Christmas Eve Eve

I love this day. I love it along the lines of Thursday only MORE so... Tomorrow it STARTS, though not until later in the day... and then next day it happens and is over... but TODAY is all about anticipation. So I thought I'd talk about some of the things I am really anticipating in 2016.

There are several book series that I am waiting for the NEXT one... and like with the Harry Potter series... WAITING for the next allows a lot of anticipation, guessing, wondering... it is different than reading a series you can devour all at once. I think you get more invested.


City of Mirrors, the third and final (I believe) in Justin Cronin's trilogy that began with The Passage and gave a scientific experiment version that resulted in something very vampire-like (and nearly extinguished the human race)... The Twelve was second... both these books were very good, though I have some issue with how they did their chronology—it is partially current day and partially about 100 years from now and I wish they'd intentionally gone back and forth. Instead they are first half now, second half later, so you have to RE “get into a new book”... but the premise and characters are great, so I am eager for the third.

The Next in the Raven Boys series... I fell in love with this series this year. Maggie Stiefvader is my new favorite YA author. She nicely combines somewhat quirky characters with just the edges of magic.

Winds of Winter: 6th in the Song of Ice and Fire Series. This is the biggie... the world I have immersed myself in the theorizing for and have dozens of huge guesses as to what happens next... And I really really want the book before the 6th season of the show starts. BAD...


I am also anticipating Downton Abbey's final season. The third season of The 100. The Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them movie... Allegiant (the last Divergent movie) and turning 50...  Good stuff coming!!! And that isn't even counting Star Wars, which I plan on taking my kids to next weekend.

But until then, I wish everyone a WONDERFUL wind-up of 2015. Happy Belated Solstice, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year... I will be back after Christmas with my end of year recaps (how I did, what I plan to do)--nothing like some time off work to get a little blogging in, eh?

12th Day of Christmas

On the 12th Day of Christmas the Tart's true wish for you is 12 Warm Emotions
11 Christmas Presents
10 Quiet Minutes
9 Aches from Laughing
8 Resolutions
7 Nice surprises
6 Inspirations
5 Brand New Books!
4 Old Connections
3 Second helpings
2 Christmas parties
And the patience to shop and stay sane!

WHICH 12 emotions, you ask? Compassion, generosity, tolerance, forgiveness, gratitude, wonder, perseverance, strength, openness, joy, inclusiveness, and love. I wish for you to be on the giving and receiving end of all of these this year. Wishing you and yours a very happy Christmas.

I will see all of you next week for a review of 2014 goals and my resolutions for 2015!

11th Day of Christmas

On the 11th day of Christmas, the Tart's true wish for you is... 11 Christmas Presents
10 Quiet Minutes
9 Aches from Laughing
8 Resolutions
7 Nice surprises
6 Inspirations
5 Brand New Books!
4 Old Connections
3 Second helpings
2 Christmas parties
And the patience to shop and stay sane!

Somehow 11 seems a nice balance between not enough and excess, yes?

Christmas Eve Eve and the 10th Day of Christmas

So historically, this is actually my favorite day... it is the same theory as Thursday... it's all about anticipation... I love ALMOST being on the verge... if you will. Tomorrow it is really on top of us, but TODAY, it is only ALMOST here. I love almost.

This peak of anticipation might be confounded by a family “23rd” thing... My family of origin has a lot of birth dates now, but when I was little, it seemed like most of us had birthdays on the 23rd of SOMETHING. (me included) So ANYWAY, happy Christmas Eve Eve, and Happy Anticipating!!!

It is ALSO the 10th Day of Christmas... and so...

On the 10th Day of Christmas, the Tart's true wish for you is, 10 Quiet Minutes
9 Aches from Laughing
8 Resolutions
7 Nice surprises
6 Inspirations
5 Brand New Books!
4 Old Connections
3 Second helpings
2 Christmas parties
And the patience to shop and stay sane!

This wish comes from the Christmas chaos. Crowds. Shopping. Parties. I hope you get in a little down time so you don't burn out and can still enjoy your holidays.

