Birthday and Christmas Highlights

I've been meaning to post ever since Friday, but I've been held hostage. By, yes, Angry Birds.

My big birthday gift was an iPod Touch to replace the iPod that was stolen in NY in June and so my husband could have his iPod back. I love the damned thing so much. I keep going back and forth between e-mail and Twitter and Facebook and the Patriots app and Angry Birds. I spent much of Christmas day troubleshooting my in-laws wireless network so we could all connect to it. (And much of the rest of it getting my father-in-law started with the Kindle he didn't want. He likes it, though!)

I did go get adjusted on Friday, because my back was worse when I woke up. It steadily got better until yesterday, and the way I was sitting or the jumping around during Catchphrase. I was teamed with Number Two and my nephew, both of whom preferred the Sports category, and my MIL, who excelled at the Entertainment stuff. We kicked butt in the number of words/phrases we guessed, but the other team (my husband, his sister, his father, and Number One) would drag out their clues/guesses so long that inevitably, we got the buzzer just before it buzzed and never had time to do one more. It was raucous fun.

My big present for Christmas was a new widescreen monitor. I f'd up my computer so I haven't loaded the Windows 7 I bought today, but I can't wait to do that so I can take full advantage of all the wide goodness.

Watched Doctor Who last night, and it was a decent enough Christmas special. It served mainly to make me long for the series to come back already. I'm tempted to go back and rewatch it all, because I have the Netflix app. :)

Some other highlights from Christmas:

Number One got a guitar, and she has barely stopped playing. She's teaching herself "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol and her fingers are purple. She also loves her gift from her sister, which is a soccer ball signed by Abby Wombach. It was an item in a silent auction at her school, and she didn't even think twice, just instantly bid $100 and chewed her nails the rest of the night hoping no one would outbid her.

The Patriots won on Christmas Eve. That was good, especially when they were down 17-0 at halftime. Wes Welker is on Twitter now, and yes, that's a major reason I couldn't put the iPod down on my birthday.

Number One also put together a special present for us all. We had to open her gift from us last. Each of us got a piece of a puzzle, that put together looked like this:

I bet no one else got this gift in 2011! :)

So what was your best gift or best part of the holiday this year?

I Would Take a Breath if it Didn't Hurt So Much

I don't know if I slept funny, or if it's from all the cleaning and hauling and everything, but my back is killing me.

Luckily, I work for a chiropractor.

Unluckily, I can't get adjusted until Tuesday, and that will be iffy. We're closed on Thursdays, tomorrow I'm off because it's my birthday, then the weekend, we're closed for the holiday on Monday, so Tuesday will be the busiest Tuesday EVAR, and I don't like to ask for an adjustment when the docs are that busy. So it will just have to resolve itself.

Anyway. I have cleaned the entire upstairs (except the bedrooms). I've done the dishes and wrapped all of my husband's gifts. All the other family gifts are done, too, so it's just the kids' to wrap on Saturday night.

BG has claimed a new favorite spot:

She's there all. the. time. She might choose a different present from time to time, but man, does she glare when we laugh at her.

I don't have any client work pending today. I have to eat breakfast (I guess it's lunch now), shower, and go to the grocery store so I can spend $50 and get 30 cents off per gallon of gasoline. Then I can tackle some of the things that have been on my "nonurgent" to-do list. You know, the things you REALLY need to do but always get shuffled. They include:

1. Updating my website
2. Designing a new website
3. Revising Entanglement
4. Sending Keri the updates for my sidebar book covers at Everybody Needs a Little Romance.
5. Taking the Scrivener tutorial so I can actually start using it.
6. Transferring the little bit of Sunroper I've written to Scrivener and work on that book.
7. Researching and planning my contest strategy
8. Writing a novella in the Goddesses Rising series
9. Coming up with a novella idea so I can write it!

As you can see, I still have plenty to do. But no in-my-face deadlines for the next week, so I'm taking a breath.

Gingerly.

My Thankful List

1. Under the Moon on Amazon!
Just in time for Black Friday shopping! Get yourself a little treat. :) (It should soon be available in other e-book venues like B&N and Books on Board, etc.)

2. My Family
My amazing kids, who went all out for me for the GISHWHES yesterday (post with pics coming soon), and my long-suffering husband, who never fails to support me and make me smile. Not to mention my delightful in-laws, with whom we spent a lovely day, and my great father, stepmother, and brother—our phone calls today made it perfect.

3. My Clients
I'm so lucky to have such professional, smart, easy people to work with, even if they somehow always manage to dump on me at the same time. :)

4. My Editors and Publishers
Elizabeth Bass and Kerri-Leigh Grady are treasures. If I ever take one of them for granted, someone should tie me to a stake, cover me in bird seed, and let loose a herd of squirrels. (Squirrels don't congregate, so you know if they're in a herd, they're crazy.)

