New Year’s Resolutions

I do New Year’s Resolutions with the grains of salt at the ready. I know I have the best intentions, just as I know that it takes only a matter of weeks before those best intentions can get thrown to the wayside. Life has a way of making you forget sometimes.

Nevertheless, I thought I’d share my New Year’s Resolutions. They’re easy enough in theory.

1.) Write more.
2.) Read more.
3.) Find time for 1 & 2.

Hmm… maybe I should be more specific.

1.) Finish BEAR manuscript, complete with one full revision, and submit queries.
2.) Finish CAROLINA NORTH revisions and submit queries.
3.) Begin at least one new manuscript.
4.) Make a new TBR list and renew the challenge. (This will actually be a February resolution, since my birthday’s coming up and that means I can get as many books as I want guilt-free. Hey, growing older has to have some perks, right?)
5.) Find time for 1-4.

Number five is, naturally, the biggest hindrance to all of the above, but hey. A girl can dream, can’t she?

When the Weather Outside is Frightful

It’s beautiful outside today: cold, gray, drizzly, and damp. I love this weather, but it always makes me a little wistful. My mind’s been wandering all day, and I’ve been sighing over this and that. I’ve been very old school romance heroine-y today. I guess that stereotype had to come from somewhere.

Of course, with my meandering mind and dalliance with daydreams, this weather makes me want to write. I want to play some music softly in the background, settle in with a cup of hot tea or hot cocoa, and nestle deep in the couch with a blanket around my shoulders and the laptop in my lap. My Mom noticed (because the woman notices everything) that I’m not as productive with my writing during the summer. At first I thought it may have something to do with the heat, but now I’m wondering if it’s actually because I’m more productive during the winter. If that’s the case, maybe I should consider moving north one day.

Then again, I consider 50 degrees to be chilly, and 30 degrees to be downright freezing. I don’t know how I’d handle anything lower than that for more than a day or two at a time… Maybe I can just blast the air conditioner. Ah–winter in July. What more can a writer ask for?

Seven Signs

The following are signs that you may be suffering from Post Christmas Stress Disorder, or PCSD:

1. You find yourself waking up in the middle of the night screaming, “No, please! I beg you! Don’t make me wrap another one!“

2. When someone asks you who was at the annual Christmas party, you list people by the gifts you bought them and not by their names.

3. The faint, phantom scent of eggnog follows you wherever you go.

4. You suffer trembling, disorientation, mood swings, and/or facial twitches from sugar withdrawal.

5. The craving for a sugar plum becomes unbearable despite a.) never having actually eaten a sugar plum before and b.) not knowing what the hell a sugar plum is.

6. You begin to suffer anxiety attacks after realizing that you have only 364 more shopping days until next Christmas.

7. You attempt to run down carolers with your car.

If you or anyone you know suffers from these symptoms, please seek professional psychiatric help immediately.

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Love always,

Christmas Eve

Here’s hoping that you’re warm, happy, and surrounded by friends and family this holiday season.

It’s not about the presents
and forget about the tree.
Christmas is a time to celebrate
the love between you and me.

Remember, my loved ones,
dear family and kind friends,
that my wish for you this season
is happpiness without end.

I spent this year in gratitude,
I’m humbled and left in awe,
that I may have been so lucky
to have known each of you all.

So join with me this Christmas
in thanking loved ones too,
who spent their year bringing
laughter, peace, and joy to you.

Ten Rants: Christmas List

My top ten Christmas list wishes for things I’d love to have but may never get. (Hey, a girl can dream, can’t she?)

1. World peace.

Because, you know, that’s a standard answer. I think it may be written law somewhere… Check the Miss America rule book.

2. A home office.

I don’t have to go into detail about the mahogany trimming, sage green walls, and view of the Texas greenbelt, do I? Because I will if you’ve forgotten. No? *Sigh* Fine, I’ll shut up about it now.

3. A horse ranch.

Now, this one comes with a few stipulations. Aside from needing to have plenty of space for long rides, I’d require someone to actually take care of the horses because, while I do know how to ride, I don’t know the first thing about caring for them. Since I’m already so far out in la-la land, I may as well decide that the requisite stable-hand must be muscular, male, and a willing teacher whose wardrobe consists almost entirely of tight, well-worn jeans. Shirts are optional.

4. Okay, let’s just count that stable-hand as number four.

Hubba-hubba. Ahem–sorry. Moving on.

