To NANO or not. . . Had been debating over whether or not to do NaNo again this year. I happily spent last November slugging away at "Run for the Roses," a historical mystery set during a Kentucky Derby. Spent several weeks in October researching early Kentucky and Cincinnati history, photocopying photos and taking notes. Eventually, I'd love to finish this book but that's for the future.

My main concern about doing NANO this year was that pesky little provision - you had to start from scratch. While I have plenty of projects I could begin, I didn't feel that I wanted to start another one. I'm right in the middle of trying to finish two different books, working on a third and sending out proposals for a fourth. I didn't want another unfinished project taking up a whole month.

Then someone suggested I look at the NaNo site for a forum called "NaNo Rebels." It turns out that lots of folks are in the same boat as me. They want to finish something, not begin another something new. Enter the rebels. We are all writers who want to work on a work in progress. The nice people at NaNo, realizing our dilemma, have come up with a clause --- if you have won at NaNo in a previous year, you can keep on working on a work in progress. So, thanks to "Run for the Roses," and winning last year, I invoke the clause!

NaNo --- here I come!

Who's going to join me?

And the name going on to the BIG DRAWING for the lovely gift basket is ----- PATTYK!

I'm sending your name on to the blog where the drawing will take place. October 19th is the big day! Here's hoping you win! Thanks for commenting and entering the blog tour contest.

The photo above is of myself with Carol Cartaino, former editor of Writer's Digest books. Carol graciously gives her time to moderate a once a month writing group at our local library.

My friend, Patty, took this picture to use with an article about my Genesis win at the recent ACFW conference in Minnesota. I would try to reprint the wonderful article here (Patty did a super job! Thanks, again!!) but figure I've already made enough copies to send out to everyone who reads this blog anyway. So if you don't get a copy of the article soon, just remind me. Or I might be able to figure out how to do a link to the Times Gazette archives.

The article was well written and made me feel famous! Got several nice congratulations in town by folks who'd read the article. It's nice to know there are people who can be sincere with their good wishes. I also got to "show off" a little with the award certificate. It will be nice to remember the happy moments as I struggle to finish writing the book. Most of writing, I'm beginning to believe, happens in a vacumn of oneself and a blank screen.

This past week has been one of ups and downs. On Monday I manged to do quite a few of my October writing goals. Wrote and printed four query letters for Snipped in the Bud. Got caught up on about six critiques (more still to go.) Also bought a new cartridge to print out more proposal packets on Snipped in the Bud and The Cattle Rustling Catastrophe.

One of my October goals was to finish the revised edition of Cattle Rustler and transfer it to Microsoft Word. It's coming along.

Another was to do a chapter per week in my historical romance -- have two chapters done so far. Lots of reserach books ordered and on my shelves ready to be read.

Also do two pages or more per night of the demon book. Was going along great on this and getting about four to five pages down per night. Then, I had a minor setback this Tuesday. Had to have a molar pulled and it's really taken a toll on me. My face is still swollen and puffy, mouth is still sore and I'm eating only soft and mushy foods. Believe me, soup and cottage cheese are overrated. Tried a Peppermint Patty tonight and almost chocked on it. Somehow, that's one candy that should be eaten from the front teeth, not on the side. :)

Anyway, Mr. Tooth prevented me from working much at all this week. Didn't get my query letters mailed out. Didn't even get to address the envelopes until today. Wrote nothing until I worked on some worksheets yesterday for about an hour. Tried to work a bit today but it made my head ache. Might be from the antibiotic and pain pills too. Have never used pain pills for a tooth problem past the first day. This time is different.

But, I am so grateful and thanking God that He answered my prayers. The tooth came out relatively easy (no surgery or having to be put to sleep, no stitches or horror stories about nerve damage) and even with medication, I only paid about $105.00. One of the nurses had given me a run down a few days before with lots of the high priced end of things---"well, it could start at around two hundred. . .!" Yikes!

Had a minor reaction to the numbing medication but that was all. The worst thing about Tuesday was feeling too ill to even read! By Wednesday, I could read and did but frustration had also set in. There's so much to do!!

I'm hoping for more recovery by tomorrow so I can finish a worksheet batch and get them sent off.