Being a Writer

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It never fails when someone finds out I write novels, they tell me they want to write a book, too. I've got my own reply down pretty well since I published my first romance back in 1999.

Two writers, however, tackle the issue so much better than I ever could. Especially since I've been up since 2:35 am with a sick kidlet. Both appeal to me for different reasons. Ones I could voice if I weren't so tired. But both are worth a read whether you're a writer, a wannabe writer or even a non-writer.

The first article arrived in my inbox this morning from author Larry Brooks who has an awesome website with lots of great info for writers called Storyfix.com. I discovered the website via my Facebook newsfeed. Great stuff. You can find the post here. I'll be honest after all this time I've never thought of asking why, but I have asked why a person isn't writing that book they want to write.

The second article is by author Judith Arnold, who I love. She posted this on the Girlfriends Book Club blog. Just check out the comments to see how her words resonated with other writers. My favorite lines from the post are:

A writer is not something you become. It is something you are, something you do.

And just because this is so funny and fits in with the topic, I want to repost the clip So You Want to Write a Novel.



So are you a writer? Would you like to be one?

Two Links and a Clip

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I thought I'd post some of the things I ran across this week on the Internet that I enjoyed reading/watching.

The first is this article about Scott Lang, a college basketball coach of a small school, who died of a heart attack. I don't follow basketball, but this is a great read about the kind of coach parents would love to have working with their kids no matter what the sport.

The second one is here on Fox News and is about an American Idol contestant. I haven't watched the show yet this season, but this news article caught my attention. Chris Medina's fiancee suffered a traumatic brain injury two months before their wedding. Make sure you watch the video. You might want to have a tissue handy. The three AI judges warmed my heart when they asked to meet the fiancee. Chris is a real life romance hero. He can also sing!

The third isn't a link, but a YouTube clip from CBS about Stanford Football player Owen Marecic. Seems like a really great and talented kid. And I'm not just saying that because I'm an alumni.



Hope you have a nice Saturday! I plan to make up all the pages I missed due to an out of town hubby this week (his plane arrives a little after noon today) and two sick kidlets!

Iz Bak

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MomE sez Iz look lyk that LOLcat. But Iz cuter.

Hai! Iz Yoda. MomE iz tired. 2 Sik kidz. Iz help her out and blog.

Top 5 Reazonz Y Yoda Not Disappearz Again by Yoda

5. No drinkz

4. No nom

3. No lazer pointer

2. I getz dirty I getz bath

1. MomE not letz go of me when Iz found.

I need a McGyver Kitteh

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My furnace is fixed. The air in the house is nice and warm. But everything else is falling apart. A McGyver Kitteh would be so handy! A Mary Poppins Kitteh would be nice, too. One of the kidlets is sick. Another seems ready to go down for the count. And I'm flying solo this week.

IThe sickie is too young to be left on their own so that adds another wrench into things. But we'll survive. We always do.

Better get off the computer and get going! Looks like a visit to Urgent Care is in my near future.

Update: And the second has fallen! Let's hope the third stays healthy.

Random Wednesday

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My pets are spoiled rotten. The world (at least my world) revolves around them. Or so they believe. I couldn't take them all trying to get my attention this morning so I closed my bedroom door locking them out. They are now taking turns trying to get in. At least they've learned to get along when they have a common goal.

In other news, we have heat! The part showed up on time and so did the furnace repair guy. Now it's nice and cozy inside!

I have a new book that will hit the shelves on February 1st. Expecting Royal Twins received a 4 from RT. I don't subscribe to the magazine so I have no idea what the review says. Guess I'll find out in another month or so!

I glanced at the Oscar nominees. I don't think I've seen one movie that was nominated. I'll have to take a closer look. But then again, I think the latest Narnia movie may have been the only one I saw in 2010. I can't remember any others. Yikes! Guess I'll have to catch up via Redbox.

