Short Month - Big Things

February was a big month for me. Things just started falling in place. Needless to say, I am excited.

The first thing that happened this month is I finally got paid out by Swagbucks. If you aren't aware of Swagbucks, you can check it out here, but mainly it is a program that pays you for various activities that you can cash in for prizes. I cashed mine in today for 100 Big Ones.

I won't lie... it took me awhile. However, I didn't put a lot of effort into it either. I used the search bar, did the daily poll, did the No Obligation Special Offers (NOSO), and occasionally watched a video. Stuff I probably would have done anyway. And look - I earned money from it. It wasn't instantaneous, but then again, I didn't attempt to do anything bigger to earn more faster either.

On top of that, I also finally hit the payout for Google Adsense. If I didn't say it took forever, I would be lying. That's another 100 bucks right there. What can I say, it has been a profitable month.

I believe my blog is what really pushed it over the top. I can look at trends and frankly, the money I was pulling in from Hubpages, very little of it went to actual Google Adsense because I was using the Hubpages ad program.

When I first signed up for Adsense, the pennies came in slowly. I almost gave up thinking I would never see payout. But, it finally happened. It was worth the wait, even though hopefully the next payout will come much faster.

February was also a month for awards. This month I received not just one, not even two... but 3 Liebster Awards. I don't know if I should be excited about this or cry. Mainly because this is an award for those beginning bloggers who have less than 200 Followers.

Either way, it is a great honor to bestowed upon. The rules of the award are:

• List 11 random facts about yourself
• Answer questions the previous blogger tagged you with
• Nominate another 11 bloggers deserving of this award
• And thank the bloggers who gave you the award.

Well, this month - I am breaking the rules. I am not doing any of it. Except of course thanking the people who nominated me.

Thank You Jennifer from JenJen's Soapbox of Parodies - I am truly humbled that you thought of me.
Thank you Terrye from The Adventures of a Misplaced Alaskan - I will pay you that $5 next month.
Thank You Susan from Everything Susan - It is an honor to be on this path with such great writers.

The only thing I ask, if you know a fellow blogger that you really think deserves a shout out, give it to them. Show them how much you enjoy their writing style. After all, those words of encouragement are what makes writing all worth while and it might be the thing they needed to hear to go on one more day!

But with all those great things happening this month - there is one thing that beats out all of them.

This is the first month, my book has been in the hands of someone else!

Playing around with book cover ideas...

Last night, before I headed to bed, I emailed out 4 versions of my manuscript to my Beta Readers. This is the very next step before publishing.

I never dreamed how much of a nerve-wracking feeling this was going to be. Sure, I have had people read my stuff before, but for some reason this is different. I am much closer to this story than any other short article I have ever written before. I am much more sensitive about this, wondering what people's reactions will be.

Will they like it?

I don't know. But what I do know is this book has consumed thousands of hours, plenty of tears, and at least 100 cups of coffee. I also know that I have talked to people about my characters in depth like they were real people. It was as if these characters really existed in my mind. And now, I feel like I am exposing them to the outside world for the first time.

It is scary but I know in the end it will be worth it.

So as we sit, I am anxiously awaiting to hear something... anything... from my Beta Readers. A snippet, even if it is something small like ... "Wow - you sucked me in right away. In fact, people started to call for a search party because I was missing on Facebook for too long!"

Yet, even though I am anxious, I know it doesn't matter how fast they get back to me. The book will be published on Mother's Day 2013, even if it were to be done tomorrow.

But I am on my way. It won't be long before I will be able to say, "I published a book!"