Happy Sunday

Happy Sunday, everyone!

The last Sunday before Christmas…are you ready?  Are you almost ready?  Are you not even remotely ready?

I fall into the the last category, I’m afraid.  I am not even remotely ready.  But that won’t keep me from trying. :houhoh

So what’s making us boogey-down happy this week, hm? :turk

I AM HAPPY that I finally got the AAs (Author Alterations) for ON THE VERGE OF I DO (Harlequin Desire, April 2012) finished & turned in.  You’d think this would be an easy step in the production process.  AAs are sometimes also called galleys; it’s the last time an author gets to see her story before it gets put into book form, & sometimes they’re actually formatted to look like the book pages themselves.  Photobucket(All but the pretty cover & filler pages.)  At this point, edits have already been done & the book is usually in pretty good shape; we’re all just proof-reading for typos & mistakes that maybe weren’t caught the other fifty-two times we’ve gone through it.  And I say “we” because I’m not the only person reviewing the story…editors, copyeditors, & Production folks usually have copies they’re going over, too.  It’s the six-pairs-of-eyes-are-better-than-one philosophy.

This time, though, the AAs were kind of rough.  Because ON THE VERGE OF I DO is part of a new continuity story, there were a lot more details to double-check & a lot more edits than normal, so the AAs had to be gone over with a fine-tooth come.  Took me almost two full weeks to go over, & those last couple days of making the actual changes were exceptionally intense.  But they’re done now & off my desk, so I can breathe again! :skate

And even though I got a bit of a late start this year…oh, who am I kidding?  I get a late start every year! :brr …I AM HAPPY that I got all of my Christmas gifts that needed to go in the mail wrapped, packed, & sent out on time.  Hopefully on time, anyway…they’re in the postal service’s hands now. :gift

I AM HAPPY that it’s time for Christmas music to play on every radio station every hour of the day again!  Yes, I get tired of it after a while, but I swear that until those tunes start playing, I can’t even believe it’s Christmas, let alone get in the holiday spirit. :xmas

And this year, I’m extra happy that I’ve re-discovered The Muppets’ Christmas music.  It’s certainly not the first time I’ve heard them, but it’s been a really long time, I guess.  So this year, once I became hooked on their “Twelve Days of Christmas,” I also jumped on iTunes & downloaded Miss Piggy’s “Santa Baby” & “The Christmas Queen” & Kermit the Frog’s “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”  I love, love, love them!

I’m sure there’s more, but it is the holiday season, & I’m still a little frantic trying to get ready.  Frankly, it would be okay with me if Rudolph got a little blitzed on Christmas Eve-Eve & ended up getting Santa lost.  Not forever, just for a couple extra days or maybe weeks to buy me some extra time. :hohoho

So how about you—how are things going for you this week?  What are you happy about or grateful for that you’d like to share?  It doesn’t even have to be Christmas related…but it helps. :butt

Now to announce the winner of our latest Free Book Friday giveaway, I’m Your Santa by Lori Foster…

:gift Tina Becker!!! :gift

Congratulations, Tina! :cheers   Please contact me with your full name (if necessary) & mailing information, & I’ll get your book out to you as soon as I can!

Comments

9 Comments  •  Comments Feed

  1. Laura J. says:

    Happy Sunday before Christmas!!!!!

    Congrats Tina!!!

    I’m happy that I only have one thing left to get and I’m waiting until as close to Christmas as I can get since I have to go to a farmer’s market to get it and I want them fresh.

    Today is B’girl’s second meet for gymnastics and it’s the home meet, which means I’m TIRED!!! We host this one, so since Friday I’ve not been home except to sleep. I’m getting ready to head out in a few to start the last day of it. She doesn’t compete until the last session and that won’t be over until about 8 and then we stay and clean up. Thankfully–no school tomorrow. Please pray though that I don’t hurt someone today (my in-laws). My plans are to stay as far away from them as possible, but I’m sure someone is going to try to push me over the edge and it could get ugly.

    I’m happy my oldest is home from school for 3 weeks and he got a job on campus!!!!!

    Now if we can just get the Christmas Tree that has been up since December 3 decorated….. :tree :turkey :turk

    On December 18, 2011 at 9:18 am

  2. Hollie says:

    Congrats Tina!!! :tsspp

    Happy Sunday Everyone!!

    I’m Happy Happy today that we have just 4 days of school left!!! :tsspp
    Then 2 weeks off :turkey :turkey

    I’m Happy that we have a touch of snow covering the ground right now!
    I have the Christmas tree plugged in, the fireplace dvd going on the tv , cinnamon potpourri sitting on the coffeetable and it FEELS like Christmas!!!

    Have a Happy last week before Christmas!! :tree :gift :snowhi

    On December 18, 2011 at 9:29 am

  3. Tina Becker says:

    :tsspp
    Thank you so much for the book, Heidi!! Happy early birthday to me!
    Thanks for the congrats, Laura &n Hollie!
    I am grateful for a healthy family and friends. I am also thankful that I actually got all of my shopping done minus stocking stuffers!
    I wish I could have the snow without the cold. 😉 But since it doesn’t snow in FL, I guess I’m out of luck.

    Hollie, I want to come to your house. It’s sounds so cozy!
    Laura, good luck with the tree decorating!

    On December 18, 2011 at 10:33 am

    • Heidi says:

      Happy (almost) Birthday, Tina! When is it?

      You will love this book—it’s a collection of several of Lori’s Xmas novellas that appeared in other novellas, but I adore having them all together in one volume. (And yes, I have a Keeper copy for myself. :icecube )

      Got your info already, btw, & will get it out to you asap. Delighted to hear you enjoyed my vamp books, too! :candycane

      On December 18, 2011 at 1:54 pm

    • Heidi says:

      Okay, correction—I’m apparently think of a *different* Lori Foster title. “I’m Your Santa” has stories by Lori, Dianne Castell & Karen Kelley. You’d think I might have looked that up before posting it for #FBF, but no… Duh! :butt

      You’ll still enjoy it, tho, I’m sure! :gift

      On December 18, 2011 at 2:26 pm

  4. Heidi says:

    Good thing I put this post together yesterday…if I were chiming in today, it would be a whine-fest. Up 16 different times last night dealing with elderly kitty clean-up. Poor baby has so much trouble sometimes. :reindeer

    So I got maybe 4hrs of sleep & suspect I will be taking a nice, long nap at some point during the day. :cat

    On December 18, 2011 at 2:16 pm

  5. Tamara Hoffa says:

    Happy Sunday! I am grateful for my wonderful grandsons who make me smile every day! :snowhi :snowhi

    On December 18, 2011 at 3:45 pm

  6. Mary Kirkland says:

    I’m just happy I have all my shopping, wrapping, baking and decorating done….finally.

    On December 18, 2011 at 8:09 pm

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