I'm also oh-so-thankful to be part of such fantastic publishers as Amber Quill Press, Carina Press, and Entangled Publishing. (In alphabetical order, as well as order of relationship. :) ) In the wild upheaval that is publishing today, I'm lucky to have these partnerships.

5. About 50 Gagillion Hours of TV Recorded
And now I'm going to go relax and watch some. :)

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Intentions

Look! I'm blogging two days in a row! Could it be the start of a trend? :)

I had all these topics I wanted to write about yesterday, and wimped out. Do you think I can remember most of them today? Hell, no! I turned 40 last week! Sheesh.

It's kind of funny. Everyone's picking on me, as they are wont to do when someone hits a "milestone" birthday. But I don't feel older. Duh. One day doesn't make you suddenly ancient.

Mother's Day and My Week

I'm too late to wish everyone a Happy Mother's Day, but I hope it was for all of you. Mine was, as usual. I have a fantastic husband and kids who totally adhere to my philosophy that on "our" days, we are in full control.

This year, that meant pancakes and bacon for a late breakfast, then I just hung out while they cleaned the house, after which we played Scrabble and I scraped a win. J and I went to see Iron Man 2 and came back in time to meet up with his parents and sister for dinner at Texas Roadhouse. After the kids were in bed, I topped off the whole lovely day with a private screening of The Losers.

How was yours?

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Iron Man 2 was very good. Not as awesome as the first one was, but that's always the case. When the first movie surprises you, the sequel(s) can't have the same impact. Even the Lord of the Rings suffered from that infliction.

Regardless, Robert Downey Jr. was awesome, and that's really all the movie needed. :) I totally disagree with everything the Entertainment Weekly review said, and frankly, I had to wonder if they actually saw it. Complaining about the protracted and frequent battle sequences? There were, like, 3. I was half expecting Transformers level chaos and hammering, but they were very short, as battle sequences go. In any case, it was worth the matinee price.

I really liked The Losers, too. There was a je ne sais quois missing, but I loved every character, every performance, especially Chris Evans as Jensen. He was really different than he was in the Fantastic Four movies. Some will disagree, because the characters have the same happy-go-lucky charm, but Jensen had an edge, a hardness, that wasn't present in FF. I don't know that I'd have recognized him if I hadn't known who he was.

IM2 had a ton of trailers before it, and most were movies I can't wait to see. They teased a movie for 2011 from Steven Spielberg and JJ Abrams called Super 8 that had me drooling. The Tom Cruise/Cameron Diaz and the Ashton Kutcher/Katherine Heigl movies look amusingly fun, albeit similar, and the latter reminds me too much of True Lies. It's okay, I loved True Lies. :)

This week will be prep week, culminating in the CPRW Annual Retreat from Thursday to Sunday! I can't believe it's almost here!

Now I just have to figure out what to write...

And the Random Continues

Football is over. Yah-huh, it is so over. Don't try to tell me there's a game on now. That's totally irrelevant.

Julian Edelman has definitely won me over. He's the only one who actually played today (besides Kevin Faulk, who won me over long ago). He ran hard, fought hard, even hurt. I'm thinking our whole "no third option" thing is no more. Except that Wes might not start next season...but we'll worry about that when we get there.

So, my Christmas stuff is finally put away. The tree was down last week, but yesterday the kids took down all their homemade decorations that they surprise us with every Christmas morning, and I took down and packed away the rest. Today we all pitched in to take down the outside lights, in 19-degree weather. Luckily, it was sunny and windless, so it was actually pretty nice out there. It feels good, having everything back to normal.

I drink a lot of tea, but it's your basic orange pekoe and pekoe black combo, like Lipton and Tetley do. Back in college, there was a specialty shop in town, and I exercised my first-ever credit card there quite a bit, trying a whole bunch of flavored loose-leaf teas. But when I still had some of them in my cupboard about six residences and 10 years later, I stopped trying to pretend I was cool like that. So...basic tea, cream and sugar, very boring.

Then I was in the Cornerstone Coffeehouse a week ago, waiting for my mocha, and I saw a package of tea. "Holiday Dream," it said. "China black tea with citrus peels, cloves, rose petals, almond bits, and genuine Bourbon vanilla pieces." That sounded kinda good. I picked it up, smelled it, and, after my eyes were done rolling in the back of my head from the pleasure of it, I bought the package.

