CONTEST!: Top Nine O'Nine

It's three days until 2010 - a year that I am awaiting like no other - and I thought I'd send 2009 out with a bang, contest style.

This is my first (and last, of 2009) CONTEST (many more to come in 2010!) - expect all contests to be quirky - because I love quirks - and here is Andrea's Quirky Contest #1. *Trumpets blare*

The time honored tradition of countdowns easily turns into overkill this time of year, but lists are addictive and it's oh so much fun to review the things you loved about the past year (hopefully glossing over those bits you loathed).

The other great thing about the New Year is predicting what's ahead. Isn't playing fortune-teller always fun?

For this contest I'll be mashing these two ideas together.

Top Nine O'Nine (aka Andrea's first blog contest)

The contest: Create a 2010 slogan and post it in the comments section below. Slogans can be silly or serious.

Or, a combination: 2010: The Year Polar Bears Strike Back
The best will be clever, cunning, cataclysmic - you get the idea. I encourage wackiness and snarf-worthiness. Enter as many times as you like, though you can only win once. Bonus points for linking to this contest on your blog!

The prize:

Here come the Top Nine. It's been a great, great year for books (but watch out for 2010 - I think it will only get better!). I'll be awarding prizes for Winner, 1st Runner Up, and 2nd Runner Up. Each winner receives 3 books, a trio from my top 9 books of 2009.* The list is below in alphabetical order by author.

Cassandra Clare, City of Glass (Book 3, Mortal Instruments)
Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire (Book 2, Hunger Games)
Becca Fitzpatrick, Hush, Hush
Laurie Halse Anderson, Wintergirls
Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, Beautiful Creatures
Cynthia Leitich Smith, Eternal
Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Lexicon
Carrie Ryan, The Forest of Hands and Teeth
Maggie Stiefvater, Ballad**

1st, 2nd, and 3rd place may pick one book from this list they're itching to read, and I'll send it to get 2010 off to a fantastic reading start! Go, slogans, go. Deadline: What else? Entries accepted until 11:59 p.m. (CST) December 31.


**New twist: Since I'm loving the entries so much - here's an added incentive. If I reach 110 (because ya' know, it' s the '10 that matters!) blog followers by the end of this contest, each winner will receive 2 books from the list!
*Disclaimer: Ack!! Picking just 9 books was so hard! So many more I long to add - plus, so many just released books I have yet to read...remorse, remorse!!
** I loved Ballad and Shiver, but it didn't seem fair to have both books on the list and I loved Ballad an eency bit more, so it's the book for this list.

Little Victories

We had to move Christmas. The National Weather Service described travel conditions at the time we were meant to head North for the family as 'life-threatening.' No family, no presents. It started as a terrible disappointment. It could have been a disaster.


But sometimes inconveniences, big and small, can bring to light the best parts of life. Instead of gathering at the traditional time in the traditional place, we cobbled together a small dinner for those of us close enough to meet without risky life and limb. Christmas Up North has been rescheduled for next weekend. Our impromptu Christmas dinner was delightful. Today, Boxing Day, we loafed about, tucked under quilts, nibbling leftovers, until it was time to move the cars because of the Snow Emergency.

*This is not us, but we looked very much like this*

Since this latest storm consisted of not only snow, but also ice, the streets have turned into corridors slicker than skating rinks. It took a group effort to get the car moving, but move it did amid laughter, shouts from the open car door (the windows were frozen shut), and celebratory dancing in the street upon success.

Little victories make the world bright and have made my out-of-the-ordinary Christmas a very nice one indeed.

Now in Technicolor! Christmas Specials

It's Christmas Eve and we're snowed in (and will be snowed in for some time - more on that tomorrow), so what better way to while the away the hours than by watching one's favorite TV Christmas Specials! (You thought I'd say reading, didn't you? Okay, you caught me, I'll be reading too. A lot.)

But before reading, I wanted to continue in the vein of favorite holiday wackiness and some of the wackiest wack comes in the form of televised holiday cheer. Some I just can't stomach, but others make me giggle, and still others draw the nostalgic tear.

Good for giggles:
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)Stop motion animation? An elf who wants to be dentist? Burl Ives the snowman? And of course the Abominable Snowman? What's not to love??