Well, the scratching at the door has become more frantic. Better let them in! I'm going to get busy writing before my day goes from manageable to insanity.

Hope you have a good one!

New Book, New Soundtrack

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My current heroine, Leanne Thomas, would definitely prefer a kitty to diamonds. She's a paramedic and a volunteer mountain rescuer. She's made appearances in Rescued by the Magic of Christmas, Snow-Kissed Romance and Christmas Magic on the Mountain.

Now it's her turn to give romance a go in Christmas Magic in Hood Hamlet (working title.) All the men she works and climbs with think of her as one of the guys. That's how she thinks of herself, too. At least until she and my hero are forced to spend a lot of time together.

Yesterday, I found the perfect song for Leanne. If you've read this blog for any period of time, you might remember I put together a book soundtrack for each manuscript I write. Well, I finally have my first song!

My son bought my oldest daughter the first volume Glee soundtrack for Christmas. It's been in the CD player in the minivan for a couple of days, and I finally got to listen to the end tracks. As soon as I heard the song, Defying Gravity, I thought of Leanne.

I found two versions of the song. The first clip is from a Glee episode that I found via rickey.org:


Here is the song from the soundtrack. Can you tell what's different from the show version?



I can't tell you how much this song fits Leanne. It gives me chills just thinking about it! (I must admit it also fits my July release heroine, Princess Julianna. Wonder what's going on in my subconscious!) Now to find a few more tunes to add to my book soundtrack! Of course, there will be some Christmas carols, too!

Ready for the weekend already

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This is a bit of a whiny post. So feel free to just enjoy the pic and skip the words! I also hope you have a good Monday even though I wish it were any other day of the week right now!

I'm so not ready for Monday. I wish it would just go away for 24 more hours. If it could be Friday even better.

We had a super busy weekend. The trip to Tacoma on Saturday, two kidlets competing in the RC Challenge (like Catholic Jeopardy), one kidlet competing for three days at the Rose City Classic Dog show and a Sunday night soccer practice. What was I thinking scheduling all this?

Worse, Yoda disappeared on Saturday. I realized it after posting my blog that night. We spent the rest of the evening in a frantic search inside and outside of the house. A neighbor's daughter said she saw him by the mailboxes in our neighborhood. Our hearts dropped. Lots and lots of tears. Yoda has never been outside. And there are cars and coyotes to worry about.

We found him around 11 o'clock in the garage after I'd posted on craiglist, sent an email to our neighborhood loop and located his AVID microchip number. I couldn't sleep, but we knew we needed to call it a night. I asked hubby to make one more pass in the front and back yards. Yoda doesn't meow or make noise, but he finally cried. We figured out he was in the garage, even after we'd checked out there three different times. He was so scared and dirty. Poor little guy.

Needless to say, yesterday was a long day at the dog show then capping it off with soccer winter academy. I tried to write, but after a couple of pages called it a night.

This morning, I dragged myself out of bed and only because I had to. Hubby is away this week. He left yesterday morning. He also left me with a broken furnace to deal with. We've been so cold since Friday night. I broke down and bought a couple of space heaters last night. The temperature inside the house kept dropping and we needed a good night's sleep.

He called this morning to tell me he'd made an appointment with the furnace repair place. Yay! Except...

The repair person is supposed to show up at the same time the kids need to be dropped off. Although I've prayed many times to be able to bilocate, God hasn't given me that gift. Which means, I'll leave a note on the door and hope if the person shows up right on time he'll wait a few minutes.

The one silver lining of today is I'll have time to write. The proposal I emailed Sunday night was accepted on Friday. Only minor changes. Ones I can do when I got back through the complete. I really love this book and can't wait to jump back into it today!

Hope you have a nice, productive day!

To the rescue!

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I spent today up in Tacoma. About a 2 1/2 hour drive away. I attended a regional conference about the faith formation program I do at my church on Wednesdays. It was great to see so many familiar faces from my four summers of training up there. Plus the drive up and back was full of much needed conversations with a catechist from my parish.

