LOLCAT Freidayz

Additionally, for a very humorous take on cat life, I would recommend Abbie's blog.

Secrets to cope series: 3

CHOCOLATE.

'nuf said.

Interrupting these scheduled posts...

...to squee. 

Why squee, you ask? 

(Imagine a six foot tall goofy-looking chick dancing from toe to toe here)

I have a new id-eeeeeeeeeeea!

I have a new id-eeeeeeeeeeea!

I had to call the hubs to tell him (since I was driving) so he could email it to me. I couldn't pull over at the time. (I feel much much better too! YAY all around!) 

I love that moment. When it springs all to life and everything is sparkly and shiny and you are so excited you bounce, like Perry L. Crandall (seriously, if you haven't read Lottery, read it!) 

I was bouncing. 

Now I've got to get on FS, so I can finish it (won't be a problem as now it's going quite swimmingly), so I can start with Shad!

Yup, that's his name. Shadduck. And he is a riot. 

I have a new id-eeeeeeeeeeea!

I have a new id-eeeeeeeeeeea!

SQUEE

How did you handle imagination...

..as a kid? 

I'm coming to you. Did you daydream? Draw? Write? Read? Did you try to stay away from it? 

I did many of the above. I was a problem in school because of my daydreaming tendencies, and no homework was turned in bare on the sides - I doodled and drew over everything. My school (back in the day, I am SO OLD) was way into corporal punishment and I got spanked like fury *all the time*. Horrible. 

And it didn't help a bit, either. 

So I'm looking for your opinions. How did you handle your imagination? 

HM

Today is one of the bad days. You've had 'em, I've had 'em, but they happen a lot more right now than normal. Eh. 

Where everything is very loopy in my head, where my emotions are wavering between utter content, utter madness and a bit of depression sprinkled like sugar over the top. The new book is now going well, don't get me wrong, but there's always the "submissions process" dangling like a big booger from the nose of my subconscious.

(What a mental image, huh? But it's so true. A big mental booger.)

Then I got an email from a friend..."P will leave her muddy footprints in some editor's heart" ...

...and that made me feel better. 

And a big congrats to...

Kathi Appelt, on her Newbery Award Medal Honors! 

I interviewed Kathi here on the blog and found her just a class act. 

(Of course, I wish the others great congrats too, but Kathi and I, we have a history)

YAY!

Squee squee squiddly-squee

I just want to make it official: 

my agent is made of pure, pure awesome. 

She is fantastic, full of knowledge and can answer an *admittedly* idiot question without making me feel a moron. Plus she is a hardworking, multi-tasking, freakishly lucky and funny and everything person. 

I'm just saying, if I had to fight off teh zombees, I know she'd have a whole other way of putting the smackdown on their dead behinds. 

;)

Facebook makes a joke. Kind of.

So, you all know I'm from Oklahoma. 

And now I'm on Facebook, in addition to Twittah, and this blawg, and the www. address...I am so down with all this stuff. 

Lots of people make fun of Oklahomans, and it's just not right. But yesterday I became a member of this group on Facebook: the You Know You're from Oklahoma When. 

So hysterical. You *so* don't want to know how many of these I'm down with.

You know you're from Oklahoma when: 

1. You can properly pronounce Eufaula, Gotebo, Okemah, and Chickasha.
2. You think that people who complain about the wind in their states are sissies.
3. A tornado warning siren is your signal to go out in the yard and look for a funnel.
4. Your idea of a traffic jam is ten cars waiting to pass a tractor on the highway.
5. You've ever had to switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day.
6. You know that the true value of a parking space is not determined by the distance to the door, but by the availability of shade.

7. Stores don't have bags, they have sacks.
8. You see people wear bib overalls at funerals.
9. You think everyone from a bigger city has an accent.
10. You measure distance in minutes.
11. You refer to the capital of Oklahoma as "The City."
12. It doesn't bother you to use an airport named for a man who died in an airplane crash
13. Little smokies are something you serve only for special occasions.
14. You go to the lake because you think it is like going to the ocean.
15. You listen to the weather forecast before picking out an outfit.
16. You know cow pies are not made of beef.
17. Someone you know has used a football schedule to plan their wedding date.
18. You have known someone who has had one belt buckle bigger than your fist.
19. A bad traffic jam involves two cars staring each other down at a four-way stop, each determined to be the most polite and let the other go first.
20. You know in which state Miam-uh is and in which state Miam-ee is.
21. You aren't surprised to find movie rental, ammunition, and bait all in the same store.
22. Your "place at the lake" has wheels under it.
23. A Mercedes Benz is not a status symbol. A Ford F350 4x4 is a GT.
24. You know everything goes better with Ranch.
25. You learned how to shoot a gun before you learned how to multiply.
26. You actually get these jokes and are "fixin" to send them to your friends.

