~~~Lara Zielin~~~

STATUS: Really well rested. I love this holiday break.

FAVE LINKEY-POO RIGHT THIS SECOND: The Smoking Gun’s mugshots of the year. Nuff said.

As 2008 draws to a close and I wax philosophical about the past 364 days,

Looking ahead to 2009, I can only appreciate what is to come by what has been

I had a kick-ass year.

A bunch of stuff went down that was totally awesome.

Not much went down that sucked.

I am happy.

Here are a few of the highlights:

Rob starts off the year by working on his script for the movie Starlight and Superfish. I start training for a half marathon because, yes, I will need six months in order to make my body run 13.1 miles.

Work gets really busy, but good busy. I love my job.

Spring arrives and we start looking at houses outside of Whitmore Lake. We think about moving.

By July, we’ve put the house up for sale, I’ve run a half marathon, and Rob has started filming on Starlight and Superfish. The house sells in a matter of weeks and we’re out of Whitmore Lake by August 1. Rob wraps up shooting mere hours before we move.

Edits for Donut Days are also due at this time. By some miracle, I turn them in and the book is off to the presses. Release date, in case I haven’t mentioned it enough, is August 2009.

Rob and I paint, unpack, collapse. But we love our new house. LOVE.

Brett Favre leaves the Pack and goes to the Jets. I herewith refer to him as Jerkface McSucksalot.

I go to New York. I go to Myrtle Beach. I go to Korea.

Apart from business trips, we don’t travel much. Rob needs a vacation. But life in Michigan is awesome. Despite the economy, despite the tank in the publishing industry, life is wonderful. I’d go so far as to say It’s a Wonderful Life. I love my work, my writing, my home, my husband. We have fabulous friends and family who love and support us. We have adorable animals. We are healthy. Our jobs are secure. We eat really well. (It helps that Zingerman’s is in our backyard). Our new town, Ypsilanti, is beyond cool.

With all this good stuff, I think the thing to focus on in 2009 is how to give back. Also, our New Year’s resolution? Do less. It’s quality, not quantity, right?

Anyway, Happy New Year to my four readers. Much love, and best wishes for peace and prosperity in 2009.

xox

STATUS: In a post-Christmas haze. Full belly, relaxed family, a whole day with nothing to do. I’m in love.

FAVE LINKEY-POO RIGHT NOW: Entertainment Weekly came out with their “best of the year” list and I must have been living under a rock to have missed Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog . The first installment is 45 minutes long but it’s worth every moment. Neil Patrick Harris is astounding. The whole thing is hilarious. But still compelling. Uh-maze-ing.

When I was growing up (in the 80s for real–not, like, ironically) Rambo was a big deal. Heck, Sylvester Stallone was a big deal, what with Rocky and Rambo and … well, mostly those two. Throw in the A-Team and G.I. Joe, and the military (or ex-military in the case of Face and B.A. and the gang) made stories about the armed forces downright plentiful.

I say all this because it’s the only possible reason I can think of for penning the following, titled simply, “The Army.”

O the Army is a place to fite! Bang bang! Thee Army! Thee Army! Bang! Try to save pepole. Bang! Bang! Bang! Fite! Fite! Army! Army! That is whare yo fite! Tanks and gys tents and stuff thee Army thee Army. Jeeps and stuff! Bang! Bang! Fite fite fite! Be free! Let freedom ring!

STATUS: Finally getting caught up on Battlestar Galactica, season 4.0. It started off slow, but now it’s back to its crack-level status. More. Must have more.

FAVE LINKEY-POO RIGHT THIS SECOND: The next time you’re asked a stupid question, type the question into Let me Google that for you and it will create a URL that you can then send back to the person who asked you the initial (stupid) question. So, for example, if someone asks you, “When is the presidential inauguration?” you can type that into LMGTFY and it will create a URL that you can send back to the inaugural ignoramus, with a presentation of just how easy it is to type that question into Google and get a result. Brilliant.

Rob and I were out shopping yesterday at a store that will remain nameless … okay, no it won’t. We were totally at Home Goods getting last-minute holiday gifts, when we spotted a piece of furniture that hammered home the fact that five times more people will see a movie this year than read a book.

So, here’s the little table thingy we spotted in the furniture section, which is made to look like it houses classic novels.

