Hello 2012...

I spent December 31, 2011 the same way I spent December 31, 2010. At home in my pajamas eating homemade pizza and drinking cheap champagne while celebrating the demise of another year with my family, board games, and watching a ball drop.

It was almost like nothing had changed.

Almost...


A year ago...

I had not shared a single word of my writing with anybody.
I would have never shared on a public internet site...such as this blog.
Rejection would've destroyed me.
Nobody outside of my immediate family and my mother were aware of the 'writing thing'.

I referred to writing as 'the writing thing'.
I was afraid to do anything more than lurk on a writing message board, and forget online classes, writing groups, or conferences.
I would have never walked into a bookstore to buy a book about (gulp) writing.
I did not refer to myself a Writer.

365 days later, and not one thing on the above list is true anymore. With every word I wrote, every new obstacle I overcame, every hurtle I've jumped over the past year I've grown into the writer and person I am now. Braver, stronger, and even more persistant...and I like that. Sure, I still have a long long long way to go and so much to learn, but I'm looking forward to 2012 and the new challenges and experiences that lie ahead.

So Hello 2012...

I Wish They All Could Be Five Stars.

I have a confession.

I abhor rating books.

After experiencing but a small fraction of the work an author goes through to put a novel on the bookshelves, I can't help but want to give anything less than 5 stars.

I mean the hours, days, even years that went into drafting, revising, editing, submitting, persevering. The blood, sweat, tears...all of that alone deserves 5 stars.

But the reality is not every reader is going to like every book they pick up. Not even me.

So I'm stumbling through this rating process the best that I can..

I don't rate anything less than three stars. According to Goodreads, three stars means "I liked it" and if I finish a book it means I liked it. Life is too short and there are too many books to waste time on one you're not feeling. And I don't think it's fair to rate a book I haven't finished.

Four stars means "I loved it." Usually with four star books I'll be hunting down the author's website or blog to find out if there is a sequel and when. I'll pre-order the author's next novel and pass these books on to my friends.

Five stars means "This book was amazing." In my world, a five star book means I'm stalking the author for sequels or new books, entering every ARC contest I can find, booking my plane tickets to the author's next signing (okay maybe I don't go that far), and forcing everyone I know to read the book now. These are the books I finish in one night. These are the books I wish I had written.

So, do you rate the books you're read? And if so how?

Being Thankful

Happy Monday!!!

Instead of a confession this week, I thought with Turkey Day just a mere 72 hours away, I would list a three things I'm sooo thankful for this year.

1. My brother. This tops the list this year for me. See a year ago we weren't even talking. A little over ten years ago our family was ripped apart in a bitter divorce and unfortunately our relationship was damaged in the fallout. But with a little hope, forgiveness, and the faith of a mustard seed, last spring thinks changed radically. Now we barely go three weeks without meeting up for breakfast. I heart my brother. They say that the person you have the most years with in life is not your parents, children, or spouse. It's your siblings. So hang on to yours!

2. My family. There have been some ups and downs (like always) this year, but we've made it to November relatively unscathed and healthy. And I couldn't be more thankful!

3. Babies!!! Lots of joyful news over the past few months means lots of new little lives beginning in 2012. Some of these blessings come after years of heartbreaking infertility, one little is the light so desperately needed after a family's tragic loss, and one bouncing baby boy will be calling me Auntie. I am so excited for all the new moms!!! And have I mentioned how much I love to shop for baby clothes.

So, what are you thankful for this year?

My Twilight Confession

Another Monday...another confession.

In honor of that movie coming out this week, I thought I'd talk about Twilight.

Most people who have read the book either really really love it or really really hate it.

As for me, I'm somewhere in the middle. I don't want to burn the thing but I'm not burning to have Edward's (or Jacob's) babies either.

Don't get me wrong. I liked Twilight. It was entertaining. It wasn't a book I couldn't put down, but it wasn't a book I struggled to finish either. Same with next two in the series.

But then came Breaking Dawn. I have tried multiple times to read that book, but I never quite get to that point where I actually want to be reading it. Every time. I'm not sure what it is that turns me off, but somewhere usually in those first fifty or so pages, the book loses me and I set it down for days, weeks, months, years. And since I have Twihard friends who've long since filled me in on the finer plot points, thus draining any remaining urges I had to read the thing, I think it's safe to say I've given up.

Now the movie is here. I've seen (and enjoyed) the first three, but not quite sure if I'll be hitting the theaters this weekend. I'm not crazy about the two parter thing, I worry I'll miss a lot because I haven't read the book, and I'm not sure I'll even like it (based on what I do know).

So for now, little ol' me who loves all things YA and paranormal and romantic, is undecided as to whether she wants to see the beginning of the last movie of one of the biggest YA paranormal romance sagas ever. Go figure.

So what about you? Any Twilight fans not going to Breaking Dawn this weekend? Any Twilight fans like me out there who haven't read the last book?

I'm a NaNoWriMo Wanna-Be and Could've-Been Who Isn't

So it's nearly a week into to this year's NaNoWriMo, and I confess I'm sooo sad to not be a part of it. I feel like I'm missing out on the 'cool kid's club'.

Unfortunately, NaNo wasn't in the cards for me this year. Oh, I'm sure if I had wanted it badly enough I would have found a way, but I'm knee deep in a first draft of my current WIP and revisions of another and I guess you could say I want that more right now.

So I'm here on the sidelines, cheering all you NaNoWriMoers on.

Good luck to all of the participants. You can do it!

Halloween...just another day

I have a confession.

Halloween...not really my thing.

I don't really get into all the costume-wearing, party-going, pumpkin-carving, haunted hay-riding affairs. I'm just as content to let the calendar roll from October into November with the same old normal routine that brought me into the month.

Don't get me wrong. I don't hate Halloween. I have nothing against witches, vampires, ghosts, and goblins...in fact I prefer the paranormal and creepy in most of my reading material. And I do acknowledge the holiday for the sake of my 2 kids (who have been planning their costumes for trick-or-treating since July).

But I don't wear costumes myself. I don't decorate. I don't do the parties, or the hayrides, or the haunted houses. I very rarely have carved pumpkins over the years (and when I do it's only for the kids benefit). To me, it's just never been a big deal.

Why?

I guess you could blame my childhood for this one. This picture is of me and my little brother a long long time ago (and yes I said little brother—my mom thought it would be cute to send him in pigtails and a tutu but that's another blog post).


This was one of the only times I ever trick-or-treated as a kid because for a great chunk of my growing up years, my family did not acknowledge Halloween. I think it was a part religious, part safety thing. It was Detroit, Michigan in the 80s (where half the town burned to the ground the night before on what was known as "Devil's Night"). So for me there were no costumes, no ringing doorbells, no bags full of candy.

When I was 11 we moved from Michigan to Minnesota (on Halloween—go figure) to a quiet suburban town where nobody had ever heard the term "Devil's Night." And my parents changed their minds.

But then there was the Halloween I got pneumonia....

And the Halloween, several older bullies jumped my brother and his friend ripping their costumes to shreds and taking their candy....

And the Halloween we got dumped with 2 1/2 feet of snow....

Yeah, it never quite caught on for me...

What about you—will tonight be low-key or do you have big plans?