And man, this stuff is as good as it sounds. I've been drinking it every night and sleeping quite poorly as a result. LOL I've barely put a dent in the package, but I want to run out and get some more, because it's "Holiday Dream," so they can't sell it all year. The only reason I haven't yet is because it's probably already gone.\

I was thinking this morning that I've seen Jason Manns more times than any other live performer (three times in one year!). But then I remembered I saw Trans-Siberian Orchestra in concert 7 times, so he's got a ways to go. Jason, if you Google yourself and read this, please take it into account for your tour schedule. The Salute to Supernatural in New Jersey would be a good start. Or middle. :)

Okay, that's enough rambling. I'm gonna go see if I can clear a few boards at Jewel Quest.

Last Post of 2009

This week has not been normal at all. In the sense that it's not abnormal the way it's supposed to be abnormal.

In addition to being way busy when it's supposed to be quiet, I don't feel like it's The Change. At all. My kids keep reminding me that it's New Year's Eve and I go "oh, yeah" and promptly forget again.

I have no sense of anticipation for 2010, except that I like the number. It feels right and 2009 already feels wrong, which, again, is backwards. Though I posted something like that on Facebook and then read on Vicki Smith's blog that she keeps typing 1010, and then just now when I tried to type 2010 I typed 1010, then 2030, then 200 before I got it right. Heh.

I could talk about things I'm looking forward to in 2010 (writing retreats, Salute to Supernatural, books, movies) or things that went right or wrong in 2009, but...I just don't wanna. It doesn't feel necessary for me (though I do enjoy reading everyone else's, especially the book lists—I keep adding to my TBB list!).

So I'll just say this. Next Tuesday, go buy Kismet by Monica Burns and Breaking Daylight by M. J. Fredrick. I have it on good authority that they're awesome books, and I'll be buying them myself. Also, MJ is starting a great contest tomorrow, so click the link on her title and check it out.

If anyone else would like me to tout their imminent release, hit me up! I don't want to overlook anyone, but my brain is too distracted to remember if you don't remind me. :)

And hey. Have a great New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Start 2010 off right. I mean it, now.

Side Effects of a Great Birthday/Christmas

1. Every time you hear a song, you think about how the notes would look in Band Hero.

2. Your back aches from hula-hooping Wii Fit.

3. You glare resentfully at your kids as they read all day long and you have to work, while all your new books mock you.

4. Your teeth hurt from all the peppermint (and non-peppermint!) candy and baked goods you’ve been nibbling for two weeks.

5. You spend long stretches of free time in fits of indecision, with games and books and gadgets and toys calling you.

6. Your living room/bedroom/workroom/storage room is overflowing with boxes you can’t throw away, just in case—and they’re sitting on top of five years’ accumulation of similar boxes.

7. If your kid admits they know the real Santa deal, you can consolidate all the Santa wrapping paper and the non-Santa wrapping paper, and discover the storage area would overflow with that…if it wasn’t already stuffed to the rafters with boxes.

8. Christmas is over, so you unconsciously stopped watering the tree, giving it permission to go to the light and leave all its needles behind.  On the floor.

9. At any given moment, you are dealing with a manic cat hopped up on the new catnip toys, followed by…

10. …desperately whining cats whose catnip toys have disappeared under the furniture.

 

Those are my side effects. What are yours?

Winding Down 2009

Now's the time to look back on the year and reflect on its events or list the best of. I love reading that stuff on other blogs, but I don't feel like doing that this year.

Might be because it doesn't feel like a winding down. In the past, I've loved this week between Christmas and New Year's, as the quietest, calmest, most productive week of the year.

HA!

I'm sitting here staring at the pile of bills I have to pay, the datebook I have to switch over to the new pages tout de suite or suffer the chaotic consequences, the three big jobs I have to do for my best client, the editing I have to do for my other best client, the post I have to do for Supernatural Sisters, the reminders I have to send to 5 instructors for the PRO Bootcamp starting next week, the cards I have to send out, the stupid magazine contest I have to track down and call to make them pay me the difference between the $10.00 check I sent them and the $16.06 they processed it as, the fall school pictures I have to parcel out to my family (yeah, you'd think I'd have done that when I sent their Christmas gifts, but no), the eye doctor bill I have to submit to insurance, and the therapy bills I still haven't gone through.

Who the hell has time for reflection?!

I did a Christmas write-up at The Gabwagon yesterday, so I won't say much here. Except that we had a great Christmas, we are all very spoiled, and I'm grateful for the lack of stress, given everyone else's mishaps. We did have a bloody nose, dog diarrhea, and a cat coming through the ceiling over the course of four days, but we didn't have a backed-up sewage pipe in the basement or a sideboard on fire, nor stomach viruses or colds. So put this year in the win column.