9th Day of Christmas

On the 9th Day of Christmas the Tart's true wish for you, is 9 Aches from Laughing
8 Resolutions
7 Nice surprises
6 Inspirations
5 Brand New Books!
4 Old Connections
3 Second helpings
2 Christmas parties
And the patience to shop and stay sane!

This is self explanatory. I want you to laugh so hard that it makes your belly ache. We all need a good laugh. Often.

8th Day of Christmas

On the 8th Day of Christmas the Tart's true wish for you is 8 Resolutions
7 Nice surprises
6 Inspirations
5 Brand New Books!
4 Old Connections
3 Second helpings
2 Christmas parties
And the patience to shop and stay sane!

Say what? You say.... Well I figure 8 is about the right number of goals to hit for the year. Maybe three writing or professional goals, three self-improvement habity things, and two interpersonal... or something like that. And I am wishing for you not just to make them, but to manage them. MEET those resolutions, friends!

6th Day of Christmas

On the 6th Day of Christmas the Tart's true wish for you, is 6 Inspirations
5 Brand New Books!
4 Old Connections
3 Second helpings
2 Christmas parties
And the patience to shop and stay sane!

Why 6 inspirations? Because if inspiration was an everyday thing it would become the ordinary. The expected. I mean those grand inspirations that make us feel like demi-gods. INSPIRATION. I figure about every other month is the pace at which we could experience this and still have it be extraordinary...

Besides, if it happened to often, we'd all be sleep deprived...

5th Day of Christmas

Possibly too many books

On the 5th day of Christmas the Tart's True wish for you, is 5 Brand New Books!
4 Old Connections
3 Second helpings
2 Christmas parties
And the patience to shop and stay sane!

Nobody needs to ask why books. What would just be a silly question. But maybe I should explain why 5... See, I LOVE books. But I know over the course of the year I will learn of NEW books I want to read. So I don't want a pile larger than about 5 new ones NOW or I will feel like I can't add new titles later...

4th Day of Christmas

Hug your loved ones!

On the 4th Day of Christmas the Tart's True wish for you is 4 Old Connections
3 Second helpings
2 Christmas parties
And the patience to shop and stay sane!

Why old connections, you ask? I love the holidays for a few reunions. Whether you get back to your home town and see an old friend, or talk to family you haven't talked to for ages, the holidays are a wonderful time for this. And a much less sad time to do it than say, a funeral or something. So reach out to someone you haven't talked to for too long.

3rd Day of Christmas

On the 3rd Day of Christmas the Tart's true wish for you is 3 Second helpings
2 Christmas parties
And the patience to shop and stay sane!

I say this because Christmas is a time it is SO HARD to find moderation... And I find if I am in total denial of all the extra stuff I just feel... either self righteous but food obsessed or resentful and crabby. So I am wishing for you the ability to splurge A LITTLE, but not so much you regret it...

2nd Day of Christmas and News

On the 2nd Day of Christmas the Tart's true wish for you is 2 Christmas parties
And the patience to shop and stay sane!

Why two parties you ask...

Because a lot of parties ends up a stressful madhouse and none seems like you miss the mood of the season. Two to me seems just right—one with coworkers, maybe, and another with family and friends.

(each day I will say WHY for the new ones, in case you are interested in checking out the why for any already on the list...


A wee bit of NEWS

A Shot in the Light: The bundled set is available. It is value-priced—half what the 12 separate issues would have been and $3 less than the trilogy purchased separately, so if anyone is interested and has faith to get the full thing all at once...

If you are interested in the paperbacks, they are COMING... I have wee things to fix on the 2nd and 3rd, but hopefully by the end of the week...

1st Day of Christmas

On the first day of Christmas the Tart's True wish for you is the patience to shop and stay sane!

I am going to post a Christmas wish for you every day until Christmas, but I will keep it short and sweet (a drabble worth or less for the wishes). I DO however, have additional blog content on a few days (my normal Mondays and a couple others) just so we all know what's going on around here.

Nope. Nope. Nope. NOT my favorite thing.

Why patience?

