Had a reasonable crack at a scene from ICED yesterday and hope to finish it up today. It always takes far longer to do about the first three chapters of a book. After that, I can set a good clip. The problem is organizing background info. How much, how little, how to reel it out so that the action keeps moving and explain the supernatural world while I’m at it. I’m always enormously glad to get that part out of the way.

Writing aside, today I have to clean the house before the dust bunnies have an uprising. It would be nice to start 2010 in an orderly fashion.

Here’s hoping you and yours have a fabulous New Year!

This was a crazy year.

There were amazingly wonderful things. The Dark Forgotten series came out in February with RAVENOUS. SCORCHED came out the first of this month and actually registered on the B&N mass market romance bestseller list. For me, that’s huge. RAVENOUS was a bit of a last-throw-of-the-dice book, even though I wasn’t really admitting that to myself. Let’s just say I was so ready for some external validation.

I also finished school, ended up doing two jobs instead of one, and pretty much wore myself out. I’ve spent the weekend making like a couch potato. For all those people who say, “How can you possibly do so much?” the answer is that I can’t. Not really.

Of course, sitting around reassembling one’s splattered brains into a thinking organism is a great time to wax philosophical.

Annette mentioned the importance of the little victories we have along the way. I heartily concur. We can’t live by great achievements alone, nor should we. This is important because we need to remember we’re not just good writers, but good citizens, business persons, family members and individuals. Working in the arts is hard on self-esteem for a thousand reasons. It’s vital to have something besides sales numbers to measure yourself by.

And if we need to know that, so do other people. At the end of the day, it’s the good business relationships, the kindnesses, and the solid foundation of right action that gives us integrity. That’s what makes people turn and help when we falter, and what gives us the balance we need to keep moving forward. Some days it may not seem like it, but hard work and a good reputation still counts.

What did I do this year that I’m proud of? I finished commitments when I wanted to walk away so bad it gagged me. I helped a friend try something she was interested in, and for once didn’t help too much. I tried to be a good team player on several fronts. I made sure I was a good listener even when I had no brain cells to speak of. I took good care of my pets.

On the other hand, I get a failing grade in the domestic arts. I see some vacuuming in my future, because I’m doing New Year’s at my place. Despite the crazy year, I still have friends. That’s one blessing I’m counting for sure.

Resolutions? To make a little time to look after myself.

I sat down last night and wrote a scene of the new book, which is under the working title ICED. Why that title? It’s a winter book, for one thing. It’s also about people and societies being frozen in their way of thinking. It’s also about murders.

I’d written a “test scene” before. I’ll usually do that–throw the characters onto the page and see what happens. It helps me get a feel for the dynamics. Version 1.0 has its good parts and I’ll keep about half of it, but there was too much that wasn’t worked out to really make it fly on its own. This new scene was the real thing, all the characters’ strengths and weaknesses in place. Of course, the beginning wasn’t where I thought it should be. It never is.

Who will be back? So far, Perry, Lore, and Errata have made it through casting for major roles. Alessandro needs to be in it later on as well as some folks from UNCHAINED.

Productive weekend on the Christmas front, with wrapping and decorating happening. Went minimal on the decorating, given that it took exactly 5 minutes for the Evil Kitty to de-garland the window, followed by extravagant garland murder scene in the hallway. Garland removed before it could be ingested, and decorations reconsidered.

Staff lunch today. Very nice.

On the writing front, I’m waiting for editorial feedback on Unchained and/or Book IV proposal. I should appreciate the break, but I have a hard time enjoying the respite. There’s “driven” and “workaholic” and I think I’m edging toward the latter.

On the road for work today, which meant float planes and Skytrain and who knows what all to get to the meeting hours later. Meeting was brief and successful, which was a blessing, and then there was the reverse trip. That pretty much ate today.

It was pretty when the plane taxied through the harbour because the legislature is all Christmas lights and sparkle. However, I was really happy to get out of the killer shoes and power suit and turn back into a pumpkin.

Baked for the Christmas potluck (coconut squares. Must try one just to be sure they’re up to snuff). Now I’m printing off material for tomorrow’s critique meeting. Not really exciting stuff, but it feels good to be caught up for once.

There’s been quite a flurry of blogs and interviews with the launch of SCORCHED, and I’ve been busy, busy, busy. I just turned in a proposal for book four, and I’m still waiting for the revisions on UNCHAINED. Right this second, I’ve finished everything due this week. All I can say is WOW. Maybe I’ll make it to the post office to mail my Christmas cards tonight!

This has been the oddest fall. I’m working at two different positions for my day job, which means two offices in two separate buildings a fifteen-minute walk apart. No, this wasn’t planned–one my coworkers passed away. I’m happy to pitch in, but I’m grateful I finished school a month before this all happened.

But, things are looking up. The new-job learning curve is easing off a bit. I’ve got a week’s vacation between Christmas and New Year’s. All my writing obligations have been completed more or less on time. There’s holiday stuff to deal with, but that’s going to be fun. Eggnog ho!