FINISHED!!!!

The draft is done.  Proofreaders are working.  The book should be out soon.  YES!  Lot’s Mountain will be making its way to you soon!

editing EdITinG EDITING! EDITING! EDITING!

Can you guess what I was doing today?

My 13-year-old

My 13-year-old to me about her younger sister, “Mom, Nat’s room has a doll infestation!”

Can we spray for those?

THE MIRROR LASTING

When I look in the mirror lasting, I see a landscape,

Where death has not walked and sanity leaves no footprint.

Stars cut the mountains and the horizon bleeds.

So shines the mirror lasting,

Through which the dark things feed.

SNOW … (Yet another episode from “Snowed in with the Kids”

Yes.  More snow.

And the kids found the Uno deck …

ANOTHER EPISODE FROM “SNOWED IN FOR A WEEK” (with the kids)

After playing another 100 games of Uno … the Uno deck has mysteriously disappeared.

I may have been the last person to see the deck.  But I’m not talking …

YES!

Found a way to keep the climax of the novel from fizzling.  I think one of the hardest things about writing in first person is being able to see what happens to everyone else.  Found a way to bring in what’s happening to Dylan and also all of his friends.

Getting closer to the ending.  YES!

THE NEIGHBOR

Merle Shiflett loves pick-axes.   He has a special one that he sanded down so that his hands fit perfectly around the middle. He loves to stare at their handles and let his fingers trace down where they are thick at the top and then slope inward like a woman’s calf. When he wraps his fingers around his favorite pick-ax, Merle is always reminded just how magical and wonderful the world can be.

Merle Shiflett loves it when the doorbell rings.  Because that means visitors.  And Merle Shiflett loves visitors, too.

Especially when he knows they’ll be staying forever.

My Six-Year-Old

Nathan: “Mom, how many years until my birthday?”
Me: “Um, you have one every year.”
Nathan: “WHAT?!?!”

THOUGHTS OF A SIX-YEAR-OLD

My six-year-old: “Mom, how come you have parents when you and Dad already are parents?”
Me: “Well, we were your age once. And parents are still parents, even after their kids grow up.” And then I started to go into how he also had aunts and uncles. And cousins.
Nathan just shakes his head. “Mom, you’re really starting to freak me out.”