New Year, Old Year, Last Year?

Well, 2012 is actually here.  It seems surreal to be writing that number.  We are well over a decade into the 21st Century, and I'm still in awe that we made it this far.


Speaking of surreal, my sweet little coming-of-age ghost story, The Phantom Pilot, was published at the end of December, and I couldn't be more pleased with the way it turned out...well, that's not entirely true.  I would like to have a print version to donate to our local library, but this volume wasn't long enough.  The sequel, The Phantom of the Schoolhouse, will be longer.  So there.  Will that be in 2013?  Maybe the end of 2012...we've got a couple or three anthologies to get out before the sequel.  Check out my website if you want to see what they are.  Oh, my.  This post is getting longer and longer.  As Stephen King once said about his own writing: "Sometimes it seems I just have diarrhea of the mouth."  That was a paraphrase, but you get the gross idea.  I think of that quote every time I find myself rambling, like now.


Okay, my book wasn't the only wonderful thing that happened in 2011.  I got a new grandbaby to go with the other four, his name is Bitters (or Jerry Jr. if you want to get technical), and my husband got a new great-grandbaby, her name is Jailynn (I say she's his ggb because no way I'm old enough for that--I'll just claim her as a regular grandbaby!).  To be honest, we had a truly blessed year.  I even had a song written for me!  Yep, my hubby again, but I shouldn't tell that in case someone from his work reads this; he's still catching flack about my gushy dedication in The Phantom Pilot.  I didn't intend that to happen, lol.  "Or did I?" as that old SNL character, The Liar, would say...
One more thing about this brave New Year and then I'll shut up: the Mayan calendar ends December 21, 2012.  Or as one cartoon Mayan said to another, "We ran out of room on this one.  Hope that doesn't foul people up somewhere down the line."  That's my belief.  They just ran out of room on that clay disk...maybe we'll find the sequel to that calendar pretty soon.  Hey, maybe it will be published about the same time as my sequel.  To quote another comedian (probably also from SNL), "It could happen!"


Afterthought:  Heartfelt thanks to all who have left Amazon reviews or comments on my book or even on The Warning.  I realize you are all family and friends so maybe the reviews are a little skewed, but that's okay!  Keep 'em coming lol.  To those few who said they couldn't stop reading once they started ... you really made my day.  And to Tonya, sorry I made you cry.  Love you all...here's to a fine start to a funky New Year!


After-afterthought:  I just looked at the archive and it appears that The Warning is gone....it isn't.  You can still read it here, for free, if you just click on the archive title 2011.  Just be sure to start with Part One, then go to Part Two, and then Part Three is the end.  And you can comment at the end of any blog post, just click on the word Comments and the little box will pop up.  (Or you can go to the top of the blog and click on my FB page to leave me a message.)  Can you tell by my simplistic directions that I still have that elementary school teacher buried somewhere inside me???  She's being held hostage, actually.  She will probably never again see the light of day.  On the other hand, that sort of statement is like tempting Fate, isn't it?  Rats...I'd better stop now before I get myself in trouble.