Tag: Holidays

Happy Holidays!

White Poinsettias Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and that your holiday season is merry and bright!

I’m going to be visiting with family for the next couple of weeks, and as you see today’s Regency Primer post wasn’t done in time and I might not get one next week, but they will definitely be back on January 3rd, just in time for Twelfth Night. I need to get ahead on those! Ahh, 2012 a year for a clean slate and a fresh start to building better habits.

I will still be doing the Friday “How I Write” posts, so the blog won’t be completely dark. And I have some special things in the works for the blog in the next year. So, exciting.

Thank you for being part of the conversation here! You guys always make me smile.

All I Want For Christmas…

Last week, our How I Write series delved into our planning process, and since we’re all writers, we focused on plotting. Which inevitably led to my post on Plotting via Spreadsheets – Don’t Be Trapped in the Box.

This week we were asked, “What’s on your writer’s wish list for Santa?”

A children's form letter that has been filled out reads "Dear Santa, This year I have been ( ) Very Good (X) Not So Good At Times and would really like to find a time clock, an industrial-sized tube of super glue to insure some quality BICHOK time, and a large dose of confidence so I can finish this novel! under my Christmas tree please. Here's a picture to show you what I mean: Than you so much, Kristen."
Wishing you and yours a happy holiday season!

YOUR TURN: What’s on your wish list for self-improvement and career-building for this coming year?

And if you’d like to see what’s on my friend’s writer’s wish list, you can find their blogs here:

* Alexia Reed * Kimberly Farris *
* Danie Ford * Emma G. Delaney * Angeleque Ford *

How to Write While Dealing With Holiday Madness

Photo of a Christmas Tree with eclectic ornaments.
A typical Koster Christmas tree.

This week, my accountability group is writing about “Holiday Plans and Are You Writing?” Last week, we blogged about the topic of “Where do you stand?” in terms of our writer’s journeys. The entries are part of our How I Write series.

Ya know, I’ve always wondered about Chris Baty’s sanity for picking November for NaNoWriMo. Then I think, “Student, not mother!” and nod to myself and keep going. My plans on the NaNo front went well for the first week and then I hit a wall. Having kids home sick from school on a revolving basis this week didn’t help either. I’ve been trying not to catch whatever they’ve had, but my focus and motivation has been completely shot in the whole process.

I enjoy the holiday season, but I’m always looking forward to the restful and relaxing aspects of it more than the hustle and bustle. I was sickened by seeing Christmas decorations up in the stores before Halloween weekend. The idea of Black Friday sends me to the corner to curl up in a whimpering ball. Cyber Monday is more my speed, but I try to spread it out through the month of November and the first week or two of December.

While I was growing up, the Holidays always meant food, family and travel. Thanksgiving has always meant a lot on my dad’s side of the family which traces its roots to the Mayflower and beyond. Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy stuffing, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole with the pineapple and marshmallows, fresh yeast rolls, Apple Harvest Cake and pumpkin pie have always had our table groaning. But last November 1st, DH and I gave up grains, legumes, potatoes and most white sugar. Thanksgiving felt kinda funky. Not as funky as the year we went to his uncle’s in NYC and didn’t have turkey, but a huge pork roast. My Puritan roots were shocked, but I survived. Christmas dinner is usually a replay of Thanksgiving as well.

The biggest take away here is that our routine shifted and we survived. I HATE change and new things. But I’m learning lots of new tricks as I work on trying to build up my discipline and continue to improve my craft while balancing it with the bustling life around me. I think I’ve learned that I can’t throw all my hopes and dreams into the single biggest writing month of the year (NaNoWriMo), not and still maintain any resemblance to balance and sanity.

So about those promised tips in the title… They may sound sarcastic in places, they may be a little tongue-in-cheek in others, but they are all things that I’ve found that help me and to me are worth trading money for time and sanity in some cases. Your mileage may vary, but do what you can to keep your creative tanks full.

