard wired to accept that sort of thing.

It’s the little changes that get me all worked up.

Like when someone’s at my table in the coffee shop or if they stop making my favorite jeans. I think it’s because I’ve just come to expect that those things will work out the way I need them to, and when they don’t– then I go all crazy town.

When we bought our new house and moved to Denton, I enrolled my daughter in a three day a week preschool. I decided to treat that time like I had a real job, and so I got up every day, went to the coffee shop and wrote. I had an actual schedule to keep, and I stuck to it. It’s been great for me, and for my writing. I actually get out of my pajamas, (if you’re a stay at home mom to little ones, you know what a feat this is) I write regularly, not only in my manuscript but on my blog, too,  and I felt like a real worker-type.

That all changes Friday.

That’s the last day of school, and I’m back to writing late nights and weekends whenever I can spare a free minute. I’m super excited about getting to spend the summer with my daughter, but I’m worried how I will do it all. I feel like I CAN do it, I am just scared I WON’T.

Ya know?