The number of hits on my website has gone through the roof in the last couple of days.  In fact, I had to upgrade my traffic allowance in order to prevent my website from going down during this crucial time!

I've gotten two very important plugs in the last couple of days.  The first - which I got yesterday - was thanks to Deborah Ng's End of Year Blog Plug.  She listed both Reading for Writers and Swan's Pond.

The second was from today, and definitely the biggest deal: I have about 700 hits on my website today and counting, when I usually have only about 100 per day.  The main source of this increase is that an article I wrote appeared on Writers Weekly with a link to my site.

I invite all of my myspace readers and friends to check out my article and visit my site today!  Contribute to my hit count and help me create an amazing record for hits on my website in one day! 

Someone around here wished for a white Christmas, and I would like to know who it was.  We got more than two feet of snow between 6am Wednesday morning and 3pm on Thursday.  Although that meant we were snowed in for about four days (too much snow in the alley to get out), it also meant that Michael had Wednesday and Thursday off of work.  (He had already asked for Friday off, so that wasn't a question.)  The extra-long vacation has been very nice, but I could have done without the crazy-amounts-of-snow thing.

The worst part about it was that I didn't get much work done during the latter half of the week.  I've gotten done most of what I needed to do, but it's been slow going - most of it I did after Michael went to bed at night.

Tomorrow is Christmas, so our little vacation is almost over.  On Tuesday it'll be back to work for both of us.  We'll have to make Christmas the grand finale to a terrific holiday week!

Happy holidays to everyone! 

I was called for jury duty a couple of months ago. I had to report last Monday, December 4th. I don't think I had mentioned it online, and I am glad I didn't, because I ended up being chosen for a 2-week trial. We weren't supposed to talk about the trial until it was over, so I didn't think it was a good idea to broadcast over the Internet that I was on jury duty for the next two weeks.

I'm still not going to say a lot about it, for several different reasons. One, I don't know that I should go blabbing to everybody about it; for that reason, only people I talk to on a daily basis will know anything more than the most basic details. Two, I don't want to encourage any type of retribution from anyone involved, so no searchable details (i.e. keyword phrases, such as names or places) will be mentioned. And three, I just don't feel comfortable saying too much.

That being said, I will say this: the case was a sexual abuse case. More specifically (and horrifically), a father had performed oral sex on his preteen-aged adoptive daughters. Naturally, the defense was trying to prove that the girls were lying. However, we (the jury) didn't think so, and found him guilty on all counts.

The past two weeks have been an emotional roller coaster ride - to say the least. Listening to the girls' testimonies and the initial interviews with them that were video taped during the early stages of the investigation was emotionally taxing, and simply paying attention to the trial every day was mentally exhausting. I have never been so tired before in my life, as I was at the close of every day.

And finally, I have to say that throughtout the entire trial my heart goes out to those girls.  The maternal instinct in me wishes I could have taken them home with me and protected them and helped them start a new life.  Naturally, though, I can't have any contact with them, for fear of giving the defense grounds for a mistrial.  Therefore, my blog will have to suffice.  The girls will probably never know who I am, let alone find this blog - but nevertheless, I want to say once and for all that my thoughts and my heart are with them.  If I could give them more than just my thoughts - if I could help them to be strong and get through this - I would.

Unfortunately, as a result of all of this, I got very little work done over the past two weeks.  I was incredibly lucky that all of the people who were expecting work from me were very understanding of what I was going through.  I don't think I could have made it through this with my sanity if it weren't for their understanding - it was hard enough just to sit through court every single day.

Despite how difficult this was, however, I have to say that it was an incredible experience, one that I wouldn't change for anything. Witnessing a trial of this size and importance was an eye-opening event. (They say it's not like in Hollywood, but you'd be surprised how much it actually is like in the books and the movies.) Also, I feel good about being a part of such an important decision. I think it also helps that I believe wholeheartedly in the verdict we ultimately decided on. On my first day, I was fully aware that I was on the brink of a life-changing event - and even now, in hindsight, I fully recognize how much of an impact the experience has made on my life, my thoughts, and my experience - as a writer as well as a human being.

I was tagged by Mel to report 6 weird things or habits about myself.  I'll save the best for last...

6. I love frosting.  When I was a kid (and had the metabolism to do this) I used to get a container of Betty Crocker frosting, a spoon, and just dig in. 

5. I'm a texture freak.  Many of my food dislikes have more to do with the way they feel than the way they taste.  For instance, I don't like cooked peppers (any kind) because they're slimy on the outside and mushy on the inside.

4. I generally don't let different foods touch each other on my plate, and I definitely don't mix food as I eat.  Watching people mix peas into their mashed potatoes, etc., makes me kind of sick.

3. I have a serious eye phobia (which is the main reason why I don't wear contacts).  My blink reflex is so strong that the only way I can get eye drops in is to close my eye, put the drops on in the inside corner, and literally pry my eye open.  My eyes water just watching someone else mess with their eyes or their contacts.  In fact, they're watering now, just talking about it.

2. When I was a kid I would count steps.  Not to see how many there were, but to make sure that (on staircases I climbed often) I could start with my right foot and end with my left foot, usually while skipping stairs.  I still start up a staircase with my right foot, almost every time.  I think it has to do with the single most weirdest thing about me, which is...

1. I have to be "even."  Literally.  Everything that happens to one side of my body has to happen to the other, or I feel off-balance, and it drives me nuts.  This means if someone is giving me a back rub or a foot rub, they have to do both sides equally; and if I bump the toes on one side of my foot I have to bump the others, too.  (Presuming I don't bump the first side so bad that the pain cancels out my desire to be even.)

Well, now that I have proved to everyone that I am OCD, I am going to tag Bryan, Debbie Ridpath Ohi, Erin, Kimberly, Chloe, and Brandon.  Here is your mission, should you choose to accept it: tell us all 6 weird things or habits about yourself, and then tag 6 more people.

Good luck!

Well, everyone - I did it!  Despite how behind I'd gotten on my novel, I was able to reach 50,000 this afternoon.

Now I have a bunch of cool little icons and other such, which I will install on my blogs - and possibly even my website - shortly.  Hooray!

I wasn't sure whether I'd be able to meet it, but earlier this evening I set a goal for myself: to reach 46,000 words tonight.  And I did!

That means that I have just under 4,000 words to write tomorrow in order to reach 50,000.  Since I don't have anything else that I simply must do before evening, I should be able to resume work on my novel right away when I wake up, hopefully allowing me to finish before I have to leave to babysit.

I had feared for a little while there that I wouldn't be able to finish NaNoWriMo this year - but it appears I might be able to, after all!  Hoorah!!!

As Michael says, I am smoking today!  I have nearly 44,000 words.  I think my goal for tonight will be to reach 46,000 words.  That should leave a doable amount for tomorrow.

Of course, I still haven't finished my freelancing article, which I need to do sometime tonight as well...

After writing for so long, I think I need a little break.

Here I am, trooping steadily along! I added to my word count for the day (since last night's technically went on today's), making the total for the day (so far) 5,064. That puts me at 41,781 total words. I've made excellent progress today, but unfortunately, it may not be enough - I have just over 8,000 words to write by tomorrow at midnight! And unfortunately, thanks to babysitting plans for tomorrow evening, I'm not sure I can trust to be home before midnight...  Which means I need to try to reach 50,000 words before I go.

I'll still write a little more tonight, but I also have a freelance article to finish first.