Well, I tried. After friends and family left last night, I took my laptop to bed and at 11:48pm I started typing my Day 18 blog post. Then I promptly fell asleep.

I woke up after midnight to a screen that looked a lot like this:

Hadddddddddddd a sssssssssssssssssssudodr tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Which, clearly, says, “Had a super time…”

Which, clearly, was to be completed with, “…tonight.”

Because, good friends, family, Christmas music, margaritas, wine and beer will tend to make you have a good time. Nothing says “early Christmas open house” quite like tequila.

And, though the margaritas may be the reason I stuttered through a post draft, I prefer to think I was exhausted from all the laughter.

Follow

Email

I am a big girl.

There is no side-stepping the issue. I love chocolate, beer and bread. I am also 5’10”, wear a size 11 shoe and have hands that only a Globetrotter would love.

See?

Last night, we were watching an episode of Survivor when my husband spied a young, blond woman and innocently said, “She’s cute.”

I gave him a look, innocent or not.

“Cute” is not a word that has ever described me. I don’t want to hear him saying it about someone else.

As my husband tried to backpedal, our 12 year old daughter came to his defense, but if I have never heard anyone call me “cute” I’ve, for sure, never heard anyone say this…

“Mom, he didn’t mean cute, like pretty! He meant cute, like petite.”

Follow

Email

The clock is ticking, but there is no sound. It’s not like the clock that stood in my grandmother’s living room, chiming the day away in fifteen minute increments. Tick-tock, ding-dong, ding-dong.

It’s a clock with glowing numbers that stares back at me from my husband’s nightstand, jumping minute by minute into the next hour and then into the next day. The red digits cut through the silence, loudly reminding me of the sleep I do not get.

The dog’s collar jingles from the hallway and she enters my room; her keen senses tell her I’m awake. Maybe a walk, she thinks. “Not yet” I whisper and pat her head.

I rise and tiptoe out of the bedroom and the young dog follows. I can hear my son snoring and see the glow of my daughter’s charging cell phone bouncing off of the overhead light. I walk slowly down the creaking steps and shuffle to the kitchen where I reach for the timer on the coffeepot. Click. I turn it on long before its timer is set to brew.

I stretch. I bend. I yawn. I feel the cold tile beneath my bare feet and I shiver until the chill has vanished. I lean on the counter and tap my fingers. I wait.

When the coffee is ready, I hold the warm mug in both hands and plop down on the couch. The dog curls up next to me and as she drifts off and dreams of chasing squirrels, I look up to see a green light shining from the cable box.

Tick-tock.

Follow

Email

Editor’s Note: This is a sponsored post. I was paid by BlogHer to write this post and conduct discussions on Chime.in

Update 11/28 *The winner has been chosen and notified. Thanks for entering, everyone!*

Before I started blogging in 2007, I started writing a novel. I have had the story in my head for so long that the characters feel like extensions of my family. Well, except for that one really bad guy.

The manuscript that I started, forever ago, sat untouched until I recently picked it back up. I got inspired. I got motivated. I started working on it again.

I am the Social Media Manager for the largest community of women who blog, with 34 million visitors to our network each month. I host their Twitter stream that has over 36,000 followers and I do my own social media marketing on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, Stumbleupon and Linkedin.

The last thing I needed was another social network.

But, I was asked to try Chime.in and did. And, it’s pretty great.

Chime.in is not just a social network, it’s an “interest network”. As part of Ubermedia.com, Chime.in is a place where you can find a community of people with the same likes as you. Whether you’re into cars or fashion, home decorating or fitness, there is a network of people with whom to share your tips, tricks and passion.

And, Chime.in is where I found the Blog to Book community.

I’m not the only blogger trying to write a book. There are a lot of us in this boat and when the sea gets stormy and it gets hard to row, I have people who know exactly how I feel when I say that I stink at metaphors. They get it when I’m frustrated that I didn’t meet my word count goal or they understand what it’s like to outline chapters when kids are running around the room

Tips, tricks, passion…frustration. We share it all.

Within our community we can talk, add photos and even create polls to ask for opinions. It’s exactly what I needed to get started again.

And, guess what? You can get started reading and watching because Chime.in and BlogHer are letting me give away a Kindle Fire!

Comment here or join the discussion in the blog to book community on Chime.in to enter. Official rules are here. My part of the contest ends on Monday, November 21 at midnight ET. Comments or discussions on Chime.in timestamped after midnight ET on November 21 won’t be eligible for my part of the contest.

• Tuesday, November 1 – Monday November 7 — win here — GIVEAWAY CLOSED
• Tuesday, November 8 – Monday November 14 — win here — GIVEAWAY CLOSED
• Tuesday, November 15 – Monday November 21 — win with Momo Fali or Matt Logelin — GIVEAWAY CLOSED
• Tuesday, November 22 – Monday November 28 — win with Sassymonkey

Follow

Email