Whirlwind of Everything But Snow...

December has whirled in with a mountain of work that piled up during NaNo, endless Christmas cards to write, perfect gifts to find, holiday recipes to perfect, seasonal guests to accommodate, and holiday traveling to be done. And so far no fluffy snowflakes...

Work on my novel has been put on hold this month because of all of these activities. I plan to catch up on my poetry submissions before the end of the month so I can say I met my submission goal for the year. I also received good news on the poetry front.

On the same day this month, I received another poetry rejection and a letter accepting one of my poems for publication in a small online journal this upcoming March! It is my first poem to be published in a paying market! I am really excited!

I hope everyone has a happy holiday season and I wish everyone a good year for writing in 2010! Have a happy new year!

Excerpt - Kaylee meets the plant-girl

Here is an excerpt from the novel I am currently writing. I hope you enjoy it!

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Kaylee's mouth fell open and she couldn't help but stare in disbelief at the plant-girl's words. Islen wouldn't take her to the Fortress because she didn't want to have anything to do with the outside world?!

Islen brushed a couple of small hair-like vines off of her face and shrugged.

"Why would you ever want to spend your life hidden away in some pretend-world like this when you live in a world that is full of so many wondrous things?!" Kaylee said."Since I've been here, I've seen a dragon, a flying ship, and even a horse with a unicorn's horn and a pegasus's wings; not to mention the hundreds of other things. The world is full of amazing and wonderful things if you just take the time and effort to find them."

"The real world is a scary place," Islen said. Kaylee could tell she spoke from personal experience. She wondered what had happened to Islen to make her this way. Was it the reason she rarely left the Wild Lands?

"Pretending will not change things," Kaylee said. "You can pretend things forever, but nothing will ever be real in the pretend-world. But if you work hard in the real world, all of your dreams can become real. Though things rarely happen in exactly the way you thought they would-"

Islen sighed. "You're going to bother me until I agree to be your guide to the Fortress, aren't you?"

Kaylee grinned. "Yep! You've got that right."