De-Christmifying

That's what I call when I take down the Christmas decorations at home: de-Christmisfying the house.

I'm almost done. Everything is packed up except the tree and the ornaments. Not sure why, but I got into the Christmas spirit early this year...and got out of it pretty quick, too.

Jump-starting the novel

I've finally decided to give myself the kick-in-the-ass I needed, so I'm participating in a January Challenge at my online writer's group. This month, I'm going to do my edits and rewrites to the novel guerilla-style, setting a goal of 7 pages a day from now until January 31st. At that rate, by the end of this month, the book will be ready to send to my agent.

I've been struggling with the whole fiction genre--non-fiction has always been my comfort zone--but I love the story/plot that I've created, and it's about time I get it out there.

Wish me luck!



(illustration by John Jonik, The New Yorker, 8/15/88 -- one of my all-time favorites)