I recently sent in a manuscript for my first book and just received an email today that it's been accepted for publishing. I'm not sure how good this company is, but I figure I'll take anything with this first book and get something even better with my second book when I'm finished with it. I'm definitely excited though. You're going to see my name in print. You're going to see my work in hardcover, on the shelves of bookstores. This is it, people. This is my dream coming alive!
Ellen, here I come!
Friday, March 23, 2012
Monday, March 19, 2012
Lewiston Pictures
This is us sheltering from the rain and cold. Courtney's dad was awesome to buy this umbrella for us.
The team in the elevator.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
In Case of Ants...
I would just like to tell you all that there is a point where somebody can be officially wiped out. Trust me, I learned from experience.
The last few days have been crazy and have been almost entirely centered on tennis. I went to Lewiston, Idaho for a tennis tournament Thursday through Saturday. I played third singles, and I didn't get completely crushed like last year when I played first singles. But before I get to the results of the tournament, let me take you to the night before the tournament actually started. I promise you that it really was as ugly as I'm going to make it sound.
First off, somebody out there got me sick. I'm not sure who it was or where you are now, but I hope you had just as rough a time with it as I did. This head cold could seriously have been the death of me. For all you people out there, if you're sick, stay away from me. I don't want to catch it.
On Thursday night when we got to our hotel my coach found a swarm of ants in her bathroom. Yes, they let her switch rooms. But my room, which was just across the hall, was not infested with ants, and we stayed where we were. We should have taken the hint when we found a couple ants crawling on our wall later. But what can two ants do? Our first mistake was to think that we wouldn't be bothered by them. Here's where the night turns ugly for me. You already know that I'm sick, but I'm also nervous about playing in the tournament the next day, and now we have ants. All of this leads up to me lying miserably in bed, wide awake, until four in the morning. I literally could not fall asleep. No matter what I did I just couldn't get comfortable enough.
If you're going crazy just thinking about it, try being there. Anway, I FINALLY fall asleep at around 4 am, only to be woken by somebody shining a light all over the place because they'd woken up with ants on their face. Not just imagining that there were ants. She really did have ants on her face. Well, good news for both of us. She didn't find any more ants after that and I got to fall asleep again. For like an hour. Before the stupid hotel alarm clock went off at 5:45. None of us knew who'd set it, but I swear that was the loudest alarm clock I have ever heard. By this point I've gotten maybe an hour and a half of sleep. And I don't really get any more because when we turned the alarm off we'd only hit the snooze. So I got to hear that ridiculously loud noise again like ten minutes later. I tried to rip the thing out of the wall but the cords were all bunched behind the nightstand. When I found the switch and shut it off I knew there was no hope for me to go back to sleep. Let me just say, worst night ever...
One good thing to note. There's always light at the end of the tunnel. I played in the tournament on Friday and won 2 out of the 3 matches that I played, which meant that I got to play in the championship round on Saturday. This is a huge turn around from last year, where I lost all three matches, 0-8, 0-8, 1-8. As pathetic as that sounds, the girls I played were amazing. This year the girls were, to put it kindly, not in the same league as the girls I played last year. I should have won all three, but I played pretty terribly during the first match. If you don't mind, I'd like to blame that on the above story, and the fact that I was dead tired.
Saturday I played in the championship round and won the first match I played. This put me in the semi-finals, but the girl I played was just always a step ahead of me. I put up a good fight but she came out the victor. I feel like she deserved it though, so I was pretty happy with the results. Overall I am saying I took 3rd place(since they don't actually tell you what place you got unless you end up in the finals.) There were about 12 teams there, so 3rd for me feels pretty good.
What doesn't feel good is this sickness that hasn't gone away, but to end on a good note, somebody else out there is sick right along with me.
The last few days have been crazy and have been almost entirely centered on tennis. I went to Lewiston, Idaho for a tennis tournament Thursday through Saturday. I played third singles, and I didn't get completely crushed like last year when I played first singles. But before I get to the results of the tournament, let me take you to the night before the tournament actually started. I promise you that it really was as ugly as I'm going to make it sound.
First off, somebody out there got me sick. I'm not sure who it was or where you are now, but I hope you had just as rough a time with it as I did. This head cold could seriously have been the death of me. For all you people out there, if you're sick, stay away from me. I don't want to catch it.