See the issue? No? Let me point it out for you.

That book? The title is PEARL HARBER. So, okay, so not only did they spell Pearl Harbor wrong, but dude, Pearl Harbor is a location, not a novel. It was the site of an attack. Many people have gone on to write about what happened in Hawaii that day in 1941 — and Ben Affleck starred in a movie about it in 2001 that you could see if you wanted the historically ridiculous version — but it’s not a novel. Especially not one in league with The Three Musketeers or Jane Eyre.

Epic furniture fail.

STATUS: According to the Weather Channel, I should barely be alive. That’s how terrible the snowstorm in Michigan is right now. Rob and I stocked up on white bread, Velveeta and firewood. If it comes to it, we’ve decided we’ll eat the kitteh because she’ll probably taste the best out of all of us. But Rob did give me that look like, mmmm, you’d be good with butter.

FAVE LINKEY-POO RIGHT THIS SECOND: A parody of Calvin & Hobbes called Calvin & Jobs. As in Steve Jobs. As in hi-larious.

I don’t know about anyone else out there, but I’ve already eaten way, way too much this holiday season. Yesterday at work? It was insane. Cheesecake, cookies, chocolate, pistachios — and that was just work. Rob’s been baking pies, and we’ve been feeding friends and family like crazy. As well as going out. So this little reminder that I uncovered in my “early writings of brilliance” folder was timely. It’s called “What is good for you!” and, well, it really just oozes wisdom.

Orngs and appls are bad for you! Ice creem is god so good! Some things are good, and some things are bad. Grapes are good for you! Candy is not! Fruits are good! Pop sickels are bad! Some things are good and some things are bad! You can make you sick! Some-peploe have goton sick! I canot boleave thet pepole have goton sick. Onges are good for you! Slop thare gos the onnges blod! [I have no idea what that means, otherwise I’d offer a translation.] Bad and good foods! Eat good not bad-foods! Stay a live and how to do that? Eat bad foods!

STATUS: Totally digging all the holiday music that you can listen to, nonstop, through Pandora.com.

FAVE LINKEY-POO RIGHT THIS SECOND: This headline about the Blagojevich senate-appointment scandal. Makes it sound like aliens were involved.

I have a good friend who is facing some tough edits right now. And I speak from experience when I say editing is no easy endeavor. Writing is an artistic expression of sorts. It’s hard to hear someone say “change this” or “shorten that” or whatever manner of direction they give you, because writing comes from that personal place that all good art comes from. Plus, after working on a manuscript for months and months, it’s hard to take a breath and plunge back into revisions. Sometimes the material is just too…close.

I took this picture yesterday to summarize how even the best editor’s notes can feel overwhelming sometimes. God help the writer who actually gets this kind of direction. Thank goodness it’s not that bad for my friend — or for me. At least not yet anyway.

STATUS: Finally blogging again! And glad to quiet the screaming masses who were demanding a new post. (Yeah, okay, I made up that last part).

FAVE LINKEY-POO RIGHT NOW: Oh man, there are so many! How can I pick just one? I can’t. I just can’t. Here are a few:

• An article about a dude who wanted to pay his water bill with a drawing.
• A site showcasing Swedish 70s bands. Yah.
• The Prop 8 musical is genius.
• Someone invented baconnaise!
• And OMG, failblog.org is my new most favoritest site of all time.

Whew. Now that all that’s out of my system, here’s what I’ve been doing for the past few weeks.

Ellen and I went to North Carolina on a writers’ retreat and had a great time relaxing by the ocean. I started a new novel and I’m branching out into a new genre but that’s all I’m going to say about it right now.

Rob and I had our first Thanksgiving in the new house. We had our parents over to eat an organic, cage-free turkey and some words-can’t-describe pies that Rob made. I love being married to a man who cooks!

We decorated the house for Christmas. Rob’s affection for this holiday is contagious. We got a tree and named him Gaylord Von Trapp. This is us at the tree farm where we met Gaylord:

My editor sent me the spring/summer catalog for Putnam and I was in it! Well, and Donut Days, too. Thankfully, we were on the same page.

So, that’s the quick and dirty synopsis. I’m floored that 2008 is coming to a close. I’m already thinking about the awesome things that have happened to us this year, and how much we have to look forward to in 2009. More writing! More books! More fun! More life! It’s awesome, awesome.