I've just been looking at my calendar for the next two months. Holy Datebook! November's almost over, or will be by the time we negotiate next week's Thanksgiving trip. Then it's December with my husband's birthday and our anniversary both coming before Christmas. And smack in the middle of the various scheduled holiday parties comes the week we will be spending in the condo at Hilton Head. Do I really think I'm going to accomplish much between now and the New Year? Not a chance of that, but maybe there are some ways to turn a lot of small tidbits into a productive whole. Here's what I'm thinking this morning.

1. Give up on the idea of racing all the other NaNoWriMo writers to the finish line.  On November 15th, I was ahead of the curve. Now I'm slipping behind at an ever increasing pace. OK, so be it. It's really not about how many words you can put on paper; it's about how important your words are. Better not to write than to write drivel. If my characters want to talk to me, they can go ahead. I can add some bits and pieces of conversation without feeling I have to create a whole chapter at a time.

2. Go ahead and start planning for Christmas instead of worrying that there won't be time to get everything done. I woke up this morning thinking about my mother's recipe for Christmas sand tarts. It's been several years since I've made them, and we're trying to cut the calorie intake around here, but  . . . why not just do it? The darn things last forever, so instead of waiting for Christmas week, I may mix up a batch by Thanksgiving and kickstart my Christmas memories. Oh, and I must remember to take last year's fruitcake out of the freezer and see if it has survived.

3. Relax by having a little fun in the middle of the work day.For the next few weeks, I may turn this blog into a scrapbook of items that make me smile for one reason or another. Serious blog posts on the art and craft of indie publishing can wait until I'm actually practicing that art and craft full time again. In the meantime, here's what made me smile today. Purely by accident I ran across a picture of a marriage certificate signed by Gen. Rufus Saxton, who is a prominent character in The Road to Frogmore, and who will appear again in Yankee Reconstructed. I don't recognize the names of the bride and groom, Minerva Morris and James Bythwood, but I smiled when I actually saw a sample of Saxton's signature. I know that many of my characters are real people, but it's still fun to find traces of their lives.