The best Christmases are the ones we least expect

Yesterday was the first Christmas in my entire life without extended family around. We were excited about spending the day with our son and his family at their house thirty miles away. There we would share opening presents and stuffing ourselves with turkey and trimmings.

We got white Christmas'd in. My husband, normally fearless where weather conditions are concerned, was out snow blowing our drive-way when our son called and said, while out attempting to run an errand, he couldn't get ten yards from his house. The drifts were so deep, it took the boy ten minutes just to turn around to go back home. So after my husband finished with our drive-way, and our elderly neighbor's drives, we settled in for a snug little Christmas, just the two of us.

I fixed omelettes with the cool little omelette maker we got last Christmas, and since we didn't buy a turkey or a ham, I thawed out some chicken breasts from Sam's Club and prepared a fabulous tasting baked chicken dish. Yum.

We opened our presents, four of which were new videos, and after dinner drank champagne and watched movies. An hour of telephone calls to distant family members, and we were pooped.

Though we missed out watching the glee of our grandchildren open their gifts, and the joy of family and friends, we toasted our wonderful day together, the best Christmas gift of all, a time to share our love for each other, and slept snug and warm in our bed.

I hope everyone had as wonderful a Christmas as we.

God Bless.

Yes Dorothy, there is a Christ

I know some of you don't believe in God, the Holy Ghost, and Jesus Christ. I'm not a Bible thumper by far, but people worry me.

On Fox this morning, they interviewed a woman, and atheist, who flat out said, "People need to know there is no God." I miss-quote, but it was that blunt. I had to shake my head. How is it that we didn't know this? I've gone through my entire life believing in a lie. But wait, so have others, so many others. We've all been wrong and it took one woman to bring the myth to light.

My first thought, was, "She must have been tramatized as a child when she found out there was no Santa Clause.

It seems to me, that since the world is in such a mess, people have been turning a little more to God. I don't begrudge this woman her views, in fact I hope she spreads the word high and low. It's not a new belief, or disbelief, but this kind of message is a two edged sword and I think it touches something so base,in me anyway, that triggers a defiance and brings me closer to God. If I'm doing it, so are others.

If I don't talk to you later, I wish you all a wonderful Christmas, and God Bless.

Thanksgiving is almost here--I'm so close

It's going to be Thanksgiving soon and it's imperative everything is resolved by then. My story has a little over a week to complete. I'm very excited for this holiday even though it is completely fabricated. My goal all along has been a Thanksgiving scene at the end of my book, just like in the movies. Will it be a happy Thanksgiving or a sad one? I'm not saying.

My goal is 80,000 words. I'm going to exceed that, but not by more than a few thousand. For a while I was taking so much out of the rewrite, I feared I wouldn't make that much. Not that it would have been tragic. It would still be considered a novel, just a shorter version. But no fears.

My new goal for completely finished is April 2010, but I may be able to shorten that. Last year I said the same thing, but last year was the beginning a long, long slump--writer's block is you will. When all is said and done, this novel will have taken me nearly two years to complete.

I'm breaking my arm patting myself on the back, but the fact still remains, It is not complete until I write two words at the "The End."

The final stretch

Well, here I am again, at the end of an unended story. I still must face the inevitable--completing the the thing. But where do I go from here?

I know how I want this story to end, I'm just not sure how to get there. I'll probably do what I always do and plunge ahead. Won't it be nice to finally write, "The End" at the the end. It is what keeps me going.

I'm excited. I can see the finish line, but at the moment it alludes me, kind of like a dream you are frantic to finish before you wake up. Then you wake up and try to go back to sleep to finish it. You can't, so you finish it in semi-conscience during the twilight before rational thought. But it never turns out as great as you know it would have in the dream.

Am I alone on this? I'd love to hear your thoughts about ending a story.

I got off the subject . . .

I apologize to my readers out there in blog land. I thought the global warming thing was good news, but so many people still prefer to believe that they have done Mother Earth a disservice, it's hard for them to believe. I let myself get off the subject of my blog.

So, I will stick to the subject of this blog--writing.

I'm on vacation and just wanted to check in. I'm in Oregon, my home state, visiting friends and family. There hasn't been much time for writing, but I just completed a difficult scene and wanted to brag a bit. So, as you can see, I'm a little further along and feeling satisfied.

It wasn't easy, in fact I had it down once, was satisfied with the writing. Then I hit an odd button on my computer and a box came up. I realized too late that it was asking me if I wanted to save. I had a brain fart and hit no. But you know what? I rewrote it and it came out so much better the second time. It's safely saved this time.

I'll be back in a few days. I hope everyone is keeping warm and getting lots of Christmas shopping down.
Talk to you all later.