I’m six days away from my annual vacation to Mexico, and I’m just now getting around to pulling last year’s pictures off the camera. *blush* Better late than never, right?

Here’s a quick peek into our experience at Secrets Excellence, a fabulous resort in the Mayan Riviera.

(Click on images for larger versions.)

Next year, I plan on listing a detailed breakdown of the books I read, once a month. Otherwise, it’s just too easy to forget to recommend spectacular books (and to steer you clear of others). In the meantime, though, here’s a quick list of my favorite reads of 2008.

I chose to narrow it down to one a month, for the sake of simplicity. In the order in which I’ve read them, here are my top 12 reads of 2009. And if you had any doubt my reading tastes are eclectic, well… yeah.

The Innocent Mage, by Karen Miller… Read More »

Image via WikipediaI never read anything without a pen and paper by my side. And since I just finished devouring the February 2009 issue of Writer’s Digest, I thought I’d share the quotes I jotted down as I read.

Each one of these apply, in some way, to where I am at this point in my writing career. Although the magazine now sits in the recycling bin, these quotes will continue to live on–in loopy, colorful script–in my journal:

“My advice for beginning writers is to pee in dangerous places, always. Then give your characters that feeling of imminent … Read More »

From my personal journal:

It’s been a long time since I’ve indulged in journaling. And truth be told, it’s been a strange year. I’ve felt out of sorts; out of touch with myself.

I’d like to blame the strangeness on the move to Austin (and subsequent move back), but I was feeling disenchanted with various things long before that. If anything, the move provided me with a great excuse to explain why my writing had stalled, why my motivation waned, why things that once used to give me butterflies no longer did.

I still can’t say things are back to

… Read More »

I’m on a rapidly approaching deadline, so of course, I should have spent the evening writing. Instead, I spent the last four hours playing around with Photoshop.

I had a bunch of photographs that needed some touching up. Wanna see? The country where each picture was taken is below the image.