My gifts focused heavily on books. Between birthday and Christmas, I had tons of money in gift cards for both Amazon and Barnes and Noble. I have books coming from both. :) I also got...

...A KINDLE!

I know! You can expect eaten words discussed here soon, I'm thinking. My wonderful husband wanted to get me a big gift, then decided to get the kids a big gift, too, since we all read tons. I love the navigation and balance of the Kindle. I haven't had a chance to read on it yet, so I'll have to let you know about that, but both kids love theirs and are under dire warnings of the consequences if they don't take care of them.

I bought a bunch of books already, from Shannon Stacey (no more waiting for Gallagher!) and M. J. Fredrick, and damn was that a pain to look up 'cause I never want to put in the periods and the space, and Jody Wallace/Ellie Marvel. I have to figure out who else I know whose books aren't all available in paperback, but the seven things I bought already will keep me busy. Problem is, I have two books from the library I have to read first! They'll go fast, though, then I'll do the Kindle.

I'm going to stop there because...well, see paragraph 4. If I don't get back here before Friday, everyone have a

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

My Christmas Spirit—Let Me Show You It

NOW It’s Christmastime

I love this time of year.  When we can afford it, I love buying gifts for everyone I know (even when they are really hard to buy for).  I love the lights on the houses, I love the snow and, for a short time, even the cold.  I love the parties and school events and activities, and talking to family that I am disturbingly lax about talking to the rest of the year, and visiting with family that’s either usually far away or even that I see weekly.  I admit that I loooove getting presents, and I get to do it TWICE, with my birthday being two days before Christmas.  I just love the holiday season.

But I don’t love it early.

I didn’t do any shopping until a few days ago.  I have one person and one family covered, and some things ordered, but I have about 50 million other things to order, buy, wrap, and ship.  And I like it that way, even if it means I have to pay extra for faster shipping.  I haven’t done Christmas cards yet, or decorated my house (actually, that won’t happen anyway—not beyond the living room).

The earlier everyone else starts focusing on Christmas, the later I want to.  And it’s not just the stores stocking stuff in mid-November or the commercials or the radio stations filled with holiday songs.  It’s phone conversations where they list the few things they have left to do.  My Facebook news feed is full of “I finished shopping for Christmas today” the week before Thanksgiving.   A week later, everything is wrapped.  I understand it and applaud it—I just don’t want any part of it!

So I’ve had no holiday spirit so far this year.  But today we got our tree.  We went to the fire station, selected the first one we saw (looked at others, but this one was perfect), and let them tag it for delivery.  I had to run to the store, and while I was out, it came and J and the girls put it up.  So when I walked in the door, the whole house smelled like fir tree.

And NOW it’s Christmastime.

Where the H*** Have I Been?

I was thinking, "How did I keep up with blogging when I had a full-time day job?" Then I looked and...I didn't.

Speaking of blogs, go check out Romance University. They soft-launched today and start out next week with Brenda Novak. I'm a guest professor on 5/26.

My days seem unendingly busy. I finish an editing job, feel relief for about 3.2 seconds, and another one pops in. Which is great--everything is great, I really can't complain. But I'm exhausted.

Luckily, it's T-minus 33 hours and counting until the retreat! At which I won't be blogging, probably. But the break is most definitely needed.

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I'm tired of negativity. Especially about something as unimportant as TV. Yes, entertainment is vital, and yes, it's not unimportant to those who make their living creating it. But srsly, I just want to watch and enjoy, and not feel icky because other people I don't really know are whining about stuff I love.

Which is not a rant against them, they are entitled to say what they want. I just need to avoid it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here's the post I wrote yesterday but didn't get to upload until today:

I hope everyone had a nice Mother's Day, despite pet problems and in-law invasions. No one deserves crap on the one day a year they get celebrated. Whether that crap is doggie diarrhea or passive-aggressive attacks on your character.

I had a fabulous day. I got breakfast made for me. It was funny--Saturday, on the way to the City Islanders soccer game, we saw that our very favorite bagel place is now open on Sunday. So I requested Bob's Bagels, and they drove over early...and found a sign on the door, "closed for Mother's Day."

I got a gift card for Amazon (hopefully--the store didn't activate it, so J's taking it back today) and the keyboard that shipped last night (hopefully it arrives before I leave for the retreat, but it's not looking good), and we had dinner at Passage to India after a gorgeous hike at the environmental site near the schools.

I also got to see Star Trek, which was so good I'm sorry I already saw it.