A Christmas Story (1983)From double-dog dares to the Bumpbus dogs there is too much to love in this movie. But my favorite: Snow Suit Immobilization.


But the special most likely to make me snort eggnog up my nose from laughter:
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)



(And I know it's crazy, but I love that song!! Proof that I'm a child of the 80s, no doubt)

And last but not least, nostalgia-filled favorite Christmas special of all time:
A Muppet Family Christmas (1987), which contains this unforgettable moment -

Light Up The World

I know that just two posts ago I suggested the darkness of Winter Solstice is something to be treasured rather than feared. Nonetheless I can't claim that the long dark hours of this season don't take their toll. Hence today's post, #2 in the Holiday Extravaganza: Christmas Lights.

Christmas lights make coming home in the dark a little less oppressive. When I walk my dogs in the evening and pass bushes, trees, windows twinkling with an array of colors, or the subtle glow of solitary white lights, I feel much happier.

Whether they be multi-colored casting a candy-hued glow all around the tree,


or the ethereal quality of clear white lights, imparting the magic of the season, in contrast to the fun, celebratory quality of crazy colors.
I can even get behind the over-the-top bonanza light displays,


though I don't know if I'd want to live next door to this.



Do you put lights up for the holidays? What kind?

Break Out Christmas Hit

For a few days now I've been forecasting Andrea's posts of holiday wacky goodness and now IT'S HERE!!

Today through Christmas Day there will be astonishing lights, sound, sight - all the holiday glitz you can stomach (maybe more if you've been drinking too much nog).

It's kind of a pet peeve of mine that the Sound of Music's "My Favorite Things" has been adopted as a holiday song that plays in the background of malls while you shop. But I've decided to jump on the bandwagon, dedicating these posts to my Favorite Holiday Things.

First up: Fave Holiday Songs

I love holiday soundtracks, but I have a strict rule about not listening to any seasonal songs until we're past Thanksgiving. Hearing "Silver Bells" any sooner than late November is like nails on a chalkboard for me.

Music makes my world go round, so limiting the selection here is tough, to say the least. So I've decided to choose one song from Andrea's new: Key Categories of Holiday Music Bliss Out.

Category: Childhood (I listened to this one on my Grandma Opal's record player, over and over and over)





Category: Kitsch (In case you're wondering 'sori' is sleigh, 'sube' is the sleigh's movement. Side note: I highly recommend all U900's ukelele carols)



Category: Sacred



Category: Muppet (This song always makes me tear up)



Category: NEW FAVORITE CHRISTMAS SONG

One of the best things about entering the writing world is meeting other writers who really see the world the way you do. Yes, everyone, be very, very afraid. Josh Berk and Kiersten White are geniuses. Soon they will rule the world and I'm hoping they will let me be in their Cabinet, or Inner Circle, or Secret Society - what have you. Here is their amazing contribution to the Holiday Songbook.



What holiday tunes are you spinning this December?

Vicarious Win!

Please head over to the Personal Demons blog of LisaDez and give her a virtual high five. She just landed a three-book deal with Tor/MacMillan.

CONGRATS Lisa!!!

I'm so excited for her, not only is she deserving of this incredible success, but as her crit partner *puffs chest with pride* I can tell you this book is fantastic and I can't wait to see it on the shelves.

Huzzah Lisa! Huzzah!

*Sighs, dreaming of Luc*

We're dancing for you at my house (It looks something like this):

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

December 21: the shortest day of the year, the longest night.

In the northern reaches of the country that I call home, it's a frequent complaint that the long hours of darkness weigh heavily on us. Dark before work, dark coming home. Shadows dog our steps and send us scurrying to bed at hours that feel much too early.

I'd like to suggest that the Winter Solstice, rather than haunting us, offers a vital clue to our existence. Though welcome, light, sun, energy drive us on relentlessly, push us into our busy lives, our too-full days.

The dark is a call to retreat from the world. We tuck into our houses, curl up in heavy blankets. We long to sleep and the darkness calls us to our beds.
The long night isn't something to fear. We rarely take the time to be still, to recuperate, to rest. Perhaps Mother Nature is doing us a favor by wrapping us in night, forcing us to step away from the frenetic pace of life and slumber. Dreaming sweet dreams, becoming anew.