Since I had my Lasik surgery a few years ago, I wanted to pick up Cross Stitch again. I had done a lot back in the 80s, even cross stitching on T-shirts and sweatshirts. I started with some of the easy ones in Country Living magazine, and quickly got addicted. To me, it is like one of the games you play on the phone, but when you're done, you have something to keep!

Also, it kept me off FB.

I have three organizers for floss, subscriptions to three magazines, which I love to look at, and patterns from Etsy. I bought an Ott-Lite so I could see better, and stronger readers for the same reason. There is a store in town where you can take your stitching, sit in the store and visit with other stitchers, see what they're working on. I went one time at the end of last summer, and it was fun. 

I've kind of lost my stitching mojo. Plus, when you're writing, you can't stitch, and vice versa, so I'm looking for a balance. And also trying to get off FB again, but when it seems there's a breaking story every day....harder to do!

Here are some of my creations. They're mostly pretty simple and small. Maybe I need to get back to that, because I have 4 projects started, and all are a little daunting.

I'm a day late posting. but I'm a bit behind on NaNoWriMo. 

I'm writing a new series for NaNoWriMo. It's spinning off from the Boom Town books--the brothers of Jolie, the heroine in book six. While I love writing Boom Town books, visiting the town and characters there, I may have limited myself too much by making the town too small. I like limiting the number of characters, but having only a couple restaurants, a few stores, that certainly limited what I can have my characters do together. I have the festivals, but really, who wants to read a festival in every book? I tried something different in this last book, sending them to a nearby town for an event instead, but I really locked myself down.

Of course, when I planned the series, I had only planned four. The other books grew organically from the characters I introduced in those books, but if I'd thought about the ideas earlier, I would have planned better so the books had more variety, the characters had more to do.

Writing this new series is fun, because while I have familiar characters, introduced in Blame It on the Texas Stroll, I'm able to create another "world," a bigger town in Texas set in the Texas Hill Country. Small, still, but big enough to have wineries and a Walmart. I'm hoping this will give my characters a lot more options when it comes to having romantic moments. I will plan out the next two (possibly three) books so that they have enough variety, but the same familiarity.

My three series are all small-town related, and two of them are, or at least started out, as relatives, siblings. I have an interesting idea for my next two series that are not siblings, but connected in other ways--one by a shared event in their past, and another through their jobs. I like series--they keep you in a familiar world and help you explore interesting characters that you wouldn't get a chance to explore in a single title.

I'd love to hear from both writers and readers about how they go about series. How long is too long? I am dreadfully behind in both Jill Shalvis's Harbor series and Robyn Carr's Virgin River, so I've kind of given up. I don't remember where I am in the In Death series or the Longmire series. But I am ON TOP of Shannon Stacey's series, both her Boston and her Kowalskis. What is your favorite series?

Fred is on vacation, and it is the last week of NaNoWriMo. I'm at 40,000 words, with 5 more days. I don't think I'll make it, but since 40,000 words was my goal for the month before I decided to do NaNo, anything else is gravy. I should finish this book before Christmas.

Time to get back into the swing. We have 4 weeks of school between Thanksgiving and Christmas (usually we have 3) so I can do more Christmas activities with my kids. We have 9 school days until the first concert, and 12 until the second. The challenge is getting everyone to the stage to practice. Their schedules are very strict this year. 

1) Win NaNo, hopefully
2) Edit older book
3) Enjoy Fred's vacation with him
4) Dinner with the family
5) Help Josh move into his new apartment, closer to us!
​6) Apply for a Bookbub ad

I grew up adoring the Little House on the Prairie books. (The show, not so much. Didn't care too much for the casting.) By 4th grade, I had read them over and over again, and when my teachers wanted to do a unit on the books, and  make a mural, I was ecstatic. 
So when my friend Deborah told me about this book, the Little House story from Caroline's POV, I was all over it. I ordered the audiobook because my Kindle is about full and I wanted to make sure I got a chance to read it soon.
Then Deborah messaged me that she was disappointed in the book, that it was pages of NOTHING happening. So I approached the book with less enthusiasm than before.
The story begins when the family leaves the house in the Big Woods to go to Kansas, and they're in a bit of a hurry because they want to get across the Mississippi before the ice breaks up, otherwise they'll have to go miles out of their way. So she's hastily saying goodbye to family she thinks she will never see again. It was pretty sad. I guess I never realized how hard it must have been.
Deborah was right that there were stretches of tedium, but the language on those parts--throughout the whole book--was just masterful. Sarah Miller has a beautiful way with words that made even the sewing of the canvas interesting reading. I wonder if I would have noticed as much if I hadn't been listening and not tempted to skim over.
The pacing was interesting, though. I have about a 25 minute ride to work each way, and it seemed something big always happened in those 25 minutes--Indians or wolves or prairie fire. But it wasn't overdone--it felt like it had really happened that way.

​So I loved the book. Have you read it? What do you think?

Busy week ahead, even though I'm on vacation!

Today:
Grocery store, a friend's book signing, writing and hopefully sewing. Also need to get Fred to take some pictures of some of my things to add to Etsy, and I'd like to reformat some of my books.

Tomorrow: Writing and sewing, maybe reformatting some more books, editing a chapter, clean Josh's room, make cranberries

Tuesday: Shopping day with Mom in Boerne, Texas. It's a tradition. Writing and editing. Maybe going by JoAnn's to see what I want to buy when I get up at the crack of dawn on Wednesday.

