December Goals

It’s the final month of 2014.  It’s a time for wrapping things up, but it’s also a time to think about new beginnings.  As a matter of fact, in the Episcopal Church, Advent is the beginning of the New Year.  We’re just kind of rebels that way.

Anyway, I have a lot of goals for this new month. And I know it’s going to be a busy month, so I should probably get a head start on all of them!

My first December goal is to finish at least one of my works in progress.  I genuinely believe I can finish the first draft of the Chick Lit YA book that I began working on for NaNoWriMo.  It’s just been so easy to write and it’s a whole lot of fun.  I’m thinking (or at least hoping) that I might be able to get it out fairly quickly.

My next goal is to put together a Jones Family History Scrapbook in time for our semi-annual holiday get-together.  I’ve been doing a lot of research into both sides of my family tree.  At first, I thought my dad’s side was more interesting than my mom’s, but that’s only because he had a lot more to find at the beginning.  It turns out on my mom’s side there are Sons of the American Revolution, Lords, Ladies, Kings, Queens, and Native Americans.  I thought that was SO cool, especially because I’ve lived my entire life thinking that I was fully European.  But as it turns out, my 9th great-grandmother was a member of Powhatan tribe.  It’s all so fascinating to me, so Im really looking forward to sharing it with my family.  Thankfully, I don’t think any of them actually read this blog, so it should be a surprise. I’ve also stared an Ancestry board on Pinterest to kind of sort of help me keep track of everybody.

https://www.pinterest.com/jackiesmith114/ancestry/

Third goal is to clean out and donate all the stuff I no longer use.  This is actually kind of a never ending goal as every time I get rid of stuff, more stuff seems to appear out of nowhere to take its place.  I still haven’t quite worked out the physics of this phenomenon, but I am constantly trying to overcome it.  I’d love to be a person who exists with as few material goods as possible.  I really don’t like clutter and I don’t like spending money on stuff that I don’t need and rarely use. Unfortunately, I’m also a very sentimental person and I have a hard time giving away gifts or things that meant a lot to me or someone I love.

Fourth goal is, as always, to keep spreading the word about Cemetery Tours and hopefully get some holiday book sales!  Ghosts are great for Christmas!  Doesn’t everyone know this? Hey, only three days in and already 137 have signed up to enter my new Giveaway! If that isn’t an awesome Christmas present, I don’t know what is!

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/117688-between-worlds 

What are some of your holiday/end of the year goals?

Cool Things

So, I’ve been so preoccupied with my trip to Lubbock and seeing my sister’s first professional production (it was AWESOME by the way) that I haven’t really been keeping y’all up to date with a lot of the really cool things that have been happening lately.

So first, a few pictures from the trip.  Lubbock wasn’t quite as awful to me this time around, but I did suffer some nasty hay fever and my friend totally burned the back of my hand with a fresh-out-of-the-oven baking sheet.  Thanks, Rachel.

Seeing my sister, though, was absolutely the best!

We caught up on a lot of important issues, like final exams, The Hunger Games, and the new One Direction music video.

There were also several Christmas decorations around, which I loved.

There was also tea and and an awesome Lubbock sunset.

Then I hopped on a plane and flew home.  I had a great time, but now that it’s over, I’m so excited for Thanksgiving week, I can’t even tell you!

Okay, finally on to the other cool updates.

First of all, I got to meet one of the most iconic writers of our time and a fellow Texan, Anne Rice!

My friend and fellow writer (soon-to-be published author) Savannah graciously accompanied me and we had a lot of fun browsing old books, enjoying White Rock Coffee, and of course, fangirling over writing.  We really lucked out too, because I didn’t realize we needed a ticket to meet Anne Rice.  A very kind and thoughtful man overheard our conversation, walked right up to us, and gave me an extra ticket!  What a cool guy!

Ms. Rice, in case you were wondering, was very polite and soft-spoken.  She signed my copies of The Vampire Chronicles and Prince Lestat, which I am very much looking forward to reading.  Then, I gave her a copy of Cemetery Tours.  I’m not sure if that was a gutsy move, or a very presumptuous one, but I wanted to give it to her A) because I admire her work and B) as a way of saying thank you.  I have no idea if she’ll read it or not, but she was very gracious.

The next cool thing to happen is I finally ordered a dragon from Donna’s Dragons!

This is Simon the NaNo Dragon.

For those who don’t know, Donna is an independent artist who makes polymer clay dragon statues.  Ever since I stumbled across her on Facebook, I’ve been in love with her dragons!  You can find her on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/DonnasDragons

Cool thing number three is that Cemetery Tours is featured in Pose Magazine’s December Issue as Book of the Month!  I am so humbled and honored and I want to send a huge thank you out to editor Tiffany Jones for including my book in this month’s issue!

You can find the issue here: http://www.joomag.com/en/newsstand/pose-magazine-december-2014-pose-magazine/0457396001416541990

Another really, really cool thing is that I recently joined Ancestry.com.  I’ve always been curious about my ancestors and where I come from.  I have found a lot of Yankees, Sons of the American Revolution, Swiss people, and Scots.  It just so happens, however, that one of those Scots is Robert the Bruce.

This is a picture of Robert the Bruce I took at Stirling Castle in Scotland a few years back. I had no idea at the time that he is, in fact, my 22nd Great Grandfather.

It turns out my dad is a direct descendent of Kings Robert I (the Bruce), II, and III of Scotland.  This is a really cool thing for me, not only because of how much I love Scotland (I love it a whole lot) and Robert the Bruce is remembered as being one of its greatest heroes, but because growing up, I wanted nothing more in life than to be a Princess.  Well, maybe I just have a minuscule fraction of Robert’s DNA swimming around in my veins, but you know what?  It still counts.  Childhood dream is officially a reality.

Finally, and perhaps this isn’t as cool as all of that, but after taking a few days off, I went back and reread my NaNoWriMo project.  Y’all, I really love it.  I love Cemetery Tours also and I’m still so excited and proud of it and the third one is definitely coming next year, but I am really enjoying this new book.  I can’t wait to finish it and get it out there.  Granted, I’m not sure the same crowd that liked Cemetery Tours will be as into this new one as I am, but that’s okay.  There are a lot of readers out there.  And I love you all.

Enjoy your weekend!  Mine is rainy and cold, but that’s okay, because I have warm pajamas and a kitty.