But let me back up. Friday night I dragged J to see Wolverine. It was great. Very well acted and structured, though I wanted a lot more Bradley, Wade, and Remy. I definitely want more Remy. I hope they do a Gambit movie next. Anyway, it was well done for a film that was basically rehashing everything we already knew, and the bit after the credits was shiver-worthy, well worth hanging around for.

Saturday we had soccer all day. The Islanders won again, which was cool. Even cooler was the Pittsburgh goalie getting red-carded. The goalie got a red card!!!!

I caught up slightly on TV this weekend, though I'm still way behind. It's okay, because the finale season makes me sad. Pretty much everything is over already, over this week, or ending next week/soon. The longer it takes me to watch, the longer I can stretch the season.

The Scrubs finale was perfectly done, though I'd have liked to see Cox's friend played by Brendan Fraser. I was very misty-eyed through most of it.

Alan Tudyk? Evil? Never thought he would make me so scared. Gah! But I love him more than ever.

So, back to Star Trek. I've never been much of a Trekkie. Casual fan. Never really saw the original, but absorbed enough to "get" the jokes/tropes/commonalities, etc. I did watch some TNG and all the movies. This one is by far the best of them.

First, I want to give kudos to the casting director and anyone else involved in that. It could not be more perfect. The only actor who didn't completely emulate a young version of his predecessor was Chris Pine as Kirk, and I can't say that a true fan wouldn't find him lacking, but I didn't. I didn't expect Karl Urban to do McCoy so well, nor did I think I could divorce Quinto from Sylar. It helped that I haven't watched Heroes for a couple of years, but even my husband, who still watches it, said he was perfect.

The plot made me squee. It connected the franchise with its past/future, grounded the characters and us in a new present, and set up a completely blank slate so they can do anything they want with additional movies.

The details were delightful. Accents and lines and mannerisms and the vastness of space, the relationships they established, the motivations...I don't know how they managed to do it all, but they did. And I have to admit, I never saw the red shirt coming. That's completely on me, because it's not like they didn't throw hints at us like darts. But the action was so very much modern adventure, all I could do was stare in exhilaration.

Anyway, go watch it. If this is at all your kind of movie, you won't be disappointed.

The Day After

Merry Christmas to everyone I didn't manage to greet in some way yesterday. I hope you all had lovely holidays, assuming you weren't puking or dealing with puking or recovering from puking. My condolences to those who were.

And Happy Hanukkah where applicable. I don't know anyone who actually celebrates Kwanzaa, but I think that starts today, so have a good seven days!

We had a nice, quiet holiday, just the four of us. Did presents, played Wii, went to a movie (Bedtime Stories, very funny, though Adam Sandler is always better when he doesn't go all the way to total idiocy), had stir fry for dinner. Yep, stir fry. That's what they wanted!

So now we're on Transition Weekend.

As I've mentioned, December is a difficult work month. Everything seems to back up as we concentrate on the holidays and associated activities. Between now and the end of next week, focus shifts. This weekend I don't actually do anything. It's the last week of regular-season football, and tomorrow we're doing Christmas at my inlaws. Today I'm running errands, including using a gift card that will make one of my Christmas presents (an espresso machine) complete. And Sunday, we'll probably take down the tree and stuff, instead of waiting until New Year's Day. Not sure, I might get outvoted on that one. :)

So for the next few days, I'll be slowly making lists of everything I have to deal with after the first:

Losing weight Getting healthy. I lost 15 pounds in 2007 and kept off every pound this year...until this week. I don't know why. I haven't changed my eating habits at all, just substituted Christmas cookies for other junk food. But I jumped up four pounds. Plus, after my exercise plan fell apart in May, I completely dropped it this fall. And the kids start soccer again soon. So we're going to be increasing our activity levels next week, and I'll go back to the club the week after, when they go back to school.

Writing. My agent hasn't exactly been sitting by her computer waiting for my revisions, but now I have no excuses. I need to get back to them. Luckily, I have a plan for that, too.

Taxes.

Spreadsheets. I have to set up my organization schedule for next year, reconfigure my to-do list to accommodate some regular obligations, get the old pages out of my day planner, etc. Luckily, my office/desk are clean because I had company. The one bright side to that. The cleaning, not the company.

So let the transition begin! (And let the Patriots lead us into 2009 on a positive note. Go, Jets! *gag*)

This is a day late, but hilarious enough to share all year round. Slightly NSFW.

Did You Remember...

(Today's post is from The Gab Wagon)

Well, here we are, on the home stretch. I'm "done" with everything but wrapping, but I'll go out on Wednesday for some stocking stuffers and maybe one final thing for my husband. One gift hasn't arrived yet, but it's in the local distribution center and will get here tomorrow (gotta love online tracking!). And see, all you mood-killers who had everything bought and wrapped, baked and frozen before Thanksgiving? It's perfectly possible not to start until December 15 and get done in pllleeennnnttyyy of time. :)

But maybe you're not a moodkiller or a middle-grounder. Maybe you are totally about the last-minute shopping. Well, that's okay, too! I have some recommendations for you!