Have you BEEN shopping? Crowds can bring out the worst in people, but for us, people with stories in our head, if you can step back and look at all this as content opportunity: character, plot, human interaction, I think it is easier to keep our own emotional responses in the positive range. No, it's no fun to wait in line, but imagine full lives for the people around you and it can suddenly be very interesting. Almost enjoyable.

The Lost Art of Anticipation

We have FINALLY reached the time of year where I can get excited about Christmas. I have a couple friends—my Couch to Keg buddies—who are all into all that early crap. I give them a bad time as they start to get all excited around Halloween. Christmas stuff before December tends to just make me Scroogish. And here is why...

Know how Thursday is my favorite day? I actually enjoy my weekends best, but the BEST part is anticipating all that POTENTIAL fabulousity from BEFORE hand. On THURSDAY, the weekend could hold ANYTHING. It is all-encompassing wonder.

Well see, December leading up to Christmas is like that, but all these nuts are like... getting giddy for the weekend on Tuesday and there is SO MUCH STUFF to do between now and then... It makes all the WAITING harder if there is more of it.


I have a theory...

My buddy Jackie ALSO likes spoilers—she wants to know what is going to happen before it happens. The stuff associated with opening your packages and re-wrapping them in my mind, but it is just how she is. Me, if I know AHEAD it makes the actual experience less sweet... I am back to that POTENTIAL thing... I LOVE potential. These non-anticipators go to the last page of books and they peek when someone says “close your eyes”. I think there may be some fear at the element of surprise.


But now that I am in the holiday spirit, I wanted to share a couple things that are making me happy...

Pentatonix

I ordered their Christmas CD and they are amazing. I fell in love with them last year with their rendition of Little Drummer Boy. These guys won Sing Off in 2012—5 people acapella. From the CD I particularly love their Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy and their original Mary, Did You Know. I've really enjoyed listening to these guys a lot.


Pretty Lights

I'm a bit of a nut for sparkly and Christmas Lights fit right in there—I love when all the lights are up.

And I love that stuff like this happens

A Couple Neighborhood Fun Events

We have, as a neighborhood, a caroling night that is a blast—we wander en masse and sing a song for people who are at home. Typically we carry a mug of spiked cocoa or something. We ALSO have a Winter Solstice Party we attend, and a Karaoke party...


How about all of you? Have you mastered anticipation enough to HOLD OFF on celebrating, or do you jump in as soon as possible because you have no self control? Erm... What are your seasonal things you love?

A Little Christmas Love

I have not one... not two... but THREE friends with Christmas romance novellas recently released, so I wanted to share them with you today, in case you wanna fall in love this week!!!

Last Christmas by Talli Roland

You guys ALL know Talli, right? One of our longtime blog friends!  I haven't read this one, but Talli does a fabulous job with romantic comedy, so I'm sure this one will deliver, too!

Here is the blurb: For Lucy, the best Christmas present is forgetting the past.

Eager to banish the ghost of Christmas past - when her boyfriend dumped her on the streets of Paris - Lucy is determined to make this the best Christmas ever. She rallies friends and family for an epic celebration that just happens to fall on the same day as her ex's festive wedding. Furious at how she's been treated, Lucy can't help relishing the party v wedding smackdown.

But when the wedding is threatened and only Lucy can help, can she find the spirit inside to save the day, or will this Christmas be even more disastrous than the last?

Meet Me Half Way by Amber T. Smith

Amber is actually part of my writing group and I've been friends with her several years. (She is secretly Tara, who was my first reader clear back when I was writing fan fiction) Meet me halfway is a heart wrenching tale of a couple who lost their baby and in their grief have managed to become estranged. I'm about 2/3 done reading this one and it is a tear-jerker so far!

Here is the official blurb: Beth can't forgive her husband for cheating on her just after they lost their son during childbirth. Struggling to come to terms with his infidelity, Beth decides to push Mark out of her life for good, and books herself on a prolonged cruise just as the anniversary of their son's death approaches.

Mark is still devastated at Beth's complete lack of trust in him, and has given up trying to reconcile with his wife. When he learns of her cruise plans, it shakes him out of his stupor, and fills him with a renewed determination to woo her back.

