Shiny!

Look!

seaheidi gave me a Kreativ Blog award! In case you don’t know, she is made of awesome. She interviews debut writers, she loves Gossip Girl, she does yoga, she’s a mom, and her books are going to be amazing!

I’m supposed to share 7 things I love. At the moment, the first 7 that come to mind are:

1. Snow! It’s our first real snowfall here and it’s so pretty!
2. Working at a university with a very generous president. We’re closing at 3:30 and opening late tomorrow (at least 10 a.m., though we’re supposed to be on the lookout for further delay/closing due to the forecasted ice). It’s a perfect cozy snow-globe day to go home and do some work on the new book.
3. Tea. I got this fantastic new black-cherry berry flavor that I love. And the cranberry-apple zinger that I bought on sale this weekend is pretty good too. 
4. Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles. I won it from Elizabeth Scott’s contest last week and I was over-the-moon excited because I haven’t won anything since that big Strawberry Shortcake doll in elementary school. I don’t tend to pick up non-fantasy romances very often, but I couldn’t put this down. She takes a familiar trope (perfect cheerleader gets paired up with bad boy for a school assignment and sparks fly) but gives the characters enough depth that the sparks smolder and crackle and ignite. I loved how the chapters switch back and forth from Brittany’s to Alex’s point of view, too. Recommend!
5. New recipes. Last night I made a red-pepper frittata with parsley and goat cheese. Tomorrow I am making Mexican minestrone. I am hoping for two successes in a row.
6. My outline for book2. I took my initial scribblings from a few months ago and my coffee-shop scribblings from Sunday and codified them into one typed-up document. I have never used an outline before, but I’m hoping this will stop me from needing to cut nearly 100 pages like I did for book1. I talked it through with Steve last night once he got over his reluctance to be spoiled. He helped me clarify a few of the political and medical plot points. He also made a brilliant suggestion about a nagging character problem. It’s so shiny right now in my head that I’m kind of scared to actually start writing. I will probably mess it up. But I will try anyway. Which brings me to:
7. Having a husband who is also a writer–in some ways a better and certainly a more experienced writer than me. He has a strong sense of structure, how to dramatically unfold a plot, while my strength is (I think) in characterization. He’s usually the first to catch my mistakes and implausibilities. His feedback is invaluable, and I’m so grateful for it.

In turn, I award:

dpeterfreund, whose offers fabulous writing insight and adorable puppy pictures;
ravelda, whose Writers on the Rise posts are one of my weekly delights;
amybre_white, who is also enjoying the snow today;
tezmilleroz, whose icon and slang I love;
ortugatay  who is an awesome voracious reader and librarian;
Steph, who has two gorgeous girls and whose insights about parenting are lovely;
Goslyn, who has two adorable boys and who I miss seeing in real life.