Every year I make Christmas cookies with my mom and have done so since I was a toddler. Of course as I grew older, my helping duties changed. It's something I look forward to. I can't imagine Christmas without making cookies with her.
Another thing I do every year is watch Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. This is another carried over tradition from when I was a child. I love snuggling in bed with hot chocolate and watching this cartoon.
A semi-new tradition (we've only been doing it for about three years) is scheduling a girls' day out with my mom and one of my sisters. We pick a date in early to mid-December and go shopping to finish or try to finish all of our shopping, then we go to lunch and head back home. Sometimes we gather at my house to wrap presents, sometimes we just gather and do nothing but relax. It's always a lot of fun.
Are there any holiday traditions you look forward to?
Monday, December 7, 2015
Friday, December 4, 2015
This I know for sure...
Lost in grief last Christmas I just wanted to let the holiday go by unnoticed. To say I had no Christmas spirit would be a massive understatement. But I had to set my feelings and sense of loss aside and at least make an effort for the younger family members.
This year I'm actually looking forward to the holidays. We're going to put up our Christmas tree tomorrow and I think I'm more excited about it than the rest of the family. Except for our new kitten. This'll be his first experience with a Christmas tree so I can just imagine how intrigued he's going to be. And how often he'll be batting at the branches and ornaments. It's a good thing we always put unbreakable items on the lower branches (more for the little ones than for the cats).
I'm also looking forward to making cookies with my mom. It's something we've done since I was a small girl and we continue to do every year.
Are there any holiday traditions you're looking forward to this year?
This year I'm actually looking forward to the holidays. We're going to put up our Christmas tree tomorrow and I think I'm more excited about it than the rest of the family. Except for our new kitten. This'll be his first experience with a Christmas tree so I can just imagine how intrigued he's going to be. And how often he'll be batting at the branches and ornaments. It's a good thing we always put unbreakable items on the lower branches (more for the little ones than for the cats).
I'm also looking forward to making cookies with my mom. It's something we've done since I was a small girl and we continue to do every year.
Are there any holiday traditions you're looking forward to this year?
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
What's Up Wednesday
This week...
My current WIP (work in progress): With the Thanksgiving holiday, I didn't accomplish much. The current week is loaded with appointments for family members, so I'm not sure how much I'll get done this week either.
Quote of the week: "The best time for planning a book is while you're doing the dishes." ~ Agatha Christie. I love this quote, maybe because, quite by accident I often find myself thinking about my WIP when I'm doing the dishes.
What I'm reading: I'm just starting Running Blind by Cindy Gerard. I haven't read a lot of Ms. Gerard's work and looking forward to getting into this one.
Random things: I usually avoid the crazy Black Friday store shopping, but went out with my mom and sister to one store. It was surprisingly low key. The store wasn't so crowded you couldn't get down the aisles or find what you wanted and the lines were reasonable and moved quickly. It could be the fact that we went at 4:00 in the afternoon that made all the difference.
Random Photo of the Week:
The two cats trying to sleep in the same small bed.
My current WIP (work in progress): With the Thanksgiving holiday, I didn't accomplish much. The current week is loaded with appointments for family members, so I'm not sure how much I'll get done this week either.
Quote of the week: "The best time for planning a book is while you're doing the dishes." ~ Agatha Christie. I love this quote, maybe because, quite by accident I often find myself thinking about my WIP when I'm doing the dishes.
What I'm reading: I'm just starting Running Blind by Cindy Gerard. I haven't read a lot of Ms. Gerard's work and looking forward to getting into this one.
Random things: I usually avoid the crazy Black Friday store shopping, but went out with my mom and sister to one store. It was surprisingly low key. The store wasn't so crowded you couldn't get down the aisles or find what you wanted and the lines were reasonable and moved quickly. It could be the fact that we went at 4:00 in the afternoon that made all the difference.
Random Photo of the Week:
The two cats trying to sleep in the same small bed.
Monday, November 30, 2015
It's That Time of Year
With the above title, I'm betting most people would think the topic of this post would be holiday shopping and the all encompassing To Do's that come along with them. While I could write a post about that, I'll save it for another day.
Today, I'm going to talk about goal setting for the coming year. I'll be honest and admit with roughly 31 days left in 2015, I will not be meeting two of my goals. Two of the most important goals that I set nearly a year ago. It's more than a little depressing.
I could use the excuse that I was still grieving the sudden loss of a family member in the beginning of the year and lost too much time to make up. While I was definitely grieving, I'm almost certain I could have made up for the lost time in the later half of the year. Or I could say my work hours changed in January and gave me little to no time to write, but that excuse doesn't really stand up either. There are numerous writers who work long hours and still find time to write. And my work hours changed in June giving me back my writing time. I could probably list a few more excuses, but in the end it doesn't really matter why I didn't meet those goals. The fact is I didn't.
