Monday - Weekends and Holidays, You Gotta Love Them

Wow, what a busy weekend I had. Friday, I did community service (the day job pays us to do two CS a year) with Hospice, wrapping presents at the mall. I didn’t think we would be very busy. Boy was I wrong. It’s still so much fun. People are pretty happy and love having their gifts wrapped and ready to go under their tree.

Saturday was our TARA Christmas/Holiday party. Talk about tons of fun. It’s the one time of the year you really get to mingle with everyone.

Then there is the gift exchange. Quick version here, the game has been around for ever and has many different names. You pick a number. Then the person with the first number starts. They pick a gift. The person brought the gift stands up, tells who they are, and what they write. The ornament usually has something to do with their wip or book. More often than not there are other goodies in the bag as well. Chocolate? Of course, all writers love chocolate. :) The person with number two has the option of opening a new gift or stealing the one that has been open. If they steal then that person gets a new gift. And so the game continues. The biggest rule we have is a person can only be stolen from three times. At that point their gift is off limits.

It usually takes about ten people before the stealing commences, or until the TARA Bear shows up. After the party a bunch of us went to, where else, Starbucks. Coffee or tea is the other things writer’s love/crave. Again, it was a great time to sit, chat, and catch up with each other.

Oh totally forgot…my Crit/Partner in crime, Laurie K. won the BC challenge. Everyone who finishes their manuscript, yes it can be in POS form, has to bring a copy of it with them to the party in order to receive a ticket. Once of those tickets are chosen and that person wins. I am so proud of her!! She did not think she would be finished in time and look at her now. She wrote the end before Thanksgiving and won. How cool is that? Very cool since her book is amazing.

This brings us to Sunday. Since I had not bought many presents I decided I should do some shopping. Apparently so did the rest of the town I live in. I found great deals and did manage to do most of the shopping. This started about 10:30 AM and lasted until 6:45 PM. Tired, you ask? Oh yeah, but very happy with my gifts.

I’m really picky about gifts. I can’t just buy something to buy it. I have to look and find the perfect gift for each person.

My yard is decorated and my house is done with the exception of the tree. It has lights (which I turn on at night) and an angel on top. The rest of the decorations are sitting in a box beside the tree. Hopefully tonight I’ll get them on. I mean it is only 16 days until Christmas, counting today. Oh lord, that means I need to get those presents wrapped and in the mail. Yikes!

Oh and start the revisions on the AT&B. I need to have it ready to send out by the middle of January. Major yikes!!! It was requested at conference so now I need to get it out to the agents. Side note here: I did not have an appointment, but was asked by them to pitch. I did tell them it was not finished at the time. Both of them (separate pitches) still said they were interested and would like to see it when it was finished. This is both exciting and scary. I know it could be rejected by both and while that’s not the happy place to be, the scariest part of all is…The Dreaded Synopsis. Yes, it’s time to write the real thing. If you noticed the sidebar then you’ll see I now have a revision meter. I figured I should put one up since it keeps me going.

So, how was your weekend? Did you shop? Write? Did you do anything fun? Have you finished your goals and started on new ones?

Writing Wishes and Plotting Dreams,
Vicki