Finally, you are 100% Oklahoman if you have ever heard this conversation:
"You wanna coke?" "Yeah." "What kind?" "Dr. Pepper."

LOLCAT Freidayz...movie version

Secrets to Cope series: 2

Sometimes you need something just completely un writing related to help you get through this looooong process. 

May I present: 

The best, coolest, awesome-est show on television for your coping pleasure....

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA

I love this show. Love it. Not just for the beefcake. Not just for the tough, smart women characters. 

Not just for Gaius Baltar. 

(Although mark my words, that will be the name of our next cat. For a vomitous little maggot of a bad guy, you just can't help rooting for the little creep.)

The plot is outstanding. They constantly keep you guessing but the writers know their universe so well that you realize you SHOULD have known that plot twist, in hindsight. So it's a constant face:palm.

I've lost count of how many times I've seen the shows, the webisodes, the secret websites, the fan-blogs and official bits. Lots. 

This show helps me cope. And for that, I love it. 

So say we all. 

Do you have an opinion? If ja, can I have it?

So I have a problem. 

Last week I realized my plot was off. Wayyy off. I knew what I set out to do was not being accomplished in this book, and so I decided to change it. I lay in my bed and worked out the plot how it *should* be going, and realized almost from the first chapter the changes I'll have to make. 

I spent a second to mourn the 25k I've got, but bucked up. I'll be able to use lots of it further on in the book, so okay. 

HOWEVER: The dilemma. And I'd like your opinion on this. 

So you know you have to begin almost completely over. 

Do you start over and work right from the beginning? 

Or do you start where you're at, and do the rewrites for the front later?

I'm leaning towards the second option, mainly because I need to see the threads to work it in later. But I'm really not sure. 

What would you do? 

An Interview with Patricia Wood (Lottery)

My author interview doesn't need much of an intro. She's been many things, but most important to us here, a writer. A debut author, if you will, that's done good. And has the awards and movie options to prove it, as well as a debut story that just doesn't let you go. May I present … Patricia Wood!! 
 
Hey, Pat! Everywhere I looked they were focusing on the money you received for your advance, the boat you live on, the fact your dad won the Lottery, and your ex's brother. That is already available information on the internet, so why don't we go into some untraveled waters for our little interview here? (No pun intended.) 

JKB: I know you said on another interview that originally someone tried to get you to change to third from first person. (I'm glad you held out) Was Perry always a First narrative?  

 

PW: It wasn’t so much they tried to get me to change, it was the fact they felt I was limiting myself – and the reader. In first POV, your character can’t know everything. You have to be more creative and figure out the intent of your vision and of how your book needs to be. I never agonized at all. I knew I wanted to tell the story using an unreliable narrator and have the perspective of a person who had a cognitive disability.

 

JKB: Which do you prefer, First or Third person?

PW: It has nothing to do with what I prefer. It has to do with how best the story needs to be told. I like the immediacy of first person. I LOVE to play with second person. For example, I loved the book And Then We Came to the End because it’s second person plural. How great is that? I enjoy experimenting and will write a story in first, change it to third and dabble in second. My next book is first person telling a story about another person which comes off as close third person. So many writers are hung up on a preferred POV. Anything done well can work.

JKB: I read that you whipped through that first draft in three months. How long did Lottery cook in your brain before you started? 

 

PW: That’s somewhat deceptive. I think of hours not months. As soon as I got the idea, I started writing. I was at a place in my PhD program where I was SUPPOSED to be working on my dissertation proposal. Instead, I worked 10 to 16 hours a day 7 days a week “on fire” with this first draft. I have no children at home- the boat is small- there were a lot of factors that allowed me the freedom to eat, sleep and live my novel. The first draft was generally the same story and I had no major revisions. I just worked on deepening the narrative. I did much editing with both my agent and then my editor at Putnam. Again, I sat down and immersed myself with each editorial letter. Not many writers have that luxury. My very first novel took 2 years as I was teaching at the same time. I used my excuse of wanting my PhD to try to become a novelist. I’m just very fortunate it worked out. I can’t emphasize enough that you must simply sit down and write. Nothing else. Write.

