Wait A Minute Mr. Postman

I ordered my copy of the 2010 Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market this week! I'm excited to have my own copy for the first time. For the past year I have monopolized the library copy. (In my defense the children's librarian ordered it with me in mind.) But now I'll have one that I can mark up and dog-ear pages, eat toast and jelly over , drink coffee with, take for walks...

I also ordered The Elements of Style by William J. Strunk Jr. and E.B. White (yep, that's my old friend E.B.). Since my goal as a writer is not only to get published, but to become a better writer, I'm looking forward to drinking coffee with this one too. Speaking of working on becoming a better writer, The Writing Nag always offers good advice, but I found her post this Monday especially helpful. (My kids and I love to rock out to Schoolhouse Rock.)
While I'm waiting for my books to arrive from Amazon, I need to send out a package of my own . I finally registered for the 1st Annual Scarlett and Gray Writers and Illustrators Conference, and for the first time I am having a professional manuscript critique done. Thank you to Casey at Literary Rambles and Corey at Thing 1 and Thing 2 for their advice on manuscript critiques. Now, where is that postman? Doesn't he know I'm waiting!?