Musings

Champagne and Fireworks…

…not so much. I celebrated the birth of 2012 with a couple of glasses of Layer Cake Pinot Noir (which was fabulous), shrimp, and another viewing of the movie I found in my Christmas stocking.

Midnight In Paris has officially knocked Independence Day off the pedestal as my favorite movie. I just realized that means that I haven’t truly loved a film since 1996. I’m not sure what that says about me. Or what the fact that I’ve graduated from a sci-fi apocalyptic story to Hemingway’s Paris says about me either. Maybe that I’ve grown up just a little? I’d like to think so.

I hope growing up means I’ll stop worrying about things that don’t matter in the greater scheme of life. That I’ll learn to stop stressing over the size of my ass, the state of my health, and what other people think of me. I want 2012 to be a year of renewal in my life, a relaxed and happy year full of joyful new experiences.

It will be the first full summer at the lake, so we’ll get to see the bay transition from frozen ice to warm swimming water. We’ll get to know our new friends there better, I’m going to learn how to drive the boat, and I’m hoping all our city friends will want to come spend weekends with us and play on the water.

My first novel to be published releases on March 6, and soon I’ll be on the other side of the manuscript—being edited instead of being the editor. That should be interesting and just the first step in this publishing odyssey. I’m hoping Rule Number One is only the beginning of a long career for me as a romance author. (Yeah, I said “author”–it’s time to say it, I am an author!)

Indiana RWA is sponsoring a conference with Bob Mayer in April that I am beyond excited about. Mayer is one of my favorite writers and I can’t wait to meet him. I’m looking forward to continuing to blog here as well as at the Bettyverse. The more I write, the better writer I become. I have novel 4 very close to done and novel 5 is brewing, as well as novels 6 and 7. I’m having a blast working with my critique partner and learning so much from her experience and expertise.

Most important of all, our first grandchild is arriving in June. That one both delights me and freaks me out just a little. I have no idea how to be a grandmother, although it looks to me like it’s mostly just a whole lot of fun. Our little one will be far away from us, but planes fly from our city to Son and DIL’s at least twenty times a day and I can be on one whenever I like. Plus there’s Skype–the wondrousness of that technology still amazes me, and Son just got a new camera, so I’m expecting an email box full of photos regularly. I can totally do this whole Nonna thing…

Nan, all grown up? Wouldn’t that be lovely? But on the other hand, it’s been a couple years since I’ve watched Independence Day and it is a grey, cold day here. I’ve missed Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum and the aliens…maybe I’ll just pop it in while I walk on the treadmill…

 

5 Comments

  • londonmabel

    I stopped watching Woody Allen movies after a couple sucky ones, but I saw M in P at a Betty’s recommendation (I don’t remember who it was? Someone on facebook.) It was great.

    You might enjoy two other semi-comedies about les artistes…

    The Moderns. 80s movie about a Left Bank painter and his ex-lover. The best part are his buddies: a really funny Hemingway, and a gossip columnist played by Wallace Shawn.

    And Impromptu–about George Sand and Chopin and the other artists around them. Mandy Patinkin is hilarious as her bitter ex-lover Alred de Musset.

  • Sandy James

    You’ve always been an author; now, you’re a published author. And I enjoy working with you every bit as much as you say you enjoy working with me. It’s a fantastic relationship. 🙂 May 2012 be a fantastic year for you!!

  • robena grant

    Wishing you and yours a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year, Nan. Wishing you every happiness and success in your new publishing venture.
    Loved the post and have to agree, Midnight in Paris is an awesome film. I loved the acting, the setting, (and not just because I love Paris) the whimsy of the storytelling, the cinematography…all of it. I think it was Woody Allen at his finest, and I’ve recommended it to so many people.
    Thanks for the reminder, I will buy a copy so I have it for my library.