Quitters Never Win (Except When They Don't Die of Cancer)

I'm a quitter.

No, not on Rebel Belle or NaNoWriMo. Perish the thought! I'm a much better kind of quitter. An AWESOME quitter if I do say so myself, for I have...

QUIT SMOKING! Yes! Adieu, Cancer Sticks! I am officially 2 1/2 weeks cigarette free, and so far, it's actually been really easy. I think it's because A) no one I know smokes anymore, and B) It took me around 2 weeks to get through a pack, so it's not like I had a particularly bad habit. Now, like most smokers, I've quit before only to fall back into the habit. I quit for over a year back in 2005 (back when Small Son was Fetus Son, and then Tiny Baby Son). But this time is for good because I've said so on the internet, and as we all know, nothing is real unless it happens in Internetlandia. ;) You peeps will hold me to it, right?

In other momentous news, another country bought Demonglass (can't say who yet; waiting for PM announcement) and there are a few other countries checking it out, which is VERY exciting. Also, I have a film co-agent with CAA now, and there is *whispery voice* some movie talk burbling. Nothing concrete yet, but it still fills me with excitement/terror to think of people in Hollywood even knowing about my book.

And to top off this Feast of Awesome, Sunday is my birthday/anniversary! Yes, I got married on my birthday, but it wasn't on purpose (the date, that is. I obviously got married on purpose.) See, back when The Husband and I decided to wed, it was his first year teaching, so time off was not easy to come by. I wanted to get married in the fall, so we settled on the Saturday before Thanksgiving... which, that year was my 23rd b'day (on the 23rd, too! So I got married on my "special birthday!") The Husband has exactly one date to remember every year. He is quite lucky.

Oh, and in addition to being my birthday, it was also the Iron Bowl, and if you know anything about The South, SEC football, college rivalries, etc., you will understnad when I say that everyone in our wedding totally effin' HATED US for that. But they cheered up considerably when they got to the reception and began partaking in the free beer. Besides, Auburn won that year and has never lost since! The Husband and I joke that we have to get divorced whenever Auburn's winning streak is broken (which will almost undoubtedly be this year. Oh, well. The Husband and I had a good run!)

But wait, there's MORE! In celebration of me entering the last year of my 20s- which I am SO PUMPED about. The Husband was sad when he turned 30 last year, but I'm actually bummed I have a whole other year to go before 30. All of my friends who are in their 30s say it is much more excellent than the 20s- I am giving YOU, my loyal blog readers, a present!

Well, one of you, at least. To help facillitate buying a book and saving the world, I'll be choosing a random reader from the comments section to receive a $20 gift card to Barnes and Noble. Yes, seriously!

Just leave a comment to be entered. Any of you lurkers out there, now is your time to de-lurk. Say hi! Leave your own thoughts on Xanadu! Tell me how much you LOVED Camp Winna-WTF? and how heinous I am for hating it! If you're a writer, plug the ever livin' you-know-what out of your own book! Whatever you feel like!

I'll be at the beach through Thanksgiving, but when I return on Monday, December 1, I'll announce the winner!

Hope everyone has an awesome Turkey Day!

Rebel Belle? Prepare For Your Pwn-ing.

Hi, all! Hope everyone had a great Halloween! Halloween was a little crazy here at Chez Hawkins since, for some unknown reason, Auburn decided to have Halloween on THURSDAY night instead of Friday. I was in jammies, glass of wine in hand, when the onslaught began, and I kid you not, I gave out over 100 pieces of candy in under thirty minutes. And I was only giving one piece per kid! Vultures, I tell you, vultures! So once we ran out of candy, we got Small Son out of bed and re-dressed for Trick or Treating. He ended up going costume-less, as costumes kind of freak him out. But nevertheless, Small Son loved him some Trick or Treating! Of course, now he thinks the neighbors will give him candy at any time, but that's to be expected. So here he is, enjoying his first Halloween haul:


"CandycandycandycandycandycandyCANDY!"

But even though I was not mentally or...um...candyily prepared for Thursday trick or treating, I ended up being very happy that Auburn decided to do it early because I went on vacay on Friday, and would have missed Small Son's first Trick or Treating! I know, I know, what kind of scum sucking Mama goes on vacation WITHOUT HER KID on Halloween? But this was a SPECIAL trip I was taking with MY Mama, and as my Mama and I are busy, busy ladies, this past weekend was the only one that worked. So leaving The Husband and Small Son here in Auburn (although The Husband DID have the advantage of having a huge bucket of candy for Small Son, thanks to the crazy Thursday night trick or treating, so don't feel too sorry for him), and The Mama and I headed down to my favorite place on earth, the Hilton resort in Sandestin, Florida.


Ahhhhhhh...


We had a wonderful time!


This picture really sums up the entire vacation.


I came back all refreshed and relaxed and happy and ready to totally PWN Rebel Belle. Because I want to take December off to focus on Christmukkah and family and various things like that, AND I plan on rocking Demonglass 2 starting in January, I really want RB finished by the end of November. So I'm kind of participating in NaNoWriMo, but it's also kind of cheating because you're not supposed to bring a half-finished book to NaNoWriMo as that impedes creativity or something. So it's more like NaNoWriMoOMGJUSTFINISHTHEDAMNTHING for moi. Anyone else partipating in REAL NaNoWriMo?

Of course, I should also be working on revisions for Demonglass this month, too, so I've probably lost my mind. But I work best under pressure anyway.

Oh! And for motivation, I bought myself a little Rebel Belle present. It's a Pandora charm bracelet, and my first charm was this right here:



It's a Queen Bee! That is SO my main character, Harper. So whenever I'm feeling discouraged, I look down at my little Rebel Belle charm and remind myself that Harper would really like her book finished already. And also that the charm was kind of expensive and a completed book would really help justify the purchase of a tiny silver and gold bee.