Christmas Sweaters and A Christmas Book

~~Merry Christmas! The big day is nearly here and everyone is planning gifts for those around them. John and I have pared down our shopping over the years. We really don't need anything and our wants run more along the lines of having each other and love, peace, and calm. But we did go shopping for the puppies. ; ) Their winter sweaters from last year were woefully small, of course. They are now nearly two years old. The weather has been a bear and they needed sweaters for their walks. We found lovely ones in a catalog and are proud to say the boys look smashing. Don't you agree?

~~I received a great gift this morning as well. Spencer Crawford of the Times-Georgian and The Villa Rican asked to interview me about my new book, A Christmas Walk. The article is wonderful! Spencer is a great friend to all the local writers and this is one example. Go HERE to read the article if you don't get the Times-Georgian.

~~And have a wonderful, peaceful Christmas.

December? Are You Sure?

~~The calendar says December. The thermometer says it's too cold for January or February. Brrr! Monday and Tuesday will be the coldest yet with lows in the low teens and highs maybe at freezing. Add our colds and sinus infections and you have a horrible mix.
~~Sunday is the day our Angel Tree Gifts are due at church and we are the organizers of this ministry. John suggested it over twenty-five years ago. We get names of needy children from the Carrollton Schools Christmas Sponsorship Program. This year the church is providing gifts for seventy-five children and five adults. The mothers' requests were poignant--flatware, cook books, baking tools, pots and pans. They want to be able to feed their children. John and I are honored and blessed to work with this project every year.
~~On the writing front, I'm doing well. In December I have written 5289 new and reworked words. This includes a comprehensive look at the overarching theme and controlling image of Friendly Fire. To say this is good is an understatement.
~~Book sales have been good. In December, I've been to a family Christmas Party, spoke at Bethel Baptist Church, FBC's Current Events class, and will speak at the Adult I department tomorrow. Add an interview with Spencer Crawford of the Times-Georgian on this coming Wednesday and you have a great sales month. Look for the interview in the "Sunday Living" section of the Times-Georgian on Sunday, December 19.
~~So, enjoy December, freezing temps, snow flurries, gifts, books, good food and family. John and I wish you a very Merry Christmas.

19,248!

~~That's the number of new words I wrote during the month of November. It was an amazing ride. I'm still going to aim for the 600 words a day average for the next four months in the hopes that I can have a complete rough draft for Friendly Fire by the end of March. That would mark the third anniversary of the dream that introduced me to Laura Grace and Samantha. The ladies have been growing and developing ever since. All of the characters who populate Cherry Hill become more real everyday.
~~Over at the Forum, among the crew of talented writers I share the Research and Craft and Writers Exercises folders with, there was an astounding output of words for NaNo month. The final tally is in the neighborhood of 910,000 words. I'm blown away by the number of creative people who reached the 50,000 goal. That includes one, Clarice in NZ, who wrote 100,000+ words.
~~November is a month to celebrate writers and words. May the words continue to flow for all the writers in the world. I can't live without them. ; )

Pat Down? No Problem, Mon!

~~It's all over the news.TSA's new secuity measures are causing a fire storm. I have to admit, I'm not worried by it all. You see, I was patted down several times before it became the norm. Only they weren't hunting explosives, but the 'sacred weed, Ganga.' Really. I know you look at my white bread photo and shake your head. Who in their right minds would dream of this little, middle class woman as a drug smuggler? Well, Jamaica customs would. ; )
~~If you know our travel history, you know we have been to Jamaica nine times, Mexico twice, the Bahamas twice, and Aruba once. What can we say, but we love warm beaches in the winter. I had had to take off  my shoes several times when they began the pat downs. John, of course, sailed on through in nothing flat, when they began to pull me over. Let me tell you, I've had gentler mammograms. The first time, I was shaking in my socks. Remember, I've already taken off my shoes. ; ) But pat down number two was harder. I nearly laughed in the woman's face. For some reason, I don't think that would be conducive to moving on to the plane for Atlanta. I wouldn't be worried now if I had to be patted down.
~~I'm not trying to make light of any one's concerns. I'm just saying there are far worse things than an airport pat down. Like being blown out of the sky.

I'll Take All the Help I Can Get

~~It's the Friday before Thanksgiving and I'm up to my ears in chores.
1. Clean the house for company
2. Plan and start the cooking for Turkey Day
3. Keep writing at least 600 words a day and type them all in
~~And I need help! My puppy boys aren't much help unless you count licking my face and wagging tails. Where is my Jesse? Watch this marvelous video clip to see what I mean.
~~Enjoy!


~~By the way, my new word total for Friendly Fire in November is now 14,270. That includes my "monster day" on Thursday when I wrote 1700 words.

Happy Middle of November

~~It's a gorgeous fall day. The leaves are lovely. Just look at our maple and the ginko at John's mother's house. The weather is changing, though. The forecast is for one to two inches of rain by the end of the day on Tuesday and by then, the leaves will be nearly gone. In fact, the maple tree has dropped three-fourths of its leaves today. Be glad I took the photo yesterday. ; )

~~Today marks the end of NaNo week 2 as well. I'm excited to report that I'm officially over ten thousand words for the month. 10,120 to be exact. And they're mostly good words with very little dreck. Now don't get me wrong, there's still a lot to do on these new scenes, like adding bits of underpainted setting and emotional feelings. Still, I'm very pleased with my month. I've typed all these words in and they're ready for play later. On to new words. At this rate, I'll break 20,000 by November 30. ; )

First November Update

~~It's the seventh of November and I'm widing up my first week of NaNo inspired writing--4900 new words for Friendly Fire. And I like the words. John does too and that's a wonderful thing. Now if I can keep writing at this pace for the rest of the month, I'll add 19,600 words by November 30. Cheer me on. ; )

NaNoWriMo

~~If you looked at my blog title and said, "Huh?" you might not be a novelist. National Novel Writing Month (Here) is a concerted effort for novelists to turn out words on their novels. Some opt to start on something new. Others work on their novels-in-progress. Which ever plan a writer has, the goal is to write 50,000 words during the month of November. That's an average of 1,667 a day. It's a staggering number of words. To do it, the writer can't stop and edit. Words have to flood onto the page.
~~Before you question my sanity, I'm not an official participant in NaNo. I know the physical limits of my wrists. But I do have a group of friends on the Forum who are. We have a thread going so that we can share our output and number of words created every day. I'm piggybacking on the energy and momentum of the group. Some of then have already written nearly 10,000 words in two or three days. I'm proud to say, I've been productive if nowhere near their output. I wrote 600 new words on Monday and 900 new words on Tuesday. If I maintain an average of 600 per day for the month, I'll create 18,000 new words for Friendly Fire by the end of November.
~~I'm going to try. Keep your fingers crossed. ; )