 

JKB: I have to be honest with you – Lottery is one of my favourite books that I've read in recent memory, although I can't put a finger on a particular reason. There are so many: the characters, the What if intrigue, Keith and Cherry, Perry and Cherry...the themes underneath it all…What, for you, makes a book compulsively readable and a favourite for years to come? 

 

PW: For me it’s the story and caring what happens to the characters. As a writer, you must get the reader to care. To want to turn each page. My desire is always to create a world in which my reader becomes lost. The more seductive that world is, the more the reader is loath to leave it.

When you near the end of a book? And feel disappointment that your literary journey is ending? That’s my goal. I want the reader to feel great satisfaction and yet disappointment the book ended. That will get them to re read your novel.

 

JKB: Better late than never, as they say. You started writing at 50, and Lottery is your fourth book. I know you had other ideas...what prevented you from writing during those years? Did you ever think to yourself, 'this is insanity', but kept on? How do you work through bouts of insecurity?--

 

PW: I always wrote, but my writing stayed hidden deep in my drawer. Outside of a few magazine articles and my high school journalism work, it never occurred to me it was possible for ME to be published. With the advent of computers, I was able to see I might be able to finish a manuscript. You might say I had all these ideas percolating for 50 years and when I finally sat down the write, both my life experiences and technology made it possible. While I wrote those first few novels I did occasionally say to my husband, “What if this is just a big giant waste of time, and it never goes anywhere?”

And he asked me if I was having fun, and I said yes, and then he said well, that was really the point wasn’t it?

I never had insecurity; I just knew being published was very unlikely to happen. After my first manuscript was finished (I thought lol!) that’s when I started to go to the Maui Writers Retreat and Conference and there I learned about the business side of publishing and the technical side of writing.

 

JKB: Do you feel the pressure has increased now, after Lottery's fantastic success? 

 

PW: Lottery has had much success and for that I am grateful. If there is pressure, it is from knowing I have readers waiting for my next book. I will still take my time. I’m always impressed with authors who have the discipline to have years between books. I do think it takes time to make a book the best it can be. People try to get you to rush and that is wearying. I told my agent I didn’t want to be “on contract” and sell a novel on just pages and a synopsis. That would paralyze me and I’m in awe of writers who can do that. I do think I now realize more fully that a book will not please everyone. That a book can have a wide appeal but still fall short in some reviewer’s or reader’s eyes. Although it’s difficult, a writer must accept that this is an integral part of literary art and bow down to it. This is why it’s most important to please yourself. To write for yourself. I kid around that I am my own demographic. And that is true.

 

JKB: Are you in a critique group? Do you find it helpful, if so?

 

PW: No and No. A writer has to be very careful especially in the beginning. I think workshops facilitated by an instructor (Like at the Maui Retreat) are the best. Especially for those starting out. There’s a tendency for critique groups to be really negative. Keeping in mind that every novel doesn’t appeal to everyone – it’s difficult to gather like-minded people together.

Feedback is important, but I think you have to decide what kind. Do you need more help technically with grammar and literary strategies? Then take college classes. Do you want to learn more about the structure of a novel? Then take specific workshops. There is so much offered online and through out the country. There are so many books on the subject it’s really possible to be self-taught as I am. Simply reading what you want to write is useful. I’ve had more good input from my beta readers for my various manuscripts- I don’t use writers – I have a group of readers that will read a later draft. All I ask them to do it mark when they put it down i.e. stop reading and mark when they have a w.t.f. (what the f***?) which usually means a lack of clarity in characterization or narrative.

Readers are more useful to me than writers. That being said, once a year I take my work to the Maui retreat and work on the technical aspect of writing.

 

JKB: I have my characters look everywhere, drives me nuts on second and third runthroughs. Others I know have favourite words they use over and over. Others favourite plots. But you? Do you have any little hangups? 

 

PW: I probably do but I don’t worry about them. If they are important they’ll be weeded out in the editing and it no one notices they were probably not that intrusive to begin with. 

I give myself permission to have lots of telling not showing, purple prose, and melodrama in my first few drafts. Like sculpting, I want to start out with too much rather than too little. That’s my own way of writing. To add and then subtract and then add again and subtract to try to get the exact combination I want.

