ALL SHE WANTS FOR CHRISTMAS

Okay, so my daughter wrote a letter to Santa this year, outlining all the things she wants. I think gift-giving is one of the most fun things of the holidays. And there's a book that has a hero that believes the same: ALL SHE WANTS FOR CHRISTMAS by Sara V. Olds.

Sara is one of my critique partners, and she just released her holiday romance last week. It's a super-fun, fast, and perfect holiday read. I hope you'll consider gifting it to yourself this Christmas, or to someone else who likes to read clean, witty, and swoon-worthy romance.

About ALL SHE WANTS FOR CHRISTMAS: Saving Christmas will take more than Magic.

George Clauson is Santa's daughter, but she can't stand Christmas. All that ho-ho-hoing, caroling and people's greedy wants? No, thank you. She's left the family business and struck off on her own in the human world finding her niche as a humble second-grade teacher.

Ebenezer Herod is a descendent of King Herod. His family has never stopped trying to destroy Christmas. This year they may actually get their wish, but not if Ben can help it.

George wants nothing to do with restoring balance to the Christmas season, and she certainly isn't interested in the shockingly handsome and devilishly rich Ben. A determined do-gooder, Ben's used to saving the day, but he can't rescue Christmas alone. Can George and Ben find a way to work together despite their opposing heritages to make the Season bright?

Buy:

I hope you'll consider getting ALL SHE WANTS FOR CHRISTMAS as part of your holiday season. 

What great read should I get for myself?

Give Yourself Permission

Dude, so it's 1:11 AM right now, and I'm just sitting down to write a blog post. I don't know what this says, but I'm pretty sure it goes against everything I'm about to say. Shocking, I know.

I think it's important to give ourselves permission for things. As a new year approaches and many of us stop to contemplate the last year and what we might like to do differently in the upcoming year, my vote is for you to give yourself permission.

Skip writing for a day if you need to. Maybe for two days. Or three. Sometimes there are more important things.

Don't beat yourself up over this. Give yourself permission.

Feel free to write terribly one day. Maybe two. Or three. Or weeks. It's okay to spew the draft out in the hopes that you can fix it in revisions.

Don't worry about every word being perfect. Give yourself permission to stink it up.

Feeling like the constant noise of the Internet is making you insane? Finding that you're moving into the land of "I Suck" because she has good news and he blah blah and blah blah blah?

Turn it off.

Give yourself permission to be disconnected for a day. Or two. Or three. It's important to be a whole person too, not just an Internet presence. Work on your real relationships and go to work and make dinner and all that other stuff that forms you into who you are.

Don't feel like blogging?

Don't.

Give yourself permission to scale back, improvise, experiment until you find what works for you. And since I always follow my own advice (ha!), I have given myself permission to take all of next week off from the blog. From a lot of things, actually.

Hope you have a happy holiday season. See you in 2012!

What do you need to give yourself permission to do (or not do)?

Catching Up...Or Not

Just when you think you've caught up, life has a way of throwing you back down on the mat and laughing at you.

I can't catch up with the social networking racehorse.

There will always be one more blog I should be reading. Usually one that everyone else in the known universe knows about, but somehow, I don't.

There will always be one more person to follow on twitter or friend on Facebook. Just when I think I've stalked all the writing lists and added everyone there is, I find more.

There will always be one more amazing book to read. Another author to follow/read about/know.

Always. One. More.

I have to know her, and her, and him, and hey she's amazing! And oh my heck, she sold her book to HarperCollins! And I need to follow her and tweet to him and and and--

I feel like I'm not doing enough. Yet at the same time, I feel like I'm doing so freaking much.

It's enough to make you explode.

And another thing: I don't have one yet, but today is Editor Appreciation Day, and I just wanna say "Yay!" to editors. Happy Editor Appreciation Day! If you want to read all the amazing love for editors, I believe Gretchen McNeil is hosting the official list on her blog.

And one more thing: Suzette Saxton is going to be unveiling a pretty cool feature on QueryTracker.net on Monday. It's totally related to social networking and hopefully will make finding other authors on Facebook, twitter, blogs and websites easier and faster. QT isn't just for queries anymore, my friends. So go to the main site (it's free!) and update your profiles with all your social networking sites--and your genre preferences. Then watch the QT blog on Monday, December 21 (kissing day! Visit Katie Ganshert's blog for that info.).

How about you? How are you feeling about life right now? Totally overwhelmed? Ready for the holidays? The new year? Need a vacay from your life? We can pack together. Mentally, I'm already there.

Buying Books

There's nothing better than buying books. Nothing.

My husband and I went to the BYU bookstore today and bought four new books! I love getting new books. We bought the second book in the Cronus Chronicles by Anne Ursu, The Siren Song. I'm going to start that one first. A lover of anything Nancy Farmer writes, I bought The House of the Scorpion. My husband's already claimed that one. The next two will be brand new for both of us. Quantum Prophecy: The Awakening by Michael Carroll and The Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch by Joseph Delaney. They are both the first in a series and I'll see if I like them enough to buy the next in the series.

There were so many more books I wanted. Like Libba Bray's Rebel Angels, the sequel to A Great and Terrible Beauty. But I decided I better finish the first one before I buy the second one. I wanted Ninth Grade Slays by Heather Brewer, but they didn't have it. Nor did they have Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr. Oh, and The Final Warning by James Patterson. They had that one, but it was hardback, and expensive, and I already had four I was dying to have...so I didn't get that one either.

Reading: THE SIREN SONG by Anne Ursu