Celebrate the Small Things-December 29, 2017

It's Friday!  Let's Celebrate the Small Things with Lexa Cain!  Tonja Drecker and I are her co-hosts.

The kids all had a great Christmas.  They woke up nice and early, as I knew they would.  The boys ripped into their gifts with glee, and Zoe seemed a bit bewildered by it all.  That being said, she got into it pretty quickly and had a good time, too.

Winter finally arrived here.  I'd been wondering when that would happen.  Warm temperatures lingered for far longer than I could have reasonably expected, and now it's cold and snowy like it would normally be this time of year.  I'm not personally excited about it, but I'll celebrate on behalf of my kids who jumped for joy when they saw it was snowing outside.

Happy New Year everyone!  Here's to an excellent 2018!

Celebrate the Small Things-December 22, 2017

It's Friday!  Let's Celebrate the Small Things with Lexa Cain!  Tonja Drecker and I are her co-hosts.

It's been a stressful week due to reasons I'd rather not talk about right now.  I'd rather focus on the fact that Christmas is almost here and all the good things that go along with that.  I'm looking forward to watching my kids open their presents.  I'm also excited about spending time with the rest of my family and eating good food.

To all of you who celebrate, I'd like to wish you a Merry Christmas.  To those of you who don't, I hope you have a wonderful week!

What would you like to celebrate?

WEP: The End is the Beginning

It's time for another Write . . . Edit . . . Publish challenge!  Thank you to Yolanda Renee, Denise Covey, Nilanjana Bose, and Olga Godim for making this blogging event possible.

Since we're approaching the end of 2017, we're also pausing to reflect on the nature of endings and beginnings.  This is a broad and interesting topic with a wide array of possibilities.

I decided to try something short and fun with this one.  It took several tries to get this to work, and I invite you to let me know how well it worked for you.  (Note: the different colors of letters are used for a reason, it isn't random.)

Word Count: 68

FCA

Celebrate the Small Things-December 15, 2017

It's Friday!  Let's Celebrate the Small Things with Lexa Cain!  Tonja Drecker and I are her co-hosts.

Sorry I'm posting so late today.  I wrote part of this post, then had to stop and only found the time to finish it now.  Oops.

My boys had their school Christmas concert last night, and they both had a great time.  Lyle got to dress up as part of a massive Christmas tree formation, and Jude got to play a lobster during one of his songs.  They were adorable.

I'm taking all of the kids to visit with Santa tomorrow morning.  Fingers crossed that they don't come up with any last minute gift ideas for Santa!

Once the kids are all in bed, I plan to relax and get some writing done.  I'm definitely looking forward to that!

What would you like to celebrate?

Celebrate the Small Things-December 8, 2017

It's Friday!  Let's Celebrate the Small Things with Lexa Cain!  Tonja Drecker and I are her co-hosts.

A bunch of Christmas gifts we ordered online have started rolling in.  Fortunately, the boys have been at school every day we received a UPS delivery, so that made it easier to hide things without having to answer awkward questions.  My bedroom closet is now so full of kids' toys that I don't dare open it, but oh well.  It's only temporary.

We put up some Christmas lights, so our house looks festive.  It isn't a fancy display by any means, but the kids absolutely love it!

Writing is going well.  Though progress on my novel has been a tad slow this week, I'm pleased with the progress I have made.  Fingers crossed that it continues!

What would you like to celebrate?

The Insecure Writer's Support Group: December 2017

It's the first Wednesday of the month, and that means it's time for another meeting of The Insecure Writer's Support Group!  Our leader Alex J. Cavanaugh has assembled another group of top-notch co-hosts for this month: Julie Flanders, Shannon Lawrence, Fundy Blue, and Heather Gardner.

Be sure to visit the IWSG website!

The question for this month is: As you look back on 2017, with all its successes/failures, if you could backtrack, what would you do differently?

This is an appropriate question, as the end of the year seems a perfect time to reflect back.

As far as my writing goes, this has been a busy year.  I've been submitting a lot of stories, and I've had a couple of successes.  One of those successes is getting a story published in the 2018 Young Explorer's Adventure Guide, which is an anthology of science fiction stories for middle grade readers.  It just went on sale earlier this week, and I'm excited to see how well it does.  If anyone is interested in getting a copy, you can find it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, and Kobo.

I have one more story to submit by the end of the year.  Once I submit this last story, that'll put me up to thirteen submissions for the year.  I didn't originally set out to do that many, but it happened that way.  While that has led to some exciting acceptances, it has also led to plenty of rejections.  I'm trying not to find those discouraging, especially since I subbed to some really competitive magazines.

While I'm happy about how many stories I've been writing, one thing I wish I could do differently is focus more on my novel.  My original plan for 2o17 was to have a completed 1st draft.  At present, I have about a quarter of it written.  That's certainly better than nothing, but I know I could have done more.  I had a couple of dry spells where I wrote almost nothing, and I wish I could have organized my time better.  Oh well.  At least I know what my goal for 2018 is going to be.

If you could go back, what would you have done differently?  What successes have you had, and what are your goals for the coming year?

Celebrate the Small Things-December 1, 2017

It's Friday!  Let's Celebrate the Small Things with Lexa Cain!  Tonja Drecker and I are her co-hosts.

My boys excitedly wrote out their Christmas lists for Santa this week.  I'm so proud of how much they've learned and what a good job they did writing those lists.  I'm also impressed with the sheer number of items they put on there.  Santa is going to have his work cut out for him.

I set myself some goals for the month of November.  While I didn't do NaNo, I still wanted to challenge myself.  The goal was to write a complete rough draft for a short story and add 15,000 words to my novel.  How did I do?  Well, I did indeed complete the rough draft for that short story.  On that front I was successful.  And how about my novel?  How many words did I add?

Drumroll, please.

I added 15,o37 words.  I didn't blow past my goal like I'd hoped I might early in the month, and for a little while there it seemed possible I might.  Then Zoe's birthday and Thanksgiving happened, and I lost some momentum there.

Still, I achieved my goal, even if it was only by the skin of my teeth.  It's still a win, and I'll celebrate it!  And I'd like to congratulate anyone who made it through NaNo this month.  I admire you for that.

And finally, I'd like to celebrate these little beauties that came in the mail.  Earlier this month, I learned I'd won a Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children boxed set through a giveaway on Goodreads, and I just received it this week.

Also, the 2018 Young Explorer's Adventure Guide is coming out, and I just got my author copies in the mail.  Aren't they pretty?  

If you'd like to learn more about the book, you can check it out on Goodreads.

What would you like to celebrate?