My Favorite Gifts

I got them!  The books I wanted...

Both my daughter and my DIL actually asked me what I wanted!  I gave them book titles.  I can't wait to get deep into these titles.  They're exactly what I asked for.... but still, they're not my favorite gift.

It's hard to top this...

So if I never become the best-selling author I dream of being, I have achieved greater success already!

What are some of your favorite Christmas gifts?

A Family of Authors

I was visiting over on MySpace when a video I posted caught my eye... I realized my friends in Blogville didn't know about my daughter's book. I mentioned in an early blog about her being a writer and artist, but I didn't talk about the book! She wrote this delightful children's story titled 'Do Tigers Purr?' several years ago. When I started talking about my book, it brought up her dream of having her children's book published.

I thought it would be nice for her to be able to read her story to the babies at bedtime out of a real book with illustrations; So one day when I was feeling a bit crafty, I decided to make her book into a book! I found some cute pictures on the internet and did my 'own touch' thing to them, added her words, printed them out, made a binding... Well, the result was what you see in the picture. It is probably the best gift I ever gave her, even better than the first car!

When she first pulled it out of the bag, she thought I had found a book with her title! Then it hit her!

Someday soon I hope to have her book published. G#1 Dani is going to do the actual illustrations. (She had better get on the ball!) That will make it a three-generation effort. When you find it in the bookstores, it will not say, 'by Mommy' but by Jen Grams. I'll let you know...

I absolutely love her reaction to the book. Here it is for you to enjoy:

My Essays blog has a link on the sidebar to my MySpace profile. There you will find my older blogs (before I moved to Blogville) and lots of pictures and videos of life on the farm and my family. (You must be my friend on MySpace to view my grands' pics.)

progress finally!

I finished another chapter... yesterday. Then I didn't write at all today! I did make some progress on my outside projects with the help of my two granddaughters that are spending the week with me. Mommy is coming after work tomorrow to pick them up. (I just noticed it's after midnight, so I guess that's really today.) Papaw is taking them fishing in the morning. I can maybe get a little writing time in then.

The rain will return in a couple of days and I will sit glued to this thing, trying to make up lost time. It wasn't really lost though... It was spent on two people that are very precious to me. As I'm writing this, I'm looking across the living room at my oldest granddaughter. She is sitting cross-legged in the recliner with her laptop perched on a folding table in front of her. It is where she has spent the majority of time this week. Like her Nana, she's a night-owl. She has been working on a story, although she gets distracted with Gaia, MySpace, IMing her friends... Yes, she is mine.

I need more time!

I'm not making as much progress on my book as I'd like. It's hard to get 'into' the story with just a few minutes here, a few minutes there. Seldom do I have a large block of time to devote to my book. Now that the days are warmer, there is just so much to do! I have a lot of gardening to catch up on, and a horse that needs ridden - two, in fact. Hubby is recovering (or trying to recover) from some physical injuries, so I'm trying to take up the slack for him as well. There are two decks and a wooden play set that need painted, and soon it will be time to open the pool.

Tomorrow my daughter will be dropping off two of her daughters to spend the week with me. The fourteen-year-old and the eleven-year-old are on spring break, and since their mommy works full-time, they will spend their time off with me. The youngest two will remain in day-care. They enjoy riding their bikes on the bike path that adjoins our property and spending hours in the woods. Perhaps I'll still be able to sneak some writing time in, as long as it's nice out.

It's hard to balance my writing life with the rest of my life. I would love to just shut myself off and write non-stop until I am finished with this novel. But, at the same time, I want to enjoy all the other aspects of my life. I want to really know my grandchildren. I want to have the best-looking garden possible. I want to become an accomplished equestrian. (OK, I just want to be able to not fall off when Nekoda takes a sideways step.) In short, I want it all!