How I Write While Dealing With Holiday Madness:

  1. Consider an Online Christmas — All your ordering can be done between writing breaks and many offer gift wrapping options. And really, who has time to wrap? We seriously considered saying it was an Amazon themed Christmas one year and the boxes would have been deemed as acceptable. Saves your gas and time and sanity! Ok, maybe not the most carbon conscious option, but it still has appeal. Just don’t hand your kids scotch-taped boxes and tell them to wrap their own presents. I HATED not knowing what was in those boxes until Christmas Day. (*waves* Hi, Mother!)
  2. Add Writing Time to your Wish List — You won’t get it if you don’t ask for it. And if you ask nicely in advance, I’ve found people are more likely to respect your time and space. I also find that just taking it by getting up earlier than everyone else works wonders. They get to feel superior because they slept in so late, and you get a quiet house to yourself — until they get up. At which point, feel free to direct this hapless soul that has wandered into your creative space to dump the ingredients for dinner in the crockpot to let you finish this section.
  3. Decide What Matters Most — Only YOU can answer this one. Plan according to your priorities and don’t feel guilty about it. If you have a family, next summer consider talking about what people enjoy doing most during the winter holidays and adjust your traditions to drop ones that no one likes or try new ones that appeal to your family’s values and tastes. If something doesn’t work for you, make a note of it so you don’t repeat it next year.
  4. Make Ahead Meals — Dump chicken is a staple in my freezer. Buy a bargain tray of boneless skinless chicken breasts or thicker pork chops. Buy a couple bottles of BBQ, Italian Dressing, Ranch Dressing and some quart-sized ziploc freezer bags. For my family of 4, I put 4 breasts or equivalent servings of chops in a ziploc. Then add approximately 3/4 cup of the BBQ, Italian or Ranch Dressing (I also add some minced garlic and some black pepper to this one). Zip and freeze flat. You can bake one of those suckers from frozen at 350˚F for 50-60 minutes and get two solid 25 minute writing sprints in while it cooks. It marinates as it freezes and also more if you let it thaw first, but honestly, who remembers to do that in time?!
  5. Make Sacrifices to the Crockery Gods — I can’t tell you how many times throwing something into the crockpot in the morning has saved my bacon! Look for simple recipes with 5 ingredients or less, dump chicken and pork loins work well for this too. Most of dinner cooks while you’re doing your thing. Husbands and teens CAN be taught to dump the ingredients in. They may claim to have forgotten how the next time, but this is where all that practice at being a persistent writer comes pays off!
  6. Pamper Yourself — De-stress by relaxing. Curl up and read a book. Go see a movie. Go get a mani-pedi if that’s your thing. You’re running around doing everything for everyone else right now, right? Hopefully, they won’t forget you deserve to be pampered and treated like royalty, but… yeah. Trust me on this one. You’ll feel better for giving yourself a treat like this in the middle of the chaos.
  7. Holiday Parties, Concerts, & Get Togethers — Don’t let them get you down. They’re a great opportunity for people watching! If you see or overhear something you’re afraid you’ll forget, slip into the bathroom and pull out your trusty notebook or smart phone or whatever and note it down for later! Same thing goes for that Aha! moment that strikes you in the middle of the concert… don’t lose it!
  8. Say ‘NO!’ When Appropriate — You know your deadlines and obligations. Don’t short-change your own goals just because every family on the block has invited you over for some eggnog and carols. You know the connections you can’t miss, but you’re not lying if you say you have other plans and what you mean is you want to write. Give yourself the gift of time for yourself.
  9. Houseguests — Whether you have them or are one… be sure to schedule downtime for everyone. Some may need more than others.
  10. Remember Why You Celebrate— To me, this is the most important one… if my writing slips, it slips. If my holiday prep slips, it slips. I’d much rather spend time with the people I love having a good time than run around like a chicken with its head cut off, scrambling to get everything done and feel miserable about it.

YOUR TURN: With the holidays’ coming up, what are you holiday plans? What are your favorite holiday food traditions? And how are you plan to balance your creative endeavors with your real life obligations? Or are you taking a break?

And if you’d like to read about how the rest of my group approaches their research, you can find their blogs here:

* Alexia Reed * Angeleque Ford * Danie Ford *
* Emma G. Delaney * Kimberly Farris *

Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011!

Happy New Year, 2011!First off I’d like to wish you and yours a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

2010 Recap

I accomplished 28 of my 48 stated goals for 2010. Now while 58% doesn’t sound that great, when I consider everything that went on in 2010 including losing three months to essentially homeschooling the boy and dealing with his sinus infection, it doesn’t look quite so bad.

So, what were the big things I accomplished?

I completed a 331 page rough draft of Beneath His Touch. We did something for each school vacation and birthday in the house, besides just sit holed up in our cave. My Christmas Shopping Done by 12/12 and my wrapping was done by 12/19.

