Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Things I Learned in 2014



Karfelt The Glitter Globe Author New Year Resolutions Writing Humor
S. R. Karfelt/The Glitter Globe


  • World domination takes SO MUCH PAPERWORK. #YouCanHaveIt
  • Work and workout through the pain, or you don’t make any progress. (I just figured that out last week. #SlowLearner)
  • Who wants to live forever? Cake fat.
  • There’s really no point in me EVER owning a plant, not even a cactus.
  • Hate can turn to love. (Stairmaster. Anything invented by MicroSoft. Dogs that chase you when you jog. Your editor.)
  • Love can turn to hate. (Cake. Anything invented by MicroSoft ten minutes later. Your editor one revision later.)
  • People you love-hate feel the exact same way about you. Especially your editor (btw I totally love mine, that was all hypothetical).
  • White lies can save your life, but everyone knows the truth.
  • No matter how convenient the cabinet is, or how sparkly the folders are, I will never, ever file anything in this lifetime. #ThePilesWouldBeSad #INeedABiggerOffice
  • Novel writing is best done with no internet connection. #JustGonnaGlanceAtTwitter
  • For the love of all that is holy don’t choose a New Year’s dress without trying it on first.
  • A SPANX might rearrange your assets, but so would identify theft. The pain is the same.
  • Leave waxing to the professionals.
  • Your publisher/agent understands marketing better than you do.
  • The pedicurist is talking about how big your feet are.
  • Every year is a lesson and a revelation, but sometimes I have to retake the class.


You can bet I learned way more than this in 2014, but I also learned when to stop. How about you? What did 2014 teach you?




Tuesday, December 30, 2014

To Auld Lang Syne and Full Speed Ahead


Auld Lang Syne S. R. Karfelt
S. R. Karfelt/The Glitter Globe



And we’ll take a right gude-willie waught, for auld lang syne.

Am I carrying the Scots thing too far? Auld lang syne means times long past. Ever since I got the google, things make a lot more sense.

Let’s talk New Year’s resolutions. After a good sixty seconds thought I jotted down mine. Since I really wanted to share my wicked cool dancing photo, I’m going to share my resolutions to go with it. I’ll be looking just like that btw, as I dance in the new year.

The List (Do you like to make lists? I love to make lists!)
  1. Write.
  2. In the event of an emergency I will be putting the oxygen mask on myself first.
  3. Play. (It’s what the world needs more of, don’t you think?)
  4. Learn a new skill. Like aerial yoga with silks, or breathing fire, or a no hands cartwheel.
  5. Do something that scares me. Funny how any of the above would kind of knock this resolution off the list too, huh?

On New Year’s Eve I like to look back, count my blessings, and move on. Every year is a fresh slate with no mistakes on it (bastardized Anne Shirley quote BAM).

What are you doing for New Years? Are you going out or staying in? Are you all partied and feasted out? Judging by the joggers I see out every morning I think a lot of people are feasted out. And judging by the clothes in my closet I am too. Hello, Spinach Smoothies.

Pretty sure that spinach smoothies will help me hit every one of my resolutions, most especially the breathing fire one, right? 




Friday, December 26, 2014

Reasons Why I’d have left Jamie Fraser in 18th Century Scotland Faster than You Could Say…



Jamie Fraser The Glitter Globe S. R. Karfelt
The Glitter Globe by S. R. Karfelt




  • Hot Water. When it comes to choosing between hot loving and hot water, I might go with the former until I crippled myself, but eventually I’d cave like a snake in winter.
  • My Nose. You cannot take a 21st Century nose and shove it mercilessly into the 18th Century Highlands and not expect it to run. If there are legs attached, that nose is heading for a world full of antihistamines, deodorant and toothpaste.
  • My Hair. If you were born under a Big Hair Yeti Curse, you’d understand there is a maintenance schedule that must be adhered to. I’m not talking like Oh, wah wah I haven’t shaved in a week my legs are scratchy! I’m talking daily shaving or I run the risk of being darted and taking center stage at a Sasquatch festival. If I went a month without shaving, the entire Fraser clan would likely hunt me down and make a rug out of my pelt.
  • Electricity. In this instance I have a frame of reference. At least two weeks a year I go without electricity and while I enjoy my time in the bush, I enjoy returning to civilization even more. You shouldn’t ever forget that electricity is magic, and don’t even get me started on the wonder of toilets that flush.
  • The Supermarket. My Dear Hubby is a hunter/fisherman and I know how much work goes into it. I also live in the middle of farms and the Amish. Hunting and growing your own food is never ending work. I can see it happening from the windows in my office, besides I know in my heart I could love Jamie across time while I toss fresh tortillas, Pepper Jack cheese, and Avocados into my cart at Wegmans, just sayin’.
  • Medical Care. Admittedly I won’t take any prescription drugs, and I tend to only loosely follow what the doctor tells me based on how Google feels about it, but I like having options should any of my hardware or software decide to revolt, and I’d want the same thing for my loved ones.
  • Airplanes. Do you ever think about the fact that you can get on one of those and go anyplace in the world? Think about it.
  • And I’m already married. The degree that would come into play when competing against Jamie Fraser from Outlander, would rest entirely on whether or not it was hunting or fishing season. Hey, just keeping it real.

