Happy Short Girl Appreciation Day To Me
December 21 is Short Girl Appreciation Day. I am a short girl—5’1” in my stocking feet. So I hope to be appreciated today. In Catholic school, we frequently lined up by height. I was always one of the shortest girls in my class in school. Of course, I was a year younger than most of […]
First Visit with Santa—Better on Zoom?
A couple of weeks ago a friend told me about her family’s experience setting up a visit from Santa for her grandchildren this year. Two of her grandkids are four-year-old boys. Of course, they need to see Santa, pandemic or no pandemic. So parents and grandparents are working on a way for the grandsons to […]
On Christmas Trees and Vacuums
’Tis the season for putting up Christmas trees. My husband and I have not yet purchased our tree this year, but, as he says, we are “closing in on it.” Which is another way of saying “it’s on my radar screen.” Which are both military-speak for “I’m thinking about it, and it might happen in […]
New Books by Kansas City Area Authors
Books by local authors make great holiday gifts. Many of these books will be unknown to the recipients, and readers can discover new authors to read and enjoy. I don’t have a new book published in 2020 under my name, but here are some books published this year by other Kansas City area authors that […]
My 900th Post: What Should I Do Differently on This Blog?
WordPress tells me this is my 900th post on this blog. At an average of around 500 words/post, that’s 450,000 words, or about four novels. As I wrote in my last post, it takes me 16-20 hours a month to write two posts per week, and I could probably write about 25,000 on a novel […]
Will I Do NaNoWriMo Again?
Forgive me one more post on NaNoWriMo. Now that it’s over, I’ve been asking myself whether I should do it again some year. Although there are some NaNoWriMo groupies who do it every year, I don’t think I’m one of them. In fact, I’m not sure I will ever participate again. One reason I don’t […]
NaNoWriMo 2020, Week 5 — FINAL TALLY (almost)
I finished the draft of this new novel on Thanksgiving Day. Since then, I’ve been filling in some gaps, trying to get to at least the NaNoWriMo pace each day. Through Sunday, November 29, I wrote 93,200 words. The NaNoWriMo pace for that period is 48,343 words, and my personal pace of 2,000 words/day is […]
NaNoWriMo 2020, Week 4, and the Home Stretch
Through Sunday, November 22, my total word count is 77,400 words. The NaNoWriMo pace for that period is 36,674 words, and the pace I set for myself of 2,000 words/day would have put me at 44,000. Although my pace is slowing from the blistering 4,000 words/day of the first week, I am continuing to make […]
NaNoWriMo 2020: Well, I Did It. Now What?
From the start of the month through Sunday, November 15, I wrote over 57,000 words on my next novel. Whew! So, I satisfied the NaNoWriMo target of 50,000 words in a month. I actually hit 50,000 on Friday the 13th, so I guess it was a lucky day for me. The NaNoWriMo pace through November […]
NaNoWriMo 2020, Week 2 Is Underway
On Sunday, November 8, I hit 30,000 words! The NaNoWriMo pace for that period is 13,336 words, and my personal pace of 2,000 words/day is 16,000. So I have blown past my goals. I have never written 30,000 words in a month, let alone in eight days. And I’ve been amazed at how much fun […]