Five happy things from my week:

1. Really good writing week. Really good. And I intend to have a good writing weekend too. I’m getting better at making my writing time a priority and not feeling (too) guilty about it. It helps that I’m waiting for the next batch of my current proofreading project to arrive. It sure is easier to devote time to writing when it doesn’t have to compete with work obligations.

2. I’m getting a free book! I love free books. There are five books coming out this year that I’m already looking forward to reading: Silksinger by Laini Taylor (the sequel to Blackbringer), Lips Touch also by Laini Taylor (I think this is going to be a good year for her), the sequel to Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, and Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson. And the other book I’ve been looking forward to is Sophomore Undercover by Ben Esch. And that’s the book I’m getting for free—YAY! He posted on his blog that he had a few left to give out, I emailed, bim, bam, boom, free book for me. Sophomore Undercover will be his debut novel, out in February I think. I initially read about him on Alice Pope’s blog and was intrigued, so I clicked the link to find out more. He’s hilarious. He’s got some blog posts that really crack me up. (There’s some pretty funny banter that goes on in his comments too.) But it was the author pic on his website that prompted me to subscribe. It’s not your run-of-the-mill author photo, that’s all I’ll say. He strikes me as a unique voice to the young adult field, but at the same time his humor reminds me of a bunch of my high school and college friends. If his book is half as funny as his blog and website, I suspect he will quickly find a fan base.

3. I found out that the ALA Midwinter Meeting is going to be in Denver this year. This means more free books!

4. I also found out that two of my favorite friends are expecting a baby. They are going to make fantastic parents, and I am super-duper excited for them.

5. I’m trying something new with my resolutions this year. I joked about them in an earlier post, but honestly, it bummed me out that, of the goals I’d set so optimistically in the beginning of 2008, I couldn’t legitimately check any off my list by year’s end. That’s not to say I didn’t accomplish anything in 2008—I accomplished a ton. Just not the things on my list. It wouldn’t be a big deal to me if I had looked at the resolutions on my 2008 list and thought, well why did I want to do that? Sometimes our priorities and aspirations change in the course of a year. But my 2008 list is pretty much all things that I still hope to accomplish in 2009, so I feel like somewhere along the path of last year I was sidetracked from working toward the goals that are most important to me.

Okay, #5 is starting to feel like a downer. Where’s the happy, right?

Well, for this year I made a list of year-long goals, like I usually do. My vision of where I hope to be and what I hope to accomplish by this time next year. But then what I did, which I didn’t do last year, is also make monthly and weekly goals. I haven’t planned out the whole year or anything. I know that would be futile because of that whole “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans” deal. I only looked at January and thought what do I want to accomplish this month? What do I need to do this month? What am I capable of accomplishing this month? And then I did the same thing for this week. And guess what? It looks like I’m on track to meet my weekly goals. So, high-five!

Any high-fives from your week to share?

Have a good weekend, everyone!