Happy Nanksgiving!

Boy, Baby Girl, Mr. Mister and I would like to wish you all a very Happy Nanksgiving, as the Boy calls it.

What are we thankful for?

Boy is thankful (or "nankful", no, I'll stop now) for UP (Wall-e and candy having been "taken" by other children at preschool). The Mr. is thankful for the Honda Crosstour, or he will be soon anyway. Baby Girl is thankful for those freeze-dried Gerber yogurt drop things and bouncy balls.

And I?

I am thankful for two adorable children and a wonderful husband. I am thankful for five books published and one on its way. I'm thankful for the dozens of ideas that will keep me writing for years. I'm thankful to be headed to my parents' house tomorrow, for pie and turkey and stuffing and games. I'm thankful that my family always has enough to eat, and a warm house, and that I can afford to dress my kids in new outfits for family pictures.

I'm thankful for coconut M & M's, the new Star Trek movie, Naomi Novik's Temeraire series and Diana Wynne Jones in general. I'm thankful for my little Pippin sitting on my feet right now because she loves me. I'm thankful that twenty years ago my grandparents sat me down and taught me to knit.

I have a lot to be thankful for, and could go on for hours, but I won't.

I will say, though, that I'm thankful for you, dear readers. I have a special treat for you that will post next Monday. Hint: polar bear.

Happy Thanksgiving! Go watch the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Special!

NaNoWriMo, in a desultory fashion. . .

So, it's National Novel Writing Month! YAY! And this year I'm actually participating. Sort of. I haven't registered with the website or anything, but I have a fun little idea in my head, and I'm seeing what happens. I finished the Big Edit of Princess of Glass (HALLELUJAH!), and last week I had this fun little idea spring to mind. I thought to myself, Self, if you really went to town on this during November, you could probably get a pretty fun little rough draft out of this fun little idea. And lo, as it is NaNoWriMo, you might as well!

So if you've had a nice little idea in your head, now is the time! Go, go, go! You can register with the site, or not, depending on your whim. And at the end of the month, you can rest on your laurels and think, Hey, I did some writing! Now I deserve a little Christmas break, and maybe some chocolate. . . .

But Jessica, some of you are saying, I don't want to write a novel at all, let alone in one month! What can I do in the month of November?

Why, that's easy! Become a big book nerd like me! You think this big thing on top of my neck is just hair? Why no! It's an enormous head, filled with an enormous brain, filled with an enormous amount of words I've read. Read some for yourself!

Jessica's Giant Book Recommends! Each one chunkier than the last!

Dune by Frank Herbert
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein (Uncut Anniversary Edition)
War of the Flowers by Tad Williams
The Dragonbone Chair, The Stone of Farewell, To Green Angel Tower by Tad Williams
A Song for Arbonne by Guy Gavriel Kay
Titus Groan, Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake
Household Gods by Judith Tarr and Harry Turtledove
The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan (Book Twelve just came out, and it's still not the end!)

Not sure you've got it in you to take on 1,100+ pages? (Think I'm joking? To Green Angel Tower comes in two volumes!)

Try these on for size!

Magic Kingdom for Sale! by Terry Brooks (There were sequels . . . meh . . . but the first is fun.)
Deep Secret by Diana Wynne Jones (If you've ever been to a sci fi/fantasy convention, you'll cry from laughing. If you haven't: still funny!)
The Pinhoe Egg by Diana Wynne Jones
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
The Rolling Stones by Robert Heinlein
Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly
Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer by Laini Taylor
Ice by Sarah Beth Durst
Jack the Bodiless, Diamond Mask, Magnificat by Julian May

For the rest of you, those who are embroiled in the madness that is NaNoWriMo . . . enough yakking, start typing!