Happy two-year anniversary, Rambling Jour!  Two years ago…yesterday…I started writing, with a really lame post that no one read.  How far we’ve come!  I mean, sometimes I still write lame posts.  But, at least occasionally people read them.

Here’s some more goodness that happened over the past few days:

• Got our septic tank pumped
• Decided to sponsor a child in Albania
• Wrote over thirty pages in Random Contemporary

As for item one, the goodness of this fun-filled fact goes without saying.  We’re all very excited.

Item two: I used to sponsor a child, waaaaaay back when I worked a sales job and, literally, about twenty minutes before the economy crashed.  And I’m referring to the crash in like, 2008, and not 1929.  You know, to clarify.  Anyway, I wasn’t able to keep sponsoring because I was broke and it was depressing.  Recently I’ve been thinking about doing it again and, lo and behold, I got an email last night from World Vision about new areas that just opened up for the program.  I clicked on the link in the email to see what areas had opened up (further research showed the information was, in fact, actually at the bottom of the email) and…look, I know that the site just randomly picks a kid’s picture to display first.  But, when I saw this little girl’s picture, I just couldn’t shut the browser down.  She’s from Albania, which was perfect because The Hubs was deployed to Kosovo–that part of the world is really important to us.  I gave it absolutely no further thought and decided to sponsor her.  I feel really good about my decision.  So, that’s how I decided to celebrate The Rambling Jour’s anniversary: Sponsorship!  I’m not going to qualify myself as a philanthropist at this particular junction, but it’s nice to feel like a blessing to someone.

Meanwhile, I’m totally stoked over item three, which is the ongoing development of Random Contemporary.  Or, as I’ve actually titled it, With Me Now.  You know, as a side note, I really need to start referring to Random Contemporary by its given name.  It would be like referring to The Preschooler as “Older Child” and The Toddler as “Younger Child.”  I even titled my last back up file as “RC Backup.”  Yeah.  Maybe it’s because I never assumed we be where we’re at: seventeen chapters in and pushing 300 pages.  No, when I started Random Contemporary (see?), it was this little side fling because I’d written myself into a wall on the historical fiction I’d started.  It was just a distraction.  Now it’s real life!

But, I digress.

So, Random Contemporary is at approximately 270 pages right now.  And, in a scary turn of events, I’ve got the rest of the storyline roughly plotted out in my head.  Words like “plotted out” are a little disconcerting to me.  Now, there’s a plan.  Now, there’s a firm finale in the works.

Conveniently, I’ve also written the final two chapters.  This makes actually getting to the end that much easier, because the end is already there waiting.

Spoiler: I’m already thinking sequel.

Goals for finishing Random Contemporary, you ask?  Well, I’d like to finish the first draft by the end of April.  Because, look.  Here’s what’s going to happen if it takes longer than that: I’m going to get distracted with reenacting.  The 150th Anniversary of Monocacy is in July and this kid’s going to be there.  I’m going to get all dramatic and caught up in men in uniform and spry gents with delightful beards.  This absolutely cannot happen prior to finishing Random Contemporary.  Monocacy leads to Gettysburg, Gettysburg leads to the next season of Doctor Who starting, and next thing you know it’s Christmas and I’m grumpy.  Stay focused, Heather.  Put down the wine, zip up your hoodie, and write.

Which, yes, I will do once Frozen is over.  Promise.