Now to finish up what we started this summer. I think this LOLcat is appropriate. Though we're going to need a bit of supernatural help rather than superhero assistance to get it all done!

Hope you're having a great weekend. Be back on Monday!

Yearly Visit

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Once a year my youngest and I make two trips to a hospital in Portland. The first is for testing. That happened last week. The second is to go over the results with a specialist. That's this morning.

As the years go by, the testing has gotten much less invasive. This year she didn't even need blood tests. But she's terrified she'll have to have blood drawn today. Tears flow from her eyes just thinking about that happening.

It just hurts my heart to see her like that. But we're lucky. We only have to do this once a year, and what she has is not life threatening.

Other families aren't as lucky. Their children have diseases that aren't curable (at least not yet so please support medical research!) One of these families is my friend Jessica's, who was the kidlet's summer nanny. Her oldest child, Nicholas, has SMA, a truly horrible disease.

Pepsi is giving away money to fund great ideas. People suggest ideas and then there's a vote to see which ones come out on top and get the funds. If you have time, please vote for this idea so they can use the money to purchase medical equipment for Families of SMA.

Thanks!

Boxes and trees

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After Yoda trying to contort himself into the small box yesterday, we put out a few more boxes. He seems to prefer smaller sized ones so I went through all my Amazon boxes and found a couple. This morning he was inside one of them.

The fact I have so many boxes around is kinda scary in itself. Right now our foyer is full of boxes. My son used them in a Phineas & Ferb skit about Aztec Ruins. There's still all the ones from the Christmas presents. I haven't had time to break them down.

Of course, our tree is still up. Yep. We aren't turning the lights on, but it's there. I hardly notice it anymore. We managed to get lights off the house and other things put away after Epiphany and then I got sick. Nothing else has gotten done.

The Vatican keeps their decorations up until Candlemas on February 2nd so I keep telling myself it's okay we still have times. And the proposal did get off. Though there's now the rest of the book to write.

Rocket, our fat cat, is happy. He's claimed the tree as his personal sleeping abode. Much better than sleeping on our dining room table! Too bad I can't get him interested in sleeping in a box.

Today I'm going to finish up the page proofs and write a few pages on the manuscript. And I might see about bringing in the Christmas boxes so we can start taking the decorations off the tree. I really want that off the To Do list!

All Business

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Crazy Wednesdays return! You know it's bad when I looked at a calendar to figure out when they would end last night. At least hubby is in town this week otherwise it's total insanity around here.

The one good thing about today was waking up to see Yoda trying to cram his large body into a tiny box. Harlequin sends me boxes that wouldn't fit a trade sized book. Watching Yoda diligently try to get his body and paws inside put a big smile on my face. Perfect start to the day! I just need to start sleeping with a camera nearby.

Better get to my day! Lots to get done before the craziness begins. And a couple fur babies who need some attention before that!

Do you have one day of the week that's busier than the others?

Spelling

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I can't spell. It's one of those things I struggle with. Unfortunately at least two of the kidlets seem to have inherited this trait from me. The only good thing about that is as I work to help them improve their spelling mine is getting better.

I think moving around so much as a kid didn't help me learn all the rules you're supposed to know. I attended three different elementary schools in three different cities from third grade to sixth. Definitely some gaps there.

At least there's spell-check!

Of course using a computer to correct errors doesn't always work, especially if you used the wrong word but spelled that one correctly. If a word slips by me and even the copyeditor and makes it into the book, readers are sure to let me know. And you can be sure I never misspell or make that same twice!

Are you a natural speller? Or a not-so-natural one like me?

Change of plans

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I had visions of another relaxing day today. No school to worry about. No proposal to work on since it's off. Nowhere to go. I would read my galleys from Not-So-Perfect Princess that will be out in July and take it easy. I would also figure out what to write next on the Christmas story.

