So! I'm blowing the dust off the blog to say a few things. 

1. I blog sooooo much less since I started using twitter. But then you already knew that. 

2. I've watched Avengers and The Cabin in the Woods. It's official: Whedon is my master now. 

3. I've finished the first draft of the WIP. Goal: finish the second draft by mid-July. 

4. I've read FAIR COIN by E. C. Meyers. Great book with a cool concept. It's The Butterfly Effect meets Quantum Leap.

Huh. When I say a book is "like" something else I usually compare them to movies or TV shows, not other books. Interesting.

5. If you follow me on twitter you already know 2-4.

 

Still hard at work on the World Domination novel, tentatively titled THIS WILL GO ON YOUR PERMANENT RECORD. I had a bit of a slog in the middle--middles are especially hard for me, probably because I'm a pantser and not an outliner--but now I'm on the downhill slide. maybe 15k or so more to go and I'll have a working first draft. So, say, in the next few weeks. That will mean I've written this draft in 4-1/2 months, which is blazingly fast for me. Most of my first drafts have taken anywhere from 8 to 12 months. After it's finished I'll take a few weeks off and refill the tank by catching up on reading. And then! The real fun begins: rewriting! \m/ (That's not sarcasm. Rewriting is the best.) I'm really looking forward to May and June. :) 

Net Impact by Don Bingle is a fast-paced spy thriller with a geeky twist. Dick Thornby is a spy for the Subsidiary, a secret multi-national agency whose mission is to stop worldwide threats to humanity. Dick's been with the Subsidiary for years, and as a result his marriage has crumbled, his son is a stranger, and he can destroy the Dunedin port without blinking an eye. When he stumbles upon a massive conspiracy that includes the Chinese government, an underground facility, and an online game called Reality 2 Be, he knows he has to be on top of his game to save everything he holds dear. 

Net Impact is like the movies True Lies and Mission Impossible meets Ready Player One with a dash of Vince Flynn's books thrown in for seasoning. While it does start off a bit slow--we're given a lot of information at the beginning--once the action starts it rocks and rolls until the end. There's death, mayhem, humor, technology, gaming, and intrigue all rolled up into one satisfying read. If you're looking for something to keep you up late on Wednesday night, Bingle's book should do the trick. 

So the month of letters was ... enlightening. The take-aways: 

1. It was relatively easy to jot a letter at the end of a busy day. 

2. Even so, I only managed to write 20 letters instead of the requisite 24. 

3. I did not feel guilty or beat myself up about this. 

4. Not many people wrote back, but I really really enjoyed the responses from those who did. 

5.In a perfect world I would keep up the correspondence.  

And now I shall go eat brownies warm from the oven. 

Author Mary Robinette Kowal is asking people to join her in February for a Month of Letters. She's suggesting that people send one letter for each day the postal service runs--24 letters or notes or postcards in all. 

I'm on board. 

I used to write letters to people quite a bit. Even after e-mail became popular, I'd jot a note and send it simply because it was unexpected. Plus it's fun to get personal mail. (At least it is for me. Maybe other folks don't think so.) In the last several years I've slacked off. But! For the month of February I'll pick up the habit again. 

Consider joining in. You'll brighten someone's day or perhaps reconnect with someone. At the very least you'll get mail. 

... I could probably afford this house. Now that's what I call a bunker, bitches. 

2011 was a year of change and growth for me, and I expect the same for 2012. Over the past few years I've stopped making resolutions, mostly because I believe that every day has the potential to be a New Beginning. But! Here are a few things I want to accomplish this year: 

Start and finish a new novel (I already started it today--an auspicious beginning!) 

Acquire an agent (fingers crossed, people.) 

Read more books. 

Spend more time with friends, both local and far-flung. 

Squeeze exercise into each day. 

Take guitar lessons. 

Continue to live and learn and change and grow. And to not beat myself up so much when I inevitably stumble. 

What about you? What does 2012 have in store for you? 

No, not Christmas. 

Award nomination time! 

I have a few stories eligible for consideration: 

"Sully's Solutions" appeared in Boondocks Fantasy. 
"Vanessa McAvoy's Statement" appeared in Beast Within 2. 
"Frankie's Girl" appeared in The Crimson Pact
"Hunters Incorporated" appeared in The Crimson Pact 2
"When the Sun Rises over Neutria" appeared in Spec the Halls 

If you can nominate for awards and would like to see any (or all!) of these stories, you can shoot me an email here. 

As I look back on the previous 20+ posts, I realize just how full of wonderful things my life is. Ken. Family. Friends. Kitties. Writing. Learning. Technology. 

Love. 

I thank you all for sharing my journey. 

Today I'm thankful for family of all kinds: immediate, extended, adopted. There's more than one way to define a family, and I would not be who I am today without them. Mom, Dad, and all the rest: thank you for being a part of my life. 

I'm an only child so my immediate family is obviously very small. My extended family, however, is huge; both my parents had nine brothers and sisters. I have cousins I've never met, only met a few times, or it's been so long since I've seen them that I wouldn't know them. My adopted family is scattered all around the country.

They drive me crazy and warm my heart by turns. There is drama and laughter and conflict and love. I wouldn't have it any other way.