 

JKB: How important has a mentor been for you during this crazy process you went through? I know you met a very valuable one through your horse lessons. (And BTW, Airborne is not your lesson horse, is he?)

 

PW: Airborne used to be my show horse and I do use him occasionally for lessons. For me mentors have come into my life at the proper moment. Paul Theroux lives here part of the year and we met through mutual friends. He has been extraordinarily kind and supportive and couldn’t be more pleased at the way things have turned out. Did he get me an agent? No. An editor? No. A publisher? No. He suggested books I might read, I read his work, and we talked of the process of writing. He asked if he might read something of mine, he offered, and I accepted. He was able to see I had a distinct voice and good stories to tell. I saw how hard working he was and that he writes every single day. He’s been a great role model.

Jackie Mitchard and I met at Maui and is another author who’s been hugely supportive. I worked with her for 2 workshops and then kept a connection. The same with Karen Joy Fowler who has also been amazingly helpful and is a fabulous teacher. By meeting these authors and working with them, taking advantage of both opportunity and of retreat workshops, I’ve been aided.

 

JKB: You've talked it up, and I've heard of the conference from many others, but what have you found most valuable with Maui writer's conference? 

 

PW: The Maui Writers Conference  is now in Honolulu (Waikiki) on the island of Oahu which is known by Hawaiians as “the gathering place” and that’s how I like to think of it. 

It has allowed me to network with other writers, authors, and publishing professionals. It’s allowed me to become more sophisticated about the business of writing. And it’s a way for me to keep learning. I don’t know of many retreats that you can work so closely and over that length of time with best selling authors. 

I had to make a decision that I was going to be serious about becoming a writer. Become serious about being an author. At some point, all writers have to make that decision. Maui made all the difference in how I went about writing, querying, and working with my editors.

 

JKB: What in particular have you learned for your writing that you've found valuable through your publishing process? 

 

PW: Where do I start? That it’s as simple and difficult as “Just sit down and write.”

If there is anything I’ve learned, it’s that. The mere fact that you read constantly and write constantly is so very important if this is what you want to do with your life. And it’s incredibly hard work.

 

JKB: What's a typical day in Pat Wood's life? And what breeds of horses own? ;)

 

PW: I get up at 5 am and go straight to the computer. I take care of business – many of my foreign publishers are just getting off for the day so I have an opportunity to connect with them. It’s seductive to stay online but I force myself to unplug my router and write. Once I’m in the groove, I keep working until late afternoon. If it’s a day that I ride then I leave around noon or 1 pm and go out to my horses. I have a Thoroughbred, Airborne, who’s 27+ and a part Dutch Warmblood young horse (he’s 6). I do dressage, jump and used to do combined training but haven’t shown now for a while. I’m content to just work and train them now.

 

JKB: And, finally, the boy catz wanted to know: how is Tooloose's Space Monkey Odyssey WIP coming along?

 

PW: Tooloose suffers for his art and the fact that his attention span is so short he can barely cross the room before getting distracted. Tooloose is a perfect example of someone who wants to be a published author, but doesn’t actually want to write. He would prefer I add him as co-author on my books. Or better yet, give him full credit.

JKB: Thanks, Pat, for allowing me to pick your brain! I understand you just finished your next WIP, correct? Wanna give a hint about what it's like?

PW: My next novel is a coming of age story about impossible dreams. I know that’s vague but I’m very superstitious about talking about my WIP’s before they are D and A’d (delivered and accepted)

Thank you for the opportunity to talk to other writers and thank you for interviewing me!

JKB: Thank YOU, Patricia!! I adore Lottery, and am seriously looking forward to reading your next book! (And, if you're interested in Tooloose's response, go check Patricia out at her blog.)

Dear immune system:

Seriously, wtf is WRONG with you?

Bwa ha ha

Dear Ranji the cat (who is featured in this video with Peanut the rat): 

- Yoda has offered to have Peanut over here for a 'holiday', and I quote: "We will play a long fun game of tag and then we shall have dinner." 

Yoda does not stipulate what dinner is. 

But I think I know.

The next step of total iPod Touch domination...

...I know you all know I love me my iPod Touch. These last few days when I've been in quite a lot of pain (and sick before that) I relied on it to check my emails, twitter, facebook...

Well, the next step in Hughie the iPod Touch's total domination came over the weekend. I have now an app that syncs my blogs on him. ALL my blogs, all 175 of them. I can simply load and click. 

