Working on the NYR List

I've discovered I do really well with my New Year's Resolutions for about six months. Then I start losing the energy and enthusiasm I had for them at the beginning of the year.

One good thing I've managed to continue doing this year is keeping up with this blog. I've been a little lax in getting my interviews and reviews up, but I'm hoping once I get back into the swing of things after the holidays I'll be able to start doing those again. I have more Spinetingler profiles to do (eight, to be exact, but who's counting?), as well as some interviews here that I've promised a couple of terrific authors I'd do and haven't got around to.

Something else I plan to do is shoot for the one book a week goal again. I came short by only 17 books last year, so we'll see how 2007 goes. I still have a ceiling-high TBR pile that has a number of books I've been dying to read. With my obligations to Reviewing the Evidence, I have three left in that stack and have a couple more on the way, and then I can dive into the stacks that have been waiting for me for a year. Sigh.

My most important goal for the year is to find an agent and get a book deal. The synopsis is in a little better shape, it's being reviewed as we speak by my illustrious critique partner, and soon I'll have query letters chunking off the printer faster than you can say Jack Robinson. I can do this!

Over the next week I'm also going to take a few minutes each day to remember some of my fondest moments from 2006. All in all, it was a pretty good year, but I'm gearing up for 2007 to be even better.

Wishing all of you a healthy, happy and safe New Year,

=) JB

Working my way through the fog ...

I can see the top of my desk again. Mostly. And ... (drum roll, please) ... I did put together a few skeletal paragraphs describing the plot of the book, upon which I might be able to build a reasonably good synopsis. I have two days left until my JT-imposed deadline, and all day tomorrow with practically nothing to do but write.

Yippee-skippers.

I am, at the moment, about halfway through what will probably be the last book I read in 2006, and I'll add it to the list (which I updated yesterday, by the way) to the right. I'll have to figure out with this new version of Blogger how to archive the 2006 list so I can start a new one for 2007. Sounds like a Help issue to me. ;)

It's been a relatively easy week at our house - most relaxing, I'd say. The WGH is on vacation and yet still can't just "do nothing". But when you work full-time like he does, I guess you need a vacation every so often just so you can get things done around the house. We purposely planned a down week just so we could relax and spend time with family and not have to "go" anywhere, but he's the type who always has to have something to do ... fortunately, between now and next weekend there's plenty of college football to keep us occupied. All we do on New Year's Day is eat and watch football. My kind of holiday.

Hoping you and yours are having as lovely a week as we are, I'm off to read a bit more, work a little, and fix supper. Have yourselves a pleasant evening, and we'll be back tomorrow with another progress report.

=) JB

When's my day off again?

"Where is He that is born King ..." Matthew 2:2.
"and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save his people from their sins" Matthew 1:21.

I'm still in a bit of a reflective mood, but I'm also in a better frame of mind as far as being motivated to get some things done. It's been a rather nonproductive week so far, though I have managed to scratch a few items off the To-Do List. Today is the big one. After the cats go to the vet, I'm going to work on the synopsis for this book. My goal is to have it together in some workable form by the time I go to bed tonight.

Best laid plans.

I'll let you know tomorrow how it went. In the meantime, read a book! There are still a few days left in 2006 to fulfill that New Year's Resolution (an endeavor at which I've failed miserably, by the way - but there's always next year).

=) JB

Flying at Half-Mast

It's a rather subdued day. We heard the news just as we were getting settled in for bedtime last night.

Gerald Ford, 38th President, Dies at 93 (from the New York Times)

Gerald Ford dies at 93 (MS-NBC)

The earliest memory I have of former President Ford is Election Day, 1976. I know, Jimmy Carter was elected. But I remember my teacher (I was in 5th grade) asking us the next day, "How many of you think Gerald Ford is President?" A few raised their hands. "How many think Jimmy Carter is President?" Another few raised their hands. "Oh, but you're wrong," she said with a smile. Our first lesson (or at least, the earliest I can recall being taught) about the whole Election Day to Inauguration Day "lame duck" period. Kinda cool that I remember that moment 30 years later.

So today, we're putting the flag at half-mast to mourn the passing of our oldest surviving President. I'm not going to get into a lot of political stuff here - I'm just not a politics person. But like with the passing of Ronald Reagan, it's the end of an era, a rekindling of memories and moments in history that a lot of people will be talking about for days and weeks to come. Another "This Day in History" article for December 26th.

