30 September 2017


  1. Family day out at the movies.
  2. Beta readers are enjoying my WIP.
  3. Rearranged furniture. It makes me happy to change things up a bit.

29 September 2017


  1. Nice celebratory lunch out.
  2. Good evening walk (even though my left knee is killing me for some reason).
  3. New editing job.

28 September 2017


  1. Finished the draft of my WIP.
  2. Finished the draft of my WIP.
  3. Finished the draft of my WIP.
Also: a social gathering with my writing group.

27 September 2017


  1. Remembered to pick up everything on the grocery list, despite not having the list with me at the store.
  2. Squeezed some writing into my otherwise busy schedule.
  3. My oldest did great at his second cross country meet.

26 September 2017


  1. Finished the book I was reading. Must now go find another one. (Or, really, pick one from the huge stack I have.)
  2. Nice dinner out.
  3. Kingsman 2. (Will post a review on spooklights soon.)

25 September 2017


  1. A cancellation of my morning plans, which allowed me to stay home and work.
  2. Survived taking the two youngest to the city council meeting where they got to shake hands with the mayor for completing the summer reading program.
  3. Saved an injured warbler.

24 September 2017


  1. Classroom of the Elite. What a great find.
  2. A little more writing done. It's seriously been a slog lately, so I'm grateful for whatever I can get.
  3. Finished A Darker Shade of Magic. Really enjoyed it, too. Looking forward to the next book.

Bonus: John Oliver was back.

23 September 2017


  1. A little more writing done.
  2. Nice lunch out with the family.
  3. Homemade chocolate chocolate chip cookies.

22 September 2017


  1. Unexpected opera assembly at the kids' school while I was volunteering. So I got to go see that, which was more fun than listening to kids struggle to read.
  2. Got some writing done for the first time in several days.
  3. I have two more [mostly uninterrupted] days of writing ahead of me.

21 September 2017


  1. My kids telling me I "still have it" when I was able to hit an impossibly high note while singing along to a song in the car.
  2. Meeting a writer friend for coffee and lunch.
  3. Jimmy Buffett tickets!

20 September 2017


  1. 11-year-old son did great for his first cross country meet. (Well, the official times aren't in yet, but I think he did pretty great.)
  2. Busiest day of the week is over, and I survived it.


. . . Um . . . Cooler weather? It even spit a little rain on us, which was a nice change.

19 September 2017


  1. A pretty quiet day. Since tomorrow is really busy, I'm grateful that today I was able to rest.
  2. Got some writing done.
  3. Registered for the San Francisco Writers Conference and booked my room. Something to look forward to!

18 September 2017


  1. Had fun designing a card for people who ask me what I've written.
  2. Nice lunch with a friend.
  3. Relatively un-stressful day.

17 September 2017


  1. A less demanding day than yesterday.
  2. Got a little bit of writing done. Not nearly enough, but some.
  3. Hummingbirds! Lots of them!




16 September 2017


  1. Daughter's birthday party was a smashing success.
  2. I was social and only a little bit awkward (I think).
  3. No big plans for tomorrow. Which, after as busy a day as today, is a good thing.

15 September 2017


  1. Well, I didn't have to drive anywhere. (I did still have volunteer duty in my son's classroom, but we walk to school.)
  2. Girl time with my daughter, which involved baking cookies and watching House Hunters.
  3. Also some time with all the kids, during which we watched funny YouTube videos.

14 September 2017


  1. I don't have tuberculosis. So that's good, right? (I didn't think I did have it, but I had to get tested in order to volunteer at my kids' school, so...)
  2. Writer's group for the first time in a few weeks. Was nice to be back.
  3. A new Aho-Girl.

13 September 2017


  1. First day in a long time that I didn't have an appointment to go to or major errand to run. (I did have a minor errand: put gas in the car and pick up eggs and milk from the corner store.) Was nice to have fewer demands on my time.
  2. Got some writing done.
  3. Was also productive in other ways: laundry, dishes, cleaning, etc.


12 September 2017


  1. Really nice, in depth conversation with my 11-year-old son. About all kinds of things. It's nice that he's at an age that we can do that.
  2. Kind words from readers of my books. I love getting emails and Facebook messages from people who've enjoyed my work. And one was thoughtful enough to write a review, too.
  3. Finished watching season two of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend right before it got removed from Netflix, so... That's productive, right?

11 September 2017


  1. Got a bit more writing done, including fixing a lingering problem with the story.
  2. Got a new editing job.
  3. Really good fry-up for dinner.

10 September 2017


  1. Ice cream!
  2. Got a little bit of writing done. Just need to flesh out what's happening now since things have taken a surprising turn.
  3. John Oliver was back.

09 September 2017


  1. Quiet morning at home.
  2. Amazing dinner out.
  3. Something Rotten! Lots of fun.

08 September 2017


  1. Hubby worked from home so we were able to go out to lunch together.
  2. Got some writing done.
  3. Girl time with my daughter.
  4. A nice note from a director who commissioned me to write a short film for him—he loves the script!

07 September 2017


  1. Lunch with a good friend who was willing to listen to me howl about my life, and then she even paid for my meal.
  2. Irish root beer.
  3. Watching the cat watch a squirrel in the tree outside our dining room. Priceless.

06 September 2017


  1. I hadn't left yet when the cat accidentally turned on the stove, so I was able to turn it off before our house burned down or exploded or something.
  2. Finished one of several mini-projects. Nice to be able to strike something off my very long list.
  3. New Aho-Girl. I needed the laughs.

05 September 2017


  1. Another good physical therapy appointment. Making progress!
  2. Wrote an article I'd promised to someone for their blog. Nice to be able to strike that off my to-do list.
  3. Saw a really cool, almost-full moon tonight, huge and yellow near the horizon.

04 September 2017


  1. Cleaned out both my youngest son's and my daughter's rooms. Was a lot of work but well worth the effort.
  2. A bit more writing done.
  3. Had no reason to leave the house today. Given that the rest of my week is nothing but errands and appointments, I needed the down time!

03 September 2017


  1. Celebrating my daughter's ninth birthday. Her official party with friends isn't for another couple weeks, but we still went out for lunch and she opened presents and we had trifle.
  2. A bit more writing done. Not as much as yesterday, but some. Better than nothing. Any day I manage to get writing done is a good day.
  3. Slightly less hot?

02 September 2017


  1. Zero reasons to go outside in the heat.
  2. Wrote more than twice my daily minimum word count.
  3. Managed to collect the entire set I was chasing in Star Wars Card Trader.

01 September 2017


  1. Survived the insane heat.
  2. Survived the insane grocery store. Like, I've never seen it that busy. Never.
  3. Got some writing done.