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I am about partied out. Almost brought home another cat last night, but couldn't find her when we were leaving the SARA party.

Man, I’m tired just thinking about this week. The dh is off, though, so I don’t have to worry about the house and dinner.

1) work on small town story
2) revisions on Eden’s Promise
3) fix up Breaking Daylight and resend to Golden Palm so they can send to Leslie Wainger
4) go see PS I LOVE YOU Monday night
5) a play at a playhouse written by one of the SARAs on Thursday
6) dh’s gig (one was cancelled)
7) ds’s 2 gigs
8) teacher breakfast – plan something for parent who’s watching them for that hour
9) kids’ party
10) send out progress reports and ruin some Christmas vacations
11) once school is out – SLEEP!

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I came home from my Christmas party last night to find Breaking Daylight finalled in the Golden Palm! I have a week to revise, then send it back and it's going to Leslie Wainger. It's been a long dry spell between finals, y'all. This feels GOOD. Wow, and I just got the results for Don't Look Back...if they'd had 4 finalists instead of 3, it would have finalled, too!!

I should get to write today. I need to make a quick trip to the grocery store, and then the SARA party tonight, but in between, no obligations.

Okay, heroes....I was reading this book recently where the hero was just, well, horny all the time. All. The. Time. It went a bit beyond the level of being sexy and was actually a little creepy, especially since he'd wanted this girl since she was 17. (He was about 10 years older.)

When I read Shelter Mountain, I had trouble getting past the hero's bald-big-be-earringed appearance.

I read another book where the hero made unfortunate choices in footwear. Just. Not. Appealing.

And another where the hero was, shall we say, hirsute. I didn't mind that quite so much because I have a feeling my current hero is as well, but I wasn't going to go into that in the likelihood it would be a turnoff to someone.

What hero characteristics turn you off, either physical or not?

Look what Natalie found!

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So I got my presents wrapped and finished Cindi's scarf last night. I found some I'd made already that I can give to my Secret Santa. I stopped and got my uncle a gift card to Olive Garden for his birthday, which is tomorrow. And I got gift bags for the white elephant gifts (though my gifts are GOOD.) I also figured out the dh can brave WalMart to get his own mother's gift, since he's off next week. And I did the newsletter, the parent letter and the make up work, and turned in the GT nominations and the textbook stuff.

I need to get cash for me and the boy tonight....he's going to the movies with a friend while I go to the Christmas party. The good thing is, I'm riding with Cindi and Lucinda, who live out there by his friend. So as soon as we're done partying, I pick him up and we come home. The bad is that I come home from school, get dressed for the party, go pick the boy up from UIL (crossing the highway) then take him to the friend's, then go to Lucinda's. Not much time to breathe!

Yesterday one of the teachers walked in with a bag of Mint M&Ms. I'd never had them, wasn't all that excited about tasting them, but...oh, my God. I kept finding excuses to go to her room for another handful. They are SO good, and only available this time of year.

My Baby Brother asked me if I was making molasses cookies this Christmas. It's a tradition in our family that I took over YEARS ago. I didn't make them last year and never heard the end of it. So I suppose I will.

When I was a girl, I would make sugar plums. The recipe I had was mostly butter and powdered sugar, with cocoa and oatmeal and golden raisins. The recipe was called Sugar Plums from Sugarland (Texas, you know) It was in an Imperial cookbook. Mom lost it (it was a little cookbook) and a couple of years ago, Baby Brother found the recipe on the internet. Again, OMG, but so rich you can't eat very many and they get thrown out, and have to be refrigerated because of all the butter. But I suppose I'll make those.

I also love iced sugar cookies this time of year. They aren't pretty like the ones Robyn DeHart makes (completely from scratch). Mine are Pillsbury dough and colored Duncan Hines frosting, but yummy.

What are your favorite Christmas treats?

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First of all, a big WOOT to my dh for getting advance screening tickets for PS I LOVE YOU on Monday. The good - he's on vacation, so we can get there early. The bad - that's the third night we'll be leaving the ds alone. I know he's 16, but hey.

Second WOOT - I'm on the Coming Soon Page at The Wild Rose Press!!!! I don't know when soon is, but I'm there!!!!

