- Christmas We had a house-full yesterday, which is always a little crazy. But my daughter's excitement Christmas morning was worth all the chaos in the world.
- Books Lately I've had a book buying problem. I can't stop myself. I bought 8 books the week before Christmas, and I got more books as gifts.
- Thank you I want to thank everyone for all the congratulations on my two-book deal with Spencer Hill Press. Being able to share my excitement with all of you made it even better. Thank you!
- Unexpected twists I'm drafting a new YA manuscript and in the very first chapter, my MC threw such a twist at me I had to rethink my planning. Now I have to have a serious talk with her to see where this story is going.
- Homemade ice cream cake My mom made her famous mud pie for Christmas. Nothing beats homemade ice cream cake. Yum!
That's it for me. What's on your mind today?
I got a Kindle Fire for Christmas! Book covers look so amazing on it!
ReplyDeleteCatherine, I'm soooo jealous right now! I want one, but I just got my Kindle 3G for Christmas last year. :( Anyway, enjoy!
ReplyDeleteWe were fortunate to have a wonderful Christmas day with our daughter and SIL. Will be starting on turkey sandwiches today, but what about all the other leftovers? One can eat only just so much food, lol.
ReplyDeleteAnn, I hear you. My husband and I (we cooked together) made filet mignon, a chicken dish, two types of vegetables, two types of potatoes, a pasta and shrimp dish, and stuffed mushrooms. So much food left! I'm glad you enjoyed the day.
ReplyDeleteYum- that homeade ice cream/mudcakse sounds delicious! Glad you had a nice Christmas- mine was crazy, too- but it is always great to see family and friends. I got a few books for Christmas- but I got gift cards- so I can't wait to go buy some books! Hope you got some good ones! Good luck with your new ms- it is always exciting when a twist gets throw in!
ReplyDelete~Jess
http://thesecretdmsfilesoffairdaymorrow.blogspot.com/
Jess, the ice cream cake is to die for. Yum! Yes, I got some great books. I dove into one this morning. I'm glad you got books and gift cards. They are the best presents in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteCongrats again! Merry Christmas!!! :O)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Diane!
ReplyDeleteI can relate to you book buying issue. I bought three books from me to me for Christmas and I have some I asked for .. I am putting myself on book restriction. I've never had mudd pie, sounds sinful. I started a second WIP yesterday ( a mini break from edits), excited to write the story of Jo and Lucille. Alias, they have to wait a bit. Happy Monday, Kelly.
ReplyDeleteHappy Monday, Brenda. You have to try mud pie sometime. I first had it in St. Thomas when I was a child. Now my mom makes it. Sooo good. Enjoy the books you bought yourself. You deserved a reward after finishing that tense change. :)
ReplyDelete"Lately I've had a book buying problem"
ReplyDeleteOh, Kelly- I have that problem also. It’s what they call a good problem to have. I only wish I had the right size home to offer these books.
Mirka, yes the right size home would be nice. The right size wallet would be nice too. ;)
ReplyDeleteChristmas went well for me, especially compared to last year, something I was determined to accomplish for my sake and those I live with.
ReplyDeleteGlad things went good for you, Kelly.
Did you get my gift? If so, I hope you liked it. If you didn't get it, I'll try to find out what went wrong.
I got the coffeemaker I've always wanted.
Nothing fancy, but rather, this cool manual one, it doesn't need electricity, and doesn't need batteries, or special pods to use.
I figure if you're going to the effort of making something at home than it should be worth the effort and time, and while it may take longer to brew, you get better tasting coffee that way.
Seriously, until I started making my own coffee at home, I never knew how wonderful coffee can be.
The first time I sipped a home brewed cup I made myself, after weeks of trial and error off and on, I was amazed.
It didn't taste horrendously bitter for one, and secondly, you didn't need milk or Ovaltine to make it taste good, I just needed a bit of sugar, unlike my mom and grandma, I still can drink it totally straight, but I still tasted the nuances in that coffee.
It's just like when I started brewing tea with loose leaves. I can never go back to the tea bags again.
The only thing I'd use instant coffee for now is baking, as it's still useful for recipes where you want coffee flavor but can't add additional liquid (i.e. brewed coffee) to get the right texture, or the batter gets too runny, but that's about it.
Some of the other gifts I'm giving will be later this week, due to postage, distance and time issues, and not knowing where their new addresses to mail them (Moved before Christmas), but they'll be appreciated all the same.
Taurean, yes I did get your gift and thank you so much! I have to figure out how to redeem it because I've never used it before. But I'm sure I'll love it. It was very thoughtful of you.
ReplyDeleteI am a coffee nut, so I completely understand what you are saying. I always tell people who use creamers and sugar that they don't really like coffee. Black is the way to go. I make coffee every morning. Can't get through the day without it. :)
Thanks again!
Isn't Christmas wonderful with kids! I got sad it was over, just because they won't be excited about it anymore! I am gearing up today for my son's birthday tomorrow, so more celebrating happening at my house!
ReplyDeleteLara, happy birthday to your son! I hope he has a great party.
ReplyDeleteI was off today, but my husband kindly put me to work around the house. Now it's back to work tomorrow and I haven't even picked out a topic to write about for my blog. :) Where does the time go?
ReplyDeleteOh, and the mention of ice cream cake just put an extra 5 pounds on my thighs, so thank you! lol
Diane, LOL. Sorry! I had a huge piece of it today. :) Good thing I got a treadmill for my birthday.
ReplyDeleteI'm sending creative thoughts your way for your blog post.
