12.26.13

Back to work today, part time, at least. 624 words, plus a walk on the beach in a gale and a run out to see American Hustle, which I thought was excellent. A lot of really different performances from some fabulous actors. I predict several Oscar noms for this one.

Knocked a few things off the to do list, and packaged up Christmas to ship home. Tomorrow we are supposed to golf, but it's looking like it might rain, so if it does, I'll snatch that time to work some more. Sucks having to work over the holiday, but I know I'm not the only one, and I'm finding time to visit with the family, and eat, and eat, and eat. The kittens have acquitted themselves so well. They are going to be bored when we go home.

It was a fitness Christmas. New sneakers, running tights, yoga stuff, an Aria Fitbit scale, and the pinnacle, a recumbent bike. I am creating a yoga studio in my spare bedroom, and I can't wait to set up the bike and read while I pedal. 2014 is the year I get back into good shape. I lost ten pounds this year, but I want to lose more. So happy my whole family came together on this for me. I feel like everyone wants to see me meet these goals, which is half the battle. I also got a compound bow - I plan to play Katniss in the backyard! Totally stoked about my fun, healthy holiday.

Off to read. Sweet dreams! 

12.24.13

Nothing says Christmas Eve quite like watching Anchorman with your parents.

Our Christmas Eves change from year to year. Most years, I go to church, and come home to light the bayberry candles. It's a tradition in our family, one that is sacred. The flame helps us remember those who can't be with us, in person, or in spirit. Then I like to watch It's a Wonderful Life whilst wrapping stocking stuffers. 

That's the perfect evening. But as so often happens, plans go awry. Hence - Anchorman.

All that really matters to me is being able to hang with my family. One of my brothers is here, and Randy, and the kittens, who insist of being the alphas of the house, and keep parading into my parents' room to torture their cat. We lit the candles, and I had that moment of peace I have every year, a blessed moment of unity and thankfulness.

But the rest of the day was nutso. I put nearly 4 miles on my FitBit running last minute errands, and rushing up and down the stairs, moving presents from place to place. I'm stuffed full of chocolates, I dropped my phone in my perfect pumpkin pie, and I'm still hurting from the man at the Publix this afternoon who needed money and offered to do yard work for it - God, we are so blessed. I hope he has someone tonight who is thinking of him, and a warm place to sleep. At least I know he has a few extra bucks in his pocket because of our meeting.

Like I said, a strange day. And I somehow managed to get 1000 words down, and did 1700 yesterday. Writing in the middle of Christmas prep is the very definition of insanity. 

So the day winds to a close. The house has grown silent around me. I can hear the waves breaking in the distance, and the candles' flame grows low. Christmas is nearly upon us.

Whether it's finding out about angels getting their wings, or watching Ron Burgundy french kiss Baxter; watching football or kneeling in church, getting goosebumps and tears from hearing all the wavering voices sing Silent Night; walking on the beach and writing; realizing one stocking stuffer is missing in action and there's probably a hundred things I've forgotten - it's all Christmas to me.

On this slightly non-traditional Christmas Eve, I leave you with one of the completely irreverent songs from my childhood, one I've been singing all day. I can't seem to escape it; perhaps by writing it down, it will leave me alone. 

Jingle Bells,
Batman Smells,
Robin laid an egg.
Batmobile, 
Lost a wheel,
And the joker got away - hey!

Merry Christmas, everyone, and sweet dreams!

12.21.13

And so it is Christmas... and it is finally done! Randy is on the way to the post office to mail our family cards, the presents have been wrapped and shipped. Now I have to set the house to rights, and prepare the girls for their trip - over the river and through the woods, to grandmother's house we go.

But there is news. We have a new title for the second Brit in the FBI novel - drumroll please......

THE LOST KEY

You have no idea how perfect this title is - I don't often do literal titles, but this series really lends itself. And that's all the hint you're going to get out of me. 

I've only gotten about 1000 words down in the past two days, and I promised myself I wouldn't freak out about it. There's a lot of holiday merry making that needs to happen over the next few days, and while I'll have some quiet time to work, enforced by locked doors and such, I am also going to enjoy being with my family.

Plus I need to do my year end wrap up, and set up my new planner for 2014 -- I am digital all the way, but I still use a paper planner for weekly to dos and mapping out travel and conferences. And there's the class I'm teaching that news to be addressed - I have a loose plan, but it needs some polishing. And I have so much to read, I'm suffocating under it. Lots to do over the holiday. 

I'm looking forward to the year in review - setting my goals and such. Which reminds me I need to pack that notebook...

Sweet dreams!

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!