Could they be any cuter? Kayleigh is now 50 pounds. She's a few pounds bigger than Riley was at this age, and Riley weighs 75 now. It doesn't seem likely that Kayleigh will get as big, but who knows? 

A few shots from October before New Years. From these humble pumpkins we selected our canvases.  

I got everyone this year. Usually someone hides from the camera. Ha! 

Everyone's pumpkins. From left: mine, Heidi's, Chris', Mariah's, and Mara's. I think it's funny that both Chris and I have the character with hands in the air. 

My skeleton pumpkin October 2006. 

NaNo is long over

So I was able to write my 50,000 words again this November. I was worried at first that I might not be able to do it. I think it took until about 40,000 that I became a believer. And ever since I've been pretty cocky about it. Like, how could I not finish? What am I, an amateur? But of course, I did think at the beginning of the month that I might not...I'm a complex individual.

What was funny is how the book turned out in comparison to how I began. Of course, I've never been one to be able to make an outline and stick with it for the duration. I always end up changing my mind or things don't turn out as planned. So in October, I spent a bunch of time planning the beginning of the story because I knew that I couldn't rely on the middle and ending that I came up with. I did still do a middle and an ending, and I actually liked them. I thought I might stick with them, too. But about 20,000 words in, my main character essentially told me that the ending was not what I planned and that he'd actually had a role in something I thought he was completely innocent of. I realized that I'd also planted clues that led to that reality as well. So I changed the middle and the end.

I think I like how it turned out. It needs revision because I'm not great at putting in details about setting and appearance and whatnot on the first draft. But I do like how the plot turned out and I think I will most likely keep it almost exactly as is, where I usually end up changing some scenes or deleting or adding.

I'm hoping that it turns out to be as good as it is in my mind. I'd like to have it take a place beside the other books I wrote as an equal, and not merely as a NaNo book (like my first NaNo book).