But I think the biggest accomplishment this year was that I publicly owned up to the fact that I was writing fiction and in which genre to not just family and friends, but some complete strangers on Facebook and no one laughed. At least not where I could hear it.

Oh, and we’re in the middle of buying a house. We started looking like 2 weeks before Thanksgiving and we’ll close the end of January and move the first couple weeks of February. That’s one item checked off the 5 Year Plan!

2011 Goals

I managed to only make 42 goals for 2011, but I think they’re SMARTer this year. Many of them are building new habits on a weekly or monthly basis, but there are a few big projects in there as well. Not least of all, making sure we don’t have any unpacked boxes from the move at the end of the year. Just knowing that we have ones that haven’t been unpacked here after seven was a bit discouraging. Yup, procrastination at its finest!

So, what were the big things I hope to accomplish in 2011?

  1. Stay grain-free/low-carb. DH and I are following a Paleo style diet and I feel so much better. The weightloss is icing on the cake, to mix metaphors horribly. By the end of the year, I hope to have a collection of at least 52 TNT recipes.
  2. Writing wise: I want to have Beneath His Touch ready to submit to agents by the end of July. I’d also like to have the complete next draft of Revealed done that fills in all the holes from the previous draft. I’ll also be taking the plunge and joining RWA along with the local chapter and an online one, The Beau Monde, which specializes in the Regency.
  3. Blog wise: I’ve made a commitment to blog at least once a week. Topics may vary widely, but I do have a list to work from. I think I was far too ambitious last year and having my attention pulled from my writing to the boy’s school work didn’t help. Also, I’m going to try out the idea of doing Sweet Temptation as free, serial read for Excerpt Mondays.
  4. Continue celebrating birthdays in the family (extended as well as just in the house) and taking advantage of those school vacations and wrap up my christmas shopping and wrapping around the same time. It was so much less stressful this year! I just need to start a little earlier next year.

Like I said, those are the big ones, and they include several of the smaller ones on my list. So, I’m hoping that 2011 will be just as busy as 2010 was, but more focused and purposeful.

What big plans do you have for 2011?

Holiday Madness

You thought the holidays were crazy all on their own? Try adding house hunting in the mix. Our current lease is up at the end of the year and we started looking mid-November and quickly found a house, only to have to go under contract before we could turn in our loan paperwork during the week of Thanksgiving. We were saddened by this, but kept looking for a house that would keep our kids in the same school boundaries so they wouldn’t get split up from their friends.

So we found another house in the same neighborhood (about 5 miles from our current location) and made an offer, which after a few rounds of negotiations, we reached an agreement. Yesterday was the inspection. No big surprises or problems for a house of its age and everyone who’s seen pictures so far, loves the kitchen. I don’t think the kids got farther than looking at the pool with the water slide and checking they’d go to the same school.

So now, I’m playing the hurry up and wait game. We close at the end of January, so I’m trying to grab as much writing time before family arrives next week for the holidays and I have to organize the logistics of moving the household across those five miles and keeping as much of our digital contact information the same as possible.

I was telling one friend, it looks fast, chaotic and impulsive, but no one really gets to see how many times we asked if we should start looking or how much inertia we (“We”, maybe it’s just me?) have to overcome to be willing turn my life upside down like this.

Oh, and as far as the holidays being in the mix? The last time we moved, seven years ago, had an even shorter timetable. We decided we would rent instead of buy over Thanksgiving weekend and moved into our current residence on January 2nd. Yep. Ripped down the tree and ran. Glad it’s not going to be quite that hectic, but at least we can keep the tree up for Twelfth Night this year.

Be sure to stop by again on Monday, it’s Excerpt Monday, and I’ll have a new Regency-flavored snippet up. I’m also dusting off my list of blog topics for the new year and hope to do something completely different and less random for Excerpt Mondays next year by putting up sequential snippets that will wrap up in December.

Happy Holidays! Family arrives on Monday and leaves with the New Year so I’m liable to be fairly scarce between now and then.

Twelfth Night & Epiphany

Regency Resource IconOne of my pet peeves involves the Twelve Days of Christmas and the use of the term to refer to the 12 days prior to December 25th. That would fall under the season of Advent, the four Sundays leading up to Christmas, if anything. I’m not a deeply religious person, but it saddens me to see the meaning co-opted and lost in this manner.

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Conventionally on the Western Christian calendar, the twelve days begin the day after Christmas, on Boxing Day. When the tradition began, days were counted from sundown to sundown. So Christmas evening is First Night.

