Winter weather

I like the winter. You won't find many people willing to say so after such a snowy January, but I'm one of them.

I'm not a skier, nor do I participate in any other sports that you'd see in the winter Olympics, but still, I like winter.

And snow.

But, not ice.

I, like many others in the northeast, have been keeping an eye on the impending "winter weather." My hope has been that the temperature will drop enough that we'll get an enormous amount of snow instead of the drizzly snow-melting, ice-encrusting sleet that is on the forecast. This storm is particularly ill timed because tomorrow the Bethlehem Writers Group is supposed to have its first meeting at its new home. Seems we might have to postpone the party.

If I had my way, winter would be cold and snowy, and the temperature would stay below freezing day and night until it suddenly went above freezing and stayed there. In spring. Perhaps giant hair dryers would come out and dry the streets for us as well.

Seems unlikely, doesn't it?

Oh well. Since it seems my hopes for an ice-free storm--or giant hair dryers-- aren't going to happen, I'll just hope that you and I and everyone we care about gets to stay home, and stay warm, and stay safe. And, if we're really lucky, we can curl up by the window, with hot cocoa and a good book, and watch it snow.

B&N Dumped the BWG

Long before I was a member, the Bethlehem Writers Group was just a writers group. The group was actually started by Barnes and Noble, presumably in an effort to bring in customers. You know the sort of group, the ones advertised in the bookstore's newsletter. The ones that meet for a few months and eventually disband. For one reason or another, this was not our fate.

Over the years the group grew and shrank. Members came and went. I joined.

Eventually we had a strong group of core writers meeting on a regular basis and decided to give ourselves a name and compile a collection of Christmas stories, A Christmas Sampler: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Holiday Tales, which brought more members to the group.

And, through it all, we met at Barnes and Noble. This was a source of some awkwardness when Indie bookstores asked us where we met, but, since our roots were in Barnes and Noble, there wasn't much to be done. So, we continued meeting at B&N, buying coffee and recommending books to each other.

Until yesterday, when B&N dumped us. Without warning. By email. Ouch.

It seems the store where we met is doing away with their meeting space. Effective immediately.

So, the Bethlehem Writers Group is looking for a new home. But we'll keep meeting. And drinking coffee. And recommending books. Just not there.

Manuscripts and movies

With my household still suffering the aftershocks of our move, it's inevitable that things are in hiding. On my best day I have a tendency to get distracted and put things down without paying attention to where they're going, but in an unorganized apartment, it's harder to figure out what I did with them.

My husband compares me to an old school video game character. I'm not sure which game he's talking about because he either didn't say or I forgot, but apparently there was a character who went around its two-dimensional digital world only able to hold one thing at a time. If the character needed to carry a key, for example, it could not carry a weapon at the same time. He made this observation when we were packing up our old place. Repeatedly I carried packaging tape around looking for scissors, then returned with the scissors but no tape.

As we unpack, I'm a bit more useful because all I really need to keep track of is the box cutter, and I've only lost that a handful of times... and we have two, so he usually knows where his is. Anyway, I'm not saying it's my fault, but some of our freshly unpacked belongings end up in pretty random places. I have a whole list of things that I know I've seen recently, but have no idea where. Good thing our apartment is pretty small.

For the most part, this isn't a problem. We know where our computers, phones, and cats are, so beyond that what more do we need? Well, as a writer, there's one more thing I need-- my manuscript! It and my best research books took to hiding sometime during the move and refused to resurface. I looked for them... everywhere... twice. No luck.

No problem, I've had a lot of other writing projects lately, a short story deadline and some editing work, so it wasn't an emergency, just a concern. But then I finished the editing, and drafted my short story, so what next?

Well, in the absence of the materials I needed to work, I went to a movie. I saw The King's Speech, which I highly recommend. Aside from being a really great movie in its own right, it also included Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth Bennet, Mr. Collins, Dumbledore, Bellatrix, and Captain Barbossa. (What? Those aren't their real names?) Seriously though, I recommend the movie. I do seem to be on a rather historical kick at the moment with Celia Garth, The Lost Quilter, and Blackout, so The King's Speech fit right in.

