This morning I woke up to the sound of a major thunderstorm in Chicago, which is just delightful for those of us who don't have to go out in today.  I hopped out of bed long enough to grab my laptop and decided to do a little writing in my pjs.

Check out what I wrote over here.  Anyone who has ever owned a cat and lived someplace where the doors never quite latch should appreciate it.

Have a wonderful new year, everyone and please be safe! 

-Di

Those who know me best know at least two things about me.  I love to start new projects (and sometimes even finish them!) and I am pretty crazy about my cats.  So, to go along with both those traits, I whipped together a new website which I hope you will find at least a little bit funny:  http://www.conversingwithcats.com/

Happy New Year to all!

-Di

2010 has been a fabulous year.  I have been fortunate to grow in so many ways -- in my writing, my personal relationships, and my career.  2011 promises to be even better as I pursue new professional and educational goals.  I hope I will have lots of great things to report here in the next twelve months.  In the meantime, I am wishing a happy and safe new year to everyone!

-Di

As a writer, keeping track of what other writers are doing, and reading their stuff, is important, and also exhausting.  So many talented people to keep track of!  But these are the same people who are editing literary magazines and working in publishing and who know things about publishing that you don't, so it is good to read blogs and read new books and old books and check out interviews and obviously doing all of this for every writer you admire (if you're like me and have wide tastes in literature at least) is going to be next to impossible.  At least for me.  I don't know, maybe you have superpowers and no need to sleep.

At any rate, I just realized I should not randomly decide to post here at 6:00 A.M. because I babble.  More than usual. 

But, the reason I started this post is because Matt Bell is awesome.  Hence the title.  I posted a comment on an interview with him which can be found here.  And he selected me as the lucky recipient for a copy of his new books and a swag bag full of literary goodies.  I am so excited I am doing a little internal happy dance!  I never win anything and now I won something pretty awesome just for being my sappy, sentimental, heartfelt self.  Gotta love being rewarded just for being me.  Woo hoo!!!

Hey, it's me!  I'm poking my head out of the black hole of holidays, job changes, and general life-icity to say hi!  I'm doing some writing, but not nearly enough.  I have big plans for the new year as far as my writing goes and I hope to finally launch my super-secret project in January.  So keep checking back and have a great holiday season! 

Happy Cookie Eating!
-Di

I got one of those winter colds.  You know the kind that just knocks you on your butt and your can't do much aside from blow your nose and lie around waiting to be put out of your misery?  Yep, that's how I ended the month.  And so, I made no further progress on NaNoWriMo.

But today, I am feeling quite a bit better.  And I wanted to let anyone who sent me artwork know that I do still intend to write 30 stories.  Once I am feeling 100% again, I am going to pick it back up and attempt the same rate I was going before.  In the meantime, I started tinkering around a bit with one of my novels again today.  The desire to write seems to be a positive sign that I am going to stay among the living for awhile at least.  ;)

Happy Writing!

-Di