And then I found out today is not a holiday at hubby's work.

Ack!

So scratch all of the above.

I'll be getting dressed and attending a swim meet. Our son made the finals in two individual events and two relays. I'm looking forward to seeing him swim since I missed the first two days, but I really wish my cold wasn't still hanging around. In between events, I'll read my galleys.

Not that day I had planned, but with a little cold medicine in my system it should be fine. How are you spending Martin Luther King day?

Day of Rest

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I can just imagine this little kitty thinking, "Just take the picture before I run out of cute!"

Another rainy Sunday. A great day for resting. Hubby and son are at a swim meet. The girls are downstairs, doing their nails and watching television. My youngest told me I'd been in my jammies for an awfully long time so I showered and dressed. Okay, I'm wearing sweats, but they aren't technically pajamas!

I do need to leave the house today for a few minutes to take oldest to RC Challenge practice (picture Roman Catholic Jeopardy). But I want to stay away from people in case I'm still spreading germs.

Any plans for your Sunday?

LOL

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The expression on that cat cracks me up. Granted, I wouldn't want to be caught in the jaws of a fish, even a stuffed one, but some of these pictures really make me wonder the story behind them. Was the cat put into the fish? Did the cat crawl in by itself?

Okay, I should probably be working on my manuscript rather than analyzing a LOLcat photo. But it does make you wonder.

If you want to see some funny Happy National Dress Up Your Cat Day photos, click here. I must admit during the Christmas sales, I bought a cat Santa outfit for next year. Yes, I am a crazy cat lady. But the pics should be worth what ever my furbabies do to me in revenge.

Have a nice Saturday! I have a swim meet and a 1st birthday party to attend today, but I woke up not feeling so great. It might turn into a quiet day at home in bed.

Whoa

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My balance was off last night. Not as quite as bad as the LOLcat above, but the room was spinning and I was so light-headed. I thought I was going to pass out. It's the same thing that happened to two of the kidlets earlier this week. Must be a virus going around. The runny nose and icky feeling hit me again on Wednesday. I want snow, but I'd love if these winter cold germs would go away!

Luckily it didn't hit until after the birthday celebration and we were back home after dinner at Old Spaghetti Factory and a visit to Build-A-Bear.

Rose had a great birthday loves the 2011 American Girl she received. Kanani is from Hawaii. Very pretty doll. Though I'm a little worried about how all that long doll hair will look in a few months.

I ended up spending the rest of the evening flat on my back with my eyes closed. Of course, that meant the writing I was counting on getting done didn't happen. This dizziness only lasted one day for my son and two days for my oldest. Hoping last night was it for me. I have too much running around and writing to get done today!

Hope you have a great Friday!

Happy Birthday Rose!

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Eight years ago today my youngest arrived in this world. My ob was worried she'd be too big to deliver naturally (my second was 9 lbs 6 oz) so I was induced early. She was 8 lbs 15 ounces. Good call, Doc!

Her birthday's always seem to hit me harder than the older two. Maybe it's because she's the baby.

Eight just sounds so old to me. Maybe that's the problem, the older she gets, the older I do!

No big party this year. She thought about having one, then changed her mind. But we will be getting together with family.

Now to wrap her presents and pick up her cake! Lots to do today!!!

How about you?

No snow

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I wanted to wake up this morning, peek out the window and see a winter wonderland ala Narnia. That's what was predicted in the weather earlier this week. Then it changed to some snow with ice. Last night we received a few flurries, but the rest was freezing rain.

Sigh.

Not even wearing our pajamas inside out worked.

Temperatures are predicted to be rising into the 40s. That means we'll have to wait for snow. I'm itching to make a snowman and a snow angel. Okay, Mount Hood is a little over an hour away, but I want to do that at home.

How's the weather where you are?