On Thursday night when we got to our hotel my coach found a swarm of ants in her bathroom. Yes, they let her switch rooms. But my room, which was just across the hall, was not infested with ants, and we stayed where we were. We should have taken the hint when we found a couple ants crawling on our wall later. But what can two ants do? Our first mistake was to think that we wouldn't be bothered by them. Here's where the night turns ugly for me. You already know that I'm sick, but I'm also nervous about playing in the tournament the next day, and now we have ants. All of this leads up to me lying miserably in bed, wide awake, until four in the morning. I literally could not fall asleep. No matter what I did I just couldn't get comfortable enough.
If you're going crazy just thinking about it, try being there. Anway, I FINALLY fall asleep at around 4 am, only to be woken by somebody shining a light all over the place because they'd woken up with ants on their face. Not just imagining that there were ants. She really did have ants on her face. Well, good news for both of us. She didn't find any more ants after that and I got to fall asleep again. For like an hour. Before the stupid hotel alarm clock went off at 5:45. None of us knew who'd set it, but I swear that was the loudest alarm clock I have ever heard. By this point I've gotten maybe an hour and a half of sleep. And I don't really get any more because when we turned the alarm off we'd only hit the snooze. So I got to hear that ridiculously loud noise again like ten minutes later. I tried to rip the thing out of the wall but the cords were all bunched behind the nightstand. When I found the switch and shut it off I knew there was no hope for me to go back to sleep. Let me just say, worst night ever...
One good thing to note. There's always light at the end of the tunnel. I played in the tournament on Friday and won 2 out of the 3 matches that I played, which meant that I got to play in the championship round on Saturday. This is a huge turn around from last year, where I lost all three matches, 0-8, 0-8, 1-8. As pathetic as that sounds, the girls I played were amazing. This year the girls were, to put it kindly, not in the same league as the girls I played last year. I should have won all three, but I played pretty terribly during the first match. If you don't mind, I'd like to blame that on the above story, and the fact that I was dead tired.
Saturday I played in the championship round and won the first match I played. This put me in the semi-finals, but the girl I played was just always a step ahead of me. I put up a good fight but she came out the victor. I feel like she deserved it though, so I was pretty happy with the results. Overall I am saying I took 3rd place(since they don't actually tell you what place you got unless you end up in the finals.) There were about 12 teams there, so 3rd for me feels pretty good.
What doesn't feel good is this sickness that hasn't gone away, but to end on a good note, somebody else out there is sick right along with me.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Tasting the Future
It's official. I have sent off my novel to my very first publishing company. Recent events told me that it was my time to do something about the work that I have done. After five years, 300+ pages, and hundreds of hours, what good does it do to sit untouched on a shelf or on a word document? This is it. This is what I have been dreaming of for years and years and years. And years. Literally. Like 13 years. Ya. Years.
Now that it's sent off, what do I do? I wait. Impatiently. Hopefully. With fingers crossed. I keep envisioning a future for myself where I can see my book on the market, in bookstores, in the hands of old ladies and elementary kids who pretend they can read. I envision myself sitting opposite Ellen Degeneres. Hey, a girl can dream right?
Well, Ellen, if ever you want to call me to be on your show, it would be much appreciated. It would also be appreciated if maybe one day you would read this blog. Ellen, I hope you know that I love you.
And I hope all the rest of you are crossing your fingers for me. Thank you to all of you who have been supportive of me through everything I have written. It's always good to know that there are people who believe in you, and that want you to succeed. I love you all!
Now that it's sent off, what do I do? I wait. Impatiently. Hopefully. With fingers crossed. I keep envisioning a future for myself where I can see my book on the market, in bookstores, in the hands of old ladies and elementary kids who pretend they can read. I envision myself sitting opposite Ellen Degeneres. Hey, a girl can dream right?
Well, Ellen, if ever you want to call me to be on your show, it would be much appreciated. It would also be appreciated if maybe one day you would read this blog. Ellen, I hope you know that I love you.
And I hope all the rest of you are crossing your fingers for me. Thank you to all of you who have been supportive of me through everything I have written. It's always good to know that there are people who believe in you, and that want you to succeed. I love you all!
Saturday, March 10, 2012
And so it begins...
I would say that I'm a pretty competitive person. Nobody really likes to lose, especially when you stand on the edge of victory. Well, tennis season started (here we go) and we had our first match today. You're excited now right? Intrigued? Hoping for a win? I can proudly state that I won the first set 6-4, AND...... lost the second set 2-6. Instead of playing a third set we played a tiebreaker. I was so close. I could taste the first win of the season! And then it just...slipped away from me. Just like that. I was a loser. Ya, I know you're disappointed. Me too. In my defense though I was playing a position up from what I should have been. I usually play third singles and today I was playing second, so I did pretty good considering. Still, I so wanted to win. This may have been a bad sign for how the rest of the season is going to go. Starting out with a loss just kind of adds a weird vibe for future matches.
