After a wild and exciting November, my December has been relatively quiet: coffee dates with friends, a meeting with my writing group, recruiting hard as we head into the spring semester.

And every so often I think to myself, I have a book deal, and get excited all over again.  The thrill has not worn off.  I still marvel that my collection of years of hard work has resulted in a writing contract.  When your dreams start coming true, you don’t get over it in a day!

Speaking of, I’ve been working hard on a draft of my next novel (working title is Answers); would you be interested in reading an excerpt?  (A really bad first draft excerpt?)

My friend Elyse and I just rolled out our new project a few days ago: the Even a Traitor May Mend blog, which Narnia-lovers can check out here.

I saw The Book Thief movie!  I hereby declare it a lovely adaptation.  (The Book Thief is one of my very favorite books period, and I went into the movie assuming there would be changes.  There were, but they felt very consistent with the feel of the book, and I loved spending time with Liesel, Rudy, Max, Hans, and Rosa again.  I did miss Tommy though.)

I spent Christmas with my family (just a couple days– this hermitty writer likes her alone time!).  My family is just so amazing and lovely and laidback; we had a ball together, opening presents, watching Home Alone and Home Alone 2, caroling at our friends’ house, picking on one another and just enjoying each others’ company.  And talk about a major haul: I came away with two antiques!  My amazing parents picked up an antique card catalog for me when they were in Missouri at Thanksgiving (wow!), and Mom also had my great aunt’s barrister bookcase restored for me.  I’m so spoiled.

Also, at the suggestion of Anne Lamott (and also at my own suggestion), I’ve been reading a lot of poetry lately and loving it.  I’m going to review several books all at once coming up soon.

So, that’s my quiet December!  Things will definitely pick up in the new year as I dive headfirst into Truest revisions!