Glad my gift went over okay, it's really not that hard. I'll e-mail you a site later you can go to to help with the basics.
ReplyDeleteI like Audible because you get a credit free every month, and get discounts on other audiobooks. It's also easier to keep track of them, and you don't have to worry about damaged or last cds.
The only drawback is some mp3 players/smartphones don't support the protected format.
But most Apple devices, smartphones support the format. I've discovered great writers through Audible, that I otherwise would not have had the patience to get through if I read them in print first.
But audiobooks in general eventually lead me to writes who after listening to a book or two, I'll go read them in print, so for me, audiobooks allow me to be more adventurous than I often am in print, partly due to time issues, price of print books, or it's easy to leave my envy at the proverbial door.
I know some writers find they don't enjoy audiobooks for various reasons, but for me, so long as the reader's right, it's like being specially read to, and since I wasn't lucky enough to be read to as a child, this is my proxy for that.
As far as the coffee goes, I personally do need a little sugar, but yeah, after making it with care myself, a little sugar is enough, I find it too bitter without at least a little sugar.
ReplyDeleteBut I still love the occasion Cafe Au Lait, or Cappuccino, either of which, needs foamy cream or milk.
With black tea I always prefer milk, with a bit sugar, I can only omit the milk when I have it with lemon and honey.
Taurean, I got your email. Thank you! You're the best. :) I've never tried an audiobook, but I'm looking forward to it. Thank you again!
ReplyDeleteI admit I do like the occasional cappuccino, too. I love the bitterness of coffee though. Call me crazy. For tea I like green tea with orange, passionfruit, and jasmine. Delicious and it's good for you, too.
I enjoyed Christmas with my family, especially the children that we don't see often since they live far away. Even with the plumbing problems and unable to get a plumber to fix them, we had a marvelous day.
ReplyDeleteBeverly, I'm glad the plumbing issues didn't ruin your good time. It is nice to see people (especially kids) you don't get to see often.
ReplyDeleteLittle ones always add excitement to Christmas. I was glad to spend the day with my sister's grandchildren. They kept things lively.
ReplyDeleteWe had my sister's homemade peanutbutter cups - the favorite at our house.
inluvwithwords, sounds like you had a great Christmas. :)
ReplyDeleteWe had a house full too. Isn't it fun? Especially watching the little ones.
ReplyDeleteBooks? I have so many, and can't stop buying them. One thing that got me back into my writing was my wife saying, "you have so many books about writing, you should write."
We all, always need more books!
Christmas was lovely. We had a sung Midnight Mass (we, my sisters and Mother and I, did the singing) and then we went home and slept for about four hours, got up early to open presents, and had a lovely gnocchi and ham dinner. It was glorious, and for us that was just the start of Christmas. We now get to look forward to the Twelve Days of Christmas from December 25 until January 6, the feast of the Epiphany.
ReplyDeleteMERRY CHRISTMAS STILL! It's not over yet. :)
Did I thank you for visiting my blog and for your sweet complement? I'm having a lot of emotional ups and downs that everyone has, but mine have been a little extreme. Especially today. (Yeah. I get professional help)I got a four star review on Barnes and Noble and am so thrilled, ("Crazy good read")
ReplyDeleteI have to read your books as I think I am going to promote number four as YA and need to know the limits for the use of expletives and for descriptions of physical affection. Yeah, I am being sarcastically euphemistic here, but do need to get a feeling for the genre.
Congratulations on a real book deal. Don't tell my indie cohorts I said "REAL" or they will drum me out of the corps. Drop by again. I am especially fond of comment leavers! Best wishes to you for this new year and for all our wonderful opportunities and success!
espe
On my mind is getting organized to be more productive with even less time this new year! Lots of exciting things in store!
ReplyDeleteRick, I like the way you think. ;)
ReplyDeleteCat, I remember you blogged about the 12 Days of Christmas last year. I loved it. Enjoy! Merry Christmas to you and your family.
ReplyDeleteVirginia, we all go through rough times. I'm glad enjoyed my comment on your blog. I look forward to dropping by again. And congrats on that review! As for a "real" book deal, I know what you mean. :) There's nothing wrong with self-publishing. I have don't it. I have friends who've done it. But having a publisher want to publish you is surreal. Both ways of publishing have their benefits.
ReplyDeleteJodi, I can't wait to see what you have in store. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThank you for stopping by and the birthday wishes.
ReplyDeleteI can so relate with your "book buying problem." I asked for a stack of books for Christmas and decided there are a few more that I need to buy as well. I'm reading a few pages at a time from them and loving life.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Debra!
ReplyDeleteJoDee, it's good to know that I'm not the only one who reads multiple books at once. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing, Kelly! On my mind today: GOOD NEWS! My PBs won me an SCBWI mentorship and my RUDOLPH GOES GREEN parody is a finalist at Susanna Leonard Hill's Holiday Writing Contest. Happy Monday!
ReplyDeleteMiranda, that's great news! Congratulations! I'm so happy for you. :)
ReplyDeleteAt last I have got the place to post my comment! I don't what was going wrong? I was following all the right steps. I want to CONGRATE YOU for all your successes , for the published ones and the coming ones. I 'm glad to hear about your book coming in 2013! amazing.
ReplyDeleteIf my net works well I'll keep visiting your blog.
Thank you on all accounts, msdiamondhill!
ReplyDeleteI never can resist books. Thank heavens for e-readers. Could you send a slice of your mom's pie across the internet? Love it when a new twist pops into the book.
ReplyDeleteDonna, I'm sending a slice your way!
ReplyDelete