Oh, sure, I’d forever regret leaving Jamie once I returned to the 21st Century. Surely
The Glitter Globe Outlander A Covenant Keeper Novel Humor
S. R. Karfelt
he’d haunt me every waking moment and I’d never stop missing him. As a tribute I’d probably write a series of books about him and my madcap adventures in the past, just like I suspect Diana Gabaldon has done. 

Wait. Why can’t Jamie just come here anyway? Have you ever thought of that? I think we should ask Diana that.

Now what about you? What would be your reasons for leaving or would you stay with the kilted man of your dreams? Decisions, decisions. Should I stay or should I go now


Monday, December 22, 2014

Organizational Behavior



Organizing Office Organizing Writing Tools S. R. Karfelt
The Glitter Globe Copyright 2014




Do you have a system? I have a system.


It's how I keep my stuff organized. Every book I write has a box of index cards with characters, places, names of things, and every book has timelines written on long 24" x 3" sentence strips.


And every book has various versions of Microsoft Word documents ranging in size from 30,000 words or so up to some that are over 600,000 words. I wrote quietly and in the closet for many years.


Every other random thought gets jotted onto small bits of paper and paper clipped together by dates or subjects, but some always escape to litter my office, and the best ones get scotch taped somewhere.


Do you see where I'm going with this? My organizational skills need revamped. At least I thought so earlier today when I spent two hours searching enormous old documents (which miraculously did not crash my computer, thank heavens).


I used someone's name in a different book, and remembered choosing another name for the old one, but couldn't remember what it was, or find anything with it written down.


You can't just change a name, even if you can’t remember it. I knew I had the perfect one someplace. At least I can't change a name. It's like renaming one of my kids, and I only did that once. Kidding, it was just a nickname.


Eventually I dragged out all my index boxes and dug through them. The work that goes into a novel astonishes me, but of course I did take my sweet time with them. Did I find the name? Not in the index boxes either.


That left the random bits of paper that I’d clipped together in cryptic patterns that only the muse can understand, and when I start hunting for something the muse abandons me like fans of a disgraced Hollywood actor. “You so on your own, sweetheart.”


And I found it. Yep. It reaffirmed my trust in my broken organizational skills too. Sure, I could have found it quicker if I had a better system (maybe). But a better system would take an epic revamp, and just think of all the stories I could write instead of reorganizing my office!


Pretty sure what I’ll do instead is just try to make the mess I’ve already created a bit more sensical (which isn’t an official word yet, outside of the Urban Dictionary, which doesn’t work for me. I mean if nonsensical is a word, why can't we have sensical?)


And that is why one of my New Year’s Resolutions will be simply, be neater, rather than, get organized. Baby steps, right? That’s why my health resolutions also sound like, eat healthier, rather than, make your size six jeans too big again, and, put your headphones on an hour every day and move, takes precedence over, run three miles before breakfast every day.



I’ve decided I like myself too much to torture myself. That job is for editors, accountants, and the blue state I sometimes live in, right? How about you? Are you torturing yourself with New Year’s Resolutions? Or are you going to be kind to your awesome self this year? Dish. 



Thursday, December 18, 2014

Glittery Gifts


(And by glittery I mean things the recipient will remember and not actual glitter, which we both know is the herpes of the craft world.) 