Wednesday: JoAnn's Black Friday sale--fleece, Christmas and flannel all 70% off! I will be there when the doors open! Then come home, write, sew, and hopefully feel well enough to go to the gym. Then clean the room I keep avoiding cleaning because it is so cluttered.

Thursday: Make green bean casserole and some kind of dessert, write, maybe sew, then head to Baby Brother's for dinner.

Friday: Decorating Day! Then writing and sewing. Look for covers for books whose rights I may be getting back, and a boxed set.

Saturday: Research Trip! Also, hopefully some writing.

I kept remembering things as I wrote, and had to go back and add! I'm already tired!

This year I’m doing NaNoWriMo for the first time since I’ve become a music teacher (November and December are my busiest months). This year I decided not to stress so much about the Veterans Day program. I practiced with the kids once a week, using a song I’ve done before, and it came out just fine. And this year for Christmas, we are doing a simple, old fashioned Christmas concert. No dances, no props, just Christmas carols. I’d realized my students were leaving me not knowing Christmas carols, and I decided to remedy that, so each grade level is learning 4, and I think we’ll do “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” as the finale. I don’t care for that song, but people like it, so I’ll deal.
I’ve completed NaNoWriMo in the past, successfully. Both Road Signs and Sunrise Over Texas were NaNoWriMo books, 50,000 words written in 30 days. That is 1667 words a day. Some days are easy, some days are more challenging. This year I’ve been waking up between 4 and 4:30 and manage to get my word count most days before work (which is when I’m writing this!) I’ve gotten to where I can write 250 words in 15 minutes. If I beat that time, I make myself a cup of coffee, or check FB as a reward. It helps that we’re having theme week at school and I can wear jeans this week, and I’ll be off all next week for Thanksgiving.
It helps, this year, that I’ve started a completely new series, one that spins off of my Boom Town books, and I spent some time in October plotting it. Who knew plotting would make it so much easier, lol? It is set at the winery owned by Jolie’s family (from Blame It on the Texas Stroll) and it is centered around her brothers, though the heroine has kind of taken over this first book. My husband helped me plot her, and he’s pretty good at that, if I do say so. 
So far, I haven’t had any blowout days, where I’ve done thousands of words, but I’ve managed to stay steady, and I’m good with that. I’m going to my first write-in on Saturday with a FB friend, at a place owned by my brother’s friend. I’ll stay a couple of hours and see what I can do. I don’t plan to finish the book by the end of the month, but I intend to have a good chunk so I can finish before Christmas and get started on editing it over my vacation. I’m having fun and feeling productive, and that’s what’s important!

It's almost here! 120 hours until Thanksgiving Break! I'm so grateful we get a whole week. 

This last week, we participated in the Veterans Day program. Now, full-steam into Christmas! My first concert is December 7. 

This week:

1) Continue progress in NaNoWriMo (need 5 more pages today!)
2) Enjoy a craft show with Mom and Baby Brother, then dinner with the family
3) faculty meeting
4) School potluck
5) Take out Christmas ads for my Christmas books
6) Newsletter
7) Upload some projects to my Etsy shop
8) Type in edits for an older book

I'm also trying to blog more regularly, have you noticed? Tuesdays will be writing/reading related and Thursdays will be more crafty.

JoAnn's has been having a lot of sales on flannel, and it's all. So. Pretty. 
​I've made Polka a bed.

I've made myself three pair of pajama pants, even though it has hardly been cold enough to wear them.

And I have made a TON of pillowcases. I have a booth at the local craft mall, so I'm going to put these in the booth and see if I can make some money to buy more fabric, lol!

I thought I might give y'all a little insight to what I enjoy when I'm not writing. 

Yes, I'm a fabric-aholic. I like buying fabric mostly, and sewing easy things second mostly. Last year, Fred brought home a locker. I painted it and store most (some) of my fabric in it.

I bought this cool wire rack at an estate sale (something else I love to do) and I store some more of my fabric in it. 

Then this summer Fred made me a cutting table and it is my favorite thing. Cutting is now my second favorite part of sewing, next to buying fabric! This is before I actually cut anything on it, and I have one of those cutting mats now. It's a great height and length and width. I've been sewing like a crazy person. I am making a dent in that stash!

Goodness, it's been a long time since I've posted! This school year has been CRAZY! We have 12 new people on campus, two teachers have been on maternity leave, at least 7 kids in each class are new....it's wild. 

But I'm hoping to blog more regularly. I love routines, and I feel like I'm finally starting to get into one!

I'm taking part in NaNoWriMo, something I've avoided since I've been in music, but I'm not stressing myself out too much about the Veterans Day performance, or the Christmas concert. (HA! TRYING not to stress, that is.) Anyway, I'm writing a new series, spinning off of Blame It on the Texas Stroll, set in Cascade, Texas, at the winery owned by Jolie's family. She has three brothers, so it will be a limited series, coming out next year.

I also reopened my Etsy shop, so if you want to see what I'm doing when I'm not writing or teaching, check it out! 

So, this week...

1) Write 10,000 words 
2) Work on edits on an older book
3) Revise a blurb
4) Survive Veterans Day performance
5) Sew something
​6) Get to the gym at least 3 more times.