NOT YOUR USUAL SUSPECTS

A group blog featuring an international array of killer mystery, suspense, and romantic suspense writers. With premises and story lines different from your run-of-the-mill whodunits, we tend to write outside the box. We blog several times a week on all topics relating to romantic suspense and mystery, our writing, and our readers. We welcome all comments and often have guest bloggers. All our authors can be contacted separately, too, using their own social media links.

We find our genre delightfully, dangerously, and deliciously exciting - join us here, if you do too!

NOTE: the blog is currently dormant but please enjoy the posts we're keeping online.


Julie Moffet . Cathy Perkins . Jean Harrington . Daryl Anderson . Nico Rosso . Maureen A Miller . Sandy Parks . Lisa Q Mathews . Sharon Calvin . Lynne Connolly . Janis Patterson . Vanessa Keir . Tonya Kappes . Julie Rowe . Joni M Fisher . Leslie Langtry

Monday, December 7, 2015

18--Count 'em 18--Days Til Christmas!


Something happens to me this time of year. I'm normally an organized and reasonably punctual person, but from about mid-November on I suffer one of those space and time continuum things. I'm moving so fast and in so many directions that I fully expect to run into myself head-on any moment. Oh there you are! Did you remember to phone the insurance company? You still haven't bought your mother's birthday gift! Did you find that missing box of ornaments?

It's a crazy time of year for everyone, but for writers I think it's especially crazy because this is (or at least it is for me) when I sit down to finalize my writing schedule for the next year. As in I stop fantasizing about how much I can humanly do and get realistic about the books I'm really going to write. Usually there's a lot of last minute promotion stuff going on--holiday stories and holiday promos (raise your hand if you DIDN'T write a holiday story in 2015). And it's the time of year when I pause long enough to figure out how successful the year actually was. As in, take a deep breath and study those numbers.

What worked? What didn't.

There are always surprises in that final tally.

It's an emotional time of year. It's a time for reflection and memory--sentiment and nostalgia seem to be riding shotgun with me even as I sketch out my plans for the future. It's an exciting time of year. Presents! Okay, not presents (or not ONLY presents), but the reset button is punched and we start the race all over again. I love that. I love the possibility and the challenge. What will I do next year I haven't done before?

This is my December. What is your December like? Is it a time of family, friends and fun? Is it a time when you start pulling out the ledgers and frowning over the numbers? Is it a period of reflection and review or excitement and anticipation? For me, it's all of the above. And it's the uneasy feeling that there must be a better way...

3 comments:

Mia Kay said...

Josh - I'm still getting used December. :-) For 20 years, the end of the year was my busiest time of year at my day job. Now my "new" job equals actually enjoying this time of year. However, now my husband is working the holiday. {sigh} Oh well. It leaves me more time to write, read, and reflect.

Enjoy your year end.

~ Mia

Maureen A. Miller said...

Oh! Oh! (Hand up) I didn't write a Holiday story in 2015! :) LOL. No time. Stuck in the middle of a series.

Christmas makes me miss my grandmother. She and I were attached at the hip this time of year. Listening to Chipmunks. Putting tinsel on the tree. Tinsel is the most aggravating thing ever invented, yet somehow it looked beautiful in the end. :)

I will have to take some time off for the holidays from writing because we travel, but I run a blog that I can't take time off of, so there will be lots of chaotic typing in the passenger seat of the car.

Happy Holiday wishes to you, Josh, and to everyone here!

Anne Marie Becker said...

Josh, your December sounds a lot like mine! (Minus the holiday promo - like Maureen, I'm raising my hand as I didn't write a holiday story, but I plan to in 2016! LOL) But it is a crazy time, and my people-pleasing tendencies make it harder because I feel I have to get everyone just the right gift, get my writing done, etc., etc. It makes my heart race just thinking about it.

But yes, my favorite time is the week after Christmas, when I have time to reflect and think about what I want the new year to look like.

Good luck! :D

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