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Posted by Debora on Nov 25, 2008 in
Holidays,
Life I remember being a kid and waking up to Christmas music on Thanksgiving morning. Food being prepared in the kitchen, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV. The chill in the air and for a kid – the sheer delight in knowing Santa was not far behind!
My dad worked on Thanksgiving. 40 years ago, still a young dad, he worked the holiday for that coverted double-time holiday pay and I remember counting the minutes till my dad came walking through the door around 2 in the afternoon.
My job was always to break the fresh bread into pieces for the homemade stuffing (something my daughter does now) while my mom melted the butter, sauteed the onions and celery and added all those seasonings that would become my favorite part of dinner – STUFFING.
The turkey would make it in the oven and the company would start to arrive. Though most of those people that I see in my holiday memories are gone, I can remember them vividly. My aunts perfume and the bags of goodies and groceries she would unload from my uncles car. My uncle handing out money. My grandparents eager to wrap us in hugs and warm kisses. The corny jokes, the football, the food and most of all the love that seeped into every corner and crevice of my heart.
Thanksgiving is more than just a huge meal where we sit down and stuff more food than anyone should feel comfortable consuming into our stomachs – it’s about just what that word implies – Giving Thanks.
I’m thankful for my past. I’m hopeful for my future. The saying that you can’t see where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve been – has great meaning to me.
No my life hasn’t been perfect – really can anyone say their life has been or is? We’ve all made mistakes, done and said things we regret and we’ve had those moments that will forever shine brightly in our memories. This is the day to shine. To celebrate all the good, all the bad and all the ways we’ve all grown – day after day, year after year – becoming better people.
Take it slow. Inhale the scents, take the time to laugh and toast to love, happiness and hope. Because wherever you are, whoever you’re with – no one knows what time holds. Life is about the small moments, the memories you make now to take with you into the future. One day I hope to have a granddaughter breaking bread for stuffing, my kids will be grown, hosting family dinners of their own. What will their memories be? Will they remember the music, the smells of roasting turkey or our family’s tradition of watching “Christmas Vacation” when the last of the food has found a place in the refrigerator?
So my wish for all my family, friends, and the best critters on the planet, is for hope and enough of everything they could want! For memories to fill a lifetime. For love to overflow.
Okay, okay, I wish us all the big publishing contracts we can handle! (I can dream, right?)
Debora writes romance - all types of romance! Her tastes vary from the paranormal to romantic comedy and everything in between. Believing variety is the spice of life, her website changes frequently to appease her creative spirit! She freely admits to being a caffeine and chocolate addict and loves to talk about romance writing with anyone who'll listen. Her latest release, A Knight in Her Arms, was released August 3rd. Visit her website for me details!
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Tags: Thanksgiving
Posted by Cyn on Nov 18, 2008 in
Food,
Holidays,
Life,
Writing I always find November to be a difficult time of year. It’s sort of a preparatory month. I’m preparing myself for The Big Meal. (Or, in my case, planning how I’m going to avoid eating too much at the Big Meal). And–for relatives.
I don’t want to say I’m not thankful for my family, you understand. It’s just…well. First of all, there are SO many of them. Three sisters, one brother, spouses, children, and then–the children’s children. And in the midst of ALL these people, I’m viewed as the Unemployed, Lacking Direction, Living in Near Poverty, Clueless, Pathetic and Wasting Her Time and Her Talent (When We All Know She Should Be Writing Children’s Books) Let’s-Tell-Her-How-She-Needs-to-Run-Her-Life one of the family.
Yes. I’m the family loser.
Except, I’m also the only one in the family who’s currently overweight (therefore, I only lose in the wrong parts of my life). Oh. Joy. Those not telling me how to run my life will be watching how I load my plate. That means I won’t be able to eat any of the foods made in the time-honor Thanksgiving tradition of butter, cream, bring on the fat and calories. So I’ll be eating…salad.
Now you’re probably wondering what the heck has this whiney stuff got to do with writing? I don’t know about you, but I always find that mining my personal muck is good for character building. Who doesn’t have angst? Knowing that a character has worries just like you (the reader) makes them more likeable. The trick is–you (the writer) can’t let them whine too much. Let them persevere beyond what they’re whining about. And for a really satisfying ending, let them win out over the angst.
In my case, that would be to make $1,000,000 from one of my romances and invite my family over for a Thanksgiving meal where I only serve salad and tell them what they should do with their lives. Oooooh. Satisfying.
And how does this tie in to the “Thankful Theme”? Easy. And I’m sure anyone reading this will agree. I’m thankful Thanksgiving only happens once a year!
Cynthia Selwyn (aka C.D. Yates) is the trapped-at-home mom of three and wife of one. When she's not hanging around with her Critters, she's editing for one of several e-publishers, writing erotica for Breathless Press or trying to get her characters (and her four-year-old) to behave.
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Tags: angst, family, Thanksgiving
Posted by Cyn on Nov 13, 2008 in
Life,
Writing The Queen has decreed that this month’s theme is Being Thankful. So…
1. I’m thankful that we can only afford to keep one car. Because that means we’re polluting the atmosphere less than we did, before.
2. I’m thankful that I need to belong to Weight Watchers, because it means I’m not starving to death.
3. I’m thankful that my kids annoy the heck out of me, because it means they’re healthy, full of curiosity and just plain normal.
