Just Dropping In

Long time, no post. I hope everyone who celebrates Thanksgiving had a wonderful one!

I think this might be the longest I've gone between blog posts in a few years, maybe even the longest ever. I just haven't really had all that much to blog about over the last three weeks. Partly because I just haven't had much to say, but also partly because I was deeply immersed in this year's NaNoWriMo.

I started it late this year due to the hurricane (or superstorm, or whatever it actually was.) Well, sort of late. I did begin it on November 1, writing longhand in a spiral notebook I'd bought in anticipation of losing power with the hurricane (based on what happened after Tropical Storm Irene, I took no chances when Sandy was bearing down on us.) So while we had no electricity, I managed to fill nearly twenty pages of that notebook. Which then had to be transcribed into the computer, which took a few days. Then I was able to get back into the story. And it just took off.

Some NaNos are a real battle. Tiger Eyes began life as a NaNo project and every one of those 50k words was a struggle. It wasn't until about 3/4s of the way into that book, that writing it became enjoyable. Then there was the year I did NaNo while in the midst of edits on several other books. Because of the past, I almost decided not to do NaNo this year. I didn't sign up until the very end of October because I wasn't sure I wanted to put myself through it again.

But this time around, the story came easily. Despite the late start, I had a bunch of days where I did 5k+ words, so I quickly made up for the lost time. And this project was fun to work on - for the most part. There were still a few days when I just didn't want to be bothered, so I took those days off and said to hell with the daily word count. And I found out that doing so actually worked to my advantage. I took a day here, a day there, and when I came back, I was a writing fool.

And now we're getting into the swing of the holiday season, so I doubt I'll be back to regular blogging any time soon. I'm halfway through the book that my NaNo project is going to be and the writing is going well, so I'm concentrating on that. It's a bit of a change from my previous books - this one takes place in 1885 in the Southwest, so it deals with cowboys and bounty hunters and a road trip through the New Mexico Territory to Chicago and it's been fun to write so far. Fun, but time consuming.

So, if I don't see you before then, have a Merry Christmas (or a Happy Hanukkah) and I'll see you in 2013 (unless the Mayans were onto something and the world ends on December 21st. :D)

Hurricane Sandy

I am a Jersey girl. I was born and raised right here. Despite the stupid jokes and moronic cast of The Jersey Shore, I've always been proud to be from New Jersey. It isn't just the Turnpike (I have no idea what exit my town is off either the Pike or the Parkway. I don't drive toll roads) and toll booths, refineries and swamps. It's mountains and horse farms. It's beautiful beaches and the Delaware Water Gap. It's Jockey Hollow, where George Washington and his army camped through the brutal winter of 1779-1780 that was even worse than Valley Forge. It's the Barnegate Lighthouse (known to locals as Barney.) It's the AC boardwalk. It is a beautiful place to visit, when you take the time to see beyond Newark Airport.
 

This week, my home state was devastated by Hurricane Sandy. My family was lucky. We were without power for four days and that was it. The people of the Jersey shore -- the real Jersey Shore, not those idiots you see on MTV -- were not so lucky. Many of them lost everything, including their houses. Everything.

My summer has included time spent at the Jersey shore for as long as I can remember. LBI, Pt. Pleasant. Lavallette. When I was a kid, my grandfather would take my brother and me to Seaside every year. We looked forward to it all year. Those memories are some of my most treasured. Now, the Seaside Heights boardwalk and those rides are gone. Just. Gone. Washed into the Atlantic Ocean, washed up on the beach a mile away in some cases.

It isn't just millionaires who have homes on the Jersey shore. It's regular people. And some of those houses are gone. Just. Gone. Washed out into Route 35. 

I've always thought New Jerseyans were a special breed. We're strong and resilient and we WILL rebuild the Jersey shore. It will take time, but it will happen. I absolutely believe that.

Please, if you can, donate to the Red Cross to help those who've lost so much. Text REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation. It's that easy.