But wait. As the smarmy old guy on the hit gameshow says, there's more. 

I also got a diet tracking application. I'm watching myself a little more...I'm going on a pretty hefty three month "Let's get Jen in kickin' shape" fit binge, and want to make some better for me habits. I can track my food. Offline. Keep track of myself. 

And? AND? I have found this super cool application called Fring that lets me use my Skype messaging on Hughie. So, I can Skype on my little mechanical friend. 

Wait - I also have a budget tracker on there, my astrology daily, AND Tetris for my stress. (There is something about Tetris that calms my brain. I don't know why)

Are there lengths of awesomeness that we don't yet know about Hughie? Maybe. 

I swear it's a good thing that Scrivener refuses to write an application for iPod Touches. Because right now, the only thing I use poor, neglected Gunther the Macbook for is my writing. (Let's not let him feel badly, though. I write *a lot*) 

And I surf, Guntie! I surf on you, too! 

(Please do not get a virus and destroy me.)

See what submissions do to a girl? Mess them RIGHT UP.

(But I do luuurve me my Hughie.)

LOLCAT Freidayz

Secrets to cope series.

Come on, admit it. You know you're going to be here at some point. You'll get your agent, do your revisions, and then, boy-howdy, it's subs time. 

Then you'll really realize what an obsessive compulsive eejit you are. :) 

So I'm going to start a new series here for Thursdays: Secrets to cope. It might also be useful for querying, too! You never know. 

Todays secret? 

Work on your next book. 

That way, you're not sitting and twiddling your thumbs, obsessively clicking the "get mail" button on your email account, you know? You're doing something to make your career move onward, and that is a good thing. It keeps the monsters at bay, man. Keeps the monsters at bay.

Updates on The Forester's Son (FS)

FS is a thing. It is. I did manage to think of a one-liner to describe it:

 

It's Pan's Labyrinth meets WWII's deadly winter. With a boy. And some supernatural elements. And a twist that (If I may be so modest) knocks your socks off.

 

You might remember the story of Jakob. If not, here's a refresher.  

 

What I didn't anticipate was how much of a difference there is between PS/TF and FS. Not just a difference of plot, and characters, and overall story, but. Feelings. Emotions. In fact, I've had problems at points bringing myself to write it, because it takes me to a different place. A darker, more twisted one.

 

It has a lot in it. Betrayal. Hope. Imagination. Courage. All the things that interest me but I tend to stay away from looking at too deeply. This MS is grabbing me by the back of the head and shoving my face in it. So it is at times painful.

 

I do believe I'm learning a lot, not just about how to write in third person appropriately, but other things. Like how the one word, the one word, must be PERFECT to portray the feeling I want to have. How pitiful I actually am at writing emotions. I am not good at this, and will always have to work on it more than others, I think. And how much writing, for me, is difficult to script.

 

I tried to do an outline and Jakob flat. Out. Refused. To work with me. So it's back to flying by the seat of my pants.

 

Fun times.

 

Mostly.

One page synopsis; or, The third circle of Hell

So over last weekend I needed to make a one page synopsis and a super-short synopsis. The super short one, no problem. I have my copywriting skills and I know what makes PS unique, so I did that one, no problem. 

But the one page. 

Oh holy cow, the one page!

Who would have thought that thing was so horrible! But as the agent explained, the editor that falls in love with your book will have to defend it, so think of it as artillery. 

All right, I could do that. So me and the hubs started in to rework the three-pager I had. 

And worked. 

And worked. 

We started out in the kitchen and then moved from there to the living room and then from there to the office. Where, my lovely hubs created this: 

A huge breakdown of the thread that runs underneath it all; P and her dad's relationship. 

At times, the talking got a little heated, and teh boyz fed off this. (The cat tree is in the office, right by the window, so they can sleep there):

(I will take the opportunity to point out the Black cat's absolute superiority in the King of the Hill game him and Blue cat are playing.)

So anyways, we got it done. But it was a mess. Whew. It was awesome, but a mess. Blue cat gave up on us long before we were finished with the thing to go sit in the sun. 

So I thought I'd put some links up here for you *and* me, the next time I have to do this believe me I am going to start a heck of a lot earlier. 

