Christmas was great this year! \u00a0I spent it in Texas, with my extended family–the family on my dad’s side, who I almost never see. \u00a0The break has been a lot of fun so far! \u00a0No school or work obligations, lots of time to lay back and relax, plenty of games to play and books to read, plus fun people to hang out with–it’s been great!<\/p>\n
Most of my cousins are young teenagers right now, and are a lot different than I remember. \u00a0However, I was able to get some presents for them that I think worked out well. \u00a0David is into his iPod, so I got him some U2 albums (How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb<\/em> and Joshua Tree<\/em>). \u00a0Savannah and Nash are both avid fantasy readers, so I got Savannah Mistborn: The Final Empire<\/em> and Nash\u00a0Victory of Eagles<\/em> (the one chain bookstore in Midland didn’t have His Majesty’s Dragon<\/em>, so I got him another from the series). \u00a0Daniel, I didn’t know what to get, so I gave him my old camera.<\/p>\n Ashley (who is older) was telling me about how she lived abroad and wants to spend some time in Australia, so I got a travelogue on Australia by the same guy who did A Walk in the Woods.<\/em> Based on her reaction, I think she’s going to like it!<\/p>\n It was much easier to get stuff for direct family, since I know them better. \u00a0For Kate, I got Soulless,<\/em> a steampunk \/ paranormal mystery novel that had an awesome release party at World Fantasy 2009. \u00a0I don’t know if she’ll like the book, but the party was very steampunk \/ regency fantasy with the cosplayers, so I think she will. \u00a0I got Danny The Screwtape Letters,<\/em> since I know he likes that kind of religious fiction–turns out he’s been meaning to read it for a while! \u00a0Mykle, I got the first book in C. S. Friedman’s latest series, since I know that she’s his favorite author–24 hours after Christmas, he’s already 200+ pages into it! \u00a0And for Sarah and Mykle, I got them both $20 gift certificates to Pioneer Book in downtown Provo. \u00a0They were very happy with that!<\/p>\n I wish I’d had the time to get presents for everyone in the family, but with moving out, coming here so quickly, and not having a car (or much of an idea what they wanted), it just wasn’t very practical. \u00a0I did get my mom a gift certificate to B&N, but I haven’t gotten anything for my dad yet. \u00a0I will, though–he wants stuff from our Christmas memories, and I happen to have all my old childhood journals in my carry on luggage. \u00a0Lots of Christmas memories in those!<\/p>\n I’m satisfied with what I got, even though it wasn’t all that much. \u00a0Besides the generic clothes, socks, ties, candy, popcorn, and other stuff, I got a spiffy tool kit from Robin and a flexible tripod from pop. \u00a0Very nice! \u00a0They will add some weight to my luggage, but I think I can give some of it to mom or pop to bring home.<\/p>\n As far as writing goes, I’m less than 13k words from the end of Bringing Stella Home 2.0<\/em>. \u00a0It’s not quite ready for alpha readers yet, but I want to get it ready soon (it’s going to take so much work! <sob>). \u00a0If I average 2.6k words over the next five days, I’ll have it finished in time to start something new<\/strong> by new years!<\/p>\n That’s the goal. \u00a0As for what the next novel is going to be about…let’s just say it’s Homer’s Odyssey <\/em>meets <\/em>C. J. Cherryh and Ursula K. Le Guin in space, where Telemachus is a girl and the story is primarily from her point of view.<\/p>\n I hope I can pull it off!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"