the rain collects outside the door

It rained pretty much all night; I could hear it every time I woke up. It's too bad I couldn't open a window and listen to it properly.
December's been busy so far, both at work and at home. I covered for my work spouse this whole last week, on top of a full week with my own titles. I finished my last freelance project for the year. I've made good progress on editing my novel, and on critiquing someone else's. I've also been sorting through the apartment, getting rid of some things, choosing some other things to go to storage. My band concert was a week ago, so I was practicing a lot up until that, as well. None of this is surprising, though; I'm adept at keeping myself busy. And now it's the season of holiday parties, of people wanting to squeeze in one more hangout before I leave for the holidays, so there's a lot on my plate socially. I enjoy seeing my friends, and it's all going to be fun, but it's still a fine balance between the social, the work, and the writing.
A couple more books to report:
65) Hunger by Jackie Morse Kessler. This book is wicked good! It's about an anorexic teenager named Lisabeth who becomes Famine, one of the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Kessler doesn't shy away from really showing how eating disorders affect people. Lisabeth is an interesting heroine, learning who she is and how to be strong over the course of the book. This isn't for the squeamish (Lisabeth's bulimic friend gets a graphic scene about her eating disorder) but I really think this is a fresh, interesting YA urban fantasy. Definitely recommended, and I can't wait for the sequel, Rage, to come out next April!
66) Averno by Louise Glück. This amazing collection of poems, Glück dives deep into the story of Persephone. I think that these poems are beautiful, as is the way she digs so deep into the Greek mythology to unearth new layers. Absolutely recommended for anyone who likes poetry or Greek mythology.
67) Life Sucks by Jessica Abel, Gabriel Soria, and Warren Pleece. This graphic novel is about a vegetarian vampire named Dave who is the night manager at the Last Stop mini-mart. He falls for a Goth girl named Rosa, but she's mortal. Then total-jerk, surfer-blond vampire Wes decides he wants Rosa, and the story takes off from there. This was a fun run. I wasn't convinced in the first few pages, but I'm glad I gave it a chance. The art is good and the story is fun, with no conventional happy ending. I'm glad the story didn't get tied off perfectly; I think that would have detracted from it. Anyway, I really liked this one.
And now, I'm off to check my e-mail, wake my partner-in-crime, and get ready to head out into the rain to see a play. Happy Sunday!

at long last

Home from my Thanksgiving travels and finally feeling somewhat functional again. For those of you who don't know, my partner-in-crime and I went to Las Vegas to spend the holiday with my sister and our grandparents. My parents surprised us all by showing up as well, which was fun. In a nutshell, there was great food, great company, great booze one night, some good kitty time, some shopping, and some gambling. It was all fun.
Work isn't that strenuous this week, which is great. I'm trying desperately to wrap up my radio play episodes and make more progress on my novel edits. I'd love to finish that in the next week or so. May take a break from the clarinet (after the Saturday concert, of course!) to give myself that smidge more time for the novel. And speaking of, I don't think I've mentioned it here yet, but I did figure out what I'm writing next. It's a bit of a cheat, but I'm excited about it: I'm going to turn Emmelina and the Rat King into a novel. It's around 15,000 words right now, and I'm going to aim for 60,000 words for a middle grade novel. So that's January-March, during which I'll also be submitting Superheroes as well as doing some brainstorming and research for the witch/ghost series, which I'll start in April. I know, I know, overachiever. I can't help it. There's just so much I want to do!
I read one book while I was away for Thanksgiving. 64) Birthmarked by Caragh O'Brien. It takes places in a near-future, dystopian society in which the poor people are required to give up a certain number of their babies to the rich people each month. The main character is Gaia, a teenage midwife, who lives happy among the poor people outside the city wall until her parents are arrested, throwing her entire life into chaos. It's quite a good read. Dystopian YA seems to be pretty popular these days, with books like this one and the Hunger Games trilogy popping up. While this one isn't as complex as the Hunger Games books, it's definitely worth checking out.
And now, I think it's time to go. I need to consult my Christmas shopping list, and then perhaps pick up a bottle of wine before I meet my partner-in-crime for a run to Trader Joe's.
Good night!