Too early to sleep, too late to be productive

I find myself sitting here wasting time, and figured, why not update the long neglected blog?  I miss the old days when myself and most of my best online friends blogged regularly, as it made it much easier to keep up with friends you don't normally see or talk to.  But these days, you're usually left with snippets of their lives via things like Facebook and Twitter, and for the diehards among you, Google +.

I wonder if this is what letter writers felt like when email took hold.  Did they lament the loss of letters being sent to them by their friends?  Did they complain (probably in a letter) that email had come along and destroyed the purity of letter writing?  Probably, and they were probably right.

But hey, I'm not here to lament the inevitable evolution of technology and communication.  I've been living well lately, despite a few weeks worth of a really nasty head and chest cold.  It's been a while since I got knocked down like that, as a matter of fact I think it was last December.  But I'm finally coming out the other side, which is nice, because I'd hate to feel miserable around Christmas time.

I finished my Christmas shopping today, which I was excited about.  Buying presents is something I love to do, it's such a great feeling when you find that perfect gift for someone.  I'm looking forward to getting to spend extra time with my family over the coming weeks and just enjoying the peace and good vibes I get from the holiday season.

Hmmm, am I really this boring?  I miss blogs, I was sick, I bought presents, and I love Christmas.  In my own mind I'm a much more exciting person than that, but it's probably not true, hahaha.  I have gotten back to work on my latest novel.  That's actual exciting news.  It's been several months since I did any work on it, and it feels great to get back to it.  I'm always happier when I'm writing, and anytime I have a layoff in my creative writing the world just isn't quite as vibrant.

Speaking of creative writing, I had a short story accepted to an anthology.  The book is about time travel, and I'm honored that the editor felt my story was worthy of inclusion.  The book is going to come out sometime in the first half of 2012, I'll be sure to let you all know when it releases so we can all go buy a copy!

Tonight I had dinner with my bosses and another colleague from the newspaper.  It was an informal little holiday dinner, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  Social situations such as those aren't always my strong suit, but I dearly love my bosses.  Our relationship is very symbiotic, the better I do the better they do, the better they do the better I do.  It really doesn't feel like a boss-employee relationship anymore, it feels more familial.  Having such a tiny group of us working on the paper full time, the difference between our success or failure is razor thin.  It lends a very "us against the world" feel to the work, and yet being a community newspaper, it's also "us for the world" as we work to keep the citizens informed and entertained.  Not sure how much sense that makes, but the end result is a very bonding environment where it feels like our purpose is pure and our bond is unshakable.  Maybe I'm naive, and I should look at it more as a business, more as "just a job".  But for me it's more than that, it's my home away from home.  It's my dream come true, my shelter from having to work a 9 to 5 job where I'd be totally miserable.  I really do feel honored to be a part of it, and I have a lot of pride in the work we do.  I love the fact that you can pour so much of yourself into something, that you can bleed and sweat for it, and look back over the year and know that it was worthwhile, that you helped people, you informed them, you entertained them.  When I was a kid, I said my dream was to get paid to write.  And I do that every day.  I buy my gas with my writing, my food with my writing, I pay my rent with my writing.  9 year old me would high five me if he was around to see this.

Hmmm... what else can I get all sappy and poetic about?  Christmas puts me in this kind of mood.  Well, I'm actually almost always in this kind of mood, but Christmas just intensifies it.  But, I think I successfully spent enough time blogging that I'm now actually sleepy, so I'm going to go lay down now.  I hope this holiday season has been full of love and joy for all of you so far, and that it continues to go that way.