I know I’ve been delinquent all year about figuring out how to give everyone access to the list of books I’ve been reading.  I’m always delinquent about something.  It’s a bit of a miracle that it’s been something so comparatively trivial this time around.

At any rate, I’ve finally remedied the situation–and none too soon, given the hour.  I can confidently say that I will not be reading any more books this year.  Also, I managed to put together some stats about how much I’ve read in various genres with, I must confess, a bit of a surprising result.

The new page can also incidentally be found as a permanent page under “Reading Lists” on my main webpage.  Click here for my 2009 book list.

As I mentioned yesterday, I have been brewing up some resolutions for the new year.  Concrete goals for myself that will direct my progress and stretch me–sometimes in entirely new directions, and sometimes in ways I haven’t been stretching lately, and that I miss.

So here’s my list, with some notes:

1. Write and revise a whole novel. I have the ideas sorted out in my head, but I really need to speed up my production process. This will take the most dedicated time of all my resolutions, but I’m confident that I can do it.
2. Research dog training options and complete Shiloh’s Canine Good Citizen certification. Elements of the test are listed and explained on the AKC website. Also included in this will be attention to Shiloh’s sometimes-excessive warning barks at noises outside (especially knocks on the door).
3. Finish five quilting projects. These can be projects I’ve already started which have been sitting unfinished in the closet.  There are at least two of those, and I have a solid idea for a third quilt to gift someone special this year.  A corollary to this is the goal of not buying new fabric for these projects, but using materials already in my stash.
4. Read 50 fiction books already on our shelves that I haven’t read before. Because there are a lot of books that I’ve picked up from various sources and never read, and I’d like to remedy that.  Also, reading books we already own saves money, whether it’s book-buying money or gas money getting to the library.
5. Exercise for one hour every week. This seems like a pitifully little amount of exercise, but I’m keeping in mind that 1) I will be traveling a lot this year, and should still be able to maintain this goal despite that (even though exercise usually flies out the window when I travel), and 2) my everyday life is pretty active, and this refers to dedicated exercise time, not incidentals like pushing around the vacuum.
6. Query five agents every week until a contract of representation is signed. This is pretty self-explanatory to me.  I don’t stop querying at requests for partials or fulls, an offer of representation (or many!), or anything else except a signed contract.

That’s it.  Those are the things I am resolved to accomplish this year.  I intend to print them out and hang them in some conspicuous place so that I cannot forget them or ignore them.  I think it will be a good year.

It’s time for one of my favorite blogging traditions (how lame am I? please don’t answer). The first sentence from the first entry of every month during 2009:

• January – So I’m in Houston; no problems with my flight.
• February – I haven’t been doing a very good job of following the news lately.
• March – The kitchen is a mess this morning.
• April – Aussie writer Colin Rawsell has posted an excellent entry in his blog about depression and its effects on writers.
• May – I am a vain, fickle creature.
• June – Apologies yet again for failing in my blog schedule… I’ve uploaded more photos from the trip and made comments over on flickr, in the Utah album.
• July – I haven’t posted in quite a while.
• August – Made up a salad tonight to take to dinner at our friends’ house.
• September – For those of you actually reading this via my website rather than Facebook or a feed, you might notice that the blog is lacking in its usual visual charms.
• October – I have been lax in my bloggelation duties.
• November – It’s gratifying to go back and read things I’ve written here and think, “Huh, sometimes I’m pretty funny.”
• December – Well December has come in with a bang here–first of all, my sister-in-law delivered a healthy baby boy in the wee hours of the morning, so that makes me an aunt again!

Also, Jenny Rae Rappaport posted today about how for people our age (I’m within a year of her) the last decade was full of milestones and turning points as we went about figuring out what life’s about and how we’re going to get on with things. So here’s the list of momentous things (for me) that have happened in the last ten years, roughly in order:

1. Lived in Hungary for 4 months
2. Graduated high school
3. Went to four colleges
4. Still managed to graduate in 4 years
5. Learned to quilt
6. Learned to ski
7. Figured out I do like physical exertion, sometimes :)
8. Bought a car
9. Spent 5 weeks exploring Europe
10. Got married!
11. Moved 18 times
12. Lived in 5 states
13. Finally found Home
14. Got diagnosed and went on medication for depression
15. Got a Masters’ degree
16. Went into debt
17. Trained a puppy
18. Wrote two novels
19. Rewrote one
20. Figured out what in the world I’m doing

I’m working on a real update with actual information and maybe even photos that should go up before the weekend.  I know, I know.  You’re thinking, “Dearest Betsy, you always dangle these promises but you never follow through!”  Well, I’ll try really hard this time.  I promise.  Unless I get busy and forget.  Then I probably won’t try very hard, but I will feel really bad.

Also?  Thanks to Maggie Steifvater and her evil insidious blog posts about it, I am seriously considering some resolutions for the next year.  And by “seriously considering” I mean “I feel like I should but I have no idea what they should be so I’m thinking hard.”

That’s about all for tonight.

Apologies for disappearing like that.  Again.  Remember how I was getting ready to assess what needed to be done before Christmas a few weeks ago when I posted last?  Yeah.  I was behind.  Way behind.  And now I’m not!  Mostly.  Also, a great big portion of last week got eaten up by preparations for our now-annual Christmas party, which went off with hardly a hitch last Friday.  We had 39 people in our rather small apartment at one time.  It was hoppin’.  Unfortunately, despite my best intentions and the fact that I had the camera out on a table so I wouldn’t forget, I didn’t take even one photo of the entire night.