Rest in peace, Mr. Ford. Our thoughts and prayers are with your family.

=) JB

Careful, or you'll end up in my novel.

"And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger." Luke 2:7.

"The wonder of Christmas is its simplicity - nothing of the pomp and circumstance of life." That came from the weekly prayer guide sheet provided with our bulletins at the Christmas Eve morning service, as did all the Scripture quotes I'm using this week. What's truly meaningful for me about the "wonder of Christmas" observation is that it pretty much sums up the past couple of days. Our family isn't all that big, at least as regards our little concentric circle that gets together on the holidays - my parents and brother and his wife, the WGH's parents, his brother-in-law and his wife, our kids and our younger nephew. This year we enjoyed the company of the brother-in-law's mom as well - they lost his Dad this year and we thought it would be good for her to spend some time as part of our family. We sat in a circle in our living room last night after dinner and opened presents, just going around the circle in turns, and I couldn't help but think how lovely the simplicity of it all was. Little Bit got designated to lead the pre-dinner blessing, and she did us proud - thanking God for giving us his Son, our family and the opportunity to be together to celebrate His birth. In spite of all the busy-ness and rushing around and hullabaloo that commercialized Christmas has become, the whole reason for its existence in the first place is still alive and well in our hearts.

The gift exchange is always entertaining - the reactions, the smiles, the laughs. The title of this post is printed on my new sweatshirt - a present from the WGH's brother-in-law and his wife. She said she saw it and immediately thought of me. Gee, I wonder why? ;)

Nephew #2 stayed the night with us - just to hang with his cousins for a day. The in-laws left this morning; my parents will be here until tomorrow, then are coming back next week for New Year's and a visit from my very youngest nephew, who lives in South America with his madre, my brother's ex. We haven't seen him in about five years, since he was three, so we're looking forward to the visit. We're just hoping he speaks enough English that conversation will be possible - my Spanish is a little rusty!

The rest of this week is strictly devoted to getting some work done on my JT-prompted To-Do List. We're going to start the New Year on the right foot.

Read a book. Enjoy whatever down time you get this week. Be happy.

=) JB

Merry Christmas!

"Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people, for unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:10-11

Wishing everyone a very blessed and joyous Christmas.

To my Best Friend back home in Indiana, Happy Birthday! I love you and hope to see you again soon.

To Nephew #1, Mele Kalikimaka! Wish you could be here with the rest of the family, but we'll see you in May for The Tall One's graduation.

To JT and the BMWs, thank you for making this a very productive year. I feel great things coming for all of us in 2007.

And to my extended family - all of you reading this - thanks for being there. Have a lovely, peaceful and happy Christmas.

=) JB

Christmas Eve

"Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which is translated, 'God with us'." Matthew 1:23.

As we were sitting in church this morning - a single service combining our traditional with our contemporary services, which are normally separate - our contemporary service's worship leader played and sang a lovely piece on the piano that really helped me focus inwardly and remember that despite all the commercialism, the fun and frivolity, the true meaning of Christmas is a very special thing.

I hope you'll bear with me this week, as I will probably be much more reflective than normal, and the posts will be fairly short and (I hope) meaningful.

Now is the time for being with family and friends if you can, praying for those who can't, and celebrating the joy of life.

Our pastor said this morning there is a difference between joy and happiness. Happiness is external. Joy is internal.

I wish you happiness, but I also wish you joy!

Merry Christmas!

=) JB

A little soul searching ...

Okay, so it's been almost a full week since I was here last. For those of you who have missed me and let me know that, thank you (if you missed me and didn't let me know, thank you, too).

This morning is the first chance I've had to sit down and put intelligent thoughts to the page. Of course, it remains to be seen how intelligent the thoughts turn out to be when they translate to the written word. Over the past week I've managed to: finish (most of) the Christmas shopping; buy groceries; attend a basketball game; and write, print, address AND mail our annual Christmas update letters. I finished reading the latest book in my RTE stack. Tuesday night when the girls and I went to the Chinese buffet for dinner, I told a gentleman standing next to me, somewhere between the General Tso's and the crab rangoon and loading my plate with broccoli chicken, that I was allowing myself to feel virtuous for eating vegetables. Had fruit at dinner with JT last night, adding to the "good girl" self-assessment.

