Infiltrated by Gremlins*

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UPDATE:

A certain gremlin* kept me up last night, and I made the mistake of falling asleep on the couch today while my computer was still running. I know I should erase the message the gremlin* left on my blog (surely scolding me for sleeping when I should be paying attention to said gremlin*), but the post and the comments I woke up to made me laugh so hard, I couldn't do it.

Instead, take this as a warning. Gremlins are about!

 *3-year old

Feeling Lucky

To state the obvious, I didn't post last Monday. What with the Thanksgiving frenzy that starts at least a week before the actual day, it just didn't happen.

We had family coming to celebrate the holiday with us, so that meant it was finally time to shrug off my writer's mantra (being: Write first, clean later). Yeah, that was a good thing. My floor even got mopped. Laaaaa! (*read that: heavenly choir bursts into song*)

Anyway, they came and we talked, watched movies, played games, made a farce of going outside (with the freezing wind), and ate WAY too much---turkey, stuffing, cheese, gravy, potatoes, pies (and I know some of you are thinking that the cheese doesn't really fit on that list, but let's just say you don't know my husband and his brother!). In short it was wonderful.

And I was feeling all kinds of grateful for everything in my life. Just like the license plate I saw:

MI LUCKY

In fact, I've been thinking a lot about this, lately. I do feel lucky. Lucky to have a hard-working husband who loves me. Lucky to have 3 beautiful kids who are still happy to hold my hand and give me hugs. Lucky to have wonderful extended family including in-laws I love. Lucky to have a job I can do from home. Lucky to have writing in my life. Lucky to have an agent. Lucky to have so many friends scattered all over the world (many of whom I've never met . . . and uh, yeah, that would be all of you guys!). Lucky.

The thing is, my life is not perfect. In fact, far from it. I have struggles and hardships. Bad things happen to me and to people I love all too often (and uh, read that as understatement). I worry that I make wrong decisions (and I'm not talking the red-shirt/blue-shirt kind). I worry that I don't do enough for others. I worry that I don't keep in touch with my friends and family enough. And on and on.

But I still feel lucky.

Because I think "luck" (or perhaps a better word is "blessings") is there for the finding. Even in the hard stuff. It's just a matter of looking.

What do you guys think?

Where Does "Funny" Come From?

In October I went to a conference where I had a chance to participate in a critique group. After reading my piece, a member of the group asked where my humor came from.

When I looked askance (great 3-point word, no?) at her, she clarified her question. "For example, are your siblings funny? Your parents? Where does your ability to be funny come from?"

I'd never really thought about humor as something that could be transferred through DNA before. So I considered the question. And I mean, sure my parents and siblings have their moments of funny, but I doubt any of them could have a career as a comedian (Note: If any of you are reading this, I didn't mean that. You could totally have a career as a comedian. Just today I heard about a prototype for pig-wings. ; ) You still love me, right?)

I think I uttered something about getting punchy at night, but it does make one wonder. Where does a sense of humor come from? Is it innate? Learned behavior? What do you think?

NaNoReviMo 2012

I have known about NaNoWriMo for about 4 years now. And I have never done it.

My mini-writing challenge with Leigh Moore last March told me that I would pretty much stink at it. Like a lot.

Last year at this time, I was just gearing up for some major revisions on my book, and I was fortunate enough to discover a group working on revisions instead of writing. We called our November NaNoReviMo.

Ironically, many of us are in the same boat this year, so we have rebanded. Jessie Humphries is keeping us organized, so if you're interested in joining, go check out her blog and shoot her an email.

Anyhoo, the point of this post is that we are supposed to publicly announce our revision goals to keep us accountable and junk like that, so here are my revision goals for this month:

• Finish revisions on PB&JF and send them to my agent.
• Finish revisions on my WIP (currently in round 2 of revisions) and send to my beta readers.
• Find a shiny new idea to begin outlining.

I know I should be more specific with daily goals, but since I'm super close on everything but the last one,  my daily goal is simply to work on one of these three things. Six days a week. Definitely do-able!

So what are your writing goals this month?

Cover Reveal: Rouge by Leigh Moore

I know, I know. I'm here AGAIN this week. But when my uber-talented friend, Leigh T. Moore, invited me to be part of her cover reveal for Rouge, well, it was a no-brainer. So without further ado:

Ta daaa!!! Isn't it awesome?!! Congratulations Leigh! So very excited for you. :D

Set to be released Nov. 11, here's the blurb:

A New Orleans chanteuse must decide between saving herself (and her young charge) from the brothels by marrying her well-heeled suitor, or following her heart and marrying a poor stagehand. 

And if you haven't gotten to know Leigh yet, here's where you can learn more about her:

Amazon Author page

Goodreads

Blog

Facebook

Sandy Relief Kidlit Auction

Hey ya'll, I know I don't usually show up on a Thursday of all things, but just wanted to alert you to a Kidlit auction to benefit Red Cross in the wake of Sandy.

The amazingly organized Jen Malone has mobilized the kidlit community and all kinds of amazing writerly things are up for grabs. Here's a sampling:

• Query and first 5 page-critique from Agent Kathleen Rushall
• 1st chapter critique for MG work by NYT best-selling author Adam Gidwitz
• Three chapter critique by Agent Julia Alexandra Weber
• Thirty-minute "ask anything" phone call with Agent Holly Root

And I could go on and on and on, but I won't because that would waste precious time here when you could be bidding on a fabulous item over at Jen's blog. So for details about how it works, go HERE. You've got until Wednesday, November 5 at 5PM EST.

And please, spread the word so we can really help out those suffering after that Frankenstorm.

Okay, okay, and I should mention . . . I've joined with a group of agented up-and-coming authors to offer a critique of the first 20 pages. No pressure! But if you want to take a peek, go HERE.

But most importantly, go bid, and spread the word!