Here comes the beso!

Thanks for your kind thoughts and good wishes today.

I'm here to announce the winner of my blog giveaway for a MAC lipstick and gloss, but in so doing, a whole bunch of things came together and gelled at once.

I finally remembered why I was doing a MAC giveaway in the first place. Have you noticed the little widget in my sidebar titled Project Countdown? If you're like I am with most people's sidebars, probably not. But that little box is my word count goal and progress toward it on my current manuscript, The List. Recently, last Thursday as a matter of fact, I hit the halfway point to my goal. When I hit little milestones like that, I give myself rewards. This time it was a mani/pedi and I got my eyebrows taken care of. Finally. Because they were all overgrown and stuff. You know those obnoxious little garden gnomes that plague Mrs. Weasly's house in the Harry Potter books? I think some of those came out in the wax.

Anyway, since my work-in-progress is light, fluffy chick lit, it seemed like a good idea to give away a lipstick to share the celebration with you. That's why I decided to give it away. I knew I had a reason, even though I forgot it yesterday. One of my greatest flaws is that I get ideas into my head then I fixate on carrying them out, even if I forget the point after a while.

I digress, though. Which is another of my flaws. I prefer to believe that all the rabbit trails I follow are utterly compelling, but then Baby G pukes on me or something and I'm reminded of my utter humanity and vomit-scented boringness.

Wow, I digressed again.

Anyway, today I was working on my daily word count goal for The List, and it suddenly occurred to me why my mom has been so much on mind this week. It's because I have this character named Laurel, a really quiet girl, a really minor character, that I didn't quite understand. She's shown up in a couple of scenes but she never talked and I couldn't figure out why until yesterday when I found out she's deaf. *Smacks head. Deaf, duh. Like my mom. Excellent lip reader, great speech, but definitely deaf. I realized that Laurel is my mom, a pretty girl who loves Institute (Bible study) classes but doesn't say much to anyone and steers clear of the handsome boys who flirt with her because she's self-conscious about her disability in front of strangers. Her character grew out of my mom's stories I heard growing up. She was a total babe but super shy and the flirting and socializing at Institute were a high point in her memories.

And at some level, I have been subconciously trying to visualize my mom at that age, her mannerisms, her motivations, so I could infuse them into Laurel's character. I've had a great time writing Laurel. It's felt a little like visiting with my mom.

I think I'll still post a story or two about her next week, but I told you that she had a bald head and an angel smile. I have proof, in these photos taken outdoors on the Thanksgiving two months before she died and two weeks after my dad died. She would always wear her little white lace cap if it was cold and would never wear a wig because she said they made her itch and were only to make other people feel better. She felt she had quite enough discomfort without an itchy wig, thank you very much. She's got her hood up because it was extra chilly outside, but she loved her lacy white cap and wanted everyone to see that, too.

I really, really miss her. But seeing her smile, even if it's just a picture, makes me feel really good.

And so does giving away lipstick! Yay to Kimberly at Temporary? Insanity, who won this giveaway! She's one of the very first bloggers I discovered and has often helped me with the MOST inane blogging questions, and she's a fellow writer, so I'm quite delighted to send her the lipstick and see for myself how well she rocks the Viva Glam when we meet in April.

Thanks for playing!