So one of the things I want to keep in mind when setting my goals for 2016 is to make sure I keep them realistic, meaning I build in time for unexpected things that crop up where no writing gets done. I want to make sure I don't set too many goals that there's no way I can accomplish them either. I've started a list of things I'd like to accomplish by the end of 2016. This list is quite long - about 15 things. As we move closer to the end of the year, I'll refine the list, combining some and eliminating others (saving them for future years perhaps).
As I work on my list, breaking it down from a few overall goals, to quarterly goals, to monthly goals, I started wondering how other writers set their goals. I'd love to hear your processes and how you get back on track. I'm always looking for ways to refine mine.
Today, I'm going to talk about goal setting for the coming year. I'll be honest and admit with roughly 31 days left in 2015, I will not be meeting two of my goals. Two of the most important goals that I set nearly a year ago. It's more than a little depressing.
I could use the excuse that I was still grieving the sudden loss of a family member in the beginning of the year and lost too much time to make up. While I was definitely grieving, I'm almost certain I could have made up for the lost time in the later half of the year. Or I could say my work hours changed in January and gave me little to no time to write, but that excuse doesn't really stand up either. There are numerous writers who work long hours and still find time to write. And my work hours changed in June giving me back my writing time. I could probably list a few more excuses, but in the end it doesn't really matter why I didn't meet those goals. The fact is I didn't.
So one of the things I want to keep in mind when setting my goals for 2016 is to make sure I keep them realistic, meaning I build in time for unexpected things that crop up where no writing gets done. I want to make sure I don't set too many goals that there's no way I can accomplish them either. I've started a list of things I'd like to accomplish by the end of 2016. This list is quite long - about 15 things. As we move closer to the end of the year, I'll refine the list, combining some and eliminating others (saving them for future years perhaps).
As I work on my list, breaking it down from a few overall goals, to quarterly goals, to monthly goals, I started wondering how other writers set their goals. I'd love to hear your processes and how you get back on track. I'm always looking for ways to refine mine.
Wednesday, November 25, 2015
Monday, November 23, 2015
A Writer's Lament
I've always been an avid reader. One of my favorite childhood memories is my mother taking my siblings and myself on bi-weekly trips to the local library. I think my love of reading is what led me to become a writer. But becoming a writer has, in a sense, ruined me as a reader.
Things that I may not have noticed as a reader jump out at the writer in me. It's almost as though I can't turn my writer's editing brain off when I'm reading for pleasure. My mom and sister and I often read a lot of the same books. When I ask them if they noticed something that jumped out at me, 99% of the time they say they didn't notice the item which leads me to believe it's the writer's brain noticing the issue that the reader's brain doesn't.
Here are three examples that came up in books all three of us read recently, but that they didn't notice:
Things that I may not have noticed as a reader jump out at the writer in me. It's almost as though I can't turn my writer's editing brain off when I'm reading for pleasure. My mom and sister and I often read a lot of the same books. When I ask them if they noticed something that jumped out at me, 99% of the time they say they didn't notice the item which leads me to believe it's the writer's brain noticing the issue that the reader's brain doesn't.
Here are three examples that came up in books all three of us read recently, but that they didn't notice:
- In book #1, the heroine is pulled over by the local sheriff. The heroine (who the reader knows has a troubled past, just not the details of the past) has stolen property she's trying to put back so her relative doesn't end up in jail. The sheriff asks the heroine if she wants him to read her her rights or does she want to recite them with him. Now that leads me to believe she's been arrested quite a bit if she can recite her Miranda rights. In the very next paragraph, it's stated the heroine had never been arrested before much less spent the night in jail. Huh? If she's never been arrested before and her profession has nothing to do with the law - she's a nurse, why would the sheriff ask her if she wants to recite her Miranda rights with him as though she's been arrested so often that she would know them by heart?
- In book #2, the heroine slams the side of her fist on a table to emphasize the point she's trying to make. A couple of sentences later, she rubs her hand on her pants because the palm of her hand is stinging. Huh? The palm of her hand never made contact with the table. She hit it with the side of her fist/hand.
- In book #3, the author ended every line of dialogue with he or she said regardless of what the line of dialogue contained. For example, "I love your new dress." Sarah said. Or "Where did you buy your dress," Sarah said. My writer's brain immediately said, no, no, no, 'said' is wrong. It should be 'asked' because Sarah asked a question. I was so distracted by the use of the wrong dialogue tag every time a question was asked that I couldn't read the book.
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