This holiday came and went so quickly, I can’t believe it! But here’s hoping everyone enjoyed it, and that Santa was very, very good to you.
I can never seem to bring myself to look forward to New Year’s. I know it’s a matter of how you look at things, but the end of the year has a way of making me feel really wistful about what’s passed. And I’d be lying if I said it’d been a great year, no matter how positive I may try to be.
I lost two beloved pets, and as many close relatives. The stress level was off the hook. Things around the house conspired to fall apart, the recession recovery has yet to hit home, I’ve seen better health, and lost a lot of the joy I had in my writing.
On the upside, this year I laughed. Dreamed. Felt the sun full in my face. Celebrated the victories of friends, and appreciated how good it was to have good people in my life. Even put a few words down on paper that I liked. And I managed to scratch my way through this bastard, so maybe the next will be kinder and gentler.
I’m game, and ready to try. Here’s hoping.
Are you ready for the new year?
For those who may be too busy preparing for the holidays to enjoy them, a short list of fun freebies, writing-related and not:
My freebie, “Making Merry”, written originally for The Samhellion, available for download in The Gallery here.
Vanessa Jaye’s holiday story, “The Wolf Who Stole Christmas”, is available here.
For a website that offers a list of free offerings from other sites, visit TheFreeSite.com.
“The Little Manuscript Girl”, written for Southern Fried Chicas, is posted for reading here.
Readers’ favorite top 25 Christmas cookie recipes are free from Christmas-cookies.com.
And “The 12th Night Anthology”, featuring twelve holiday hots by various authors, is yours to download at Smashwords here.
I’ve been out of touch, I know.
But it wasn’t my fault. Really, it wasn’t.
I don’t exactly have the computer equipment most people would consider standard for a ‘professional’. But so far I’ve managed pretty well with it. Old computer, monitor, keyboard, mouse. Simple basics, necessities, and they’ve held up for quite a while. I figured I could do better when things picked up.
Which left me unprepared for my monitor dying this past week. That was around the time of the huge storm, with the two-and-a half feet of snow, that made navigating the streets a real adventure (and another slamming the state now, dammit).
And a couple of days before a minor surgery, with another probably due soon.
And since I didn’t have either of my two wips printed out yet, all I could do was scratch out new chapters. I don’t mind working with pen and paper (sometimes it works better for me), but felt very uneasy about not being able to access what I’d written.
Yes, it’s been an interesting week, lol.
But I seem to be back in business for the mo, and gazing hungrily at the wips. Surprising, how much I missed them.
And just because I can see and appreciate it now…
Johnny Depp on the cover of the latest Vanity Fair magazine.
Um…
Yes.











