Or, perhaps I should have named this post, What Was I Thinking? In the next few weeks I need to get all the Christmas shopping done. Cook Christmas dinner. Get all the stuff that has to be done for the arrival of How I Met My Countess on December 29th wrapped up and out the door. Oh, bother, I forgot. Get the newsletter written. And yes, finish the next book. Which is very close to being finished, but let me tell you, Christmas is putting the pinch on.

Oh, and to top it all off, my beloved Alphasmart had a bit of a heart attack yesterday. Lost everything I’d written in the morning and nearly put me in the ER. Envision me, standing over it, User Book in hand, trying to give it life support to find those freaking pages, sobbing and calling out, “Stay with me, Alphie. Don’t go near the light. Not just yet.” I got everything back but a few paragraphs—yes there is an emergency salvage code for it—but my heart was still pounding when I went to bed hours later.

I know we all have piles to do this time of year, everyone bites off more than they can chew, and so I send my love and sympathies to my fellow frantic friends. Here is what I did last night: I began delegating. Laundry to the husband, as well as all the wrapping and shipping duties for his family. Promo work went to the eldest. 10 year olds are wiz’s at stuffing envelopes. I mean this is why we had them, right?  Also, it keeps them both out of my hair. Just a suggestion if you have spare hands around.

If I am a bit scarce in the next few weeks, my apologies, but mostly Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

I know I can’t wait for 2010.