This means that last night, January 5th, is what has been known as Twelfth Night since the Middle Ages. The Twelfth Day of Christmas falls on January 6th and is celebrated as the Feast of the Epiphany to commemorate the arrival of the three wise men in Bethlehem.

The wise men, who came to be known as the Three Kings – Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar – who brought the Christ child gifts of frankincense, gold and myrhh. These gifts were traditional Epiphany gifts for centuries. Kings and queens became traditional representatives of Twelfth Night. And to this day, in predominantly Catholic cultures, Christmas presents are not given out until January 6th — something that would not have happened in England during the Regency.

Christmastide in the Regency

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Twelfth Night parties, or revels, were popular and featured games, charades, drinking punch or wassail and eating. A special Twelfth Cake, the forerunner of today’s Christmas cake, was the centerpiece of the party, and a slice distributed to all members of the household. By tradition, both a dried bean and a dried pea were baked into the cake.

The man receiving the slice with the bean was named King for the night; the pea’s presence identified the Queen. For the rest of the evening, they ruled supreme. Even if they were normally servants, their temporarily exalted position was recognized by all, including their masters.

By the early 19th century, the cakes had become very elaborate creations with sugar frosting, gilded paper trimmings, and sometimes decorated with delicate plaster of Paris or sugar paste figures, but no longer contained the dried beans and peas.

During the Regency period, the guests at the revels were expected to pick a slip of paper and maintain the role of the character written upon it for the evening. Besides the King and Queen, a variety of characters, often pulled from popular literature and plays, were put into the hat. Enterprising stationers even sold sets of characters for Twelfth Night celebrations.

One superstitious tradition that signaled the end of Christmastide was that by the End of Epiphany, all the decorations would be taken down and the greenery burned lest the household invite bad luck for the coming year.

Some now familiar traditions that were not observed during the Regency include, Santa Claus, elaborate kissing balls (although simple mistletoe boughs were popular), and stockings. Queen Charlotte, introduced the German idea of an evergreen being brought indoors and decorated to celebrate the season. Also, during the Regency, many household hearths, especially in the city, would not have had the capacity to hold traditional Yule logs that could burn the entire twelve days, although the custom of a Christmas fire remained popular.

 

Do the winter holidays hold special traditions for you and your family? Have you ever participated in traditions with friends or extended family from another religion or country that you’ve come to incorporate into your own celebrations?

For more information regarding Regency Celebrations and Christmastide:
BBC’s Ten Ages of Christmas
Jane Austen and Christmas: Celebrating Twelfth Night including a traditional recipe for Twelfth Night Cake
Jo Beverly’s Article on Christmas in the Regency

More Christmas-specific links and more information on a variety of Regency-themed topics can be found on my Regency Resource page.

Holiday Madness

Happy Holidays!You may remember a post I did last March titled A Case of the Megrims, where I wished I was doing research for either a story or my Regency Resource pages, but instead I detailed the problems our son was having with a sinus infection.

Unfortunately, that was just the beginning. The CT scan the day after that post showed positive for a sphenoid sinus infection. An MRI in May still showed signs. After a prednisone taper, he had a moon-face and far too much extra weight compared to pictures taken a year previously. A trip to the allergist revealed mold and dust mite allergies resulting in two daily prescriptions. But finally, he was feeling better. We had a good 4-5 weeks in May and the first bit of June. Then he caught a type-A flu just in time to miss his 5th grade promotion ceremony and promptly shared it with me. This was likely swine flu, but we both recovered.

The boy spent the summer and beginning of the school year in and out of headaches, usually triggered by the heat. We won’t talk about the utter failure of Boy Scout camp where the heat reached 112˚F and we ended up with a single merit badge in art for $300. So, except for the heat, we thought we’d start 6th grade with this behind us except for a few bad days scattered early on in the year.

Then came the end of October with the Santa Ana winds. No local wildfires this year, just lots of dust and dry heat. The first week of November, I could sense something was different. The raccoon eyes were back and his personality was fading fast. I took him to the pediatrician and told him it was just like before. Double dose/double round of antibiotics later, and no improvements just a climbing absence toll.

Finally, at the end of November we were scheduled for another CT Scan. Yup, same thing. So we next scheduled an ENT visit. She didn’t think the infection would cause headaches, but based on the 3 scans, she recommended surgery, which we assumed was next and we really didn’t want another round of prednisone. So, he’s been out of school about 6 weeks. Guess how long it is until his surgery is scheduled. Another 6 weeks.

