November Recap

In November, I've done a few things, including:

I met my NaNoWriMo challenge goal and wrote 25,000 words for Waterfire, Part II of the Providence Trilogy Awash in Talent, converting it officially into a novella. More on that later!

I cut more than 2,000 words from my epic Seven Noble Knights (while keeping the old copy just in case) as well as cutting a few words from the title. I sent out a few query letters, got a few rejections, and a few leads.

I edited and copyedited and proofread my story, "Axe Man," for the anthology A World of Joy (debuting soon!).

Rare photo of a male Javan rhino. IRF

My husband and I decided to celebrate the holidays by giving. We chose to donate to the International Rhino Foundation because of all the organizations we looked into, the money seemed to go the farthest with them. It is my fond hope that our small amount of cash will make a difference in the lives of the most endangered, largest land mammals on Earth, Javan rhinoceroses. We also decided to "adopt" a Sumatran rhino through the World Wildlife Fund because we couldn't resist the swag! Merry Christmas and prosperous 2014!

Yours truly with WWF Adoption swag, an
achingly cute (and hairy) Sumatran rhino plush. We'll put
him back in the bag to open on Christmas.

In other rhino-related news, I wrote five pieces of flash fiction in October, in honor of the five surviving species of rhinoceros, and submitted them to an anthology after polishing them in November. My husband loves these little vignettes and I hope at least one of them is accepted. They will be added to the Rhinoceros Dreams omnibus in the future.

I haven't moved yet, so that's still hanging over me like the Sword of Damocles. There was a lot going on at Loose Leaves, too, enough for a full time job!

For the month of December, this blog will be celebrating books! I'll have interviews with six of the authors from the new free holiday anthology, A World of Joy, and at the end of the month, for the third year, the annual Knauss Awards.

In December, I'll also be taking a course in writing magical realism. I'll be sure to let you know how that went in January. Thanks for stopping by — see you again soon!