Books Galore!

I've been in B&N twice and Borders once in the last three weeks, and every time they were packed. Today we had a humongous line and the staff (shout out to Camp Hill Borders!) was tremendous. It moved like a glacier-fed stream in the spring.

Anyway. Books (or bookstore gift cards) are always a great choice, and will have the added bonus of supporting both retailers and publishers, helping keep Mac, Monica, Cathy, and me working. (See handy links right there in the sidebar! Hint hint!)

Whether you buy hardcover, paperback, or e-books; online or in a bookstore or grocery store; children's or adult books...remember to go to this blog. Take a minute to list your book in the comments, and visit often to add to the list or just watch the tally rise. Last week it was jumping about a hundred books a day! Isn't that awesome?


iTunes

iTunes is a pretty immediate and universal gift source, too. It doesn't cost anyone anything to download the software or set up an account, and most people have some way of listening to the music or audiobooks they buy or watching the TV shows and movies. iTunes gift cards are ubiquitous, available in grocery, department, and electronics stores as well as in the iTunes store itself. There's also lots of free stuff, so surf around it a little, check it out!


Up-and-Coming Musicians

Well, not the musicians themselves, but their music. I'm talking about people like Jo Braithwaite, Jason Manns, Life of Riley, people who aren't filling stadiums on their tours but cute little pubs (or ugly dives, we don't judge!) with their devout but small fanbases. This kind of gift is cool because it's personal, potentially gives the recipient something they'll enjoy over and over, and helps the struggling (or semi-struggling) musician.


Charity

Of course, by now, you've been buried in solicitations for money. Charities of all sizes are probably feeling the pinch, and they always hit us up at this time of year, anyway.

But sometimes grassroots-level programs are the most rewarding. The money usually goes directly to those in need--no wondering how much of your contribution is really supporting a six- or eight-figure CEO salary and how much is helping people. Check out these awesome enterprises for some real feel-good cheer this holiday season:

Fandom Rocks (ongoing events ranging from auctions to simple donations, targeting a wide variety of needs such as domestic abuse shelters, the Humane Society, etc.)

Operation: Winchester (sending goodies to the troops overseas)

Office of Letters and Light (sponsor of NaNoWriMo, Young Writers NaNoWriMo, Script Frenzy, and, in the past, filling libraries in Vietnam)

Add your favorite suggestions in the comments!

Catching Up and Stuff

Okay, that's just another way to say "Random Friday." Sorry. :)

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Busy week. Actually managed to get TWO people bought for Christmas. Should have gotten more than half my list done today, but it didn't work out. Stupid day job.

If you're all done, I don't want to hear it. I think there's something sad about being "done" for a holiday a month before it gets here. I know it's less stressful and very practical, but it takes away all the magic. Plus, people who are done tend to be all smug. :)

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I was watching the "promo" for Supernatural (which is just past clips, nothing upcoming, but well put together, I think) and I remembered a key point from the second-to-last episode before hiatus that I haven't seen talked about.

I'd been thinking, since Castiel talked about the 66 seals, that this is going to be a season of failure, and that's kind of depressing. Because as soon as they stop Lilith from breaking a seal, it's done--she can't free Lucifer.

For example, in "It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester," the window to raise Samhain was only open every 600 years. So if that was one of the seals Lilith had to break and they stopped Samhain from rising, they'd stopped Lilith.

But fast forward to where we meet Anna, and she tells the psychiatrist there are actually SIX HUNDRED seals, and Lilith can break any 66 of them. From an "oh, the boys!" standpoint, this is rough. The angels can't predict where she'll strike, so they are constantly playing defense. But from a narrative standpoint, it's FREAKIN' AWESOME. They can have some victories. They won't last, but they'll have them, which will break up what could be a dreary, despairing, downbeating series of events. The tension will be high, and the number gives the writers a lot of flexibility.

On a side note, some of the upcoming episodes sound like the "Wishful Thinking" and "Monster Movie" variety, standalones that don't deal directly with the apocalypse. Which is good, a lot of people don't like too much emphasis on the season's mytharc. But it's got me thinking...maybe the endgame for this arc won't draw near until the end of season five, like with YED, who stuck around until the end of season two. That will be perfect, because the increasing ratings for this season will feed the possibility of season five (as far as the network is concerned), and keep us from getting too fatigued by the intensity of the arc, and prevent a season five that would have trouble following an averted apocalypse.

