Oh, yeah, did I forget to mention . . .

63, 355 words. Even doing the NaNo Rebel and using

some of the words I already had written, I managed to

add more than I anticipated to Stepmother. Looks like

I've got a great start now although plenty of it is total junk and will have to be rewritten. Kind of makes me hopeful I will finish something this year.

And where is the picture???? For some reason, the Thanksgiving group shot did not post with the last post. It doesn't want to work tonight either. Will try again soon.

I'm happy anyway. Tomorrow, I need to get caught up on some much needed work.

Happy Thanksving to All

Here's the latest mug shot of the group. We ended up taking this before everyone got there because a couple of people had to leave. It's gotten harder and harder to get everyone together at one time. Still, we had a nice dinner (in shifts), company (in shifts), and lots of picture taking. Jenny went around snapping outlandish photos of people eating, touching their noses or at odd angles. She got one of my right ear, one of my left ear, one of the clip in my hair, my nose, my chin, my left elbow, my open mouth and others too weird to mention. At the end of the day, some of us trooped next door and watched a slide show on Lori's Wii.

Today was my day to get back into the groove of work. I can say I gave it a valiant effort although I didn't actually write anything but emails and one query letter. Managed to do a small bit of organizing, clean up in my bedroom and sorting out piles of clutter. Can now say that I don't have a single notebook that hasn't been marked with colored post it minis telling me what's inside them. Have files for my current WIP's ready to go. Put the extra computer away for parts. (Since the hard drive crashed, I've decided to just use that pc for extras. When I can afford a hard drive, I'll put an extra in this pc.) As of today, almost everything is saved on the pc (still have a few files on the laptop yet.) ALL my photos are on disk or flash drive - twice!

If I can do two more crits and a long book share crit, I'll be caught up with crits!! If I write two more worksheets tomorrow, I can send out a batch and get paid next week. Feel like there is light at the end of a tunnel.

Also, got a nice email yesterday. The day before Thanksgiving, just on a whim, I decided to cut and paste a short trivia article I wrote on PEEPS, the marshmallow candy. Had found a history magazine that accepted trivia and it sounded like fun. An email came zining back that he accepted the article and it would be in the April, 09 issue! They'll send the check out on publication---hooray!

As if that wasn't good enough, he mentioned that if I had any suggestions, comments, etc. please feel free to email him back. So, I wrote back to ask if I should send queries to him. Had a couple of ideas on the Drummer boys of the Civil War and Sybil Ludington, the female Paul Revere. He zinged back an email while I was still online--yes, he'd love to see the queries and would give me a Feb. deadline for the Drummer boy and March deadline for Sybil - like he already planned to accept them! Sent back a nice query with more details on the drummers - no word yet. Maybe tomorrow???

It's time for Congratulations!

To Kathi - for finishing one NaNo project in the first week and beginning another!
To Maribeth - for signing up for your first year in NaNo! It's a beginning step. Also congratulations for starting a new critique group and having a great first session.
To Patty - for signing up and finishing NaNo two weeks before the deadline!! I knew you could do it. Also congratulations on your first granddaughter!
To Leona - for having a poem make it into the selection process of Blue Mountain Arts. Let's hope for a sale!
To Judy - for having someday happen! Congratulations on your first book sale, Where is Papa's Shining Star?, at Wild Rose Press!
To Sheri - for finaling in the 2008 Fiction from the Heartland contest! Here's hoping you get the great news in January that you've won. Light of Truth is a super story and deserves a first place.
To Erica - for getting a three book contract with Barbour House! Way to go!

And, to me - for actually getting something done today! I supercleaned the bathroom, did school work with the boys and turned on my laptop. Okay, so I shut it right back down - but I turned it on! Tomorrow has got to be better.

Organizing and NaNoing . . .

Seems like the days are moving on fast foward now that the holidays are approaching. Wasn't it just September yesterday? How did it get to be November already?

I've been working at NaNo but not sure if I'll get to the total word count this year. Makes me kind of mad at myself for not trying harder. Last year I kept doggedly on when all my other friends fell by the wayside. (And you know WHO YOU ARE--LOL!) This year everyone else seems to be whizzing ahead while I'm still stuck because of a) the hard drive fiasco, b) too many other projects and c) laziness? I write everyday, for hours everyday and yet, I'm not working too much on the NaNo project.

Guess one can't have it all. I'm working as a paid writer each day. If there isn't time for fiction right now, that's the way it has to be.

Have no idea why I started a blog post at almost eleven at night. I am too tired for a coherent thought. Especially since I am into my usual pillage of the 'black hole of calcutta' namely, my walk in closet. It had gotten so bad things were actually falling out when I opened the door - and it's a WALK-IN closet. It's big enough to double as a spare room (and did.) When I was a teenager, it was my bedroom. Enough said. It's like a treasure hunt now that I'm actually cleaning it out.

Have already found dozens of books and things to give away, a whole box of ebay possibilities and some things I needed including labels and a watering can. (Don't ask.) Also found more dolls and two doll cradles for my collection. Thought I'd thrown those away or someone burned them when the barn went. I also came up with an idea on how to get the kid's ERTEL collection down in the basement. Have to visit Lowe's tomorrow for a snap together shelf unit and get the boys to help me.

The quints are from my postcard collection. Need to have room to display some of my Quint goodies.