Oh January!

The monday of the year is finally done (usually my most hated month) but this year it wasn't too bad. Yes it was cold and I spent most of it in unemployment but I did get a new pair of boots and let's face it, life is always better in boots. I love boots. They make me feel more powerful than I am. I'm thinking of getting a knife to slip in my boots too...you know, just in case.
This year I also got to work at the Sundance Film Festival like I hoped would work out thanks to a referral from a friend. It was a lot of fun and I so enjoyed the people I worked with and the great hours which were shorter than most film sets. I was a production assistant/script supervisor for the Sundance Channel, helping with all the interviews they did of directors, writers, and actors. I learned and saw quite a bit doing it, including, but not limited to, the fact that Joan Rivers has fewer wrinkles than I do and Frodo Baggins (aka Elijah Wood) made a perfect hobbit because he's almost as short as me but he does have all his fingers and he was very nice. (He shook my hand and said it was nice to meet me, *sigh*). Besides all the hung-over actors, and posers wearing sunglasses at night it was a pretty cool scene. But I have to say at the end of the day I was just glad to go home.
The day after that 9-day assignment ended I headed to good old NYC for the SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) conference. Two days of workshops, speakers, networking, trying to make us feel we got our money's worth, etc... Yes, I'm still trying to get my children's novel, The Stubbs, published and hoped the conference might help increase my chances but there weren't as many publishers and agents there as I thought there would be. Most of us were in the same boat, all with stories and hopes of selling them. Sometimes I think I just wasn't cut out for this crazy, fast-paced 21st century but what can I do? I blame Joan of Arc. I think she switched places with me at the last minute. Despite feeling a little lost in the scene, I did get some leads of new places to send my manuscript and picked up some good insights and inspiration so it was a great experience.

I also got to stay with two of the greatest brunettes on the island, Pacini and Hogan (I call them by their last names cause it's more fun, especially when you say them with Italian/Irish accents.) The two of them let me sleep in the middle of their living room at their studio apartment in Chelsea and man we did have fun and good late-night talks about all the wisdom we've gained through our twenties (at least that we think we have.) We went to Alice's Tea Cup and ended up hanging out more in warm places since it was so cold. I finally warmed up enough by Monday to take a walk in Central Park (one of my favorite places) in my new purple coat which, to be perfectly honest, kind of reminds me of a Jo March type frock. I tried to get lottery tickets to see the Broadway musical In the Heights and was one of only about 5 people who didn't get picked. I've never going to take up gambling. I have no luck. I also got an early addiction to the Cadbury chocolate eggs this year, though I haven't been able to find them in Utah proving once again that New York is more progressive. Anyway, it was a great trip and a bit hard to leave. Pacini and Hogan kept urging me to change my plane ticket to stay longer since I didn't have a job to go back to but I ended up leaving anyway. For the last week I've been asking myself why I left but it's too late now. So, back to job searching, reading, trying to start on the next book, and trying to figure out if my running shoes are the right size. Ah life...what a ride.