Firsts, 2008

Happy New Year! Did you make any resolutions? I didn't. I have some goals, many of which are the same that they were last year, like finish Book 2, sell Basic Trouble in a three-book deal, get more exercise (all this writing has been great for me, but not so great for my thighs...)--nothing far out of the ordinary, like build my own hot air balloon and sail across the pond to England.

To wrap up my statistical reenactment of 2008, I have saved my favorite list to last: the list of things I did in 2008 for the first time:

Built my own website (Check it out at rebeccachastain.com. I hope to improve it tremendously soon, but that's kind of low on the priority list, after finishing Book 2 and getting Basic Trouble into the hands of several agents.)
Started a blog (And look--I've got over 100 entries!)
Emailed with a published author (As in, talked via email, not just sent an email requesting a signature on a book or something like that.)
Wrote my congresswoman (Got a form response, but it was a response, nonetheless.)
Became fully self-employed (Far and away, this is the best thing I've done for myself in years!)

Cody has his own list of things he did for the first time in 2008:

Started his own business (Check out Cody's website! He's got several repeat customers and is getting new clients all the time.)
Built and designed automated blinds using PIC microcontrollers and an LDR sensor (Yes, I just smile and nod, because I'm not completely sure what that means other than he used this lovely little green board with copper (??) wiring, but when light hits the sensor, the blinds shut, and that's way cool!)
Built my computer (...for cheaper than we could buy one. He's since built two more.)
Built a pneumatic robotic arm (He used wood, metal, Plexiglas, and plastics to build this crazy-cool arm.)
Welded (Welding and Cody didn't really take. This is a man who wears shorts in the winter. Enough said, I believe.)

As you can see, Cody's far more technically inclined than me (which is rather convenient for me).

Hey, did you notice the tracking bar at the top? I topped 100,000 words today! (And no, that's not the longest book I've ever written.) I also beat last year's single-day word count total--today I wrote 4,131 words! This final battle scene is finally coming to the climax. Hooray!