Saturday morning I would rather have not left my bed at all.  The week’s work was a little crazy on me, and I took the day off to cuddle on the couch with the magic blanket and the dog and a book.

Sunday morning went more or less as usual, with the usual church activities.  But the highlight, really, was the children’s mini-pageant.  It was hilarious–unintentionally so–thanks to the littlest kids, who proved to be an amazingly unruly flock of sheep.  I really hope someone got it on video and can post it on YouTube, because it almost made me cry, I was laughing so hard.

Anyway, the rest of the day went pretty quickly, thanks to our friends lending us their copy of LEGO Star Wars.

This morning I revisited the lame query letter I may or may not have mentioned on the blog before–it was still lame, so I ditched it and have the beginning of a (hopefully) less-lame version in the works.

I still need to wrap Matt’s presents, and mail some things for people who know their stuff will be a bit late, and buy stocking stuffers for Matt.  We usually do that in a shopping trip together–go to Target and split up for a half an hour, check out separately, and hide our purchases on the ride home so the stocking presents stay secret.  But that’s about it.

I’m looking forward to getting back to writing.  I’ve missed it these last few weeks.  It’s good to feel that way about my job of choice.

And that’s about all there is to it.  More soon!  Much sooner than two weeks.  I pinky swear.

Why is it that oversee and overlook are not the same? But something that has been overlooked is an oversight?

These are the sort of things I think about.

For the last few days I have had the niggling feeling that I must be behind on the various Christmassy things I usually do.  Things like buying Christmas gifts so they can be sent east to relatives in time for the 25th and sending out Christmas cards or, for that matter, having Christmas cards to send in the first place.  I have no concrete idea whether I actually AM behind, however, because I haven’t had the time to actually check.

Rather, I haven’t taken the time to survey the situation and determine exactly how far behind I am. I’m not especially looking forward to it, since I have a feeling it will produce a mild to moderate feeling of panic, but I recognize the necessity of the exercise.

So that’s my project for this morning: figure out what needs to be done, by when, and then get to work.  If I get that done, I’ll be working on a query letter for the manuscript.  My first attempt, last week, was Super Lame.  And I have an outside, unbiased opinion on that as well, so don’t try to tell me I’m exaggerating.  I’m not.  It was LAME.

Now, to find last year’s list of people who got gifts and cards….

Just because I haven’t posted any photos to make you all drool lately, here’s what Matt and I had for lunch, with Ritz crackers:

A friend posted this on Facebook a few days ago, and it resonated with me.  I think I’ve read it before, but it struck me again as deeply true. From Henri Nouwen, one of the most profound thinkers I’ve ever read:

To wait open-endedly is a radical attitude toward life. So is to trust that something will happen to us that is far beyond our imaginings. So is giving up control over our future and letting God define our life, trusting that He molds us according to His love and not according to our fear. The spiritual life is a life in which we wait, actively present to the moment, trusting that new things will happen to us, new things that are far beyond our own imagination, fantasy or prediction. That, indeed, is a very radical stance toward life in a world preoccupied with control.

Why is it that our world is so concerned with control?  I struggle with this often myself, trying to plan out what will happen or what *should* happen, when I haven’t the slightest idea what I’m talking about.  But I still talk.  Maybe it’s time for me to be quiet and let someone else speak, eh?

I did not get chosen to sit on a jury, though it took most of 6 hours to get to that point.

Last night was the last meeting for my fall women’s Bible study, and I have to say I already look forward to the next session, which will start sometime in January.

It occurs to me that I should start with the holiday candy and cookie making fairly soon if I intend to have anything done in time to send it before Christmas.  Also, the house is a total mess, which will greatly hinder the decorating-for-Christmas plans we have been nursing all week but have been too busy to follow through with.

So today is a cleaning day–cleaning the last of the kitchen (which we started last night) so it can be cooked in again, finishing the laundry I got mostly done on Tuesday, tidying up and putting away all the things in the living room, dining room, and office that have gotten stacked into piles and shoved out of the way in the last few weeks.  Also, I will check the mail.

And since it’s frigid outside today, I’ll most likely take a break to read on the couch while snuggled under the magic blanket with the dog cuddled up beside me to keep me warm.

All in all?  Things are pretty good.  Now, on with the Christmas music and bottoms up to the coffee mug!

Well December has come in with a bang here–first of all, my sister-in-law delivered a healthy baby boy in the wee hours of the morning, so that makes me an aunt again!  I’ve only seen one photo, but Josiah Perrin Wright is definitely a cutie.

Also, on a less positive, I think I’ve identified the major side effect from which I will suffer while I’m on Drug D.  It is less disruptive than inability to sleep, but no more enjoyable, and falls firmly in the quarter of Too Much Information For The Public. I’m still debating whether or not to call the doctor now or wait a few weeks to see whether the effect fades as my body adjusts to the new drugs.

Finally, a few weeks ago I received a summons to jury duty for the county with instructions to call the magic phone number on the night before my scheduled date to be sure I needed to report.  I do.  I have to be there early, and I have to deal with rush hour traffic and the potential of snow falling overnight, and in general I’m having a good time being dramatic and grumpy about the whole thing.  I do not relish the idea of sitting in a room all day waiting to be picked or not be picked, especially since I have real life things to catch up on at home, things that I put off all last week because I was finishing my manuscript!  I suspect the chairs will be uncomfortable.  That alone should give me the prerogative to be grumpy.

At any rate, I will not be around tomorrow on any of my usual internet haunts and, if I get picked to serve on a jury, I might be scarce for a few days, juggling time at the courthouse with handling things at home that usually get done at a more leisurely pace.

So, if I’m not around, I wish you all a lovely week.