I even took a walk Monday morning. Haven't done that in ages, and I keep forgetting that's what really gets my creative juices flowing. The whole observing nature at its best thing just stimulates my brain like nothing else. Not even a darn good cup of coffee, complete with French vanilla, can do for my psyche what a walk around our neighborhood can.

I hadn't gone 50 feet from the house when I heard a scurry of activity in the brush-laden field beside me. Looking up, all I saw were flashes of white and gray - what I thought at first were three large birds - hawks, maybe? - soaring up a hill into the trees. As I focused more closely on the flashes and listened to them crashing through the dried leaves and branches, I realized they were deer, the brown of their bodies blending into the landscape so smoothly that all I could see was the white of their upturned tails. I always wonder where they go. True, we live in a fairly rural area, but it's a populated rural area. The "fields" between our houses are nothing more than empty lots with brush that hasn't been cleared. There's a section of trees you could technically call a small woods, but it's surrounded on all sides by well kept yards and huge, inhabited houses. I guess the deer are "domesticated" enough that living among us human folk doesn't faze them.

Last night the BMWs had our Christmas "party" - an exchange of simple gifts, some relaxing together time (with no work!) and a bit of food and beverage. What a lovely evening (thank you, ladies). JT has my back, as usual, and is going to stay on me about my to-do list. She was prompting (okay, grilling) me last night about what I was doing next, then next, then next ... I told her I'd promised to have it done by the end of the year. I still have 10 days.

But I'm getting on it. Things are moving along - I'm squeezing in what little time I have this week to write (between shopping, cleaning house - the parents are coming Saturday for Christmas).

Today's already not looking promising.

Maybe tomorrow ...

=) JB

The Crazy Day

I have those every so often. Today will be one of them. To list all the things I have to do today would probably make YOU tired, so we'll just leave that alone for now.

I'm feeling better, although that pesky cough is still lingering. The Gatorade people are going to be sending me my stock certificate soon.

This afternoon if I have a little time (which if I plan it just right I should), I'm going to be working on the synopsis for the current book, which JT says is really a lot closer to being "good to go" than I think. It's hard for us to look at it objectively, seeing as how we're both so invested in it. In her words, "We're critique partners. It's what we do." I'm thinking I'm going to make the changes she suggested and then send it off to someone whose opinion I value and trust but who's never read the story, can read it cold and let me know what they think. Then we'll know for sure how "good to go" it really is.

Of course, I do have the built-in critic right here in my own house, the one who gave me the ultimatum. Maybe I'll see what she thinks, too.

Speaking of The Tall One, basketball season is in full swing, and I'm proud to say my child has really come into her own. Over the last 10 games, she's averaged 13 PPG, 18.25 over the last four with a career-high 22 last Friday night against one of our intracounty rivals. Yep, I'm a proud Mommy.

The Boy and Little Bit had their Christmas concerts last week and I was bursting with pride at both of them, too - The Boy did an impressive job with his improv solo on lead alto for Jazz Band, and Little Bit ran the gamut in her percussion section, playing parts on snare drum, bass drum, tympani and bells.

I want to get a tee-shirt that says, "I ain't braggin', I'm blessed!" I thank God every day for everything He's given me - my health, my hubby, my kids, my friends ... all of it is way beyond what I deserve.

Thanks for sharing a few minutes of your time with me. I'm pretty blessed in that regard, too, to have friends and "fans" who care enough to check in with me every so often. Now I'm off to resume the craziness that is my life.

Have a great day. Enjoy the sunshine, and read a book!

=) JB

Miraculeux!

Yeah, it's French. I was trying to come up with a more apropos title for today's post, something along the lines of "whatdya know?" but my online translator just does funky things with English idioms.

I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired, so I'm not really in the mood to wax poetic today, but I figured after a week's hiatus you might start to think I'd shut down completely, so here I am, waving my little hand and saying, "Hello, I'm still here."

I've been working on the family "holiday update letter", reading a lot and ... oh, yeah, finished the final edits on manuscript number (what are we up to now, six?) whatever - the WIP. JT's already been through it and it's back in my hands again. Now with just a few more minor changes it'll be ready to start the query process.

JT is taking me to task with my submissions - the ever-motivating virtual kick in the pants I always seem to need, but the to-do list is established, and I've promised her it will be done by Christmas.

