Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

I know I’m a little late to the game as it’s already the 3rd but better late than never, right?

My New Years resolutions/goals include finishing all revisions on my manuscript and querying agents, working on other writing projects at least once a week, staying healthy by getting exercise that elevates my heart rate at least three days a week, reading books outside of my usual genre (young adult fiction), and getting a job that excites and inspires me.

I hope the New Year brings wonderful things for everyone! I am hoping to win the lottery in the New Year and become fabulously rich (I can dream, right?). Which actually leads me to a funny/educational story for people like me who aren’t very experienced with lottery ticket buying.

I somewhat accidentally spent fifteen dollars on a megamillions ticket that goes through the end of January. I wanted to buy a couple scratch-its for my family and friends for Christmas. You know, five dollars max. Fun cheap scratch-its. What I didn’t know was that the amount of money you put into the machine is the amount you have to spend. I wanted to spend five dollars. But alas, I only had a twenty, so that’s what I put into the machine. When I was finished purchasing the scratch-offs I wanted I started searching for the button that would eject the rest of my money. This button doesn’t exist. The kindly and experienced lottery player in line behind me informed me that my money was gone. I had to now purchase fifteen more dollars of lottery tickets or leave the money in the machine for the next person. I think she was hoping I would choose the second option. But if I’m going to lose fifteen dollars I’m at least going to give myself a shot at making that money back by buying lottery tickets, sorry nice lady behind me. So I started pushing buttons in a rather flustered way and the woman kept offering suggestions. Finally I spent a couple more dollars on scratch-its and the rest on the megamillions ticket. I chose quick pick and printed my tickets out and the woman behind me said (only slightly condescendingly): so you’re not going to do this again, are you. It was very grandmother-y and reproving. I smiled and nodded sheepishly and we parted ways. So that’s the story of how I have one set of megamillions numbers that I have to check at every drawing from now until January 27th. These numbers aren’t the greatest either. Your numbers can be from anywhere between 1 and 80. My lowest number is unfortunately in the 50’s. If you look up winning megamillions numbers you’ll notice that they rarely start that high. But hey, maybe I’ll win anyway. It doesn’t matter that I have literally never won anything in my life, right? Either way, I learned my lesson (as the woman in line behind me was quick to point out).

So, PSA (Public Service Announcement for those of you that aren’t up on the lingo): if you’re buying lottery tickets, only insert the amount of money into the machine THAT YOU ACTUALLY WANT TO SPEND.

I didn’t plan on spending fifteen dollars on a megamillions ticket.

Hopefully this will be the funny story I tell when the reporters are interviewing me on my big lottery win. Wish me luck.

Happy Saturday!