Holiday Gift Ideas S. R. Karfelt
Glittery Gift Ideas


  • An Experience instead of a Thing. If you’re into the whole “one for you, one for me” holiday thing, or if you actually want to spend time with the recipient, include yourself in this. Give tickets to see a comedy show, theater, or a sporting event together.
  • Go with a theme. After he was bitten during a squirrel rescue attempt, I gave a friend a squirrel gift every Christmas for at least a decade. It just never got old for me. Fortunately he now owns a hedgehog, so I’ve moved on.
  • Give something that you can do together as soon as it’s opened. I recommend these great awful games: Cards Against Humanity (really bad, really funny, but really bad), Dirty Minds (meh, I play it with my Mother in Law, so it’s not so bad—either that or my MIL is just bad—it might be the latter), but the game Quelf is rather epic and suitable if you’re playing with kids.
  • Absolutely anything you’ve made by hand. One of my favorite gifts ever was a walk-in sized butterfly cage my husband made for me. If you have a mad skill, share it. One of my best gifts this year was handmade. Check this out.


S. R. Karfelt The Glitter Globe
Outlander drawing by Laura Katherine Copyright 2014



Right? Crazy talent. Last year I made a lot of blown glass gifts, but all I’ve got this year is this. *insert obligatory, yet brief, book advertisement here*



HEARTLESS A Shieldmaiden's Choice by S. R. Karfelt



Other than a few lame attempts at cooking meals, all I’ve made this year are books. Like that’s a small thing. My point is, whatever your talent is, share it!

  • If you’ve discovered anything that thrilled you this year, it’s a potential gift idea. I discovered butter olive oil at a local shop, and I’m giving that to neighbors and friends. #ShopLocal (You can bake with butter olive oil! Totally amaze-balls.) (Attention Neighbors and Friends: Feign surprise when I show up with it next week, and tell me you’ve heard it’s amaze-balls.)
  • Whatever happened to fruit baskets? I know someone who has a large collection of glassware and bowls. She has her local supermarket make fruit baskets with them. Isn’t that a great idea? I’m stealing it like an artist.
  • If fruit and olive oil are too healthy for you, and you’re not into shopping either, order something they’ll be trying to work off for the next six months—something like Swiss Colony petit fours (my own personal brand of heroin).
  • And if money is no object, you can go with a box of Godiva chocolates. If money is an object #RealWorld, wait until the day after Christmas when Barnes & Noble usually sells them for 50% off. #YouHeardThatHere #SomeThingsAreWorthWaitingFor


***


Abandon All Pride if you play Quelf
But I won!
That’s enough of that. Hopefully I’ve given you some good ideas. I’ll try to get a blog out of FREE stuff to give, just in case you’re having a rough year financially or suffering through ten years of crippling student loans. 

In the meantime, what is the best gift you’re giving this year? Please put some gift ideas in the comments. Whoever you're giving it to will never know, because the only one who reads my comments are the people who sell Viagra. But maybe you’ll give them something else to think about. 



Monday, December 15, 2014

A Glittery Book Release for Parker J. Cole!



The Glitter Globe Book Release
The Other Man by Parker J. Cole


Leah Westwood loves her husband Jacob with all her heart, even as the smoldering glances of her ex-flame Vincent Miller continue to affect her. What she once shared with Vincent threatens to rip apart the bonds she is trying to build with her husband.

Jacob's heart belongs to Leah, but his body refuses to accept that. Rachel is the one who has been his mainstay at the most difficult times in his life. How could he leave her alone?

Vincent wants Leah back and all he has to do is watch and wait as Jacob and Leah's relationship unravels.

Ultimately, Leah must make a choice . . . between fantasy and fidelity.



Parker J. Cole is a writer and radio show host who spends most of her time reading, knitting, writing, cooking, and concocting new ideas for stories. 

Her first novel, Dark Cherub, won Best of Spring Reading 2013 from eMediaCampaigns. 

She lives in Michigan with her husband and beloved dog Sarah.

Visit her site at www.ParkerJCole.com


Twitter: @parkerjcole

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Day Tripping at The Grand Canyon


The Glitter Globe Trippin at the Canyon
What I don't understand is, if pictures of the Grand Canyon make it look small,
why doesn't that work for me? 




The Glitter Globe Trippin at the Canyon
I recommend flying or driving to the canyon.
Don't take a bus. Trust me.




The Glitter Globe Trippin at the Canyon
Maverick Airlines flies to the Grand Canyon airport. It's a super small airport, commuter planes only. And from the air the runway appears to end about where the canyon starts. #FreakingOut




Tripping at the Canyon The Glitter Globe
My first glimpse of the canyon always makes me cry. I don't know why.
I suppose it's just that GRAND. (See what I did there?)