I hope you know that you're going to be reading a lot about tennis for the next couple months. It pretty much consumes my life until the end of May. And probably you're going to hear a lot of complaining from me. Winning doesn't come easy, and it's usually rare. So, if I ever do come off victorious, I'm expecting a loud applause from all of you.
For all my dance friends, congratulations on winning so many first places in your competition today. You guys rock! Maybe one day we can both celebrate wins together. I promise I'll try to make you guys proud.
I hope you know that you're going to be reading a lot about tennis for the next couple months. It pretty much consumes my life until the end of May. And probably you're going to hear a lot of complaining from me. Winning doesn't come easy, and it's usually rare. So, if I ever do come off victorious, I'm expecting a loud applause from all of you.
For all my dance friends, congratulations on winning so many first places in your competition today. You guys rock! Maybe one day we can both celebrate wins together. I promise I'll try to make you guys proud.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Hello
A blog? Alyssa's blogging?
Yes.
You're welcome.
I'm doing this because everybody has to grow up sometime, and my time to be a kid was rudely yanked away from me. I leave for college in June, over two months earlier than I was planning. So this for you, my friends. All of you that I'll be leaving behind, this is for you. Now you can see what's going on in my life even when I can't see you face to face. And...I'm expecting some of you (you know who you are) to do the same. This can't be a one-sided conversation.
I've read some hilarious blogs in my time, and I was hoping to attempt to match the standard they've set. But unfortunately I'm not that funny on paper (blog?). Shocking, I know. I promise I'll try, but if you get a little sleepy, I won't stop you from putting your head down right at your keyboard and taking a nap. Anybody with a boring blog deserves as much, right?
Maybe I should introduce myself. I'm Alyssa. I'm eighteen. I'm a tennis player. I'm a writer. And, I'm a mormon (I just had to throw that one in there). Have you seen those ads? No? Watch them. You won't regret it. I love chocolate chip cookies, and snickerdoodles, and sugar cookies, and ice cream. And chocolate. You can't blame me. What female doesn't need some chocolate once in a while? Pretty much I'll eat anything, except maybe salmon and definitely not tofu. Let's be honest though. Can tofu really be considered a food? If you know me you'll know that I am a huge family person. I love my family immensely. We spend a lot of time together, and that's probably going to be the hardest thing for me to leave behind. Strangers think I'm the quiet one. My friends will tell you you're wrong. I can't deny that there's some crazy in me. But I'm also someone who loves to sit down with a good book and just read for hours. I hate wind and cold rain. I love lightning. I love summertime. And I don't like chihuahas. There you go. That's me. Hello, World.
Yes.
You're welcome.
I'm doing this because everybody has to grow up sometime, and my time to be a kid was rudely yanked away from me. I leave for college in June, over two months earlier than I was planning. So this for you, my friends. All of you that I'll be leaving behind, this is for you. Now you can see what's going on in my life even when I can't see you face to face. And...I'm expecting some of you (you know who you are) to do the same. This can't be a one-sided conversation.
I've read some hilarious blogs in my time, and I was hoping to attempt to match the standard they've set. But unfortunately I'm not that funny on paper (blog?). Shocking, I know. I promise I'll try, but if you get a little sleepy, I won't stop you from putting your head down right at your keyboard and taking a nap. Anybody with a boring blog deserves as much, right?
Maybe I should introduce myself. I'm Alyssa. I'm eighteen. I'm a tennis player. I'm a writer. And, I'm a mormon (I just had to throw that one in there). Have you seen those ads? No? Watch them. You won't regret it. I love chocolate chip cookies, and snickerdoodles, and sugar cookies, and ice cream. And chocolate. You can't blame me. What female doesn't need some chocolate once in a while? Pretty much I'll eat anything, except maybe salmon and definitely not tofu. Let's be honest though. Can tofu really be considered a food? If you know me you'll know that I am a huge family person. I love my family immensely. We spend a lot of time together, and that's probably going to be the hardest thing for me to leave behind. Strangers think I'm the quiet one. My friends will tell you you're wrong. I can't deny that there's some crazy in me. But I'm also someone who loves to sit down with a good book and just read for hours. I hate wind and cold rain. I love lightning. I love summertime. And I don't like chihuahas. There you go. That's me. Hello, World.
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