The sun will rise at 8:18 (thanks to daylight savings) but it will not set until 7:41 this evening. Thanks, Alaska legislature, for putting us closer to the East coast, time-wise, while totally ignoring our true longitude. (Nome has times when the sun doesn’t rise until afternoon, and even we in Fairbanks have sunsets the next day in midsummer.) Anyway we’re up to 11 hours 26 minutes of daylight, and still gaining about 6 min 44 seconds a day. Temperatures are well blow 0 at night, 5 to 20 above in the daytime. Perfect for the ice carvings.

We’re suddenly getting the snow we missed earlier this year. My snow stake says almost 30” now, and I may have to get the driveway plowed again. My all-wheel drive can get in and out, but just barely. Earlier it was easy to keep the snow rolled down, and the main reason for plowing a couple of weeks ago was to get rid of the packed snow before breakup.

WriteMotivation check in:

1. Learn to use at least one legal method of getting images other than photos I’ve taken on my blog. (I’d love to have some shots of Africa on Jarn’s Journal, for instance.) Done, I hope. At least I got a shot of Victoria Falls up this week, and changed the header on JarnianConfederation.wordpress.com.

2. Continue to blog at least 5 days a week. (I’m doing 7 now, but I’ve signed up for a number of adult classes in March.)  On track; I’ve blogged every day so far this month.

3. Edit Chs 2 and 9 of my WIP to give more showing, less telling. (Ch 2 has been on Six Sentence Sunday; Ch 9 is the next section from Tod’s POV.)  Still need to get to Ch 9.

4. Participate in at least one Platform-building challenge — I hesitate to commit for more without knowing what they are. Participated in both (Give Us This Day and Dreams) and advanced to the second stage in both.

Oh, and in case anyone missed it, I found out Wednesday that my second novel with iUniverse, Tourist Trap, won Best Fiction Book of 2011 as well as first place in science fiction in the Reader Views literary awards! I’ve been busy modifying all of my web presences to reflect this, which has taken up a lot of my writing and promoting time the last week.