New Year's Eve Wishes

"May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art -- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself." ~ Neil Gaiman

"Listen to Neil." ~Lori Ann Stephens 

Bonjour from the Seine (photo taken by my 8-yr-old, Julien)

Blogging from Paris

So, I'm in Paris now.  I've been busy completing an interview with the marvelous writer, Matt Bondurant. Now that I've sent that off to the publisher, I'm working on my own writing and revisions.  Mostly, though, I'm transcribing my younger son's blog.  He's eight, and keeps a daily blog when we travel to Paris.  Hop over and visit or follow his blog.  He loves to read comments from readers.

Herve came home with a Christmas tree for Julien.  Our first Paris tree.  We've already started decorating it.

Break

So, it's the end of the semester, and that means a few things. Grading final essays, submitting grades, France for Christmas Break, and writing.

As soon as I submit final grades for the semester, I hunker down and write.  Seriously write.  Six-hour-a-day writing, the kind that makes my heart want to explode, it feels so good.  My favorite place to write is on the plane to and from France.  The in-flight movies are either terrible or I've seen them (or both), so I pull out my laptop--and then my notebook when the laptop dies--and type/hand write several chapters over the Atlantic.

When we're in Paris, my eight-year-old son keeps his daily blog, which he dictates to me.  That means I'll have little time to even log into my own blog.  So if I don't make an appearance over the next few weeks, it's not because I'm not writing.

Have a great holiday break, teachers, students, and colleagues. 
Oh, and if you don't want to fight the crowds at the mall:
Song of the Orange Moons makes a great little holiday gift (hard back OR on Kindle) for friends and family!