Third woot - a partial request from Jenny Rappaport on last year's GH finalist. Need to dust that puppy off!

Last night, the boy played at the high school, which is across the highway from our home. (Okay, across the highway and a few miles, but...) Apparently, though, crossing the highway is now akin to crossing the border. It took me FIFTEEN MINUTES to get 3 miles because of construction - AND I HAD TO DO IT FOUR TIMES YESTERDAY!!!! I had to pick the kid up, bring him home, take him back for the gig and bring him home. EVERYTHING is one lane. ARGH! I remember when all the construction was on the OTHER side of town.

THEN, I FINALLY got my Pirates DVD from Best Buy Tuesday. It had shipped TWELVE DAYS before that. It went from Austin (an hour down the road) to Dallas (3 hours away) to OKLAHOMA CITY, then BACK TO DALLAS. A movie I ordered the ds that was mailed after that, I got a week before. I presume I'll get Harry Potter around Christmas.

What's up with the UPS man delivering in the middle of the night? The other night, the dh came home at midnight, and we had a package!

OKay, what needs to be done before I get out of school:

Progress reports, which means grading and entering grades

Make up work over the Christmas break for failing grades on the progress reports. I NEVER give homework over breaks, but these kids are just....so not motivated, and their parents don't help.

Choose a math textbook for the district to adopt (this is not my job alone, but paperwork is involved.)

Turn in nominations for the gifted and talented program.

Christmas letter about Christmas activities to parents.

Newsletter

lesson plans x2

Finish Cindi's scarf and wrap her kids' gifts so I can give them to her before we get out.

Make a scarf for my Secret Santa. And maybe 2 for the ladies in the office. Lord knows I have the yarn.

What has to be done before Christmas:

Get gift card for MIL at WalMart. I go to WalMart like 3 times a year, and this is NOT a good time. But I need to do other shopping there, too, so it can't just be a guerilla trip.

Gifts for brothers, Mom, stepdad

Find out where Christmas is going to be.

Bake

Wrap

Two Christmas parties, and I have to take food to one of them.


Are YOU ready????

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Another one of those days where I didn't want to get out of bed. Another front blew in last night, I didn't sleep good because the dh went out with his band....I'm not ready for Christmas, but I'm ready for Christmas break!

The night before last, we watched The Year Without a Santa Claus. (Remember, my son is 16. He rolled his eyes all the way through.) I love the Heat Miser and Snow Miser scenes. The rest I could do without. But we were explaining to this child, who has had VCRs and now Tivo his whole life, what a big deal it used to be when the specials would come on.



Rudolph, Charlie Brown, The Little Drummer Boy...now THAT was appointment TV, because if you missed it, you didn't see it for another year!







There was one, though, that I remember. We just HAPPENED to see it on Christmas Eve when we were eating dinner when I was a kid. It was called The Night the Animals Talked. I've seen it once since, and have only ever met one person who saw it. Have you seen it?

Other than that, my favorite is The Grinch, the cartoon. I can recite it, because the ds watched it so much as a kid.



What's your favorite Christmas special?

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I watched several movies this weekend.

I saw Waitress, which I'd heard was so good. Keri Russell was great, and I love Nathan Fillion, but the relationship between them bothered me. I knew she was married, and unhappily, when I rented the movie, but I didn't know he was married. And that bothered me. I did like the other relationships in the movie, but it was a little depressing.

I saw Nanny Diaries, which I liked better, but also a little depressing. I loved how the story was presented as an anthropological study, complete with displays at the Museum of Natural History.

We watched the first Kill Bill movie, since it was on Spike. It was very odd, but clever, I thought. The second one was on last night and we watched the first two hours. Not as good - pacing was awful.

We're looking forward to seeing I Am Legend next week, then the following week is PS I Love You.

What movies have you seen? Anything good? What are you looking forward to?

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I love Christmas songs. One of my favorite Christmas albums is this one:



Another is this one. For years, it was the only Christmas album we listened to.



This is one of my favorite songs. I LOVE the harmony, and I actually remember seeing it on TV when it first aired.



