The 3-six-huh?

Last week, my friend Rissa sent me a DM on Twitter with a link to a blog site called the3six5 and told me I should consider applying to their project. She'd written for them before so she couldn't be a repeat author but thought I might be interested. Since I hadn't heard of it before, I checked out the site and was VERY anxious to be a part of it.

In short, every day of the year, a guest author writes a brief blog about whatever's going on in their world that day. It could be personal, it could be internationally newsworthy, it could be anything -- just something that gives the reader an insight into their life for a day. Every day, the author is different, so you get a new perspective each day. In reading the site, I discovered last year's project had over 5,000 applicants. This year could possibly have more. That's less than an 8% shot at being chosen! Needless to say, I wanted to make sure my application stood out, so I bookmarked the site and got to thinking about what I wanted to put in my submission.

In the meantime, Rissa sent me another DM and told me that the 3six5 was looking for a fill-in author that day. Apparently the assigned author fell through and they were scrambling to cover the day. Without even thinking (and subsequently talking myself out of it), I fired off a quick email to the editors with a link to my site here and my Twitter name. They emailed me back almost immediately and told me that they'd found someone after all but that they'd like to keep my information handy as a back-up author, just in case. I've had my share of rejections from editors, so I was cautiously enthusiastic. I asked if they needed any more information from me and at their request, I replied with the following:

I'm a wanderlust with a curious spirit. There are very few places on this earth I don't want to visit. I've been to 26 states in my life, most of them more than once. In the last three years, I've traveled over 25,000 miles by car, bus and plane to various places to just photograph beautiful things. Everyone I meet is a friend - they may just not know it yet. Three of my best friends have known me for twenty years or more and not just because I've threatened them with the skeletons in their own closets if they leave. I'm friends with people from all walks of life: gas station clerks, race car drivers, lawyers, nurses, talk show hosts, boy band members, ministers and authors (and a partridge in a pear tree). I'm loyal to a fault, even to my own detriment when the need arises.

I'd love to say I'm a rule follower, but let's face it, I'm not. I memorize the rules and push every boundary I can to get around them. It's a curse. But it also makes for great blog fodder. My motto is "What kind of shenanigans can I get into today?" I have a passport, alibi and friend with bail money on call at all times. Ya nevah know!

I'm a wife to my soul mate. And by soul mate, I mean, he's put up with me for over twelve years, so clearly he's certifiable but since he's the main bread winner of the family, I'm reluctant to have him committed. (I kid, I kid.) I'm the proud mother of two underachieving teenagers whom are frequently my muses. Truth be told, none of the family is safe, including our dog and three cats. Extended family, neighbors and townspeople are also on alert, most days.

I live to be funny, but I'm quite serious and sentimental at times, too. My friends sometimes tell me I'm an attention whore, but I usually just turn up my mic and drown them out. What do they know?

I'm a bibliophile and leximaven. While Twitter is my home (@OUBad) , the 140-character limit sometimes makes me twitch. I can't tell you how many books I've read or how many blogs I've written, but reading and writing have always been my passion. To combine those with my photography would be a dream. I keep telling myself someday I will publish a coffee table book detailing my travels with word and photos. Someday.

I love to write and always have. To be part of a project like 3six5 would be an honor and a blessing.

I do hope if I'm not used as a back-up author that you'll consider me for the 2012 project.

I got an email back today from Daniel Honigman, the co-founder of the project, telling me that I'd been selected to participate. My date is February 1st, 2012 and I'm absolutely ecstatic. This is the first opportunity I've had to show others what I can do (you know...people who don't already know me or read my shit because I harass them on Twitter until they do). I'm so excited!

I would encourage anyone who enjoys writing to submit an application to be a part of it, too.

So as I sign off tonight, I'm going to say a quick prayer that writer's block spends a day at the spa the first of 

February and I'm able to write clearly, succinctly and that I make thousands of people spray their monitors with coffee as they laugh at my blog that day.