Sadness

I titled my post Sadness because I honestly wasn't sure what to call it. Plus, I'm full of sadness tonight. I've posted many times after a tragedy and the one that happened in Connecticut yesterday is no exception.

It almost was. I mean, really, I don't want to hear about it anymore. Not because I'm so heartless that I don't care. No, quite the opposite. I care too much. It's too close and so wrong. I hate the bad things that exist in this world, hate that we have to have bad things happen all the time. I don't understand it, nor do I want to. I just want it to go away.

It hurts, it makes me cry and makes me want to know why. And it makes me thankful even more that I could go to my kids right now and hold them in my arms. Makes me so happy that I got to pick my kids up from school, take them to the movie they've been asking me to go to, put up a Christmas tree, wrap their presents, everything. I'm just thankful.

That's it really, I meant to only write something brief and then post a poem I wrote because I write when I'm emotional. Since my sadness does not belong in any of my three current WIPs at the moment, I wrote a poem. So, here it is.

Angels

Life unlived
Experiences missed
Milestones passed
Without chance
Knowledge ungained
Beauty unchanged
Graduations planned
Never allowed
Firsts unknown
Innocence stolen
Promises avowed
And unbroken
Unfair choices
Misplaced sorrow
Angels born
Who deserved a tomorrow.

That's it. And I'm actually hoping to have a special post coming up soon, so I'll see you again later this week. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a good weekend. ((((((hugs))))))) because I think hugs are really nice, especially right now. :)

NaNoTGIO and Ali Cross

Whew, November FLEW by. It feels like it was just yesterday that I was writing about starting NaNoWriMo. Now, here it is, 3 days into December and NaNo is over.

What was my first NaNoWriMo like? CRAZY. I didn't really have a lot of expectations for NaNo. I wanted to win, hoped I would win, but I wasn't expecting anything other than getting my motivation back.

So, did I get my motivation back? Yes and no. Yes because I want to write now. My NaNo WIP will be put aside for now and I'm going back to the WIP I was working on before I lost my motivation. But no because I'm still behind on things. I'm not caught up on critting and not sure when I will be. I need to read, need to write, need to catch up.

But am I happy I did NaNo? YES! And I'm planning to do it again next year. It was good for me and that is all that matters. I needed something to get me in gear and NaNo did it.

Let's get to the real question on everyone's mind. The one that matters most. Well, maybe not *most*, but the one that is up there...Did I win? Did I end the month of November with 50k words written or not? Well...YES! I did it. I barely made it, validated my word count at 11:59pm on Friday, November 30th. BUT, I MADE IT!

My NaNo novel isn't that great. It's going to take some major editing, especially on the last half, but it's done. I wanted to win, wanted to get it done, to reach the 50k goal, and get my motivation back. I did that, so I'm a winner. :)

I have more news I wanted to talk about today...I'm subscribed to Ali Cross' newsletter and I just got something in the email this past weekend that is very exciting. :) Coming in this month is the third installment in her Desolation series. WOOT! I haven't had a chance to get to the second book, but still very excited that there is a third one coming out soon.

Also, there is now a website for the series. Yay! Check it out: DesolationSeries.com. There's also a Tumblr and Pinterest for the series. Yay, yay, yay. Lol. Yes, I'm excited. This series is one of my favorites and Ali is too. :)

Here's something else, straight from Ali's newsletter :

December 1st-15th, I am participating in an online signing party! This means you can buy my paperback books at discounted prices, and pre-order your signed copy of Destined (Desolation #3). Just visit my blog and order using the Paypal button on the right sidebar. 

Desolation number three will be released on December 12th. So, check it out. If you haven't read Ali's books, go get them. And if you're not following Ali or didn't even know about her...Go to her blog now. It's great, the series is great, and Ali is greater than great...She's AWESOME!!

That's all for today. Hope you all have a wonderful Monday. :)