4. I’m thankful that we’re experiencing hard times right now, because we’re learning how to live more with less, simply and efficiently. And we’ll appreciate what we have in the future because of what we learned, today.
5. I’m thankful that my husband and I were both laid off this year; we learned that we’re not ready to retire yet. (And when he’s working 50-70 hours a week at his new job in January, we’ll be thankful that we’re out of each other’s hair!)
6. I’m thankful when I get up in the morning and my body aches; it means I’m not dead, yet.
7. I’m thankful that I can’t find a full-time job because it gives me more time to write.
8. I’m thankful that gas prices were so high; it made me slow down, walk more and learn about my neighborhood stores.
9. I’m thankful that the leaves are falling and winter’s coming; it means Spring is right around the corner.
10. I’m thankful I’m a writer. Where others see doom, gloom and conflict, I see…a potential plot.
What are you thankful for? 
Cynthia Selwyn (aka C.D. Yates) is the trapped-at-home mom of three and wife of one. When she's not hanging around with her Critters, she's editing for one of several e-publishers, writing erotica for Breathless Press or trying to get her characters (and her four-year-old) to behave.
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Posted by Silke on Nov 2, 2008 in
Writing So occasionally I get into a panic.
The voices in my head, the ones usually screaming at the top of their lungs, doing battle with each other, egging me on, behaving like spoiled children… those voices turn into mere murmurs. Or worse — fall silent.
The movie rolling in my brain suffers a tear in the film and stops, flopping around like a dying fish, and slips out of the projector.
The soundtrack turns into a bad rendition of a record being played too slow before it eventually stops.
That’s when the panic really starts.
Usually when I get stuck, sometimes before that, making me get stuck.
We all get that way, when nothing seems to happen, when your mind refuses to cooperate.
What to do, what to do?
What CAN you do?
I usually stress myself out, read what I’ve written a million times and get myself into an even worse panic. I look at other stuff I’ve written and nothing seems good enough. But that just makes it worse, not better.
I have arguments with my muse. Whoever HE is. (It’s a guy, and he likes to sulk) My muse sometimes turns beliggerent and will not cooperate, and I’ll call it out for a showdown. Of course the damned critter resents that and promptly goes off to sulk worse than before. Nothing will be forthcoming.
Oh we’re all just having a heap of fun, at this point.
I sit, stare at the page where I left off, and I draw a blank.
I realize I wrote myself into a corner and I don’t care what happens next.
Well. I do care, but not the way I should.
I’ve just scrapped a good 5000 words I’ve written. They are sitting in another file, because I don’t like them anymore. I don’t like the characters anymore. I stopped caring about them, because they aren’t doing what I want them to do. I let them go off on a tangent — and now I’m paying for it.
The tangent doesn’t work. It slowed everything down and finally made me stop.
So now I made a surgical incision and removed the tumor.
It hurt.
Bad.
I don’t like scrapping parts of a story. I really don’t. I save them elsewhere. I may never use those words, but I won’t throw them out, either.
However, now I’m at the point where the writing still flowed, where I had somewhere to go, and I can let my mind wander once more. I can get to the good stuff.
Sometimes that’s what it takes. Look back at where you’re at, find out where you still like your story and where you start not liking it — and cut it out. Start over. Come up with a new idea, make the plot go your way again.
It’s no cure for Writer’s Block, you can’t always cut out things, because they may not be the cause of the block. But what it boils down to is this: Find out what’s bugging you about a story and try another angle. Even if it means you have to sacrifice something you liked initially.
My panic has changed into a sense of “I can do this” now.
And I can. I believe that.
And if I can, so can you.
And you know… sometimes all it takes is a change of scenery. If you have your writing spot, and the words just don’t come… move to the kitchen table. The living room table. The dining table. Your lap. The bed. The floor. Outside. Hang upside down from the lampshade, for all I care, whatever floats your boat. Move anywhere, but the place you usually write.
If you have a desktop (like me), move the desktop, or if that’s not an option – you remember that pen and paper stuff? It still works. Yeah, you’ll have to type it up afterward, but if you’re not writing at the computer — what’s it matter? I’d rather write something twice, than not at all.
Oh sometimes I take my pen and pad and head to a cafe to write. Or the pub.
That has the additional benefit of being able to observe people in their natural environment.
Make notes. What do they wear? How do they wear it? What’s common, what’s not? Hairstyles, hair colors, hair consistency. Take a note of the carpet, the furniture, the lighting. The drinks being ordered. Have a chat with the barkeep, he’ll tell you what’s popular and what’s not.
Listen in on conversations. If there are words you don’t understand, because it’s new slang you’re not used to, either ask (revealing you listened lol) or note them down and look them up.
Before you know it the character you were stuck on has new habits, or a new favorite drink. Or he has a new phrase he likes.
It gets the creative juices going, and lets face it, when you’re stuck — anything is fair game.
That’s what I do.
What do you do?
Silke writes paranormal romance, and knows a thing or two about things going bump in the night. Although it is usually her, creeping to the kitchen at O' Dawn Thirty to score another cup of coffee.
She grew up in Germany, but her home of choice is in the UK, where she lives with her partner on the outskirts of London.
Her first book Smitten is now available from Decadent Publishing.
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Tags: Beliggerent Muse, Stuck, Writer's Block