With the cruise booked to depart in just a few short days, and with Christmas just around the corner, Mark has no choice but to re-open old wounds, with the hope of convincing his wife that they should never have parted.

But Beth has secrets of her own. If they are to reunite, she'll need to forgive not only her husband, but herself, too...

Starting From Scratch by Stacy Gail 

I had the fortune to be a beta reader on this one... Stacy had one of her manic sprints last spring—a story that absolutely wouldn't let her be, and I promise, if you read it, you will be able to tell why. Stacy and I have been friends and critique partners many years, and I always love Stacy's writing—she has the true emotion, well developed characters and always includes a bit of the humor that can often be absent in romances. It's a fabulous balance.

Here is the blurb: Christmas is the perfect time to start from scratch.

Lieutenant Sully Jax saved his unit during an IED attack, but he couldn't save his marriage. He can't even remember it. Recovered from his injuries, he's come home to the family and friends he knows—and an ex-wife who's a stranger to him.

Lucy Crabtree was heartbroken last Christmas when Sully announced his plan to go on one last tour of duty, and devastated when he asked for a divorce after he awoke in the hospital with no memory of her. She's finally moving on from her hurt and from losing the man she loved more than anything, and her cookie-baking business is taking off just in time for the holidays. But now Sully's back, and she can't deny she still loves him. But how can she trust her heart to someone who breaks it every time she sees him?

Sully might not remember Lucy, but something inside won't let her go. With every bite of her cookies, he finds a new love for Lucy, and he soon realizes he wants to rebuild his life…with her by his side.


So there you have it... three shortish love stories to get you in the mood for the holiday! Interesting that two of them have heroines named Lucy and themes around forgetting, but they sound very different.

You should go get them! Because who DOESN'T need a little more love at Christmas?

Twelve Goals for Next Year

On the twelfth day of Christmas, the Book World gave to me...

Twelve goals for next year...
Eleven days for writing...
Ten Lame excuses...
Nine procrastinations...
Eight Bloggy Squeeings...
Seven Activisms
Six Plots-a-Brewing
Five RE-JEC-TIONS
Four Steampunk Stories
Three Co-zies
Two Fabul-Agents
And the notice of a best selling book!

But the goals shall wait... I will review then by domain, because YOU know what goals are? PLANS *Buwahahahahahahahaha!*

For now, I'll leave you with this little Christmas story. I wrote it for my Secret Santa buddy over at the Daily Dodo, but ALSO for the Burrows Advent Calendar. If you want to see more drabbles, head on over there. There has been a new one every day this month, and EACH of us wrote one for Christmas (this is mine)

Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas!

Eleven Days For Writing

On the eleventh day of Christmas the Book World gave to me...

Eleven days for writing...
Ten Lame excuses...
Nine procrastinations...
Eight Bloggy Squeeings...
Seven Activisms
Six Plots-a-Brewing
Five RE-JEC-TIONS
Four Steampunk Stories
Three Co-zies
Two Fabul-Agents
And the notice of a best selling book!


Man, oh, man... See, the University I work for, in lieu of several 3-day weekends (I don't get the Mondays for MLKH or President's day for instance) gives us 4 seasonal days to be taken in December or January, but they SUGGEST (and I am all for) using them between Christmas and New Year—most of the U shuts down, so unlike OTHER vacations, I don't have to play catch-up after. Nobody was there creating work in my absence. I took today as an extra vacation day for good measure--that one was mostly about liking to anticipate Christmas... not wanting Christmas Eve to be too swamped. Tomorrow is holiday, today I do laundry and clean the bathroom... and make cookies... more cookies. Oh, and fudge...

My boss, the hardest working person I know, will work next week—she is an MD and the hospital still has to be covered. But I really hope she takes her family time, too. So the stuff related to what I do, will hopefully get a break.

My PLAN *buwahahahahahaha * is to do 3000 words a day up to Christmas (2 sprints a day ought to cover it) and then 3 sprints a day after until I am done with this draft. (if you are a virgin to the idea of sprints, I wrote a post about them here)  I am SO EXCITED!

