It will make you feel grounded, safe and solid, which is much better in your book.

And Capricorn (which I also check when I bother to look because I have a heap o’ sea goat in my chart), is evidently responsible for last night’s 90 minutes of shut-eye and my subsequent day of hyperspastic super pseudo alertness:

And let’s not even talk about trying to sleep.

<–Me today, complete with the unblinking eyes of a madwoman. I freaked people out.

So thanks a lot, stars. I’m off to plot the fourth Blood Nexus book, which should apparently be entitled Ground, and race in circles around the room because my sloth butt doesn’t know what to do with all this manic energy.

The Krusty KraYAAAaaaAAAaaaYAAAaaaAAAaab pizza IS the pizzaaaaaaaaaaaa for you and meeHEEheeHEEheeHEEEEEEE!

That’s right, I am as happy as I’m ever going to be with The Nights Before Christmas, and it is in the process of being processed by the outlets from which it will be bought, sold, and processed.

Since I’m tweaking too much to concentrate on writing at the moment, I’m going to bury myself in reading for a while (Kresley Cole, she is calling my name). Once my head is clear, it’s novel time.

Special thanks to Hanina, whose timely words of encouragement kept me motivated during the last round of edits so I could knock them out over the weekend.

Or maybe you’re just spending way too much time on Twitter.

Am I the only one who thinks those kids are going to get yanked into that pitch-blackness under the sofa by something with sharp claws and glowing eyes while mom is distracted by Facebook? “Look, Timmy, it’s a kitty! AaaaAAAAiiiiIIIIeeeeEEEE!”

2. I watch too much HGTV.

3. Up until this point, I saw no harm in watching house-shopping shows. It’s not like I’m in any danger of being tempted to buy a house (being both broke and opposed to long-term commitment as I am).

4. Then I saw it.

5. MY house.

6. It was old. It had character. Crown moldings. Tall baseboards. Hardwood floors throughout. It looked really well taken care of despite its age, and it was even-I-could-afford-that cheap because it was located somewhere with a low cost of living.

7. Unlike, say, Portland, where you apparently can’t live in a cardboard box on the side of the road for less than $300,000.

8. Ooh, I wanted it so bad.

9. And the 24-year-old princess on the show said it was a DUMP.

10. A DUMP.

11. Now, I have some familiarity with dumps, having dwelled in several during the past few years.

12. That house was no dump.

13. Ooh, I got so mad on behalf of my house.

14. At the end of the show, 24-year-old princess decided she couldn’t afford the kind of palace she deserved, so she was going to keep living with her mommy.

15. I jeered and high-fived that house through the television.

16. Now there’s a handprint in the dust on my TV screen.

17. I am not a terrible housekeeper. I am a conservationist and humanitarian.

18. The protective layer of dust shields my belongings from harmful UV rays and minimizes danger to bystanders by filtering the harmful radiation emitted by electronics.

19. In business news, as of the evening of February 24, 2010, Beyond the Darkening has gone double-Saran Wrap on the Kindle.

20. That is, 2000 copies sold.

21. Yes, I do realize this hardly makes me Nora Roberts, but for an unknown entity with no publisher support who puts zero effort into marketing, in 9 months, it ain’t too shabby.

22. My horn, I toot it.

23. I’m told I should have access to numbers from the other major vendor “soon.”

24. I know what “soon” means.

25. “Soon” means “I don’t know, whenever.”

26. As in “The Nights Before Christmas should be available soon.”

27. Just a little bit of smut and the Dramatic Final Chapter to finish, and I know how that goes, so being stumped isn’t the problem.

28. The problem is TIME, of which I have so very little to spare, thank you very much, double day jobs.

29. But it is on The Agenda.

30. And then other things will be addressed. Big, cool, fun, and exciting things.

31. SOON.