Christmas Cards

As 2011 cinches toward its denouement I am trying to take stock of the writing I've accomplished over the past 12 months.  I'm still gathering the stats (will probably blog about these in January) but 2011 is shaping up to be a very prolific year for me.  Although I didn't sign contracts for any new books, I did publish quite a bit of shorter material, created some rather remarkable book proposals, and completed hundreds of pages that may yet come to fruition in the new year.

I've also had the opportunity to send out copies of my Christmas Eve story (one of my annual traditions) to other family members and friends and I've been receiving some nice feedback.

Two of the most meaningful came by way of:

1. Miss Wallace, my high school English teacher (Senior Year), who sent me a very nice card thanking me for dedicating my newest Christmas CD to her, and honoring me with her blessing of my Christmas Eve story.  Miss Wallace is now in her nineties, still has impeccable handwriting and a sharp mind, and was an enormous influence in my life.  Thank you, Miss Wallace, for pushing me toward English in college.  What else could I do with an English degree but write stories and love poems to my wife?  (You remember Becky?  She sat next to me in senior English. I copied from her papers so I could pass your class.  She smelled nice back then and was a real hottie.  When you weren't looking, I was the one passing the obscene letters to her under the desk.  But it's OK.  We're married now and she doesn't read my obscene letters any more.)

2. A Calvary family who informed me on Monday night that they read my Christmas Eve story together some minutes before their father died in Terre Haute.  Ahh...hope it was hopeful.  Hope you all will experience God's peace. Blessings for telling me this.

So, 2011 . . . as we get ready to say goodbye, I begin to look back with both celebration and dejection.  Wish I could have written better.  Glad I rose before sunrise hundreds of mornings to write, however.  It was a very good year.  And I've got a nice jump on the new one.