Writing time

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I'm working on finishing up the proposal. The synopsis still needs a lot of work. Wonder if there's a Mad Lib form for writing one of those. Boy, one of those sure would that come in handy today. I'd love to be able to fill in the blanks and be finished!

Hope things are going well wherever you are!

Words

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One reason I like this LOLcat is it fit my weekend perfectly. At one point, I had three cats and the dog lying in bed napping while I wrote. They got along since they were asleep. The rest of the time not so much. But it's always amusing to see how the cats are going to respond to Chaos.

I spent the weekend writing except for watching the kidlets swim at a meet on Saturday morning (and being pleasantly surprised when my friend Amy stopped by to hang out with me!) and attending Mass and going out to dinner with my family on Sunday evening.

The good news from this weekend was the kidlets' performance at the swim meet on Saturday and Sunday. They did awesome. My son beat 3 "A" times. Those are what you need to beat to qualify for state. My daughter improved many of her times and even won a heat! I was so excited for both of them. Now all we need to do is get the oldest's shoulder healed enough so she can swim!

I still have a few more words left to write on the proposal, not to mention the synopsis. I usually have an end in mind with a book when I start, but not this one so writing the outline will be...interesting.

Wish me luck!

What happened during your weekend?

Upcoming

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We have a big event coming up on the 13th of January, but it's more casual than black tie optional. One of the kidlets' will be celebrating a birthday! Anyone want to guess which one?

But January 11th is the next big date. That's when my proposal is due. I have much writing to do the next couple of days so I won't be blogging again until Monday.

Hope you have a fun and safe weekend!

Cat's tail

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This morning I heard hubby call my name. It was too early to wake up so I ignored him. But I was coherent enough to realize something was lying across my eyes and felt really weird.

I was tired and not wanting to wake up all the way, so I kept my eyes closed. I reached up and felt a tail, a very narrow cat's tail, covering my eyelids like a sleep mask.

Smalls. I knew immediately the narrow tail belonged to her. First all my other cat's are long-haired, but Smalls also sleeps on my pillow against my head.

Still it was a little freaky.

I raised my head. The movement sent the cat scurrying off the bed. Hubby was staring at me. He just shook his head. He's not a big fan of Smalls, but she doesn't like him all that much, either.

His attempts to get her off my pillow at night have been futile. Smalls has learned to wait until I turn off my light to jump up there since hubby is usually asleep by then. If he does push her off, she hops right back up there. It's turned into a mini-war of sorts. One the cat is winning.

Hubby thinks Smalls wants him gone so she can have me all to herself. He may be right!

Happy Epiphany!

Today we celebrate the arrival of the three wise men, when the birth of Jesus, son of God, was made known to all. The kidlets are excited. The final presents under our Christmas tree get opened!

Yesterday at the three sessions I teach at my church, we had epiphany celebrations. Fun times, but I'm a little tired out. I'm glad we're waiting until later today for our family celebration.

Enjoy the day!

Copycat

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I think I may have mentioned how Yoda is a copycat. He lays with his feet out behind him and plays with stuffed animals like Chaos, our Norwegian Elkhound. He drinks from the toilet and shower like our cat Smalls. The list goes on.

Ever since he was a small kitten, the other cats have hit him in the head with their paw (no claws extended) whenever he gets too close to them. Sometimes this action is justified (he chases and annoys them a lot), but sometimes it's not.

If you're a Facebook friend, you may have seen my status message a couple days ago when Spirit swatted Yoda. Very justified in that case! And I guess being hit might have finally made an impression on Yoda because we saw the return of the copycat yesterday.

Last night, my youngest saw Yoda sleeping on my chair. She woke him up with rubs and kept talking to him when it was obvious all he wanted to do was nap. All of a sudden, he hit the side of her head with his paw. Exactly like the older cats do to him.

Of course, there was screaming and tears. I was worried he might have used his claws and checked to make sure she hadn't been scratched. She hadn't.