When I was music teacher, I always had my kids do "Do You Hear What I Hear?" I love how that song builds.

When I was in choir, I loved "Carol of the Bells" and the Hallelujah Chorus. For years I remembered my parts.

I love "O, Holy Night," too.

My students loved "Nuttin' for Christmas."

I adore Madonna's "Santa Baby."

What Christmas songs do you love? Which ones drive you screaming crazy? ("Christmas Shoes," anyone???)

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1) finish Ghost Hunter revisions
2) work on small town story
3) email Susan Litman about judging Merritt
4) Golden Palms announces – my second to last entered contest
5) Start revisions on Eden’s Promise for SHOMI contest
6) 2 gigs - ds’s AND dh’s (next week, each one has 2 gigs!)
7) 2 Christmas parties – school AND SARA
8) Website committee meeting at school
9) Secret Santa starting
10) Grades in gradebook so progress reports can go out next week
11) Keep up house
12) grocery store
13) get uncle's bday gift

Go buy it! This is her American Title finalist - you KNOW it's good!

Tracy is having a contest – enter to win $25 from BN.com!!!

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I freaked out a little this week (I know - shocking).

I was thinking that my stories are all too different.

I have my suspense - Second Chances and Vanished.

I have my adventure - Breaking Daylight, DLB, Spy Girl

I have my paranormal - Ghost and Vamp Hunters, though I have an idea how to turn Surface into one

I have my futuristic - Eden's Promise

I have my contemp romance - Something to Talk About

All my other ideas trend toward adventure or suspense, though I am LOVING my contemp romance. As in, want to run away and only spend time with it forever and ever (just kidding, but not much.)

The concern is if Susan ends up liking DLB, what else do I have to offer her?

And what do I send to Samhain next?

And WRP?

And should I bother entering Eden in the Shomi contest if I only have the one book for the line?

What about you? Do you write one thing, or are you all over the board like me?

I blogged at Wet Noodle Posse today about my GH call.

I posted the other trailer, but this is the official one. CAN'T WAIT!



Yesterday I wanted to go to Beall's real quick to get a Christmas shirt like one of our teachers had, and to Hobby Lobby for some sequins and sparklies for ornaments.

Ended up at Borders for probably an HOUR. The boy has rediscovered books. You should hear his wish list - Ayn Rand, Victor Hugo, George Orwell. And he wants PRETTY books. You should have seen him with this $75 edition of Lord of the Rings. He lamented the fact that Ron Paul's book wasn't available, and that Borders is the last place people think to shop for gifts. Still, we walked out without buying anything.

I am up early to edit, even though all I want to do is work on my CA story.

And then last night I had this dream....a whole NEW idea!

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The dh loaded Leopard on my desktop last night and almost killed the dang thing. At one point, he told me he probably lost everything on my user. I hadn't backed up my Nano book or the changes on Ghost Hunters, and I was MAD. But he was able to recover everything of mine, though I went to bed before I saw if he recovered the boy's stuff and his. I lost all my bookmarks, and my cache, so now have to reenter passwords, etc. Now my laser printer is being a jerk and keeps printing empty papers that aren't programmed to print. I don't know if it's out of ink or WHAT. And my inkjet is awful. I think I'm going to go order a new one RIGHT now.

I was able to get all my online shopping done, though, and I BELIEVE I just need Healing Brother (who got good news from his dr last week - he's back to 100%) and his wife, Baby Brother, Mom and stepdad and MIL. I need to check my spreadsheet. Oh, and my Secret Santa at work.

I wrote a lot on my California story, though. I love those magical gel pens!

The dh's gig tomorrow is cancelled (am I wrong to be glad?) and I have a faculty meeting today :(

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I'm doing this blog on the dh's new laptop because he installed the Leopard OS on the desktop and so it keeps telling me to restart, which I have done. I'm glad I didn't wake up early to write! The bad is I can't recharge my iPod. I'm in the middle of listening to The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo because my ds LOVES that book. So far I find it weird.

I've seen other bloggers do this, so I thought I'd put in my two cents:

Dear Santa,

Yes, I know I've had a VERY good year, this fall especially, so I won't make my list very long.

