Okay, so I know I said I'd be taking a break, but I wanted to pop in and let you all know about a great new feature on QueryTracker. The brain-child of Suzette Saxton, it's a great new social networking tool that will allow writers to connect to one another quickly and efficiently.

You follow my blog, but you might not follow me on Twitter. Are we Facebook friends? No? How about my website, have you seen it? Thanks to Suzette, you can see all of my on-line haunts on one page and with one click, you can link to everything Amanda Bonilla ;)

If you're not a member of QueryTracker yet, I strongly suggest you join. It is HANDS DOWN the best site for querying writers. I attribute all of my successes to the relationships I've formed since joining. Once you're a member click on "My Stuff" and "Edit My Profile". From there you can enter your blog, website, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc, etc... Whew! That's a lot of networking!

The new feature also allows you to connect with other writers based on your likes. You can add "Pen Pals" which is the equivalent of "friending" someone or "following" them. Click HERE to learn more.

Thanks Suzette and Patrick for helping all of us aspiring authors out! You're the best!

I probably won't be blogging over the next couple of weeks, and I'm sure most of you won't be reading blogs either.

Have a restful, wonderful holiday season! I'll see you in 2010!

Shaun started this cringe-worthy topic and I guess I'm going to have to swallow my pride and jump right in. He asks:

What is the silliest thing from a book or short story you've written, and why? It can be a line or a paragraph or a whole page. Anything that you look back at and go, "Say what?"

Well, not to sound like a broken record, but I was a young mom. The first things I wrote were short stories starring my then 2 year-old daughter and my sister. Okay, before you read... 1) my daughter was a pretty sharp cookie when she was little 2) no child was abused in the writing of this story ;) 3) She was probably throwing a fit of some kind when I wrote the story. Get ready for an eighteen year-old mom's attempt at entertaining her child:

Once upon a time, in a kingdom often referred to as the Bad Lands, lived a young girl named Jacquelyn. She was the baddest of the bad and deemed ruler of the Bad Lands by the residents therein.

One day a young peasant girl named Mandy the Meek was mindlessly skipping through a patch of weeds. Little did she know that this certain patch of weeds was the pride and love of Queen Jacquelyn. Mandy, was simple of mind, had no idea that anyone would care a snit about an old patch of worthless stinky weeds, and skipped through them with carefree abandon.

From the window of her lofty palace, Queen Jacquelyn espied the young and silly Mandy girl doing a dance upon her most prized and favorite weeds. This sent the wicked Queen into a fury not seen often by the residents of the Bad Lands. She flew from her tower with the speed of a 747 and swept down upon the simple young girl with an agility that frightened the lookers on. The villagers cringed with guilt as they they witnessed the harsh tirade of the Queen and covered their ears at the screeching sound. One cowardly villager though, slunk away with a heavy heart.

Without a moment to spare the villager ran as fast as his stubby legs could carry him to the land of water, where he would find Niki Pickle, protector of all simple-minded fools. The villager told Niki Pickle of the evil Jacquelyn and her abuse of the Mandy girl. Niki immediately jumped astride her great steed and rode into the Bad Lands to once again do good for those who could not help themselves.

Niki Pickle arrived not a moment too soon, for Jacquelyn was spitting insults at the Mandy girl so fast that Mandy was crumpled in a pile of mush on the ground. Niki Pickle grabbed her staff of truth from her steed and proceeded to knock Jacquelyn in the head. One knock, and the staff of truth turned the wicked Queen into a good and righteous creature, never to do evil again. She still grew weeds, but it didn't bother her to have them skipped upon any longer. The villagers were so happy, that they awarded Niki Pickle with a lifetime supply of Spicy Mandarin Chicken, which kept Niki Pickle forever fed and happy.

The End!

Hope you enjoyed my silliest writing moment. Check out Rebecca's post before mine, and Sandra's tomorrow for more cringe-worthy stories!

Check out this funny song set to Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" over at Tales of Extraordinary Ordinariness. Suzanne has a hit on her hands!!!

I remember feeling like my life had ended. I remember thinking that I'd never finish high school. I remember feeling alone, even if I wasn't, and I remember assuming that I'd never acheive anything in my adult life.

But I finished high school. I grew up beside my child, and I pursued what I loved whether I was concscious of it or not. I still have the micro-cassett recorder I bought fifteen years ago, to record ideas that came to me while I was driving. I have boxes of short stories, a fun way to pass the time, leading me toward the path I would inevitably take. I've stored the three-ring binder, full of asperations and purple prose, to remind me of how much I've grown. And I have the battle scars, visible only to me, proof of my determination to succeed.

I love the worlds I create like I love my children. I cherish the stories like I cherish my marriage. And I sit down at this keyboard day after day, thankful for each keystroke, each request, each rejection. I'm thankful for the friends I've made, the writers who feel what I feel every day.

I'm thankful for the words.