Diana, the brat, has a nice background review, but disclaimer: she likes doing them and often does her synopsis even before the writing of the actual book. *shudders* Dee-Ann LeBlanc says you should start off, in order, doing a:

1. One sentence

2. One paragraph

3. One page

4. Extended

Now, I like this idea and did it with my first book because I didn't know what the conflict and stuff was. I did the one sentence and one paragraph for P back when I was querying, just never got together the one page or extended thing. 

The thing is, as I was told, the one page needs to have the story all in it, in present tense; general, but with detail. You want it in the story voice. You want it to kind of hit the top of the waves of the ocean of your story, if that makes sense. Most of your subplots and stuff'll be left out. Reveal the ending, major plot twists, and the main characters. 

But remember, the good thing is that the editor will have read it and will know how to argue.  This synopsis is, as Diana said, a selling tool. So no pressure, but the synopsis could potentially turn people on or off your book, depending. 

Fiction writers has a nice brief checklist you can go over at the end of your hair-pulling creation period. Rachelle Gardner has one of her clients, Gordon Carroll, talk about his method here.

I'm going to try and write a one-pager for The Forester's Son, we'll see how that goes. But good luck! May the force work in your favour. 

Today's the day...

...it all begins. 

Marlene has said to continue work on the next novel, continue being normal and stuff, and I'll follow her advice. 

I'll try not to think about it. 

Luckily, I go back to work tomorrow and will have enough to do there to keep my mind off it during the day.  I have FS to work on on the train, so that takes care of those 4 hours. But at night? That's when I think I'll freak, so I have to figure out something to do then. 

wish me luck.

WOWZA.

So, here it is. 

I'm super-pleased and not a little proud to introduce my agent, Marlene Stringer, to you all. She is super-cool and doesn't mind me asking her questions about any part of the entire publishing industry thing, seeing as she has over 30 years of experience on both sides of the fence, I am really pleased and feeling incredibly lucky to have her.

(PS I'd like to take this moment and thank those of you who helped me make this decision. You know who you are, and I heart you all.)

Thus we come to the other part of my news. 

WE START TO SUB NEXT WEEK. 

Like, next week. Starting the 12th of January. 

*falls over and dies*

ohhhhhhhhhhhh

MY NEW WEBSITE:

Please let me know what you think of it. Pretty excited over here!

EEEEEEEE

Here it is!

LOLCAT Freidayz - Not so funee, akshully

(I promise I'll get to it on the weekend...It will be worth your while to come by!)

Sick. Sick. Siiiiiiiiiiiiick

Oh, bbs.

I am so sick. 

So sick I could die. 

I got the stomach flu or something that is intent on killing me. 

This throws a wrench in ALL MY PLANS dammit.

I am still going to have a big announcement on Friday tho! Stay tuned

*barf*

Insanity!

Sorry you all. I promise a *big* update by the end of the week. In the meantime, I'm frantically juggling a couple things to get it all together, to be able to show it all off with a BANG.

It's been just mad here. I was correct (and so were the stars) when they said 2009 is going to be a banner year!

(in the meantime, I reckon I'll post little things that I've worked on over the weekend, to keep the tension up) 

Update:

A very cool guy named Travis lost his house in a fire. 

As my buddy Stephen Parrish says: 

Travis Erwin is one of the truly unique voices in the Blogosphere.  In his absence we must turn to Conan O'Brien for entertainment, and I don't have to tell you what kind of hardship that's going to be.  For $25 you can contribute a brick toward the construction of Travis's new house.  And have your name embossed for all to see.  Just visit www.habitatfortravis.blogspot.com.

I just did. Will you? 

Ack

Stomach bug, i haz it. 

Likely from too much excitement. 

Big Changes on the horizon

Oh wait.

The horizon? It's arrived. Holy cow.

LOLCAT Freidayz - Link version

Feeling a little under the weather, and the boyz won't get out from under the covers. So: 

Here's a way to tell if your cat is trying to kill you. Heh. 

(Don't forget to take the quiz!)

Goalz...I gotz dem

Well, since everybody else is listing their goals, I guess I'll do it too. 

I didn't have so many really, but after a nice long bath I thought up some. 

- edit and perfect Possum Summer. I mean PERFECT. 

- sell Possum Summer

- try not to die OR get to the end of 2009

- finish/edit Forester's Son (sell?)

- finish/edit Texas Fall

- get a website up (I've at least reserved the name, yay)

- get fit

- get things all settled with personal life. 

I know that's quite a bit but I've got 12 months, man. Go me. 

What are yours?

Happy New Year...

...from the gang here at JKB.