This year, I would like a FANTASTIC cover for Hot Shot. I know, I was lucky with Smoke because I know the artist, but she still nailed it with the first shot.

I would like some movie money, with all the good movies coming out - PS I LOVE YOU, the new Will Smith, the new JDM in February.

I'd like the Writer's Strike to end so we can look forward to more quality TV when Christmas is over.

I would like more patience. I know you've heard that before, but I hate always looking toward the end goal. I'd like to enjoy my path a little more.

Keep feeding my muse. I love my new book and want to continue doing well with it. But 2008 will be the Year of Revisions and I want to do well on those, too.

I would like more time. I was able to find balance earlier this year, and I've lost it the past few months. I wish I wasn't in a hurry all the time! And all these books - I want to read them!!

I would like more time with my family, too. My son is growing so fast and he'll be gone before I know it. Even now nights with the whole family together are fewer and I hate that. As much as I want him to be independent and his own person, I know our time together is short and I want to enjoy him more.

Not too much to ask, is it, Santa?

(Oh, and if you can find that Supernatural watch I saw online a couple of months ago, that would be great, too!)

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I got SO MUCH done yesterday. I typed in 5 pages of my small town story, which I'm calling Something to Talk About (StTA), I typed in 20 pages of edits on Ghost Hunters, planted 3 poinsettias, cleaned 2 bathrooms, decorated the Christmas tree, put out the rest of my decorations, watched 3 episodes of The Unit, did more edits on Smoke and then wrote at least 3 more pages of StTA, including a major turning point.

Then the dh went to his gig and I couldn't sleep. Okay, I slept about 3 hours, woke at 2. He'd just gotten home. I couldn't go back to sleep for TWO HOURS. When I did, I had a good dream about the guy from Burn Notice, but it was mostly REALLY weird, and I snoozed the alarm twice. Thank goodness I got my pants from the dry cleaners - no ironing!

Really, he's SO not my type.

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I got my kids' presents yesterday, ordered Dad's and cousin's. Also got my production copy for Smoke, went through, found some mistakes. Went to bed at almost midnight with hurting eyes. Typed in 15 pages of my small town story (already written longhand) and cleaned my bedroom pretty good. Oh, and read the RWR.

This week I need to:

1) ease back into small town story
2) get Samhain paperwork taken care of
3) finish revising Ghost Hunters
4) don’t stress about Superromance contest announcement
5) buy long distance gifts and dh’s gift
6) faculty meeting
7) dh’s band playing 2 gigs and practicing one night
8) keep up house
9) keep up at school

Hey…I could live with this!

This is my new favorite band, The Arcade Fire.

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My dh got a new MacBook last night, and while I'm glad he'll be off the desktop, I'm also a TEENY bit jealous. I kind of liked having a laptop last week. So maybe after we get some other stuff paid off, get the car fixed, get some home improvements done....

Today I want to rearrange my books. Not that they're badly arranged, just that they're kind of messy right now. See, I have them organized, to an extent. I have three bookshelves that are separate pieces of furniture, one that's built in, and one that's part of the dh's dresser.

The big book shelf has all my keepers and older TBR books. I weed through every once in awhile. All I want to do in that one today is get out the Santa Baby book.

The built in bookshelf has my writing books and my hardcover TBR as well as my Trixie Belden books. I don't think I'll mess with that one, except maybe to dust it.

Th bookshelf in the middle room has three shelves. One is books I've read, waiting for someone to request them from Paperback Swap. Another is books by New To Me Authors and the other is books by friends. THAT one is overflowing.

The shelf on the dh's dresser is books on someone else's list on Paperback Swap. They've been the same books since summer, so I need to fix that one.

The other bookshelf, which I bought for school two years ago and ended up using when I brought it home in the summer, also has 3 shelves, one for New To Me Authors (these are more recent releases) and another shelf for friends (also overflowing - it's good to have friends, right?) and the third shelf are the Jim Butcher books Stacy loaned me. On TOP of the shelf are more hardcovers.

Okay, other than just having way too many books, I really need to reorganize. But I also need to clean my house. And get my tree decorated. And get back to revising Ghost Hunters. And writing my small town book.

And I need to get to the library and the dollar store....and maybe Michael's.