If they could just do an episode where Sam and Dean switch bodies, I'd be in hiatus heaven.

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Okay, this thrills me beyond all reasonableness.

I'm not sure if I knew this existed. If I did, I dismissed it because it never aired, or at least didn't get picked up. And Jared Padalecki by himself wasn't a draw for me (until he got HUGE and GOOD and I found out I was going be able to TOUCH HIM).

But he's a draw now.

And the original show was my all-time favorite growing-up show.

Combine the two, and I'm just a great big puddle of giddy goo.

This is a credit video made from bits of the pilot.



I didn't know what it was at first. One of the TV blogs I read recently had a poll about which show should be remade next, and MacGyver won by a large margin. So I saw the start of that video, and thought, "OMG, Jared Padalecki would make a PERFECT MacGyver in a remake!" Little did I know...

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And I just cannot believe how excited I am to see this.

Thanks

I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. Yes, even the Canadians, who already had it (you can never be too thankful or eat too much turkey/stuffing/mashed potatoes or elk or whatever) and the people who live in other countries all over the world (yep, the UK and that person in France and the ones in Australia and the Phillippines and that one down in Aruba) because hey! Everyone can use a day of family togetherness, eating too much, watching football (or futbol), and thinking about the good things in their lives.

In addition to the usual (family, shelter, money in the bank, WAHM status) and the obvious (Salute to Supernatural! Padackles! my awesome friends!) I am thankful for the following:

• The patience and hard work of my agent, who is so determined to help me figure out what's wrong and fix it, and her good cheer even when I get pushy.


• Friends I don't hear from (and who don't hear from me) for months at a time, yet who know they can turn to me in times of despair. I only hope I can offer a fraction of what they need to help them heal.


• Kids who have reached the age where they can entertain themselves all day while I work, and who don't resent me for it.


• The space heater in my office.


• My kids' friends, who for the most part seem to be decent sorts, not leading them down ugly paths (unless you count those on Team Edward, which I really don't, since Number One is kinda leading that gang already).
  
• Kids who are so self-possessed and comfortable with who they are that they choose the kinds of friends above.


• A husband who is so secure in my love for him that he buys me Legolas for Mother's Day and Jared Padalecki for my birthday.


• Friends who get me and don't get annoyed (or don't show it, anyway) when I get so freakin' competitive. Cranberries, indeed.


• A shelf full of books I can't wait to read.


• A computer full of manuscripts in different phases of completion AND half a dozen viable ideas awaiting my attention, ensuring I can keep at bay the particular doubt demon that worries about running out of things to write for a good long while.


• You guys. You, right there, the person reading this blog. Whether you ever comment or not, if I know you or we never met in any manner, wherever you are in the world--I'm thankful for you, for giving me a reason to talk to myself on a semi-regular basis. You all rock hard.

What You Don't Want to Know

I have a friend who doesn't talk about personal stuff on her blog. I mean, she rants about typical family stuff (shut off the damn lights, pick up your sh**) and personal feelings about the writing industry. And she puts on a really good show. But even if you think you know a lot about her, you don't know a lot about her. I admire that, deeply. Because if I were more like her...


...I wouldn't post about how this week was not so fantastic as last week, primarily because I was sick for two days and spent most of today in the ER.

...I would not post about pain so bad I should have another baby making demands right now.

...I would not post about Number Two telling me "Too Much Information" when I explained about the procedure I'll be having on Tuesday. Yeah, the one with the camera going where no camera should ever have to go. (Even the most common expressions are funnier when they come out of a nine-year-old's mouth.)

I guess that's enough stuff I shouldn't be posting about.

To all those who may ask, I seem to be fine. The ER trip was one of those pointless ones where you find out you're not about to die but virtually nothing else. I'm a little anemic. Apparently not enough to worry about at the moment.

Anyway.

I haven't read through Fight or Flight yet, and a I have a new proofing job this weekend, but I did manage to get some files set up for my challenge next week, so it wasn't a total loss.

I don't know if I mentioned the challenge yet. A group of friends--stay-at-home writers like me--has agreed to challenge each other weekly to help keep us on track this summer. We get points for writing new stuff or editing old stuff, and the person with the most points after the five-day period wins for the week. And we'll all go out to a fancy dinner at the end, provided we have at least tried to meet the challenge. Which we will. We're a group so dedicated we don't really need the challenge.

So, I suppose I should say Happy Independence Day to all my fellow Americans. I kind of forgot it was a holiday, given the circumstances, but we did manage to set off a few legal fireworks in the driveway after dark. I hope you all celebrated appropriately and will enjoy the rest of your long weekend.

