24
Dec
Well, it’s Christmas Eve and I’m gearing up for much wrapping of the presents and baking of the cookies in preparation for the festivities this evening. We’ll probably watch a couple of holiday movies with the kiddos after dinner and then scoot them off to bed so I can finish up with the “Santa” presents.
My big dilemma is choosing what I’ll be watching tonight to keep myself awake until the wee hours of the morning when I finally put on the last bow and curl the last ribbon. Last year there was a Ghost Hunters marathon running on Christmas Eve (sweeeeet!), but this year there are no such happy circumstances. So, I’m thinking we might have to resume our catch-up sessions of past seasons of Supernatural. Either that or a never-ending loop of The Christmas Story, which is my fallback choice each year. Tough call. I might just have to see what kind of mood I’m in by the time the kids settle down long enough to actually go to sleep. 
Whatever holiday you’re celebrating this time of year, I hope it’s filled with the love of family and friends and your own special traditions. Here’s wishing everyone a very happy holiday season and peace, happiness, and publishing success in the new year!
3
Dec
While several of my friends were participating in the NaNoWriMo challenge last month, I didn’t do jack.
Okay, well, that’s not completely true. I spent the first couple of weeks working on some more edits to Red (check back in January for more on that) and then started editing a previous project that needs to have about 100 pages hacked out of it. I managed to get about three chapters into that project–which I decided to take an entirely new direction–and completely stalled out.
I ran out of steam.
After having written four complete novels over the last couple of years, I simply needed to recharge a bit. So I took a break.
I spent some time getting my house ready for the holidays by cleaning out clothes and toys to take to various charities around town, I moved furniture, caught up on some of my favorite TV shows that were bogging down our DVR, read a Lara Adrian novel I’d been saving until I could sit down and savor every word, and generally vegged out for a couple of weeks.
It felt great!
Of course, even though I wasn’t actively writing (or rewriting) anything, my mind was still churning with ideas and dialogue and plot twists. I did my best to jot things down as they came to me, sure, but I wasn’t sitting in front my laptop pounding out a 1,000 words per day, and so guilt is starting to set in.
I feel like such a slacker!
Unfortunately, with the holidays just around the corner, I’ll probably spend most of December doing much of the same–simply because to try to stick to a daily goal in December is just setting myself up for frustration. But come January, I fully intend to immerse myself in my projects once again and maybe even start on my next novel.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a few episodes of Ghost Hunters and Supernatural that are calling my name…