Trippin at the Canyon The Glitter Globe
Pictures don't do it justice, but let's try anyway. This is the top of Bright Angel Trail (South Rim). See that green strip on the floor in the middle of the picture? That's Indian Gardens and it's 4.7 miles away. Start hiking.




The Glitter Globe Tripping at the Canyon
And we're talking 277 miles long, 18 miles wide, and a mile deep. So don't sit on the edge and dangle your feet in, you ninny.




The Glitter Globe Tripping at the Canyon
And don't just start walking. Do your research. You need to carry water.
Yes people fall in, and yes people die there. 




The Glitter Globe Trippin at the Canyon
But tourists can do any freaky thing they like from the rim, and they do. And where can I get
a selfie stick? Because sometimes I hike into the canyon and sometimes I just day trip the rim.




The Glitter Globe Trippin at the Canyon
A day trip to the canyon isn't even first base, and you'll want to go all the way there.
But take what you can get. It's worth the effort.

***

Photos used by permission of B. C. Karfelt
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED



Sunday, December 7, 2014

Why I Go to Vegas Even Though I Don’t Gamble





The Bellagio Conservatory Not Gambling in Vegas
Photo Credit Bailey Catherine (Use with Photographer Consent Only)




  • Easy access to one of my favorite destinations—the Grand Canyon!
  • Hotel rooms that look like they do in movies.
  • If you don’t gamble it’s not all that expensive!
  • It’s perfectly acceptable to be a night owl in Vegas.
  • The themed hotel/casinos.
    • Pictures from the top of the Eiffel Tower.
    • The conservatory at the Bellagio.
    • Gondolas inside the Venetian.
    • Try to see them all.
  • Shows—they’re often over the top and involve glitter. I mean what more could you want? Get cheap seats and see two.
  • Fun workouts. There’s yoga with dolphins (Mirage), or aerial yoga (off the strip), giant gyms in the hotels, or just walk the strip until your legs give out (you can take the tram back).
  • Epic window shopping. You can collect free samples if you can resist the sales pitches, and try on dresses that cost more than your car.
  • Holey Spa, Batman. Have you ever gone in a Vegas spa? Here’s the scoop, the services are pricey, but you can get any service and spend the entire day using the spa’s facilities. Sometimes you can even just pay for a day pass. They have assorted rain rooms, steams rooms, and other magical delights. I spent three days in a salt grotto. I take advantage of this feature.
  • My favorite Vegas spas are in the Venetian (Canyon Ranch, you must go there), and the Bellagio. My roomie loved the Mirage spa too. I’m sorry I couldn’t leave the salt grotto to check out any more.
  • The weather. It’s the desert, there is sun there a lot of the time. Take all the sunscreen and moisturizer you have if you go.
  • The bathrooms. Sweet Pete, they’re amaze-balls. My roomie and I did bathroom mirror selfies out of awe for the work that went into them!
  • The people. I meet the nicest people there. From Rosa who cheerfully accepted my freebie tea coupons every morning, to my Bulgarian cab driver who told me about working in a fish processing plant in -40° weather (writers ask a lot of questions), to the lady who ran the elevator to the top of the Eiffel Tower and sang to me, they were terrific.


Not Gambling in Vegas, The Bellagio Conservatory
Photo Credit B.C. Permission Only
And that is why I like to go to Vegas even though I don’t gamble. It’s an excellent vacation destination. I took my laptop so I could write, because I went during NaNoWriMo, but my laptop really needed a vacation too, you know.


What do you think? Are you interested in going, or do you already like Vegas yourself?







Thursday, December 4, 2014

Of Moonbeams and Fairies Collected Tales




The Glitter Globe Blue Harvest Creative
Of Moonbeams and Fairies by Rebecka Vigus



Isn’t this cover delicious? This is a fairytale book by award winning author Rebecka Vigus. This book was love at first sight for me, and I stalked Rebecka via social media to ask her a couple questions for a Glitterview. She was kind enough to put up with agree to play.


Welcome, Rebecka! May the odds be ever in your favor! Let the glittery inquisition commence!


Magical stuff delights me. As a child I read the original Grimm’s Fairy Tales and found them rather grim. Does your book turn any mermaids to foam or in any way abuse mythical creatures like the Brother’s Grimm does? No mermaids, sorry. Nothing on the Brothers Grimm style.