And I promise not to describe my Tuesday.

Limbo Week

I hope everyone who celebrates Christmas had a lovely holiday yesterday (I did) and that everyone who celebrates other things at least got the day off from work.

This week between Christmas and New Year's Day is the most difficult week of the year, I think. I was going to say it's the least productive, but that depends. Today, for example, my kids and I went to the library, post office, mall, and four other stores. My house is a mess, I have the spectre of a GIGANTIC to-do list somewhere ahead of me, and my husband is sure working his butt off at the office, but because so many people are off work at least for a portion of this week and/or next, and the kids are off school, and publishing has come to a grinding halt, and we're looking back at last year and waiting for next year, I feel like I'm in complete limbo.

Over the next couple of days I'll post my Top 10 lists (or Top whatever, if there aren't 10) of the movies, books, and TV for 2007. Then I'll address my 2007 goals and decided whether or not to do 2008 goals.

Part of me doesn't want to. I don't want to keep track of the books I read and the movies I see, or log my weight and exercise routine every day. I'm frankly impressed that I managed to last a whole year doing it.

On the other hand, I definitely want to keep track of my writing projects and how much I write, and I really should keep track of the exercise routine, or I'll fail at continuing it. I think I'm going to take a totally new approach, at the least.

So, stay tuned! Let's see if any of your favorites matched up to mine!

She Did It Again!

A message from my former guest blogger, Trish Milburn:

I hope you're all prepared for the holiday season and will be able to enjoy your time with friends and family. Before you bake those final cookies and wrap those last presents though, I hope you can devote a moment to voting in the latest round of the American Title contest, in which I'm one of the remaining six finalists. The two people with the lowest amount of votes this round will be eliminated as of the end of voting on Dec. 30, and I really don't want to start off the new year by having to say bye-bye. :( So check out the latest round here.

Way to go, and good luck, Trish!

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Me, I'm finally on my way with the holiday prep. Cards are out (I THINK all of them). Presents are shipped, and some of the non-shipping presents are purchased. Tree is up and decorated. And I have peppermint Hershey kisses in the house. :)

We had an ice storm this weekend. All my friends had power outages and/or damage. We have some honkin'-big limbs down in our back yard, but no damage. *knocks wood* Hope all my readers all over the country weathered the weather okay this weekend--and will continue to do so with the new storms coming up.

Happy Thanksgiving!

To all of my American friends/readers, I hope you have a lovely, warm, toasty, delicious holiday with tons of reasons to be grateful and none of the usual holiday annoyances to cloud the gratitude.

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I raked leaves today. Wasn't going to, because they're wet, and wet leaves are a bitch to move around. We have to haul them uphill to the front yard for collection. And the muscle was, of course, at work. But it's supposed to rain tomorrow, too, and there were a lot of leaves already down, so I dragged the girls outside and we did a little.

We have two maples on the rear property line and a giant maple in the center of the backyard. The rear maples have dumped probably 75% of their leaves, half of those in the neighbor's yard. Our previous rear-facing neighbor used to collect whatever was in his yard, even after he cut down his own maple and the leaves were all from our trees. But we have a new neighbor now, and they seem to be more like us, delaying such things. So we raked their yard.

Never doing that again.

It wasn't the leaves. It was the dog poop. You could barely find a place to step, it covered so much area. I wouldn't judge, honest--I mean, we only clean up our dog stuff periodically. But that's because Dolly goes out twice a day: once in the early morning when I'm still in my nightgown, once at night, when it is now dark. I'm not picking up doggie-do in those conditions. But they walk their dogs on leashes in the backyard. They stand right there while the dogs do their business. I can't fathom why they leave it there.

So anyway, the leaves were mucho heavy, and we only did two loads. We'll probably do the rest of our yard on Saturday, after the first coat of paint is put on.

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One of the other things I did today was start to clear out my spices. McCormick had an ad in a coupon circular that talked about how if your spice has a Baltimore address, or is in a tin, it's at least 15 years old. You can check the codes on their web site, too. Ground spices are supposed to be good for 2-3 years. I know I have spices that predate my marriage, so I probably should replace stuff.

So today I grabbed a pen and started cleaning out my spice cupboard. I took out maybe nine bottles. The first three are things I use a lot--garlic and onion powder and lemon pepper--so of course they were okay. They don't expire until 2009 or 2010, have the dates right on them. But then I pulled out some more. And none of them are McCormick. The bay leaves are, but they didn't have a date or anything, and I realized writing down the codes didn't do any good unless I wrote down the spice, too, and most of my spice bottles are 3/4 full and throwing them away seems way too wasteful.

So I gave up.