Deadline Thanks

I'm in buckle-down deadline mode for ENSLAVED, the fifth book in my Eternal Guardians series, so instead of a rambling post about the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday (which I can't even think about yet) I'm going to share my I'm So Freakin' Thankful For These Things During Deadline Days list with you:

1. My husband. During deadline crunch time he turns into Mr. Mom on crack. He does all the cooking, all the cleaning, all the laundry (doesn't even shrink my clothes) all the kid-duty AND he kicks me out of the house to get away and write. Of course he's number-obsessed..."How many words did you get done today?"...and doesn't quite understand that a book isn't necessarily done at 100K words, but I'm willing to cut him some slack. (So long as he keeps making me breakfast.)

2. Wine. Lots of it. Nothing knocks me out and makes me sleep better after a full day of writing than a bottle, er...GLASS of wine. (Yeah, glass. That's what I said.)

3. My CP. Who interrupts me in the middle of writing a love scene to IM random things like:

This is why I can't fill out a simple questionnaire at work: Under "length of experience" I want to write: 'At least nine inches.' And under "hobbies": 'Is this an R or X rated audience?'

4. Bacon lube! Okay, seriously, I have ZERO experience with this, but someone tweeted it last night after I got done writing and I'm now seriously obsessed. I must know more about this product. Very thankful for things like this that take my mind off what the heck is happening next in the manuscript. And come on, you can't look at those flashing images and NOT laugh your butt off.

5. Twitter. Because in addition to the above amazing things you can learn on Twitter, you can also discover bits of wisdom like this:

@TheFakeCNN: SEX NEWS: There are 3 sizes of condoms: Small, Medium, and Damn Liar.

and...

Eating equal amounts of dark chocolate & white chocolate is a balanced diet; they counteract each other to equal 0 calories. #chocolate

6. Wine. Did I mention wine already? I particularly like reds. Pinot noir is especially nice.

7. School. Gets the gremlins out of my hair. I just wish the school day lasted longer. Like until 9 PM or so would be perfect.

8. Quick grab-on-the-go meals. Like cottage cheese, Hershey kisses and diet coke. Of course you have to chase that combo with a bottle of Pepto, but, hey, Pepto helps with the stress.

9. The Alcohol Fairy. Think she's a myth? I'm here to tell you she's not! She left vodka and whiskey on my porch the other morning. (Oh yes, I'm very thankful...someone knows me well.)

And finally, the last thing I'm faithful for during this particular deadline:

10. Breaking Benjamin. Particularly:

Which I have listened to a gazillion times to get into my hero's head. So thankful for awesome music.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled program while I slink back into my deadline cave...