Christmas Traditions – Old and New
Posted on December 24, 2014 2 Comments
Our genuine 50+ year old Silver Christmas Tree
When I was growing up, we had a Christmas Eve tradition of hamburgers for supper. I loved ’em because hamburgers were my favorite thing to eat. Mom didn’t make them terribly often, so to have them on Christmas Eve before presents were opened was special. My dad’s parents were there, my brother, and sometimes Mom’s Mother, Grammy, joined us. It’s a tradition about Christmas that I loved.
Later, after our church started having a Christmas Eve service, we went after opening our presents. It was always the same service. “Happy Birthday, Jesus!” It was a candlelight service that began at 11:00 p.m.
But I need to back up. After hamburgers, we’d all go into the living room. We’d sing Christmas Carols, often I’d play piano and lead the singing. Then, we’d read the Christmas story from Matthew and Luke. THEN, we’d open presents. We always left the envelopes, if there were any on the tree branches, for last. Because the envelope always represented something too big to put under the tree. After all the presents were opened, we had snacks. Cookies, fruit breads, soft drinks for us kids, coffee for the adults, and peppernuts. I’ll explain peppernuts in tomorrow’s post.
What I’ve pictured is my father-in-law’s genuine silver Christmas tree from the 50s/60s. See how the flash highlights the trumpets at the end of the branches. I love that. This is the third year for this tree. Unfortunately, both the color wheels have either busted or melted, so we just put it up a few extra ornaments people give for this year’s Christmas.
Are you ready for Christmas?
Posted on December 19, 2014 2 Comments
My holly bush with snow
I’ve got Sleigh Bells burning, a Village Candle, to put me in mind for Christmas. Our authentic silver tree with blue balls is up in our Great Room, but unfortunately we don’t have a circular revolving light wheel that currently works. One is melted, the other’s in pieces. But I don’t need decorations to make me feel in the holiday spirit.
As I shared on Thanksgiving Day, as we age, our family shrinks, and so we’re more about local friends, seeing them before and after Christmas, and generally taking it easy. I wrote a short story if you want to look at it called “Nothing to Give” and posted it on Monday. It takes place on Christmas Eve in 1871 rural Kansas. Jamie Rich doesn’t think she has anything to give, so why has Pastor Edwards asked her to come to church that evening and to the refreshment time afterwards?
Writing Resource – Writing the Breakout Novel
Posted on December 18, 2014 1 Comment
Writing the Breakout Novel, by Donald Maas is another great resource for fiction writers. There is also a valuable workbook by the same name. I have used both in my training through CWG. Either resource could stand alone, because even though a lot of the material is the same, it’s not coordinated or formatted to correspond with each other. Example: Chapter One of the book is Why Write the Breakout Novel? Chapter One of the Workbook is on Character Development: From Protagonist to Hero.
Process – Finally A Step Closer
Posted on December 17, 2014 4 Comments
Meghan’s Choice in semi-finals
I finally got some good news on Sunday. Back in September I entered Operation First Novel from Christian Writers Guild. Even though the Guild has closed, Jerry B. Jenkins has promised to follow through with everything that began this year, and included Operation First Novel.
I got an email on Sunday. Meghan’s Choice made the semi-finals. Yeah! There are ten of us. After receiving three rejections, and you’ve gotten to read all about them, with a couple saying my book wasn’t ready for publication, when I knew it was – well this has done me a boatload of good. It makes it all worthwhile. Because I’ve been wondering about that. I’ve invested thousands of dollars in myself, developing my writing, learning, getting it edited, taking the Guild classes, and connecting with many other writers, both published and pre-published.
Writer’s Resource – Plot and Structure
Posted on December 12, 2014 2 Comments
James Scott Bell’s Plot & Structure
One of my resources for writers is James Scott Bell’s Plot and Structure. I read some of this book as part of my online writers classes. It’s very good, and covers a lot.
What I like about this book is that he has it laid out very well, and there graphs, tips, quotes, and at the end of each chapter is a set of writing exercises. That’s what makes this book practical. In his Introduction, Bell has six tips which explain what it takes to learn to plot. (from pages 3 – 5) In later posts at later times, we’ll skim through and see what Bell has to offer – or – you can get the book and read it yourself. I’m just going give you a taste of them.
Today’s Recommended Resource: James Scott Bell’s Plot and Structure. Everything you need to know about plotting out a masterpiece can be gotten from this book.
Example of an Exercise: “Go over the opening chapter of your work in progress (or write one now). What techniques will you use to grab the reader from the very first paragraph?”
Writer’s Resource – the Emotion Thesaurus
Posted on December 11, 2014 5 Comments
Emotion Thesaurus
I recently purchased The Emotional Thesaurus through Amazon. I haven’t explored it thoroughly, but from what I’ve seen, it’s going to be very helpful.
How do you write anger, joy, desperation, despair, or denial? Let’s look first at how the book is laid out. The emotion is at the top of a two-page spread. A definition is given, followed by a LOT of physical signals, in other words, describing what a person does who feels this emotion.
Writing Resources
Posted on December 10, 2014 Leave a Comment
My small library
Sometimes I think I’m a librarian with all the books I own. I live in the United States, and books, both print and electronic are easy to come by. So today, since some of you are not from the U.S., but represent 33 countries, I’m going to share with you some of the resources I have that I’ve learned some things from in my online writing classes, as well as books I’ve bought since.
In the Meantime
Posted on December 5, 2014 7 Comments
Photo from Flickr
As I continue to wait to hear from publishers and contests, I’ve decided to be proactive and continue to write something. A new friend said she continued to write full novels until finally one sold, then she had others to tweak on the heels of her first sale. In my life, I’ve put the cart before the horse many times, but there is something to be said about doing something while waiting.
So, what I’m going to do in the meantime is write a novella. I didn’t do NaNoWriMo, as you know, but I can still probably knock out a novella during the holidays. I’ve already started it. It’s Lighting. And I decided rather than revise the story, I’d just rewrite it in a bit different way. I got to it again yesterday.
Avoiding Cynicism
Posted on December 4, 2014 1 Comment
Winter’s coming
It’s easy to get discouraged and cynical these days – and I don’t even watch the news. You know the saying “no news is good news”? I avoid watching the news for that reason.
But I’m actually talking about writing. Sometimes no news won’t turn out to be good news. I think it’s human nature to put off the bad. I’m still waiting to hear from two publishers and two contests. I was told by one representative of one of the contests that I’d hear something by the end of November.
Writing Tidbit – Conflict
Posted on December 3, 2014 2 Comments
In life, we hate it. Well, some of us do, some of us thrive on it. Some invoke it, others avoid it. What is it? Conflict. It’s a must when writing a story. I’m not published yet, but I still have learned a few things about writing. And I’m going to refer to some of those things I’ve learned. Most of these tidbits will come from my mentor’s book Dance of Character and Plot.
Donna L.H. Smith 