End of Year Odds & Sods

Three sleeps left til Christmas, as my nephew says. My sister is about to pop out a sprog of her own any day now. Actually it should have popped out back on the 12th but it apparently decided it wanted to try and reach the 10 lb mark first, so now my poor sister is carrying a full grown linebacker inside of her and waiting to be induced which is schedule for the 24th. These doctors obviously don't know the dangers of messing with my sister's Christmas plans. She's still talking about what she's making for Christmas brunch. She either knows something I don't, or she's in complete denial. Or she's worried if left up to me everyone will be served a bowl of Vector cereal and a piece of toast. On the plus side, the baby will be a Capricorn, which tips the balance in my favor because now the Caps out-number all the other signs in the family. Moohahahaha...

In writing news, which I haven't commented on a whole lot of late - I've still been working on Desire & Brimstone and it is coming along fairly easily. I had an epiphany which gave the conflict between the hero and the villain a much stronger foundation, and I found a point where I could combine a later scene earlier in the book which also made things flow better. I'm pleased with how it's developing, although sometimes I feel like it's missing a bit of spark I want, but I realized I had the same problem with The Outlaw Bride and fixed it up in the second draft because by then I knew the characters much better. So I decided my first draft is to get the story down as best I can and get to know the characters better as I go along. Then once that is accomplished, I can go back and beef things up and strengthen any weak areas.

With Christmas holidays almost at our doorstep, I will probably only be posting sporadically from now until the New Year, as I find the time or if something of great import that strikes me. Who knows, musings and the holidays can sometimes go hand in hand with me.

If I don't have the chance to wish everyone the best of the season before it is over, then I'll do so now. Hope everyone has a safe, happy, holiday filled with food, fun and family and that the New Year brings more of the same with a heavy dose of success for each of us!