Who's that Knocking On My Front Door?

I? Have been a busy monkey.

I just wish I could say it was at a paying job.

BUT! They are all opportunities. Opportunities are knocking left right and center lately, I just have to encourage them to come on in. Here's some of what's been going on:

• First, last weekend I went to the American Library Association convention and, just by chatting with people, became an "official" blogger for Penguin's young adult imprint. That means they are going to send me books — before they come out — for me to review. For free. WOO! I also picked up about 50 free advance reading copies of other books to review, so I'm going to be a busy little blogger.
  
• Because of all that, I redesigned The Spiral Notebook so that it looks a little more professional and hipper. Cool, right?
  
• I also applied to be an "examiner" on Examiner.com, which is like a local blogger, and I got the gig! I'm now the Eco-Friendly Living Examiner for the Denver area, which means I blog about eco-friendly living (duh) in the Denver area (double duh) and — wait for it — they pay me money based on how well my articles do (how many people visit them, etc.). No idea yet if this will pay off, but we'll see.
  
• Finally, I got my first ever real live freelancing gig from a former boss. I'm writing about jewelry designers in Colorado. Right up my alley, right? :D Doesn't pay a ton, but if it were to be the first of many, that would be OK by me.
  
• Also, I'm trying to be really diligent about working on my book. I've got all this time off, I need to be putting it to good use, right? The other exciting opportunity that came out of the ALA conference last weekend is that I might have found a new critique group. Which would be awesome, because I always work better on a deadline!

So that's what's been going on. Nothing terribly promising yet on the permanent job front, but I'm applying all over the place. Guess I'll just keep using my down time to explore other opportunities while I can!