12.18.13

1434 before I had to cash out for the day and go do previously unscheduled female stuff. We women, you know, we need to groom. Hair, nails, facials, varieties of hair removal - I've usurped that one, hello, laser! - but there's always a little something that needs to be updated, or plucked, or covered, or smoothed, or painted.

It makes us feel pretty, so where's the harm, right? I'm a firm believer in doing what makes you feel pretty, though I personally am not a fan of things of an invasive nature, things that involve needles and knives and such. Plus I had to pick up a pair of new glasses - actually old glasses, but new lenses... so I quickly rearranged the rest of my week and lumped it all in. I spent the afternoon running around from place to place, wondering just how much time I spend in a year improving my externals. 

It strikes me that the Internet has been a massive boom to the grooming industry. Porn driving bikini waxes, Pinterest driving new hair styles, colors and nail designs, Facetweetgram for instant gratifications (my mother asked me to send a selfie today...) Think of the most famous trend in hair since Farrah Fawcett's feathering -- ombre -- which has its own language, fun words like melting and shadowing and bronde, and of course, my new favorite, balayage. (For the boys, that's a french hair painting technique that looks more natural than regular highlights. Think that's dumb? I give you -- Giselle. So yeah. Hush.)

Point is,  I feel better knowing I blew an afternoon in the middle of both Christmas, which I'm still sort of behind on, and deadline, which I'm right on time with, but I'll have to maintain this pace over the holiday, for a reason over half the population will not just understand, but commiserate with. Holla to my bitches, and all that.

Seriously, knowing I'm not alone in this makes it all better, really, it does. When I read Nora Ephron's I DON'T LIKE MY NECK, I smiled in secret glee at her piece on Maintenance, and laughed out loud in her acknowledgements, in which she thanked all those who'd helped her in the fight against gravity.

I actually colored my hair for the first time ever today, to begin what might be a long and losing battle with age streaks, so I can see exactly where this train is heading. Alas. and Alack. And back to it tomorrow.

Sweet dreams!

December 2013 Newsletter

December 2013 Newsletter
Vol. XXX

Gentle Readers:

I hope you’ll forgive the tardiness of this month’s newsletter — my 30th, no less. Wow. How is that even possible? Stopping to think about it for a moment, I realize I’ve been writing full time since 2003 — so I guess this is not only my 30th newsletter, but my 10th anniversary as well. And you know what? None of this would be happening without you. So pat yourself on the back, and accept my deepest thanks for continuing on this journey with me!

*throws confetti, pops the champagne*

Thanksgiving snuck up on me, yes, but there was a bigger reason the newsletter is late. Or smaller, you might say. You see, Randy and I finally decided to pull the trigger and adopted two new furbabies. Twin silver tabby kittens, little girls named Jameson and Jordan, who are twelve weeks old as of this writing. To say we’re besotted is a study in understatement. Here’s a little blog about how we managed to secure the two sweetest, cutest kittens in all of kittendom. As I mention in the blog, it’s rather fitting it took two cats to even begin to open my heart after losing Jade. Jameson and Jordan have big paws to fill, and they’re up for the challenge.

Tomorrow, I head to California to see Catherine. We’re sitting down to chat about the book, where we are, where we’re headed. We found early on that communication is the key to making our collaboration sing, so these get togethers are great fun — brainstorming, eating, catching up, more brainstorming. Add in a lunch and a holiday party, and I think it’s going to be a brilliant week.

Tours

I have two events in January — I’m leading the fiction track at the Tennessee Mountain Writer’s January Jumpstart the 10‐12th and I’ll be in Manchester, Tennessee on January 18th from 10 a.m.‐1 p.m., signing books with a bunch of other awesome Tennessee authors. Hope to see you at one or both events! 

Get Thee to a Bookstore

So I’m still in Diana Gabaldon’s world. I’m now on Book 3 of the OUTLANDER saga, VOYAGER. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, every time I finish a book, I tell myself NOT to start the next one, and the next thing I know, bam, I’m ten chapters in, and can’t put it down. A testament to Diana’s storytelling abilities, to be sure. But that doesn’t mean I’m not priming the pump for the moment I do emerge. Here’s what I’m looking forward to reading over my Christmas break:

Meg Gardiner — THE SHADOW TRACER
Liane Moriarty — THE HUSBAND’S SECRET
Allison Winn Scotch — THE THEORY OF OPPOSITES
Elizabeth George — JUST ONE EVIL ACT
Roy Baumeister and John Tierney — WILLPOWER: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength

I’ve made a commitment to track all my reading this year, so if you’re on Goodreads, friend me, and follow along. I’m always interested in what you’re reading, too! 

Contest

The December contest is live now — enter to win a signed hardback copy of THE IMPROPER LIFE OF BEZELLIA GROVE by my dear friend Susan Gregg Gilmore, plus a $10 gift card (winner’s choice of Amazon or Barnes & Noble). 

December Recipe — Bunny Jackson’s World Famous Chocolate Chess Pie

On my Facebook page, we had a vote for your favorite Thanksgiving pie: pecan or pumpkin. The votes were evenly split, but my friend and fellow author Amy Shoji mentioned that now that she’s a southern girl, she went all in for Chess Pie. Many of you didn’t know what that was, so I decided to share Taylor Jackson’s family recipe for chocolate chess pie — straight from the recipe cards of her mother, Bunny Jackson. This is a perfect holiday pie and a southern staple — easy, delicious, and divine. Enjoy!

