On Friday the 13th (of December, which makes it somehow less creepy, right? Though bad things do happen in the snow…) the price of Touched will get the chop-chop and be available for only 99 cents, and will stay on sale until the 18th. If you’ve been waiting to jump into the series, now would be the time!

Also…

Need a mug with a frog on it? Love revenants? Want to think about your love of fangs while you drink some coffee? Of course you do. And I will make that easier for you with some Marnie loot at Cafe Press.

<White cup on white background. Ninja travel mug. Can’t see it until BAM! Coffee>

In other news, I am recovering nicely from my knuckle-itis (is SO a thing) and have instead switched it up with some lower back pain. It’s painful, but at least it’s stabby. I mean, it’s not like I have job that requires me to sit. Or stand. Or walk. Or bend. I have three jobs that require me to sit, stand, walk, and bend, two of which require me to drive…so there’s that.  Hopefully the anti-inflammatory meds that I’m taking for my knuckles and wrists will also help my back. If I’d known that writing was going to be hazardous to my health, I’d have taken out disability insurance. How does someone injure themselves so much sitting in one place? Man, I better get back into yoga.

In writing news, Last Impressions is coming along nicely. I *think* (SPOILER ALERT: SPOILERS AHEAD) that people who want to see Marnie grow as a character will be pleased with her progress. She’s left a major distraction behind in coming to Canada for this case, and away from this presence, she’s seeing things more clearly, for the good and the bad. She has decisions ahead of her, and working far from home is giving her the opportunity to regroup and assess. I’m not saying she’s doing this WELL or without her usual goofiness (this is Marnie we’re talking about)  but there are efforts being made to tame her stubborn and sometimes compulsive nature, and see things more objectively. I hope that doesn’t give away too much. I had a GREAT time with some brand new characters and a new-to-me monster matter: ghosts. Yes, Last Impressions is (not at all) an old-fashioned ghost story which tackles deep, spiritual issues (nope, it doesn’t) and pits our brave (ha!) heroine against fearsome odds. No, not Agent Batten’s zipper. Angry ghosts. Which Marnie faces with –*choke, gak!* Sorry, I tried to write “indomitable courage” and I had to stop and giggle for a minute or two. Then I had to clean up the tea I spilled. She faces the threat the way she faces all threats: with coffee. And cursing. And donuts. And sometimes with science and witchy stuff, but mostly with the cursing. I’m having a great time with her here in Canada, and I see her returning in the distant future for more adventures in the Great White North.

That’s my news. How about you? Are you wrapping projects and presents? *toddles off to work on Today’s Dongs, my blog post for Christmas*

(Editor’s note: A.J. Aalto would like to thank her readers for an amazing 2013. She’d like to, but she won’t, because she’s kind of a bitch. Also, she’s forgetful and selfish. Also-also, she’s really super-busy ordering hooch, since she found out that local wineries will deliver to her home. So I’ll say it for her: THANK YOU, READERS!)

Today, I toast my friends who did NaNoWriMo this year. Whether you hit your magic mark or not, you stuck with it. You wrote as often as you could. You did so because this is your art and your passion. You wrote when the muse was with you, and did your best when the muse was silent. You wrote whether you were feelin’ it or not. You pushed forward when it was hard. You wrote even when the very act of writing did not dispel your doubts. You felt the fear of failure and frustration and uncertainty, and did it anyway. You heard your internal editor nagging and you put that on pause. You did not allow distractions to sway you. You wrote to the end. You are champions.

As we enter the nerve-jangling months ahead of rewrites and beta-reads and edits, know that Writerghoulie is very proud of you, and I celebrate your tenacity.

Well done, furious scribblers. Well done.

<Gonna drink one of these to toast you…then drink the other to, uh, because I can?>

So what comes next, as we head into December? Oh, no, my little scribblers, the work is far from over. We now enter some familiar territory….

If you hear weird noises, it’s just me wailing like a howler money while pulling my hair out, sobbing, blowing my nose on crumpled manuscript papers and throwing a proper mid-edit tantrum. No worries…just send Fireball whiskey.