Hope everyone's having a lovely holiday season!. I want to say, thank you so much everyone who commented here! Sure, I could have just quietly written a check to HI or Kiva.org, as I have in the past. But you helped make that little bit of holiday giving social and connected, which made it both more fun and especially meaningful to me. The total: 48 comments (3 added by Facebook) plus $5 generously added by my friend Jim. That takes us to $53... enough for the chicks and the geese, but not quite enough for ducks or bees. But, you know what? I decided to round up to $60 and get that flock of ducks anyway! Really, who could say no to these kids?  Next up, pics of the beautiful homemade gifts I got from my mothers (my mom and mother-in-law).

Okay, I was inspired by Nathan Bransford's awesome holiday challenge, in which he and several authors pledge to donate $1 to Heifer International for each unique comment their blogs recieve. (Go on, click the link and comment--make them donate!)  After commenting to Jennifer Hubbard's post, I decided to try it too.

If you feel like taking a moment to do so, please comment below with any wish or hope you have for 2010. Or, if you don't feel like revealing a wish, you can just say hi. Or leave a recipe for your favoriate holiday cookies. Or a book recommendation. Or anything you want. One comment per person is the only rule. :-)

Heiffer International is an organization that gives livestock, training, and other assistance an organization to needy families around the world. For example, 20 of your comments can provide a family with a flock of chicks, ducks, or geese. 30 comments buys a hive of honeybees. I am a longtime fan of HI. I still remember how good it felt to donate a goat last year, and I even mention HI in my novel, Whisper. How many comments can we get on my tiny, out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere blog? I don't know, but I'm curious to find out! Feel free to re-post this widely.

Comment period ends as of midnight, Dec. 25.

EDIT: First flock of chicks achieved--hooray!! And, a few minutes ago, my friend Jim very generously volunteered to add $5 of his own to our total... which means we're getting the flock of geese too! What's next, bees or ducks? We have one vote for bees already. Please keep the comments coming. :-)

I haven't blogged for awhile, so here's a quick update of what I'm up to and Whisper news.

1. Book Bloggers: Harmony's 1 ARC Tours is featuring Whisper, so please sign up for the tour here. Edit: 22 people had already signed up today, so I'll very likely be adding a second ARC to the tour.

2. Had a great time at a cookie-decorating party last night. Kudos to the hosts for getting two very different types of techies to mix and mingle: theatre tech people and software developers. Most popular cookie cutters: rocket ship and velociraptor. I also enjoyed playing Apples to  Apples. My favorite moment as a judge was when I got "inspirational" and gave the prize to "cults." 

3. I'm hiring a college intern to help with promoting Whisper. I have compiled a giant wishlist of stuff to be done and cannot wait for him/her to start. But I'm also bogged down with stuff over the holidays and have been slow on the interview scheduling. It's a catch 22. 4. This week my editor at Balzer + Bray and talked about my next book, due to come out in 2011. It's called Summer Falls, and it's kind of a mystery/romance/thriller paranormal. Here's a bit of the premise stolen from my synopsis. (It's okay to steal from yourself, right?)

Two seventeen year olds wake up in each other’s arms with zero memory of how they got there… or of who they are. Terrified and confused, the boy and girl make a pact to work together to get the answers that could jog their missing memories. First thing they learn: they’re in Summer Falls, a sleepy, idyllic, mountain tourist town. The surreal part is, this appears to be their hometown. At Summer Falls High, they’re registered as Marshall King and Elyse Alder, seniors. He’s known as a dork, she’s a popular airhead. They grew up next-door neighbors and best friends but fell out awhile back, for reasons no one seems to remember. In fact, folks in Summer Falls seem a little spacey and forgetful in general; they hardly notice Marsh and Elyse have amnesia. What’s going on here?....

So that's the book I'll be writing this winter/spring. Which means I'll need to pause on my possibly-adult urban fantasy trilogy about winged people for awhile, as I don't think I'm one of those writers who can write tons of books all at once.

5. I really, really need to send my web designer content. What is my problem here?! It's like I'm afraid of having a website... which is beyond comprehension.  Is there a therapist out there, that specializes in website phobia? (No, there isn't, because it's a really dumb phobia.) Anyway, this needs to happen soon, even though I'd rather be writing about creepy mountain towns and winged people.