Copycat strikes again.

I've been wondering how to best take advantage of this trait of Yoda's. Anyone have a cat who knows how to dust and clean the house that I could borrow for a few days? I'd love it if Yoda would copy something a little more useful next time!

No Resolutions in 2011

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I know exactly how this LOLcat feels. I remember when one of my then preschool aged kidlets told me I looked like Gus-Gus (the fat mouse from Disney's Cinderella.) I knew I had 20 pounds of baby weight from the youngest still to lose then, but I was so devastated.

I ended up losing the weight (nearly 30 pounds) due to a diet I had to go on to keep nursing Rose. She had food intolerences which meant I ate a very limited diet. The weight seemed to melt off. I dropped down to a size four. What I wore in college.

I need to lose weight again. I know that limited diet would do it again. But diets (of any kind) are so hard for me. Doing it for my daughter years ago was easy because she still needed to nurse. Doing it for myself, then or now, not so much.

Pathetic, huh?

Which is one of the reasons I didn't post New Year resolutions for 2011. After two difficult years, I want to focus on successes, not failures. 2011 is going to be the year I take care of me. I want to keep things as simple as possible. Not adding on worries or stresses over trying to stick to a resolution that's supposed to "help" me. I want to feel energized, not dragged down by "need tos" or "shoulds."

I could afford to lose some weight, but instead of focusing on dieting I'm going to concentrate on eating healthier. My good friend Alison Thrasher (Irish Dress designer) told me about this book Eat This, Not That! 2011: Thousands of easy food swaps that can save you 10, 20, 30 pounds--or more!. There are a few different versions, but it's to help you make smarter food choices. That's something I can do and not feel like a failure if I don't lose that magic number of pounds by a certain date.

I've been looking at writing goals in a similar vein. Selling a certain number of books, making a bestseller list, winning an award this year would be nice, but those things are out of my control. All I can do is write the best book I'm capable of writing at the time, which is what I've been doing since I joined RWA over twenty years ago. Well, I suppose if I won the MegaMillions lottery tonight I could buy enough of my own books to put it on a bestseller list. But then again, I'd rather spend the money on something else (a vacation!) than to see my name on a list for a couple of weeks. It's not that important to me or I'd have become a promotion machine over the years. Instead, I suck at promotion and avoid it like the plague. If not for my friends at LASR, I wouldn't be doing any!

This year, I want to focus on what is in my control...the writing. I simply want to write in 2011. I'll still need to shoot for a daily word count due to deadlines, but that's all I want to be aiming for.

How about you? Did you make goals and/or resolutions for 2011?

Go Cardinal!

Tonight, Stanford plays Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl. I can't wait to watch the game!

When I was at Stanford, I never missed a football game. I even traveled to a few away games since I was in the band. So much fun! Here's an article from the Miami Herald about the Incomparable Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band aka LSJUMB.

Have you been watching any college football this holiday season? I haven't, but I'm counting down time until kickoff tonight!

A new TV

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We upgraded from a 20" television to a 37" one over the holidays. I don't watch a lot of TV, but the smaller screen was just too small for our Great Room. We'd purchased it when we lived in a little cottage. The kidlets kept having to sit closer and closer to see the screen, too. The 20" screen also looked a little strange in the built-in entertainment cabinet that came with the house. The 37" one fits perfectly!

We haven't been watching a lot more shows, but we sure enjoy watching movies a lot more with the larger screen. The picture is not only bigger, but so much clearer! Even hubby, who really didn't see the need to upgrade before, appreciates it.

Now to sign up for Netflix and we should be set!

Any movies you'd recommend we see? This past week we watched Elf, Barbie Fashion Fairytale, Percy Jackson and Harry Potter.

1.1.11

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Hope 2011 brings you love, laughter, good health and dreams come true!


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I've only got one life, not nine. I'm hoping to make a lot of changes in 2011 so I will like mine best, too!