And just like that, Christmas has come and gone. I never thought that life would speed by as fast as the past few months have, and I never thought I'd be saying stupid stuff like "Where did THAT year go?"

But man. Where DID 2002 go?

It was a wild and wooly year, but I'm gonna do a Year in Review entry on the 31st that'll cover the year that was. Right now I'm trying to get over xmas -- you know the feeling, the sort of empty ache after all the gifts are opened and you've seen the surprise on the face of the loved one who you got the special gift, and who really dug it (for me it was getting Elizabeth her industrial strength fruit juicer -- she used to work at a soda fountain in her high school years, and she's been jonesin' for a really good, non-electrical juicer to make orangeades and other high-sugar delicacies. She never saw that gift coming!).

I alway feel overwhelmed at all the cool stuff I get every year. Got some nice clothes, including the snazzy Hawkeye sweater my parents got while they were back in Iowa this fall, and the "anti-rugby" shirt (rugby material, but no collar), and some great CDs (Bruce, U2, Dave Matthews), and some nifty books (The Scar, Coraline), a Gandalf bookmarker (Elizabeth made some friends with the guys at the bookstore with that purchase, let me tell ya!) and some awesome baseball DVDs for my Next Novel Research ("The Natural," "A League of Their Own," and the great "Eight Men Out" not to mention the extended version of "Fellowship of the Ring"!!!), a 3-D castle puzzle that I may just have to work on today, a snazzy fountain that my mom and dad made, and some other nifty stuff that I know I'm forgetting, but the best gift of all was a beautiful pen-and-pencil holder (I kept calling it a "cupholder" all day) that Elizabeth made for me at her pottery class. It's very slick-looking -- dark brown with streaks of dark blue, with a ring of raised circles encircling the rim. And Lizzie made it for me! That's what makes it the best gift.

Although I must admit, running a close second to Lizzie's "cupholder" was a gift every writer needs on his or her shelf: Snoopy's Guide to the Writing Life (thanks, Mom!). The book has tons of comic strips featuring Snoopy the Writer, hard at work atop his doghouse, getting rejection after rejection, and working on his subtlety ("It was a sort of dark and kind of stormy night"). It also has essays by bestselling authors about the writing life and the mechanics of writing. Great stuff! I want to cut each comic out and stick it on my monitor (if I had room there, that is) -- that's how good Charles Schultz's comics are! A great book -- check it out!

Okay. Got xmas out of my system. We had a really nice time with my family and hers, and as always, the best part is watching the kids rip the paper off their gifts and then spend the rest of the day playing with the boxes their gifts came in... ;)

Now I have to finish up some odds and ends, writing-wise -- cobble together another scene for the collaboration Tim Pratt and I are doing, finish a really rough draft of my mutant bug story, jam out a couple hundred words on the Sf novel, and then read for the rest of the day. At least, that's the plan. Later.

Now Playing:
"The Best of 1990-2000 & B-Sides," U2; "The Rising," Da Boss

Now Reading:
Snoopy's Guide to the Writing Life; The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl, Tim Pratt

Stories out to Publishers:
19

Today's Words:
500 (left over from the 24th)

Words for the Year:
144,500