Dear Diary: It's Finally Snowing!

Our snow-free winter is no longer, which is good news in one way: It forces my husband to take a day off from talking about global warming. He's been "on fire" on that subject during our unusually warm fall and winter. As one who grew up in Rhode Island, I've tried to tell him it's always been this way. Some winters we're hit by one snow storm after another and others are relatively snow-free. I blame the lack of snow up to this point on him. After nine winters of shoveling our long driveway, he finally bought a tractor with a plow last fall. That all but guarantees several snow-free winters, right? The used tractor sounds like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, with the emphasis on BANG BANG. It backfires. Loudly. After which he is usually heard to say, "Oh, shit!" The kids and I listen for the bang and laugh at his reaction. We also make sure the windows are closed to keep Chitty's fumes from overtaking us, which nearly happened last fall! The bad news about the snow is that I have to drive in it, which I hate.

So back to business! Yesterday was a productive day in the writer land. I got quite a bit done on Hoping for Love, had a good talk with my agent, Kevan Lyon, about the Fatal Series and some other things that I hope will come to fruition soon. A lot of people ask me why I still need an agent when I'm doing pretty well as an independent author. Well, for one thing Kevan represents me on the ongoing Fatal Series and has been very helpful in dealing with a number of things on that front. She keeps her eye out for potential opportunities for me and helps to decipher the always-perplexing royalty statements I receive from two different publishers. We've been together for three-and-a-half years and have always had a great relationship. Is our partnership different now than it was before last year? Yes, it is. However, I have to say that from the day I first told her I planned to self-publish some of my unsold books Kevan has never been anything but supportive of my endeavors. She sees the big picture. Any progress I make on my own will be beneficial to the books I have with her, too. She "gets it," which is why I'm glad she's still my agent.

I made it to the gym yesterday for the first time all week, and today I can barely move. Next week, I aim to go three times so I can get back into a regular routine. We'll see how that goes. Hubby's company holiday party is tonight. They always do it in January, which is actually nice. December is way too busy, so we're glad to not have to add another obligation to the schedule. We're just wondering if the party will be snowed out! We'll see!

Hope you're having a great Saturday!