My New Toy

And new hobby. Oy!

My early Mother's Day present is a Jen-Ken GS Bead annealing kiln. I finally got to play with it yesterday and had some fun.

Actually, I first got to play this week when I went on a glass hunt. Had a kiln. Wanted to melt glass. Needed glass. I discovered United Art Glass in Naperville. I used to drive by this shop all the time when I worked down there. I should have gone in much sooner! The person working there was super helpful. She even told me I didn't need to buy some things--something that always surprises me. I appreciate it, but it is surprising!

Saturday, I fired up the kiln. And it worked! I cooled it down.

I discovered I LOVE cutting glass. The cutter is like a tiny rotary cutter. It makes the best noise (described as a "hiss" in one of the books I'm reading). Then you chomp it with the breaking pliers and it just snaps! apart!

Here are the before and after pictures of the 3"x3" tile I made. I cut the clear, the light purple; the green and dark purple are glass squares I bought pre-cut.

Today I want to fuse some random pieces to make some jewelry. Pictures to come of that project!

Mutant Dog Grows Green Beard!!!

Or else the Puppy Princess eats a lot of grass! Jim took Roxy out on Saturday morning and she breakfasted on a nutritious meal of greens. Roots--encased in dirt!--and all!

Friday night, at a baseball game, she spent her time burrowing under the mowed grass that had been left behind. I'm sensing a theme here...perhaps she's a vegetarian!

Jeremy & The Small People

That's what we called Jeremy's relay team at the track meet on May 2nd. There was my 6'2" son with the midget people, preparing to run. He was pulled in at the last minute. It's just a funny picture!

Here are other pictures from the track meet. The meet ran so long that Jim was able to join us for awhile. It was a gorgeous sunny, warm day after many cold rainy days. A perfect day to be outside.

I Am a Writer

How do I know?

Because I have business cards that say, "Susie Kline, writer." I have hundreds of these cards. Let me know if you want one...they might be a collectible!

I also know because I went to my first writers conference and they told me I was a writer. How much more validation than that do I need? Truthfully, I felt like a writer the instant I started the conference. It was the one act that made it all seem real!

This past weekend was the Chicago-North Romance Writers of America Spring Fling. It was 24 hours of immersion into the business of writing. I knew very little about the business, except for what my brother Kurt has told me. He was pretty much right on the money, except for the little bits that seem to be unique to the genre of romance.

Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer were present. Their keynote message on Saturday morning was encouraging and supportive. I felt like I did belong at the conference. This was a change from the previous evening when I felt like packing up and heading home around ten o'clock.

Oh! Jennifer autographed my copy of "Don't Look Down" with the message "good luck on your book." Sure, she doesn't know me from Adam (from Alesia?!) but she put it in writing that I have a book! So it's tripally official--I am a writer.

I met a fellow new writer who lives nearby. It was comforting to bumble through the conference with a shoulder to lean on. I also met a published author from the next town over who taught me oodles about the writing business in the lounge!

I had an appointment with Margaret Marbury of MIRA. So much was to be crammed into the 6-minute appointment! I got my pitch down to 100-ish words and about 30 seconds. She asked if I had an agent. I said no. She gave me the names of two people to submit to. She told me that smaller conferences are very beneficial. She was encouraging.

People had suggested things to discuss in these appointments, but there just wasn't time. I could barely remember my own name, much less remember to ask which way the industry is heading.

The good thing is I am certain I made no impression on Ms. Marbury--good or bad. So I didn't irrevocably damage my budding writing career! haha