Once that is over, I will start my Legacy rewrite for ABNA as... it's COMING, but more on that next week as I try to entice the lot of you into participating...



So happy Christmas Eve Eve to all of you!

Ten Lame Excuses

On the tenth day of Christmas, the Book World gave to me...

Ten Lame excuses...
Nine procrastinations...
Eight Bloggy Squeeings...
Seven Activisms
Six Plots-a-Brewing
Five RE-JEC-TIONS
Four Steampunk Stories
Three Co-zies
Two Fabul-Agents
And the notice of a best selling book!

ignore the gloppy red one...

1)I'm wrapping presents!
2)There are cookies to make!
3)I have shopping to do!
4)It's a Wonderful Life is on!
5)I overdid the eggnog!
6)I ate too much!
7)I can't move. There's a cat on my lap.
8)I'm tangled in tinsel!
9)My fingers are taped together.
10)But it's Christmas!


Those mulit-purpose excuses can be used to get out of housework, gatherings you'd rather avoid, tasks you don't want to do... possibly even a blog you didn't quite get to... but PLEASE do not use them to get out of writing... In fact use them so you can write instead...

Nine Procrastinations...

On the ninth day of Christmas the Book World... erm... or maybe it was the Internet... gave to me...

Nine procrastinations...
Eight Bloggy Squeeings...
Seven Activisms
Six Plots-a-Brewing
Five RE-JEC-TIONS
Four Steampunk Stories
Three Co-zies
Two Fabul-Agents
And the notice of a best selling book!

I have been trying very hard to keep my nose to the grindstone, but sometimes there are just some amusements too good to pass up.

1)  Go to Google Maps. Choose directions. A=The Shire. B=Mordor. Select walking directions. (thanks to Matthew McNish for this)

2)  Go to Google and type in 'let it snow' then watch. (be sure to watch for a minute or so, then run your cursor over what happens).

3)  Go to Google maps and get directions between ANY two places where crossing an ocean is required. (Tokyo to San Francisco is good).

Man, I love those Google boys and girls....

4)  Peruse Twitter hashtags and follow a conversation upside down.

5)  Open your email and commit to responding.

6)  Look in your cupboards and realize you need to shop BADLY and begin a shopping list.

7)  FACEBOOK. (my personal bane)

8)  Get started on cleaning chores.

9)  When somebody says, “Mom!” respond.


(And I didn't even GET to Procrastibaking, Procrastiknitting or Procrastinakeding) Want to break some of these and get more writing done? I am offering up my new favorite solution over at Burrowers, Books and Balderdash today.  It really works, so if you ACTUALLY want to get down to some writing, come on over. I'll put you in line.

Eight Bloggy Squeeings...

On the eighth day of Christmas the Book World gave to me...

Eight Bloggy Squeeings...
Seven Activisms
Six Plots-a-Brewing
Five RE-JEC-TIONS
Four Steampunk Stories
Three Co-zies
Two Fabul-Agents
And the notice of a best selling book!

See... yesterday my counter hit a QUARTER MILLION hits... and I thought it was time for a little midweek party to celebrate... In fact I've got several related notes...

1)  To me a quarter million sounds pretend... like it's not a real number. Oh, sure. I realize at one point my shoebox of a house was almost valued at that (note in dollars though, that is more than four years' salary so it STILL seems pretend)... and of course that pesky detail it isn't even worth that much... see what I mean? Play money. So in terms of HITS... but still... that's a really big number!

2)  They have defined this as 110,000 UNIQUE views... now I get that that doesn't necessarily translate to PEOPLE—it is computer related, I think... so the fact I log on at work and at home means I am two (not to mention the dozen other places I've logged onto over time. Now I've tested, and I think ALL University computers count as the same, still, I am thrilled...

3)  Also related... my Flag counter claims people from 187 countries—do you know how happy this makes me? That is more than half the world! (in fact if only real countries were counted, I think it is more than 80%, but some of the flags are territories or something...) I wish I knew how many the program counted total.

4)  The countries I've had the most visitors are the US, UK, Canada, and Australia (of course—all English speaking) but I've also had over a thousand visitors from India, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, France and Brazil.

