12 Books of Christmas, Day 2.

Sometimes you want something fun, with heart. NOT frothy and silly, no no, just not heavy and homework-y. Here 'tis. (I'm your elf.)

The 12 Books of Christmas (you may have missed or overlooked)

A beautifully paced, atmospheric little mystery. And kinda Christmas-y to start off if I do say so myself.

5 Reasons I'm A Writer

1. I hate getting dressed up. 2. That annoying girl in middle school who always had to find out everyone’s secrets? Yeah, that was me. 3. I like high-risk, time-consuming hobbies, but moto-cross is too dusty. 4. Straight As in Typing. 5. Making up stories and saying them out loud to strangers on the bus was not working for me.

After.

Last year, because we were traveling over Christmas, I made a book tree out of all the books that have influenced me. It's here, in case you doubt me, of ye of little faith. I'm kind of ashamed to admit that because of the year I've had, the furious busy-ness, the illness, the sadness, and yes, the leftover laziness, that tree remained up until today. Seriously. So why not just keep it there right? No, this year, of all years, we need a real tree. A real tree because we're home, and I love them, and because I just finished a novel set on an evergreen farm. This year, we need to pay homage to the evergreen. Finally, today, I did what needed to be done. I put the books back on the shelves in the living room, in the cabinet in the den, in the curio on the landing, in the huge bedside tables. Yes, we have books in every room again. But instead of storing the lights, I put them up a little earlier. Still lazy, you see.

Happy Dance, Halloween Style.

It's the finished first draft of new novel Happy Dance. So glad it's not a thriller or anything.

Readers of women's fiction rock. And fetch. And play.

It's been a roooough 18 months. Cancer, rejection, rejection, cancer, cancer, death. (Yes, even the dog has cancer. More on that later.) We are doing fine, but I had trouble making decisions about my writing. Wrote a couple books that went astray. I feel like I'm on track now, almost finished with a great one. But in the midst of this, come three emails from readers, all saying the same thing: PLEASE KEEP WRITING. And one of them sent me a photo of her cat, toying with a feather, in honor of THE BIRD HOUSE.

Sometimes people say just the right thing at the right time. xoxoxo

Full week.

I rode my bike twice, took 3 walks, drank 2 green juices, danced, ate 3 meals with friends, bought a pair of jeans, saw a movie, sent 4 gifts, read a book, and made breakfast every morning for my girls. Usually at the end of a week I think about how many pages I've written, how many campaigns I presented, how many meetings I went to. But this time I decided to tally the joy. Sometimes being happy means doing a bit more, not a bit less.