November! What A Month!

I hope you and yours had a wonderful Thanksgiving (if that's what you celebrate!).

What did I do in November? I wrote a book! At the very last minute I signed up for the National Novel Writing Month challenge - 50,000 words in 30 days.

It's rough, it needs to be fleshed out, the characters are not done with me yet, but I took it from beginning to end in one month! And I reached my goal of 50,000 words early because . . . .

Copyright 2013 Theresa Buchle All Rights Reserved

We went camping for Thanksgiving!

Four cold days in Stephen F. Austin State Park. It had recently flooded, so there was water everywhere. Some of the campsites had standing water in them - not puddles, standing water. Our own site had been under water at the beginning of the week!

Copyright 2013 Theresa Buchle All Rights Reserved

We were surrounded by green everywhere and by trees. I saw my very first Mississippi Kite - a beautiful bird. Think of a small, silver colored hawk. We heard cuckoos at nightfall, owls right outside our tent, and one night the beautiful sound of coyotes greeting each other. Ariel saw a giant armadillo (her words) and we came across fellow campers on a trail carrying a huge rattlesnake that the young man had just killed. We had our own rattlesnake encounter when we got back home - Ariel was startled by one in the back forty when putting up the bikes. I thank the universe that she was not bitten! It was too close a call - her dad came to her rescue and took care of the snake. I hate killing them but sometimes it's a necessity - this one was too close to the house (we only have an acre, mind you) and too close to the child and the animals. Mama Cat has been bitten and is recovering nicely on her own, but I don't want anyone/thing else bitten.

Copyright 2014 Theresa Buchle All Rights Reserved

It was cold and muddy - this is where I spent most of my time. We had our traditional mac and cheese with sausage - not good for me, but it's tradition. And cheesecake (our Thanksgiving pie), s'mores, broccoli cheese soup - several times (there was a lot of it). And of course, hot cocoa!

Now it's time for Christmas/Yule celebrations, a very special birthday later this week, a visit from my darling boys and then Christmas with them. If I'm lucky, a big Yule fire in the back forty with friends.

I will also start planning my strategy for 2014, because those beads are calling loud and clear - my brain is filled with a cacophony between the beads and the book characters. I'm staging a comeback and a premier at the same time - bwahahahahahaha!

Looks like December will be a crazy month too!