Cephalopod Coffeehouse Book Club (2 days late) :: DEC

I am definitely in holiday mode - I forgot to post on Friday for the book club. :)

I've read four books this month and that will probably be as many as I do read. Interestingly enough, these four books are all from writers I only know about through membership of this blogging community.

It's hard to pick a favourite, but I think I am going to have to go with ...

The Summer I Found You - Jolene Perry

I really loved this book, even if sometimes Kate was a teeny bit annoying. She had good reason to be a bit whiny. And I love how she acted around Aidan, always bluntly drawing attention to his lack of an arm and so on.

It was refreshing to read about two characters dealing with physical imperfections that you don't often find in fiction, particularly in romantic fiction. A girl with diabetes and a guy with one arm. Not your everyday 'fluffy romance' read. :)

I can't wait to read my next Jolene Perry book.

A kitty before Christmas

Maple, a little girl up for adoption through our kitty rescue. :)

It's December 22, not long before Christmas, and I don't really have much to say but I do have a rule about posting at least one blog post each week. So here I am to fill the quota. ;)

With that in mind, here are some random 'things':

• Check out the books I've read this year, HERE. (44 / 40)

• Here is my bandmate's album for digital purchase, which I sing most vocals on: The Falling Sound

• This is the Facebook page for the main kitty rescue I'm involved in

And now, holiday speak:

I'm on holidays as of Wednesday! I have so much to sort out in my home, so having a stay-cation is a very good thing. ;) And I just can't wait to have a break and relax.

Christmas will be the usual morning at the beach with champagne & orange, bagels with sour cream & smoked salmon, fruit skewers, and good company. I am also invited to my cousin's for Christmas dinner, at which point I'll enjoy a delicious chocolate Bailey's cocktail type thing. Yum.

How will be you spending your Christmas?

Maybe I won't set any goals in 2015?

After this year's hits and misses, it's definitely time to re-think my approach. But that's nothing new, I guess - at the end of every year, it's the time to reassess. I have set goals every year since starting my blog, and every year has turned out differently.

I guess you guys know what it's like to reassess every year, and maybe change or at least tweak your approach in the new year. I've done that so far I think, but in 2015 I'm thinking I might try something entirely new: just taking on one random task at a time. Who knows? I may end up with another slacker year like this one, but I may actually get one thing achieved that I've wanted to achieve for ages now. You never know. ;)

I should probably still have a list of things I could work on, and then I can throw a dart at it and hit a random agenda item. ;) e.g.

1. Finish 2014 NaNo novel
2. Finish editing SQUEAKY (so not appealing)
3. Send some photo submissions to Vine Leaves

There's a good start. Three things to achieve, and two of them are relatively easy.

Anyway, these are my current thoughts about how I might approach 2015.

What are your plans for the new year?

Reading goal = Writer Blogger novels

One of my goals for a while now has been to read as many of my blogger writer friends' books as I can. Sometimes these authors are people I don't really know but am still only aware of because of the writer blogger community I'm a part of. But often they're people I do consider to be friends.

I did make quite a bit of progress this year, with reading the following books:

• Breakthrough - Stephen Tremp
• That Fatal Kiss - Mina Lobo
• Healing Summer - Elizabeth Seckman
• Reborn - Cherie Reich
• CassaStar - Alex J. Cavanaugh
• CassaFire - Alex J. Cavanaugh
• CassaStorm - Alex J. Cavanaugh
• Motocross Me - Cheyanne Young
• Three Daves - Nicki Elson
• The Trouble With Flying - Rachel Morgan
• The Shadows Trilogy - Jolene Perry
• Not Your Fault - Cheyanne Young
• Nobody Knows - Kyra Lennon
• Dragonfly - Leigh Talbot Moore
• Strength - Carrie Butler

And I'm currently reading:

• The Summer I Found You - Jolene Perry

Obviously I still have heaps of books yet to read, that you guys have written. But I'm quite happy with the progress I made this year.

A goal in the new year is to use some of my "leftover at the end of pay period" dollars & cents to buy copies of your books that I haven't bought yet. But that will probably be a slow, gradual process. For now, I've got plenty of your books still on my Kindle not yet read. And I also have at least one or two print copies on my bookshelves to read, too. Wheeee!

Post-NaNo post! :) and IWSG #11!

First I want to say I need to catch up on visiting your blogs - I've got a bit behind but I'll get on it ASAP.

Second, I won NaNo, though my novel LOST & FOUND is not quite finished. I'm at 51,346 words and estimate I won't get beyond 55k, and will probably get to less. But whenever I get around to revisions, I can well imagine adding a good few extra words to this count, with the required fleshing-out.

I'm pretty happy with the story, even if the writing leaves a fair bit to be desired. I'm both glad and sad that it's over. I need to get back to my revision work, but that's hardly an appealing notion. ;)

Anyway ... the end of the year is nigh. How are you guys feeling about the year gone by?

I'm feeling all right this month, I guess, but as we near the end of another year, my Goals page looks quite intimidating. I'm relieved it's just a general goals page, and not a page for goals I wanted to achieve this year alone.

I can say I didn't achieve most of what's on there, but I still got some stuff done.

Could be worse. ;)

Of course, the year isn't quite over yet. Perhaps miracles will occur before we hit 2015.