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Dec

Question Friday: Christmas Miscellany

I’m feeling very merry. This is my last day of work ‘til January 5!!! Red OR green? Eggnog, champagne cocktails, OR other festive drink? Elving mostly online OR in stores? Christmas Eve OR Christmas Day? “Silent Night” OR something else? What’s your favorite Christmas song? I love singing the candlelight "Silent Night" at church on Christmas Eve. However, I think my all-time favorite Christmas carol is "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear."

Dec

Ideas

Jessica

If you’re a writer or other creative type: Where are you when you get your ideas? I’ve noticed that most of my big flashes of inspiration come when I’m walking to/fro the metro with my iPod blasting, or when I’m in the shower. I dunno why. I’ve been wondering how to use a character (Claire) in the second half of the book. She’s featured in the first half, but several of my readers noticed that she disappeared halfway through and wondered if she could be cut. My instinctive reaction was: No! I love Claire! And, less sentimentally, she’s integral to book 2. But they had a point, one I’ve been kinda clueless about how to fix. But this morning I was thinking about the chapter I’m working on, and flash! I figured out where Claire is and how she can help move the story along. Yay! I love these moments.

Dec

5 Things That Make Me Smile

Jessica

I <3 lists! Tagged byseaheidi. 1. I’ve been learning to do something new at work that’s actually kind of interesting! I don’t love the copying and filing and invoice-paying and mail-opening that comprise my job. But I have been trying to be more grateful lately for the fact that I HAVE a job–and one with fab benefits, at that. I’ve been trying to take more pride in a job well done and more interest in the creation of our books, because books are always cool and someone’s baby, even if our subject matter (mostly theology and philosophy) doesn’t interest me much. Anyway. I’m learning how to do cost accounting, breaking down the printing, design, composition, typesetting, and archival costs for each of our summer/fall books. It’s neat. I like the challenge of learning new things and taking on more responsibility. 2. Went to a Christmas party last night with Steve’s grad school friends. I...

Dec

Teaser Tuesday

Jessica

I’ve never posted a teaser before, but this is what I’m working on right now (from chapter 13), and it’s occupying most of my brain space, so…here. <squeaks, trying to be brave> I close my eyes, anticipating. And then the screen door bangs. I spring away, eyes open, trying to look as though I absolutely haven’t been kissing anyone ever. I look through the double-paned window behind us, expecting to see Dad shuffling around uncomfortably. I hope I’m not going to get grounded again. But it’s not my dad. It’s Quinn. Quinn: his handsome face thunderous, his eyebrows slanting grimly above eyes that look as cold as shards of Atlantic sea glass. His eyes slam into mine and I almost gasp with the sheer unadulterated horror of the moment. He turns on his heel—-I never knew what the expression meant before, exactly, but with his abrupt about-face I understand it...

Dec

4 AM Rambles

Jessica

So, the first half of today (er, Saturday) was a bust. I woke up with a sinus headache. You know, the kind where your cheeks and the top of your teeth hurt? I have been assured that other friends have been experiencing the same thing all week. Thanks, weather! You’re the best! Anyway, you know what I accomplished by 6:30? I went grocery shopping, watched some TV, read some blogs, napped with the cat, and ate some cookie dough. Rockin’. I did finish reading the latest Pretty Little Liars book, Wicked. Which is a super-fun, fast read. It’s the fifth in a series by Sara Shepard about four rich, stylish, terminally-insecure girls whose uberpopular best friend, Ali, disappeared in seventh grade. The girls, now juniors, all start receiving evil text messages from "A" threatening to spill their darkest secrets. Relationships, parents’ marriages, careers, and lives are upended when they don’t follow A’s...

Question Friday: Christmas Miscellany

Ideas

5 Things That Make Me Smile

Teaser Tuesday

4 AM Rambles

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