What age group would you say this book is ideal for? The book is a good read for ages 8 and up. It would have to be read to younger children.


I ordered a copy of this as a gift for my niece for Christmas (if you’re reading this Emmy, I mean my other niece—and if my other niece is reading this, it’s for a secret niece you two don’t know about). Rebecka, would you consider crossed fingers to be suitable protection against lying? (Because I may have gotten some of my brothers-in-law into serious trouble with this one.) There is no reason it couldn't be. No, crossing your fingers won't save you from a lie. You will eventually be found out.


Since you wrote a book about fairies, I’m going to assume that you’re somewhat of an expert, and as I’ve worried about this since I was a kid—what happens to fairies in the winter? Do they go south for the season? Fairies do not migrate. It is my understanding they do remain mostly indoors....in their tree homes during winter. They have suffered through many a gale coming off the North Sea (or in my case, off the Great Lakes).


Now for a glimpse into the magic inside those beautiful covers...Let the moon beams take you where your imagination lives, is the best one line description for this anthology of poems and short stories. In it you will meet Twitter the fairy as well as Chauncey O’Shay the leprechaun. Visit the land where unicorns roam and meet Princess Violet. There are poems about gypsies, magic, fairies, fireflies, and gnomes. You can find out about the inhabitants of a tree and the life in the blades of grass in your backyard. Magic is everywhere.



If you’d like a sneak peek inside the book, click HERE for a glimpse of the gorgeous interiors. Click here to head over to the Big A and pick up a copy. 




Award winning author of Crossing the Line, Rebecka Vigus spends her time writing, reading, crocheting, hiking, and swimming.
The Glitter Globe Blue Harvest Creative
Author Rebecka Vigus

Sanctuary the third book in her Macy McVannel series released in August. She is busy penning book four Something Borrowed, Something Blue. Book five is percolating on a back burner. In the meantime, she is stepping into a new area with her children’s book titled Of Moonbeams and Fairy Dust.

Ms. Vigus has been writing since she was in her pre-teens. Her first book was poetry, Only a Start. She later expanded it to be Only a Start and Beyond. She also wrote a self-help book for tweens and teens; So You Think You Want to be a Mommy? She followed those with four mystery novels, Secrets; Out of the Flames, Target of Vengeance, and Cold Case: Sleeping Dogs Lie. Ms. Vigus has been listed as a Michigan Author and Illustrator at the state of Michigan website.

If you'd like to get to know more about this lovely lady, check her out on-line, and don't be shy! Say hello, and ask her all your fairy tale questions should you be so inclined. You can find her in all the popular hangouts! Twitter! Facebook! and her own awesome blog! You can also e-mail her at: southern_belle2013 @yahoo.com. All of her books are available through amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.

Thursday, November 13, 2014

A Byte of Romance

S. R. Karfelt Writer Books Warrior of the Ages
Glitter Globe Love--I Married an Engineer




What happens when an Archery Hunting Dilberty-Engineer marries a Part-Time Vegetarian Writer?


Stuff.


You know that last part of the wedding ceremony when the officiate says, “Let the games commence!” What? You don’t know that part? I think they usually whisper it, as an aside.


Maybe that was just at my wedding. I’m thinking about my wedding because it is anniversary time for Dear Hubby and me.


According to Hallmark this year is a precious metal and jewels anniversary. Please feel free to bestow these treasures lavishly, should the mood strike you. My Dear Hubby says I just like to put sparkly jewels in drawers but since I don’t like them to touch me, he won’t buy them. The man absolutely refuses to be a good capitalist in this regard, anarchist that he is.


Once Upon a Time we had a big fat white wedding. My mother-in-law invited her entire church choir. My father-in-law invited his bowling team. Most of the men in Dear Hubby’s family danced with me while complaining that it was the first day of small game season. (That’s a thing, apparently. Who knew?) I knew whatever they were going on about didn’t matter. I knew my Tarzan would stop hunting anyway, after the wedding, and we’d spend our days in idyllic bliss reading poetry, visiting museums, and dancing.


I got married very young and naïve.


As Dear Hubby’s BFF has often said to me over the years, “Well, I guess that makes you the dumb ***.”


WARNING—WARNING—WARNING: If you marry a hunter during hunting season, you will celebrate anniversaries with your girlfriends. This is not a bad thing. I just thought you should know. Either that or your hunter will quit hunting and you’ll spend your days in idyllic bliss reading poetry, visiting museums, and dancing.