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Yesterday Trish and I did something we have never done – we finished writing a book on the same day. Cool, huh?
Of course, my last two pages, the ds was standing over me waiting to type up his newspaper story. Then when I finished and said I won, the dh said, "It's like winning golf - you're competing against yourself." Then the ds said, "Yeah, take THAT, past you!" referring to the FRIENDS episode where Monica tried to outdo herself for Thanksgiving dinner.



I was thinking about this Nano vs. last Nano. I looked for my Excel chart for last year but couldn’t find it. That would have been interesting. And since I didn't use all my good pictures, I will sprinkle more through today's post in celebration.

Last Nano, I changed heroes midstream.

Last Nano, I woke up early almost every day to write before I went to work.
This Nano, I only did that the last week.



Last Nano, I had out of town company, and so did the bulk of the story at the beginning of the month.
This Nano, I had edits and revisions at the beginning of the month, so did the bulk of the book at the end of the month.

Last Nano, I had green on my chart almost every day.
This Nano, I have more red than green. I really doubted if I should try to finish, just before Thanksgiving. I knew if I didn’t catch up that week, I never would.



Last Nano I wished that I had a plot about 2/3 of the way through.
This Nano, I wished that I had a plot about 90% through.

Last Nano, I couldn’t keep my hero and heroine’s hands off each other.
This Nano, the sensuality felt a little more forced. And only one love scene.



Last Nano I finished on November 27.
This Nano, I finished on November 29.

I got an email from my Samhain editor that Hot Shot may be out in ebook in April. Happy birthday to ME! I wonder when I'll get my cover....

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Wrote the world's worst love scene white the ds listened to the Republican debate. Kept getting distracted despite my headphones and blasting Evanescence. Then he needed the computer, and I fell asleep holding a book in bed! Glad it wasn't hardcover.

One big scene left. And I've been saving the best pictures for last!

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I wrote 12 pages in just over 3 hours last night. That leaves me with just over 6000 words to go. Tonight I'm not cooking, and the dh is practicing with his band, so I should get pretty well into it. I have 3 big scenes remaining.

Monday when I went to Target, I saw some pjs I liked, but that Target didn't have them in my size, so my mom went to a different Target last night and found them and brought them to me (how's THAT for service??) I haven't tried them on yet, but they're very pretty, red with white reindeer. My other flannel pjs are getting kinda old, but I love them. They've got pictures of Coke and popcorn all over ;)

I had a nightmare last night that all the Tivoed stuff got erased. Considering I only haven't watched TV LAST night, that was silly, but in my dream, I was missing a lot of stuff, including Bones. Nooooo!!!!!

Yesterday I was listening to a Supernatural podcast, and the girl who played the crossroads demon that Sam killed was Jared's real girlfriend - did you know that?

I was teasing my cousin because she hangs around these 20-something hockey players all the time and my dh said, "Hello, whose picture do you have on your phone?" And my blog, and my desktop at school, and my water mug at school....

Off to get some words in before school!

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Nano, I mean. Four more days. 9200 more words. I'm actually at the climax of my story, so I'm wondering how much farther I can go.

Did finish Christmas shopping for Cindi's family yesterday while waiting to pick up the boy from school. Also wrote the Christmas letter and stuffed it in cards, just waiting for the boy's school picture to come in. Seriously, we took them in AUGUST.

Cindi's baby is one year old today. Today was also the day I finished Nano last year.

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I have often wondered if I didn't nap on my days off if I would get more writing done. That didn't happen yesterday. The ds's girlfriend came over, so I didn't nap, and only wrote 6 pages all day.

Back to work today. It's COLD - 35 - and I have NO idea what I'm teaching this week. Time to be boring, I guess, and get out the text books.

1) Figure out what I'm teaching this week
2) Finish Nano
3) Hot Shot ending and send back to my editor
4) thank you notes to Gateway
5) get ready for critique on Saturday
6) get Christmas tree
7) do Christmas letter and get Christmas cards ready
8) get Sophia (Cindi's baby) a gift - any ideas? I haven't had to buy for a girl in a LONG time!
9) keep up house
10) keep up at school