So, I have two weeks. So much to do, so little time.

I'll be back again soon, with less rambling and more intellect. Promise.

In the meantime, the lights are up and it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas ...

=) JB

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

The good. Well, the good news is, I don't have a fever. At the moment.

The bad. The bad news is, I'm still sick as a dog. I think it might be bronchitis. How is it that you can have nothing but a scratchy throat one day and have chest congestion and all kinds of other junk the next? But, that's me - I used to do it at least four to five times a year when I was working full-time. Since I quit my job I think this might be the second or third time I've been sick like this (in 2-1/2 years). Not a bad turnaround.

The Ugly. That would be me. Trust me, you don't want to know what this looks like right now.

Time for a shot of NyQuil and back to bed for rest and fluids. If I don't surface again for a couple days, you'll know why.

In the meantime, you know what to do.

=) JB

18 Degrees

Nephew #1 would be in shock. He posted a note on his blog the other day that he woke up cold - it was 72 degrees in Hawaii that morning. Aw, poor baby. (Excuse the dripping sarcasm.) It's what you're used to, I guess. To me, 18 degrees when the kids head out for school is practically shirt-sleeve weather. My friends and family from up North know what I'm talking about. But yeah, down here, and maybe even for Big Brother Brett out in sunny CA, 18 degrees is darn cold!!

Major progress. My desk still looks like a paper storm hit, but the good news is I printed myself copies of both manuscripts and have been working furiously and steadily on read-throughs and edits. By Wednesday of this week, we should have a synopsis in place for the first book (the WIP you got so tired of hearing about over the past several months). The second book (the NaNoWriMo 50,000 words of junk that has turned into a pretty golly-darn good story) is shaping up nicely as well.

So that's my update as far as the writing stuff. On the family side, The Tall One and her teammates managed to fairly soundly defeat their intra-county rivals Friday night. I heard lots of compliments on my child's play, and at the risk of boasting she did play a great game. The best I've seen her play? Maybe not - and in my defense, she didn't think so, either - but still there was something a little different about her and it was noticeable to everyone else, apparently. The WGH says I didn't see it because I watch her play all the time. Maybe - all these other parents watch her play the same games I do. Regardless, it was a fun night, victories for both the girls' and boys' teams, and we're 1-0 in district play, 5-1 overall on the girls' side. I'd say that's a fair start to the season.

My primary goal this week is to post something every day - the ulterior motive being that I not be subjected to the barrage of emails I get from my dear, sweet, thoughtful friends who miss me when I don't. ;) You guys are too much, and I love you for it. The secondary goal is to actually write something worth reading. Topic ideas and questions for me to answer are more than welcome.

I'll definitely be waxing both poetic and nostalgic this month, looking back over the last year and all the things that have happened ... and gearing up for 2007, which will be here (and probably gone again) before we know it.

In the meantime, read a book!

=) JB

"Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well."
-- Voltaire (French Philosopher and Author, 1694-1778)

Purely for Entertainment Purposes

While I'm busy regrouping from the frenzy of activity that was the month of November, and getting my head around the fact that CHRISTMAS IS 24 DAYS AWAY, here are a few things I thought you'd enjoy - some to make you shake your head, some to make you laugh, some to make you go "wow", some to make you smile ...

We'll be back with our regularly scheduled programming as soon as I can find my brain. I know it's here in the study somewhere ...


Quotable Quotes:"All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope."
-- Winston Churchill, British Statesman, Soldier, and Author (1874-1965)

The new Air Force Memorial (dedication and memorial services, October 2006). Completely awesome slide shows.

So stupid it's hysterical. Okay, so a funny fat guy lip-synching "Numa-Numa" probably isn't your idea of a productive expenditure of time, but oh my gracious is it entertaining.

The Incredible Music Machine. Yes, there's a story behind this. A clip from this video was circulated around the Internet with the claim that it was a real-life creation by some folks at the University of Iowa and was supposed to be going to the Smithsonian. A load of bunk, it turns out. But, the full video is still pretty clever, and quite entertaining. Just watch this.

Gotta love Garfield. Yesterday's strip. Now, where is that recipe box?

This weekend I'm going to take stock of where I am in the process, revamp the To-Do List, and get my act together. I'll be back with a full report on Monday.

In the meantime, read a book. I have a few I could lend you from the 75 or so in the TBR pile ...

=) JB