I would have spent this morning looking for my books (again) but I felt I really ought to attend the Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group (GLVWG) meeting since I intend to join the group when I register for their The Write Stuff conference. I've known about GLVWG in theory for a while since Ralph Hieb is a past president of the organization. He's been telling us BWG members to join for a while, but I just haven't gotten around to it. I might have joined a year ago if I'd felt ready to attend their conference, but coming off of the first season of A Christmas Sampler signings, I just didn't feel ready for the adventure.

This year I am though, so I figured going to a GLVWG meeting was a good first step. I was right. The meeting was a great opportunity to put faces to the names Ralph has been telling us about for all these months, and network with other writers. I'll definitely be going back.

The best part? When I got home my husband had a surprise for me: my manuscript AND my research books!

Isn't he great?

Guess I'd better get back to work on it, huh?

What's your sign?

So, chances are you're aware of the recent changes going on in the stars. To be fair, I suppose the change was in the orientation of the Earth, but why quibble over details?

I am far from informed on matters of astrology. I know my sign, and those of my loved ones, but beyond that, I am fairly clueless. And now, with the recent changes, I don't even know that much.

I've done enough research to be thoroughly confused. Are there 12 signs or 13? Does the change apply to newborns alone, or to everyone? Have astrologers been compensating for the shift and giving us horoscopes for our old signs or our new ones? If there are only 13 signs, why is it that Scorpio gets only one week out of the year? Most importantly, what IS my sign?

I think that last question is the one that bothers me the most. Not that I felt that being a Taurus was something that ruled my life, but at the same time I did feel a certain affinity for it. Adjusting to being an Aries will take some time, and, what's to guarantee that someone won't just go and change it again?

For now am I a Taurus or an Aries? Was I once a Taurus but am now an Aries, or was I an Aries all along and just reading the wrong horoscopes? Am I persistent, patient, loyal and dependable, or am I independent, optimistic, enthusiastic, and courageous? Can one be both dependable and independent? I think so. As far as the negative traits go, I think I'd rather be moody than lazy, but I know at times I can be both stubborn and impatient. For now, I'm just confused.

Is there a sign for that?

So many books...

Read any good books lately? I have. Lots of them!

After finishing Gwen Bristow's Celia Garth, I picked up Miracle and Other Christmas Stories by Connie Willis (it was, after all, nearly Christmas). Now I've finally gotten to Blackout which I wanted to read back in December, but couldn't find.

But, as I mentioned before, I took a bunch of road trips recently and what better way to spend a long drive than listening to an audio book? While driving, I listened to all of The Winding Ways Quilt and half of The Lost Quilter, both by Jennifer Chiaverini. I'll have to finish The Lost Quilter at home while I unpack boxes because listening to it on short drives means I'll spend too much time sitting in parking lots not wanting to turn off the car. Unless I can find the time to actually quilt, which is the very best way to listen to one of Chiaverini's books, if you ask me.

This means that my upcoming reading list will inevitably include The Quilter's Kitchen which comes between The Winding Ways Quilt and The Lost Quilter but was not available in audio. And, of course, when I finish Blackout I'll go on to All Clear which is the second part of the story. I'm also looking forward to Jasper Fforde's The Last Dragonslayer, which I got for Christmas, and his upcoming book One of our Thursdays is Missing but I'll have to wait for March 8th for that.

Add to all those the shelves of books that I've spent the last few weeks unpacking. Looks like I'd better get reading.

What have you been reading lately? What do you wish you were reading right now?

Welcome to 2011

I've been meaning to check in with you since New Year's Day, but this is actually the first chance I have had to do so. Time has been flying these past many weeks. Well, months actually. Judging by what my friends have said, I'm not the only one to think so. That's rather comforting.

Lately, I've been incredibly busy. In addition to signing books, unpacking boxes, and celebrating the holidays, I've been traveling to visit family and friends. I attended a funeral in the final days of 2010, and met a friend's baby in the first days of 2011. Obviously there have been ups and downs these past few weeks.

But now the holidays have come to an end, as have the signings. No new babies are expected and I don't have any upcoming travel plans. Time to take a deep breath... and get back to the real work of writing, editing, and (if I need a break) unpacking.

So, at last I can say, welcome to 2011. Perhaps it is the events of the past couple of weeks, but I can't help but feel that this new year holds great promise. With a new year comes the potential of brighter days. 2011 is a story yet to be written. Like the baby I just met, it can become anything.

Pretty exciting.

Happy New Year, everyone!