DONE!

In a flurry of writing and a grand total of 22 pages for the day, I have finished the first draft of my tween novel.

Lots of revising to do, of course, but it is so nice to have completed the first draft. Now for the celebration!!!

My Holiday Season in Pictures

I've had a very busy holiday season, which is probably why I am not finished with my fiction to do list. Here are a few pix of what I've done:


Trans-Siberian Orchestra


The Festival of Lights at the Grotto


The Nutcracker Suite at the Oregon Ballet Theater



Eggnog with Dh on Christmas Eve


Tree trimming party with friends



Hot buttered rums with family after my birthday dinner

We also went to midnight mass at a catholic church for the first time ever!





No wonder I didn't get enough writing done!

Best Christmas Present Ever!

My wonderful husband gave me a gift that made me cry... He had the cover flat to Read My Lips professionally matted and framed to put up in my office. How sweet and thoughtful is that? I can't believe I didn't notice it was missing! Here it is:



Isn't gorgeous????

Hope you are all having a lovely holiday!

Happy Birthday to me!

It's my birthday and I won't be crying.

Well, actually tomorrow is my birthday,but will be too busy to blog. Too many Christmas and birthday festivities to attend.

Today I have to finish Christmas errands, go the the Nutcracker Ballet with my Mom (with the Oregon Ballet Theater, woot!)Go to a Christmas gig tonight, Go out to coffee with my best friend tomorrow (hint hint... come on Ann, you knkow you want to) and go out to the family birthday dinner tomorrow night.

Then all church and family holiday stuff until Christmas. Have a wonderful few days people. I know I will!

So close...

Within striking distance of Spell's finish. I think I have four more chapters according to the desperate-end-of-the-book-outline I drew up to help me make sure everything comes together.

Then revising, of course.

What else? I'll be blogging over at Teen Fiction Cafe. The topic is current events and I have a hot button issue to tackle.

My 2k8 group is on the verge of launching their website... This is one talented group of people! Our year is almost here. Will post when it comes up.

The only thing I have to do is make fudge and my holiday duties are pretty much over till the actual day. I am taking my 91-year-old dad shopping today. Don't know where he wants to go, but it should be a riot. Maybe I'll take him to Hot Topic just for ducks...

Twelve Things that Make Me Happy

Okay, I'm better. Well, those twelve things are still haunting me, but I do have the power to ignore them. So let's try the twelve things that make me happy this holiday season.

1.My husband. Sure, he's an anal retentive little perfectionist, but he does laundry, has a great job, keeps the cars running, makes lists of all the supplies we need, cooks several times a week, and absolutely adores me. I'll keep him.

2.My teens. Neither of them do drugs, smoke, have sex, or engage in any other illegal activity. They both report in on a regular basis, come home on time (for the most part) have good friends, do well in school (except for math, but that's my fault... both nature and nurture:), care about other people, and tell me they love me everyday. And even at eighteen and almost seventeen, not a day goes by that they don't hug me or seek out some kind of loving physical contact with their mama.

3. I SOLD A BOOK! To a major publisher! (A fiction book, because I have already sold two nonfiction books.)

4. I make money writing!

5. Both my Mom and Dad are alive for another Christmas. My dad is 91 and my Mom had a brain tumor and lung cancer this year, so that makes me very happy!

6. I own a home in one of the most expensive counties in the US and we have managed to hang onto it for almost ten years now! (I won't think about how it's falling down around our ears and everytime we go to do something, the water heater goes out or the furnace blows or...)

7. I am fairly healthy except for a reoccuring health problem, being a bit overweight, having high cholesterol, acid reflux, an on again, off again love affair with nicotine and a thyroid problem. Oh, piss it. I'm a mess. A veritable walking time bomb. But I am alive and much better off than many people.

8. My hubby and I are going back to the Sandlake Country Inn bed and breakfast at the end of January for three days! And they saved the very last bottle of our favorite, special vintage, pinot noir for us!

9. I have some fantastic friends and critique partners... They not only make me a better writer, they make me a better person.

10. Mrs. Annie-- my best friend doesn't even cover the relationship we have now. More like sisters without the messy family connection... which is good cause we can bitch about one another's family and have only sympathy.

11. I am a far better writer than when I first started in a critique group with Kristen Painter. She and the others in the group whipped me into shape. Now that I have gone on to other groups, I am always thankful for the advice she gave me.

12. A sense of humor. Where would I be without the ability to laugh at myself? To laugh at my mistakes and my weaknesses? If you only laugh at others and not yourself, you run the risk of becoming self important. Then you get bitter and twisted because others don't pay homage to how important you are. I've done things so catastrophically stupid, it boggles the mind. I have to laugh, because that's all that's left:)

The Twelve Reasons for Stress

Reasons I am stressed even though I am not working on any nonfiction deadlines:

1. Health stuff reared it's ugly head again.
2. I haven't started the Christmas cards.
3. The outside Christmas lights haven't been put up yet.
4. I can't sleep at night. I wake up about 2AM and end up getting up because I can't fall back to sleep.
5. I'm not done with my MG book yet.
6. Someone just sold their debut MG book for a huge amount of money. We're talking $200,000-$500,000.
7. My best friend is having trouble with the girls and since she took them for me when Mom came up with lung cancer, I feel like I should take them more, but just can't. (See number 1 and 4.)
8.I haven't started on the proposal I'm doing with my son yet and I wanted to get that done over vacation.
9. My main nonfiction client is now a part of the Disney online family and isn't taking assignments for January and I don't know what I will do if that income source dries up.
10. Neither of my teens have a job yet in spite of repeated looking.
11. Our washer is leaking and we have to buy a new one.
12. I haven't been able to make any significant progress on updating our home yet. Same old ugly kitchen, same 1970's windows and same chewed up bathroom floor.

Will someone please wake me up when my next book sells?

Progress

I am making some progress on fiction December!

My galleys are done and out.

I have written 4000 more words in SPELL and have plotted out the rest of the book.

My son and I had a brainstorming session and learned more about the book and what our roles will be. (That was interesting! Talk about two stubborn people butting heads!)

I also got a large portion of my Christmas shopping done, the Christmas tree up, the house decorated, (both thanks to my daughter Megan and her best friend Raines. see pix)

So things are going along swimmingly.

It's been a while sinc ei did a Monday To Do so here is one for ya:

Write in Spell
Plot out more on Exchanged


That's it!!!!

My Arcs Came In!

Okay...

They came in last night and I couldn't believe how beautiful they are, how lovely, etc. I was elated.

Then I was struck by a sinking feeling. This is real. My writing is going to be out there for the world to see and what if it sucks?

I mean, I almost had an anxiety attack... has anyone else ever felt like that?

Vacation from Nonfiction!

I finally did it. I am all done with my nonfiction articles until the new year. I was offered five assignments already and turned them all down, because December is all about FICTION!

Things I want to do in December:

Finish and Polish SPELL

Finish and return my galleys.

Work on EXCHANGED with my son.

Write the LOOKING FOR LAGUNA proposal.

Finish all work for my 2K8 group

Notice how that is all fiction?


Today was my first official day of vacation. I attended my RWA's chapter holiday party and then went from there to a family party. Tomorrow we are going to see Trans Siberian Orchestra! Yeah baby! Vacation is good. Now off to work on Spell for a bit tonight:)