5)  My most recent new countries are: Madagascar, Andorra, Angola and Timor-Leste (all in December).

6)  It appears this number includes every country in the Americas, most of Europe, most of Africa and a lot (though I wouldn't guess most) in Asia.

7)  While I've been hovering in the low 600s in followers for more than a month, I feel pretty pleased with that number. Oh, I know there are friends hitting the thousands, but I love my followers! (and there are also the Facebook followers—246, though I know there is overlap there)

8)  And of course I am completely proud that my number one search term REMAINS Cabana Boy. *sniff*


Any of the rest of you geek out on your stats? What is your favorite measure (mine is the flags, I think)

So have some champagne and a swim in the pudding pool! I LOVE LOVE LOVE you guys!

Seven Act-i-visms

Note: The 8th day of Christmas has been delayed. it will arrive, but some 9 hours late or so...

On the seventh day of Christmas the Book World gave to me...

Seven Activisms
Six Plots-a-Brewing
Five RE-JEC-TIONS
Four Steampunk Stories
Three Co-zies
Two Fabul-Agents
And the notice of a best selling book!


Okay, so it might be a little bit of a stretch on thinking this is about books, but it IS about freedoms, specifically from censorship...

You see, quietly under the radar this fall, first the senate then the house passed a VERY UGLY bill—bi-partisan support. In which American citizens, on American soil, can be indefinitely be detained (the new piece of this is that the entire US has basically been added as a 'war zone'). The cause is 'suspicion of terrorism' but the definition is vague and even includes such things a 'stockpiling food' (defined as having more than a weeks' worth stored at home)--so any of you who have disaster supplies? Yeah... good luck with that.

A separate bill that seems to somehow be piggy backed and I find even scarier in some ways is this internet censorship thing—where the government or corporations can remove content you post. Now THIS media blackout is related to increasing the POWER of existing media. If the internet is censored, then the traditional media wins back some ground—we no longer have 'somewhere else to turn'.

Now WHY has this all passed so quietly? I will tell you. Our media has been bought at paid for by large corporations. These large corporations have provided HUGE sponsorship related to this bill.

The LAST CHANCE to stop this nonsense from passing is to convince President Obama to veto this. So I am throwing out seven things YOU can do... the FIRST one is REALLY REALLY important.


1)  Call (202-456-1111) or email President Obama (online form) and ask him to PLEASE veto this atrocity!

2)  TELL people. It is shocking how many people this has caught by surprise. People who only watch network news DON'T KNOW. Strangely, other than my social network, Jon Stewart seems to be the only one talking about it (the jester has always been the truth teller, eh?) But if you have friends and family who are NOT active in social networks, they may not know.

3)  Look up your own legislators. Which way did they vote? Are you happy with them? There is a certain Carl Levin in Michigan who won't be getting my vote again. But I really should tell him...

4)  Get involved locally. I believe the only way this police state doesn't become a done deal is if more real people ENGAGE. We need to elect people who are NOT corrupted by corporate politics or cronyism.

5)  In fact... I'd like to see a PLEDGE. I would like everyone running int 2012 to sign a pledge to put people before corporations in all cases, and not to take money from Special Interests with corporate funding—a SIG of volunteers is one thing, but a SIG or PAC with corporate origins has NO BUSINESS influencing government. This PLEDGE should include a commitment to lobby reform (elimination, even) and a PLEDGE for campaign finance reform. Commit to only voting for people willing to play by the people's rules.

6)  Commit to Civil disobedience. In the case of the internet censoring, commit to speaking your mind loud and often. Don't be afraid. If too many of us do, they can't silence all of us... erm... I suppose they COULD, if they shut down the internet, but if they do THAT, there is no more hiding what game it is they're playing.

7)  Please don't go back to sleep. This thing is big and scary and it seems to be coming from several directions. Look at what you care about and fight for it.

Sorry to be so heavy, but this is important.

Note:  Saw this morning that the house had dropped the internet thing without a vote this session, but Harry Reid intends to make it first thing in the new year--definitely time to tell your senators what you think of it.