We have a meeting next week with the school nurse, counselor and maybe some teachers to see what we can do to catch up on this quarter that he’s missed. The problem I see, is even with what little he’s managed to finish, I’m not sure he’s going to retain any of it. Especially since, we have no interim relief.

We also have an appointment with a neurologist since he seems to get classic migraines with this non-classic location. However, the pain-relief meds he gave him, aren’t doing jack-squat for him. Progress feels very slow and it’s very stressful to watch the life sucked out of my kid like this.

So… what’s all this mean for me as a writer? I may get some sort of story fodder from it, but mostly I have a lot of distraction on my hands. This at the same time I really, really want to finish this manuscript. Oh.. and toss in the usual holiday madness of decorating, baking, shopping, and parties. Yeah… progress on the manuscript is slow.

I started tracking my wordcount back mid-October. I’ve managed to add an additional 25k to the novel, not a great daily or weekly average, but it is forward progress. Will I make 90k by New Year’s Eve? Doubtful. Will I finish the story as I have it laid out? Possibly. Right now, I’d need 1800 words a day to make 90k by then. However, my story looks like it’ll run about 350 pages, and I’ve been averaging 225 words/page. So that sounds like 78,500 words total. Not bad for a first draft with lots of dialogue runs and lots of places that need some more emotional punch.

Kinda like why I always wondered why Chris Baty picked November for NaNoWriMo, I’m kind of wondering why I stacked the deck against myself here. But you know what? I don’t think it matters when you choose to work, there’s always going to be some external force that will be much easier to blame for your procrastination. Just write it.

Happy Holidays to everyone!

What A Day!

wedding1Seventeen years ago today, my husband and I tied the knot on an overcast morning beside the Chester River in Chestertown, Maryland where we went to college. This was one week before he graduated, four months before his 21st birthday. We had a surprisingly large turnout of all our friends and family considering it wasn’t just Mother’s Day Weekend, but Mother’s Day itself.

We’ve joked through the years that we gave our mom’s gifts that would keep on giving. For better or for worse, they each got the son or daughter they’d never had. Over the years, they’ve also received a matched set of grandchildren: one girl, one boy. I hope they both recognize the love we have for them even if we’re not always the best at showing or telling them. We’ve only shared the day one other time in 1998 before today. (Calendar dates and weekdays coincide every 5, 6 or 11 years depending on leap years or not.)

momsI was looking through the photo albums of our wedding pictures this morning. I hadn’t remembered the edges of the pages had melted and fused together in many places ten years ago in a house fire. I should do something about that. However, what annoyed me was the realization that the photographer sucked. We have several pictures of this one guy I don’t recognize any more now than when we got the pictures back. We have numerous pictures with the wedding party, pictures of the reception, pictures of us with my parents, pictures of us with his dad’s family and then his mom’s family.

So, what’s the problem? It was FREAKING Mother’s Day. We don’t have any pictures of us with JUST our mothers (or even with just all four of our parents for that matter). I had to crop a picture from the receiving line to get THIS one of both of our mothers together. Sheesh. (Oh, and that’s my youngest brother-in-law there in front of his mom. He’s taller than I am now!)

Happy Mother’s Day to Lynnda and Yvonne and Happy Anniversary, dear!

What’s the best gift you ever received or gave on Mother’s Day?

Love is in the air

Happy Valentine’s Day!

It’s time once again for hearts, chocolates, diamonds (no dear, that’s not a hint) and of course free reads from the Romance Divas, who have just wrapped up their third annual e-book challenge where the members are encouraged to write a story and put it up for free.

THE DIVAS E-BOOK CHALLENGE 2009 has some great stories by some fantastic people. Do yourself a favor and run click, don’t walk miss a chance to check out these stories. Stay in the Valentine’s mood! Enjoy a bit more romance!

BTW: if you missed the previous years’ editions: 2007 and 2008.

Diva Free Reads

Romance Divas has just wrapped up their second annual e-book challenge where the members were encouraged to write a story and put it up for free.

THE DIVAS E-BOOK CHALLENGE 2008 has some great stories by some fantastic people. Do yourself a favor and run click, don’t walk miss a chance to check out these stories. Stay in the Valentine’s mood! Enjoy a bit more romance!

I didn’t finish what I wanted in time, but next year!

I’m also going to be a bit scarce for the coming week as I’ve got family visiting.

BTW: if you missed last year’s edition: go here.