Happy New Year!

Once again, time has flown by and taken every second I had with it! Upon my return from Florida in November it was a mad rush to get things ready for Christmas, and survive finals! Yet as busy as it was, it wasn't so bad! I was in a really good mood from Thanksgiving break! So much more than what was planned happened over the that time period, and the year 2009 ended even better than I could have hoped for!

While in Florida, my best friend turned 21, we went on our yearly road-trip to Atlanta, Georgia for a family Thanksgiving, and then got back for another epic trip of our own! We decided to head to Panama City for a day and had a pretty amazing adventure! I saw the ocean for the first time in about 6-years and spent a wonderful day making memories with Heather! After she was able to peel me away from the beach we headed in for an evening on the town. On the list was Ripley's Believe it Or Not Museum, Sharky's (a wonderful seafood restaurant on the beach), and a few other random places. Then, after one last trip to the beach to stargaze for a bit, we headed home for one last night of fun before I had to head out in the morning back to Kansas. I think I am still smiling from that night! We met up with a friend of Heather's (and a new friend of mine) and he and Heather and I spent most of the night going to random places in Tallahassee. Historic sites, ancient trees, and abandoned train stations. We stayed out for awhile before heading to Heather's apartment to hang out for what would turn out to be the rest of the night. We realized we had been talking all night when Heather said that I had to pack given the fact that my flight would be leaving in an hour and a half! Long story short, I was up for 2 days straight, but it was worth it! I could have slept on the flight home, but I was so happy I couldn't!

Heather came to visit for Christmas/New Year's this year. Add in a rather large blizzard and you had the perfect holiday break! We celebrated Christmas at mom's (who was extremely excited when we surprised her with Heather being home - - she had no idea she was coming); and then we had a party on new years to celebrate 2009 and the completion on my "2009 List!"

Speaking of 2009, it was a rather magnificent year! It started out with a bang, and required making some changes and tough decisions. But I am proud of myself for making them, and changing the stuff in my life that needed to be changed/removed a long time ago! As a result of that, I managed to get my life back on track, and experience what might just have been the best year of my life thus far.


I completed my New Year's Resolution Challenge, which consisted of a list of 60 things to do before midnight of 2010. These ranged from little things I've always wanted to do, to big things that I've needed to do for a long time. There was also quite a few adventurous ones, like skydiving! Which, I am excited to say... I am now a trained skydiver!

;) I also tried Sushi for the first time, went on a road-trip without making plans and ended up discovering some cool places! I leaned how to work a pop-corn machine like at a movie theater, saw almost every meteor shower there was in 2009, spent time catching fireflies, sent a message in a bottle, and so much more! I also made quite a bit of progress with my writing and was able to attend some awesome conference with amazing writers! I also continue to work on Lily the Ladybug and Confessions of a Frog-a-Holic!

I am looking forward to 2010! I have the feeling that it will be a wonderful year, full of surprises; and the best part of surprises is that they make great stories!


Creatively Yours,
Kat

Thanksgiving Vacation and NaNoWriMo Update

NaNoWriMo is in it's finally weeks with only 12 days remaining. It's crunch time for writers everywhere...and I find myself to be no exception! The good news is that I leave in a mere 2 days (or 1.5 rather) for Florida; which will give me the much needed break from school and work to focus on my novel. Needless to say, my concentration right now is very low as I am ready to leave this very minute!

Things are going well, but busy. I cannot believe we are already to Thanksgiving and that Christmas is only about 35 days away! Time seems to be in the fast lane. When I return from Florida the first week in December, it will be time to focus on finals, and soon after Christmas, a new semester. The next semester will also be the beginning of my new major (Elementary Education), and new classes. Then, around March/April it will be time to start house shopping, which, I am extremely excited for! We will be moving in May 2010, meaning, my life will be momentarily a whirl-wind of packing boxes again.

I will post another update soon - possibly while I am in Florida as long as I have Internet access! Until then, I send out my best wishes to all and Happy Thanksgiving!

Creatively Yours,

Kat Callaway

NaNoWriMo 2009 Begins!

An epic journey began for writers everywhere today as November 1st kicked off National Novel Writing Month 2009 (commonly known as NaNoWriMo)! 30 days to write 50,000 words. It's a tough, but fun challenge for all of us; one I am extremely excited to begin! For more information visit http://www.nanowrimo.org/!

Where oh where did the time go!?

Time seems to have flown out the window and bounced down the street ;) I returned from the conference in September (which was AMAZING) and hit the ground running! School, work, and play have taken over and I have been writing every second I can spare. Also, life plans are taking different routes quicker than planned, but in a good way! So, a quick update is in order!

As far as writing goes, I am working on pieces that were inspired by the conference itself! I learned a lot this year and met some awesome people. I will make a post specifically about the conference a bit later when I can put pictures with it. Confessions of a Frog-a-Holic is the center of my attention at the moment. I am having fun with it and coming up with some creative twists for the plot-line. I would like to have a loose script by this summer.

In other news, I'm moving out of my apartment. Which is sad, because I just recently finished re-decorating it. However, it's worth it because I will be moving out of my single apartment and WE will be moving into a house. . This will be happening in May of 2010, so there is some time left. However, I suspect that time will fly too as a lot will be happening in the next few months as well.

One of those things is Florida. I leave on November 20th and won't return until the 30th. I'm extremely excited to get away and see my best friend! She and I have a lot of planning to do so it will be nice to have an entire 10 days this year.

Then there is work, and it has been busy as well! We will be having a Haunted Halloween Open House in the library and so I have been working with my co-workers on the Publicity and Outreach Committee to plan for that. It should be spook-tacular ;)

So, life is going fast but grand! I will hop back on here and talk about the SCBWI Conference in a few days once I am able to locate my camera cord!

Creatively yours,
Kat

Conference Coming Soon, and Other Updates!

School has started up, and the September conference is a mere 17 days away! I have been busily working on the final manuscripts to tote with me and getting excited to meet up with old writing friends. It's been very easy to do this as I has a very good friend, Justin, come over to help me make my writing area more user friendly. He has more of an eye for design and decor and well, lets just face it... it's safer for all of humanity if I avoid power tools!

Last week we got a lot done and it looks amazing! My walls are covered with cork boards for story layouts, and I have areas to file stuff, and so much more. It's amazing how much of a difference having a functional writing area makes. Add this in with finally having a computer that works and I am back in business!

In other news, I have been working away at getting stuff ready. Working on new business cards, debating a website renovation (though remembering how much work it took the first time and thinking I might be ahead to stick with what I have)! My main focus is going back and forth between 'Confessions of a Frog-a-Holic" and "Willows." As I get more wrapped up in these stories I am losing sleep because I have had some pretty intense yet helpful dreams. The hard part is wrapping it all together to make a story that others understand ;)

So there you go, a brief overview of life. Everything is going well and I am smiling... so life is good!

Creatively yours,

Kat