Rhinestone Armadillo

I'm done!

I'm done!

Is it readable?  Does it have a workable plot?  Who cares?  I'm DONE!

Now I want to sit on the couch and eat macaroni and cheese and not type another word until December, at the very least.

High Autumn

I thought I'd check in and say hello.  It's day 18 and I'm up to 43,000 words.  My goal is 50,000, so I think I'll make it.  However, I'm only a little past half done with the novel.  Eeeeek!

It's High Autumn! I like these days between Halloween and Thanksgiving. A peaceful drift of chilliness and leaves, and lots of warm food and drinks.

I like to drag out all my autumn-colored accessories.

I made most of these with floral leaves, hot glue, and bits and bobs found in the woods.

I like vintage mixed with kitschy mixed with all out junk.  As long as they're in a pleasing shape and color palette, I'm not too picky about the origin.


These little kitties were an estate sale treasure.  The kitty head goes through your earlobe, then the body attaches behind and slightly swings.  It looks like they're really peeking through your ear.  Violet's a fan of them.  I thought they might make cute sweater clips, too.

Violet visited family in Austin, and had a ball at Zilker Park.  Adam and I both played there as children, too.  She got to ride the kiddie train with her grandparents!  She's been passing out tickets at home, then coming around to collect them.  She calls it playing 'Ticket Man'.

This is such a great scent from Bath and Body Works.  I wish they still made it.  It always reminds me of my friend Brandi.  We both started wearing it the same fall one year, and the smell zaps me back to what was going on in our lives then.  Do your perfumes do that for you?  By the way, thanks for the Mackie, Jill!!!!  Faithful reader Jill bought a huge bottle of Mackie (my favorite perfume), but was reminded too much of her grandmother's perfume to wear it.  She was lovely to pack it off to me---thanks!    Are you saying I smell like a granny, by the way?

Before I started the novel, I'd been reading a LOT.  I am on a 'reading ban' during November, since it's my favorite time-waster.  I got in a bunch of cozy and spooky reading during October.  Great illustrations never hurt, either.

I'm swiftly becoming an Angela Carter fan.  I usually prefer longer works, but having an almost-3 year old has made me appreciate the short story form more than ever.

I picked up Beautiful Creatures but haven't started it yet.  Have any of you read it?  Would you care to offer a quick review?  The Merck Manual is terrifying any time of year.

My Memaw sent Violet an adorable Turkey Day dress.  I love gross-grain ribbon.

I found this at a thrift shop. I liked the huge round hippy handles.

I put lots of pins and flowers on things to keep Violet entertained in lines.  She thinks it's fun to open the old Avon owl and sniff the stinky ghost of perfume.

I haven't been playing harp much this month, but I look forward to getting back to it.  I always seem to run out of time.  I want more hours!

I made a commissioned Disney suitcase.  A woman is giving suitcases to her 3 children from Christmas, along with a trip to Disneyland.  Those are going to be some happy kids, huh?

I also made myself a decoupage hard shelled laptop case.

I used images from some of my favorite books about legends, fairies, and obscure myths.

I lined the bottom with foam, then covered it by hand sewing velvet around it.

bottom

side--I like the disappearing path and, for some reason-those 2 blackberries.

handle

All right, I'd best get back to writing.  I look forward to getting back on the blog horse in December.   Bye bye, everyone!

I'm taking November off

I'm going to participate in NaNoWriMo this November.

What is it?  (from the site...)National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing on November 1. The goal is to write a 50,000 word, (approximately 175 page) novel by 11:59:59, November 30. 

I finished a novel during NaNoWriMo in 2007. It was fun! Anyone want to join me this year? It requires a heck of a lot of writing and is a major time commitment. Considering I have a small child at home, I'm not sure how realistic it is to pursue this right now. I want to try anyway, though. I think I need to concentrate solely on writing to have any chance of finishing a novel this month. 

I might post occasionally, but I mainly want to put my blog on the back burner during November.

So--the blog is going to go "on hold" until December 1st.  Wish me luck!