It was down to the wire there, I got over 6,000 words done one night and was going to do the last 4,000 the next but at 3,500 my brain just shut down and I had to go sleep. I finished it today with about 500 extra and heaved a sigh of relief. At least one goal fulfilled.

My house is finally back to normal, both bathrooms thankfully operational, and I have a new book case, courtesy of my very sweet, very talented dad. It’s still a little odorous from the laquer but as soon as it airs out my books will have a shiny new home. I can’t wait to put them all in place so I can unpack the last of the boxes.

Tis the season of holidays and I get to look forward to a trip to New York City next week. Maybe it’ll be cold enough for snow. I think I’d like to see a snowy Central Park. Even though California has its share of mountains it’s just not the same as having a blanket of white right in your back yard. Then again, who knows? Maybe in the next few years the weather will make it to just the right level of crazy to give me a white Christmas in the City by the Bay. Hey, a girl can hope.

My house is being remodeled. The bathroom was already demolished and redone, the kitchen and rooms have been repainted, but one bathroom is just getting started and since my bedroom was repainted and I had to take everything off the walls I have a bunch of boxes with books and papers and no inclination to go rooting through it all. Especially since I have nowhere to put it yet. All this means that “work” is going slow. I’ve fallen behind on NaNoWriMo but the progress I have made so far on the things I’m writing make me happy that I’m getting somewhere so it’s not all bad.

I’m still chin deep in Rome so I’m not even looking for the light at the end of the tunnel just yet but it will be there at some point. I’ll get out of it and then plunge right into the next one lol. At some point I have to find my folders and print out a whole lot of pages I haven’t had a chance to do yet. They’re very rough but I want to back them up any way I can, as I don’t plan to live through another repeat of history if my computer decides to die on me. That’s on the agenda tonight, come hell or high water. (I may need someone to remind me, though…)

current NaNo count: ca 27,ooo

Everyone goes through it. Haven’t met a writer who didn’t get stuck once in a while. When it happens to me, and if it drags on too long, I tend to work on other stuff. Which can be great when you have more than one project going on. But if you’re stuck on all of them it usually means starting something new. This time, though, I don’t mind one bit.

One of my very good friends, and also a writer, has asked me to co-author a story with her. That is what I’m doing for NaNoWriMo. Well, that’s not all I’m doing but at the moment it’s the most fun project I have going on lol. It won’t be your run of the mill love story; no way it could be with characters like these. So far we jointly have over 10,000 words of random scenes and still many more ideas on plot and where it’s all headed. She’s being sweet, saying I took the lead lol but the truth is that she laid down the floor plans, drew up the pipe lines and marked out the electricity. I’m just putting in the windows. I can’t wait to see how it all comes together!

As for my own projects, I’ve finally finished editing Blood Trails. And I told myself I will not even look at it again until I submit it. Hailey has taken up enough of my time. Now I need to give Gabriel some much deserved TLC. He’s going through a rough patch right now (understatement of the millennium) and I need to bring him through it so he can rise up and win.

NaNoWriMo current count: ca 18,300

I first found out about this two years ago and for those two years I participated “unofficially,” meaning that I didn’t join the website or post my results but I kept track of what I wrote. I’ll admit I cheated a little because I started late but I kept the spirit of it honest and only counted for 30 days. I achieved my goal both years. 50,000 words, thank you very much.