Hey, we live in an infinite universe, right?


The first anniversary I recall being in the same place as Dear Hubby was our fifth. I was writing and I noticed the date. I called out to him, “Do you know what today is?”


“The day we turn the clocks back,” he replied.


“Yes, but it’s something else too…”


He got that worried look in his eyes that husbands get during pop quizzes. The next anniversary I remember celebrating together was a couple years after that. We’d traveled cross country to visit my in-laws, coincidentally it was also so DH could hunt, but he took me out to a really fancy restaurant and slid a pretty velvet box across the table for me. It was an absolutely spectacular silver and gold watch. I was stunned, especially when he waited expectantly for his gift.


“Um. I didn’t get you anything, I’m sorry,” I said.


“That’s okay,” he said. He’s a very forgiving man, but he looked disappointed.


“I’m really sorry, I didn’t know we were giving gifts this year,” I said.


“Don’t we always?” he asked.


“No. I think this is the first time you’ve ever given me an anniversary gift. I love it.”


He slumped back in his chair. “Shoot. I forgot. I wouldn’t have spent the money, but I know I sent you flowers before.”


“I love flowers,” I said.


“I don’t like to buy flowers. They just die,” he said.


“Well, everything dies, including wives.”


“Hopefully not as fast as flowers do.” Why can I never win that argument? Fortunately, what with the wild success of my books, I can now afford to purchase all the mums and daisies I want at the supermarket—and they last really well, until the next royalty payment rolls in the following month.


Leading the good life.


And that’s what happens when an Archery Hunting Dilberty-Engineer marries a Part-Time Vegetarian Writer. At least so far. But as I like to say, “Let the games commence!”

***


So, if you were to sum up yourself and your significant other, how would you say it? Part-Time Fashionista, and Full-Time S'mores Goddess, marries Beef Jerky Aficionado, and Free Lance Arm Chair Conspiracy Theorist? And if you don’t have a significant other yet, feel free to hypothesize and just make one up. I dig that fiction stuff.


Friday, November 7, 2014

We Interrupt This Blog Because We Have a Novel to Write--NaNoWriMoMyWay





Technical Difficulties Please Stand By The Glitter Globe S. R. Karfelt
The Glitter Globe




Right now I’m in the middle of NaNoWriMo.


NaNoWriMo (one word—na-noh-RY-moh) stands for National Novel Writing Month. It’s a real thing where many writers attempt to write the entire first draft of a novel in one month. That’s 50,000 words if you follow the official guideline. Yes there is a site where you can log in your daily word count, and it’s hard to move through social media this month without bumping elbows with some wild-eyed sleep-deprived writer staring down this challenge.



Every week of this month I’ll be writing my book while holed up in different locations.
NaNoWriMo Vs. S. R. Karfelt
This is only the first week and I’ve already completely flipped my days around, ate raw oatmeal for breakfast, told someone who woke me up at noon that I work nights dancing on tables, and pounded out almost 23,000 words. Writing at night is just my thing; I like the quiet of it. While I write fairly fast, I’m also writing a complex series that requires concentration, and while I like good food I just don’t want to take too much time to make it.



So all I have for you today is my Covenant Keeper Oatcake recipe. You can microwave it (I do), but just don’t let anyone from Warrior of the Ages know I recommended that.


Smash an organic banana.


Add maple syrup if you like stuff extra sweet.
I usually skip this.


Add about 5 Tbsp oatmeal - not instant.


Stir in some raisins if you like.
Nuke ~ 3 minutes, bake if you're a Covenant Keeper!


Turn onto a plate and top with Greek Yogurt. Yum.




Happy Breakfast—or whatever meal you don’t have much time for. I’m subsisting on fairly healthy fast food this week. That’s bag salads and veggies, yogurt, and gallons of iced tea, not to mention that I’ve eaten four giant honey crisp apples every single day—so far. There may have been one 3:00 a.m. encounter with a container of Halloween sprinkles and a spoon, but let’s not talk about that.


Now I’m going back to my MS (manuscript) and already looking forward to next week, because I’ll be able to order take-out salads for nearly every meal next week. This is going to be fun—I like to meander, and look forward to tackling NaNoWriMo wherever the wind blows me! If you want to guess where I'm writing from this week, I'll give you a clue...there are hobbits here.