Ingredients 

• 1 9 inch single crust pie
• 1 ½ cups white sugar
• 3 ½ tablespoons Hersey’s cocoa
• ½ cup butter, melted
• 1 can evaporated milk
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

• Preheat oven to 400°
• Mix together sugar, cocoa, and melted butter
• Stir in evaporated milk, beaten eggs, and vanilla
• Pour mixture into unbaked pie shell
• Bake for 10 minutes at 400°
• Reduce heat to 350° and bake for 30 minutes
• Serve with ice cream or fresh whipped cream

To make a straight-up chess pie, simply eliminate the cocoa. 

Happy Holidays one and all! Wishing you and yours a beautiful season of love, togetherness, and great reading! 

12.17.13

Had to knock off early today to take the thunder kittens to the vet for their rabies vaccines. But 2040 before 3 p.m., which is good, and a shame that I have to stop, because I'd gotten into a pretty nice groove. The story is going to start hurtling forward from here very quickly, and I want to be sure I don't have to go back and change anything once it happens. 

Typical book process for me - slow, slow burn to start, then the word counts begin doubling, then tripling as I near the end. Fingers crossed the momentum holds through the holidays. Cause it gotta, or else I'll be in deep doo-doo.

Got my final cover for WHEN SHADOWS FALL - with the pretty NYT at the top and the gorgeous quote from Catherine on the bottom, and everything in between looks great. I love the surgical drape - and I can't wait to see what it looks like in person. Isn't it pretty?

I also updated the front page of the website - so take a look, and tell me if it works for you.

East Side Storytellin' tonight at Mad Donnas, too -- looks like Chrstimas gets put off yet another day... 

Sweet dreams!

12.16.13

2400 today, a solid day’s work. I could have done more, but had a distracting phone call this morning that cost me an hour of work time. It’s so strange to me how easily distracted I am. I know, I know, I shouldn’t have answered the phone, but I’m one of those people who assume if you’re calling me during work hours, you need to talk to me. Call me crazy. It takes a solid 20-40 minutes to get back into the book when I’m pulled out like that. Texts don’t bother me, it’s phone calls that do. Clearly I’ve hit that time in the book when I need to turn off the phones whilst I’m working.

Which brings me to the whole concept of managing time. Creativity is difficult to quantify, that’s why I like daily word counts. Because I can’t tell you how many hours I worked, but I can give you the words. Hours wise – today I started writing at 10 and finished at 5, with an hour break for lunch and some reading, and at least an hour spent online. So let's say a solid 4 hours spent typing, deleting and revising, and another hour staring into space, or scratching the kittens, or looking at the every growing pile of Christmas present that need attending to, or moving the laundry from washer to dryer (it’s Monday, that’s always laundry day) or trying to come up with that next word…. You get the idea. Every day has mental space.

When you’re a writer, these mental breaks are absolutely necessary. Used to be, I’d smoke a cigarette, and that 7 minutes in nicotine heaven was the perfect interlude. Now, I absently go online and diddle around, glance at Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, my email with half an eye, then switch back into manuscript mode. Another break, I make tea and stare out the windows. Or I wander through the house, touching things. I stare at my bookshelves – a favorite past time, I must admit – and drink a glass of water. Then I lay down another 200 or 300 words.

And the words build like this, through the day, 200 here, 300 there, until I realize I’m sitting in the dark and it’s time to walk away. I don't work when Randy is home; evenings are his time. So it’s 5:30 now, and time to put the laptop up for the day. Fold some clothes, wrap some presents. Eat, read, play with kitties, bed, and do it all again tomorrow. So freaking glamorous, this writer’s life.

But 2400 – that’s okay. Not bad. Maybe I can do better tomorrow.

Sweet dreams!

12.15.13

December is whittling itself away. Time always flies, but why is it the holidays seem to go so much faster than the rest of the year? Is it the short days and long nights? Perhaps. I'm just not ready for December to only have two weeks left. And where is my snow, people? It's simply cruel to have such cold air and no snow.

1640 fiction words today, plus 1200 non-fiction. I have caught up to where I was before I went to California. I thought this revision would take a week, and I was right, though yesterday was lost to the vagaries of Christmas, and a road trip, which was protracted but fun, and by the time we got home, there was no work to be done, only couch laying and book reading and fire watching and kitten petting, so it doesn't count.

But today was good, solid words, and tomorrow, at last, I can start moving forward again. Two weeks lost to travel and revision - but it will make the real revision and editing process so much easier, so I count it as time well spent. I am at the halfway point, and need my first draft done by January 15 and will certainly take a few days off around Christmas, so there are a lot of long days ahead. Plus, we're looking for a new title. The powers that be felt YARD OF GRAVES sounded too historical, so it's back to the drawing board. I sent CC 25 titles this afternoon, we'll see if any strike her fancy. But ugh, and grr. I love that title. Murder your darlings, right?

 I'm also getting excited to do my annual review. I started glancing at word counts, and I might make my 300K goal. But even if I don't, I've laid down a TON of fiction words. Which is a happy thing.

Off to wrap the out of town gifts - Sweet dreams!

___________________________________

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