5. A car.

Let’s go with red, sporty, sleek, and fast: aka sex on wheels.

6. Full-ride scholarship for Baby Sister at the college of her choice.

Yes, Kiddo, this is blatant manipulation. An education is muy importante, but paying back the student loans really sucks.

7. A song written especially for me by the band Our Lady Peace.

I’ve never had someone write me a song. I’d like it to be a happy one as opposed to something like OLP’s song “Annie“. Not that it’s bad, really, but I’d prefer not to dream that everyone is dead thank you very much.

8. An art room.

While Middle Sister would get way more use out of something like this (being the artist of the family and all), I still like to dabble. Oils, acrylics, clay, metal, photography, and all the general paraphernalia needed to properly use all of the above would naturally be included in said room.

Maybe if Middle Sister is really nice to me, I’d let her use it once in a while.

9. Pizza.

I’m kinda hungry right now.

10. A publishing contract.

Ha! Y’all knew this would be coming. How could you not? And since this is my wish list, I get to add that said contract would be with a high enough advance to allow me to work part-time so I can focus more on my writing.

College Grad

Congratulations, Bean!

Friday Feature: Traceless

One of the benefits of having a behemoth TBR pile is that it usually contains a wide assortment of genres. Unless you’re a historical-romance-only kinda gal (or fella), you’ll likely have at least a couple. Me? I’m fairly eclectic, so when I decided I was in the mood for a suspense, I had a few choices.

Now, I have to admit that I’m not heavy into romantic suspense. I still read them, but they aren’t usually my first choice. So when I decided on Monday night that I wanted a romantic suspense, it was because I wanted something I figured I could put down and walk away. I didn’t want to read for long, just an hour or two, so I wanted to make sure that I steered away from something that sucked me in and left me hanging on page after page until dawn started creeping in under the curtains. After all, I had to work in the morning.

So I grabbed Debra Webb’s Traceless, an ARC that I picked up at the 2007 RWA National Conference. (Yes, I’m that slow.)

Big mistake.

You hear that? That long, slow sucking sound? Yep, that’s the sound of me being swallowed whole by the addictive story that is Traceless. And if I had a digital camera (or any camera, really), I’d share pictures of the purple smudges embedded beneath my eyes–signs that I’d nearly greeted the morning two nights in a row as I devoured pages. I had to pry my fingers off the covers just to catch a few hours sleep so I wouldn’t accidentally drive anyone off the road during the morning commute.

This story starts off with the biggest conflict between a hero and heroine that I’ve ever read. The heroine found the hero over the body of her murdered best friend and was the star witness that put him away for ten years in one of the most hellish prisons in the nation. And, of course, the hero is innocent. When he’s released on parole, he returns to the small town to prove that innocence. Holy Petunia on a Pedestal, I thought, how the hell are they going to overcome this?

Okay, so I didn’t think the “petunia” part, but I sure as heck thought the latter. And let me tell you, the way Ms. Webb does just that is fantastic. Seriously, people. You gotta read this. I’m lamenting the fact that I’m a slow reader because I already know I’m in for yet another late night, but I just…have…to know.

Fun with a Scanner

Here’s what happens when you find yourself bored and bookless: you get–ahem–creative.

Right Career, Wrong Genre?

Well, this came as a bit of a surprise. I took a quiz on “What kind of writer are you?” and out of the internet ether came this little nugget of wisdom:

You Should Be a Science Fiction Writer

Your ideas are very strange, and people often wonder what planet you’re from.And while you may have some problems being “normal,” you’ll have no problems writing sci-fi. Whether it’s epic films, important novels, or vivid comics… Your own little universe could leave an important mark on the world!

What Type of Writer Should You Be?

Hm… this might be a problem given my extent of science fiction is Linnea Sinclair. My friend Kate W is helping educate me a little further, so I have a couple more mainstream sci fi on my TBR shelf, but I guess if that’s the direction the Wise & Powerful Internet doth declare I take, then I’d better get crackin’.

Of course, I can’t claim complete surprise over the result. I kind of knew what I was getting into when I selected “Life in the future or an alternate universe” as the subject I’d be drawn to. Though, being nitpicky, that’s less of a subject and more of a setting. I just didn’t care for the other options. The most obvious, of course, would have been “a long, epic love story”, but the combination of “long” and “epic” sounds to me like “boring” and “depressing”.

Hm… Good thing I don’t take career advice from random websites.