Gumption Junction

     Okay folks. This is it. 2012 is here. It will not go down in history as the year the world ended as my husband unfortunately believes to be true ("Why paint the kitchen? The world is going to end this year anyways")...Oh, no. It's much bigger than that. This is the year of Gumption Junction.

     Gumption, which happens to be my favorite word because I like saying -gump-, is practically  my middle name passed down to me a generation from my paternal father. Yes, my father and I are both genetic recipients of this thing called gumption. A person with gumption often possesses a thing I like to refer to as the gumptious focus. This focus can also be described as mono-vision, having your blinders on, etc. As I see it, the gumptious focus can be a wonderful and beautiful thing. It'll  get you where you want to go that's for sure. With this focus, I have:

• believed myself capable of singing solo at my sixth grade graduation (sorry class of '92)
• traveled to the ends of the earth to study Spanish (Que barbaridad!)
• become a skilled gardener (thank you Home Depot for your dead plant return policy)
• learned to sew (here's to you stitch taker-outer thingy)
• found the most rustic and perfect and beautiful kitchen table complete with two leaves, a bench, four chairs that we can guarantee won't tip over on our poor guests (story for another time), all at a bargain of a price. If you don't believe how glorious my table is, just see for yourself. Cue the singing angels:

See how it shines? It's magical. You can sit and eat there ALL DAY LONG.

The point is, once I set my mind to it,  I just can't stop myself people. I get things done. Is it productive? Yes. Is it annoying to all around me? Why, yes. Is it normal? Definitely... not?
With that said, Gumption Junction, I have plans for you.

Not only do I promise in 2012 to be a better:

wife
mother
daughter
sister
brother
student
recyclist
bicyclist

...I am determined to go full force into the world of children's literature. If you doubt my gumptious focus, I have just ordered a set of 250 free business cards to prove it. They read something along the lines of...

                            Elizabeth Stevens Omlor
                           Children's Literature Author and Enthusiast

 These mail order business cards (that also mention how they were free on the back, by the way. I didn't dare spend the extra $3.50 to have the plain, white back option), will be ready to be tossed into lonely, street gutters and mingle in trashcans with half finished Diet Cokes at SCBWI conferences (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators- that's right. I'm now a member! P.S. Should I have said half-full Diet Cokes? Does that qualify me as a pessimist? Shucks.)

     And thanks to the current state of the California budget, I will be taking a semester off from school and therefore have a little extra time on my hands to not only read, write and participate in challenges such as Julie Foster Hedlund's 12 x 12 in 2012 , but to...find an agent! I will submit and submit and submit some more until I find one poor soul to represent me. That's right! This I do know. How do I know? Not only did my Yahoo! horoscope tell me so, but this is the year of Gumption Junction.

Happy New Year!