by Christine | Cooking, Life, Observations
My mother was the Holiday Ho while I grew up. Not that I mean that in a bad way! She was always there with valentines and candy, green cupcakes at St. Paddy’s day, Easter baskets, amazing 4th of July desserts, Halloween treats, Thanksgiving feasts, and the best Christmas presents. The thing is, she was ALWAYS THERE for every single holiday.
Me? Not so much. Oh, I show my love. I remembered yesterday to buy the valentine cookies at the grocery store. I was stumbling around at 6:00am, looking for coffee beans because I had a ton of pages to edit still and needed COFFEE. The valentine cookies were a side benefit. However, they did the trick this morning – I put one in a baggie for my 17 y/o son, and two in a baggie for his girlfriend. He grinned at me – I’m sure he completely forgot Valentine’s Day. It’s his first girlfriend – if she can’t train him, then she’ll at least get a couple of heart shaped cookies.
I will have you know that I did make the evening meal special. Don’t laugh, I did! I made my favorite turkey with fresh sage meatloaf, shaped into individual heart-shaped servings. Add a terrific cider-onion gravy and voila, love (and dinner) from the heart. Hand-dipped chocolate strawberries are for dessert.
As I’ve been writing this, though, the smoke alarm has gone off three times because of the meatloaf; the potatoes won’t mash right; and the broccoli looks funny.
But hey – it’s the thought that counts, right? Happy Valentine’s Day!
by Christine | Life, Writing
I don’t. I gave them up for Lent, and never looked back. (cue laugh track…)
No, seriously – I don’t “do” New Year’s resolutions. I used to believe that span of time between December 31st and January 1st was magical, a time for me to dig deeply into my own psyche and figure out what I needed to change in order to get what I wanted out of life. But consistently failing at any such change has made me warier of that ol’ New Year magic.
I do set goals. I’ve been a goal-setter since 1985, when I received my first Franklin Day Planner. My writer’s heart rejoiced – I do love my office supplies! And I set work goals for years and years on end.
My personal goals I tend to set in September, that back-to-school time when the chill of autumn sweeps in and the new school year beckons. But this year something new has been added to my goal-setting/revising (because I revise my personal goals all year long). It’s something I got from Susan Meier and I believe it’s the one, the ONLY reason we lemmings in our resolution-making never seem to follow through.
Motivation. Every writer knows that after a goal, your character has to have motivation or that goal becomes meaningless. Pfft! Gone! And where’s the excitement in your book? Also gone. When I read this in Susan’s workshop on Goal Setting, I almost passed out. How simple. How obvious. How truly true.
So you’ve got “lose ten pounds” on your resolutions list. If the motivation isn’t there, if you’re happy being slightly overweight, if no big health issue is cropping up and FORCING you to be motivated, then honey, you’re gonna drop going to the gym by early February. Gym rats look at the newbies in January with resignation, knowing by March 1st at the latest they’ll have their gym back.
By the same token, if you have no motivation to write, then guess what? You’re not going to write.
Each writer’s motivation for writing comes from a different place. For me, this was the year. I turned 50 in February, quit my day job in March because I could, joined the FF&P chapter in June, got diagnosed with a acoustic neuroma in August, and sold in October. But I started my push to selling in January by searching out agents and sending them queries. Everything else combined to motivate me, to make me take the steps that led me to the pitch session that led me to the contract offer.
So if you’re serious about finishing that novel and submitting it and SELLING it, then you’ve got to find the motivation that will work for you. It’s there, you just have to find it.
Do you regularly make New Year’s resolutions? Are there sufficient motivations behind your resolutions to help you get them done? I’d love to know!
by Christine | Life, Writing
This has been a remarkable journey, especially these last few days. I had surgery for an acoustic neuroma in my right ear on Thursday December 16th, and got home yesterday to pouring rain and no chance of seeing the eclipse. My Solstice celebration was brief, but heartfelt.
A writer doesn’t get an offer of a two book contract every day, or even every month. A person doesn’t get a diagnosis of needing brain surgery every day, either. I don’t know the stats, but I’m thinking maybe the odds are roughly the same? At any rate. I had both those things happen to me in September/October timeframe. Now the surgery is done and I’m recovering; and the first book will be published in March of 2011 (cover coming in February and I love what I’ve seen so far!).
I can’t drive for awhile, and I don’t know how long I’ll be on disability. My cognitive thinking is just fine but my mental willingness to deal with details is squirmy right now. But what’s got me excited is this can be a new me, going into a new year.
I have the opportunity to change so much – some superficial things like diet and exercise, of course, but other, deeper things. Having a real regular writing schedule. Not putting as much emphasis on my part time day job. Expanding what I write and reaching out for more than I’ve dared to reach for in the past with my writing. I can stop being shy and really brand myself online. I can reach deeper into the business as I reach deeper into myself, and get myself fully prepared for the glorious ride to come.
It is a time of much excitement for me, and a part of me gets pissy that I get weak and have to sleep, to heal. So it’s also a time of learning a deep patience. Walking on the treadmill only for 20 minutes on slow, instead of jogging. I’m an ex-ballet dancer and have been a runner in the past (LA Marathon, 2000 – rainiest LA marathon EVAR), so going slow is extremely trying on my patience, as is having to be careful with my physical body as I retune my brain for head and body movements. Having to go slow will also, hopefully, inform my writing; learning how to deepen a story, make it more meaningful for the characters and the readers, alike.
These two life-altering paths that I’ve been treading are expanding me personally and professionally. I am in a strangely exalted state of being and while I’m looking forward to Christmas and the New Year, I feel like I already have all the gifts of the season scattered around me, ready for me to play with them as soon as I am able.
My editors are thankfully taking these two weeks off, and aren’t pressuring me about anything. SO glad I got the book to them prior to surgery – but even if I hadn’t, they wouldn’t have cared. They are more concerned about me than the product, and that is priceless.
My last two blessings are my family and friends. My husband holds my heart. We’ve been together a long time, and he is right there beside me when I need an arm to grip, a shoulder to beat upon, or someone to laugh with. He is my soul mate. My children held me so tightly when I got home yesterday, that I figure I got something right in being a mom.
And my friends have been steady with their love, concerns, prayers, healing light and energy not to mention food, offers of rides, and other joys.
I wish you all blessings at this huge time of change. Grasp what scares you personally and take it deeper. Growing can hurt, but not all hurts are bad.
by Christine | Life, Observations, Writing
In my house, we have always had a live Christmas tree. Tall, piney, sometimes lopsided and wobbly, I can never remember not having a live tree.
The year my hubby and I celebrated our “first married” Christmas, we were in Seattle. He was on tour, I came out to visit for a couple of weeks, and we got a tiny, Charlie Brown-type tree. That year we also put on two special ornaments that we got from the shops in the area, plus lights and tinsel and tartan bows. Neither one of us wanted to deal with breakable ornaments, so we went soft.
Ever since then, though, wherever we go through out the year, we look for an ornament to put on our tree. Now when we decorate, we can remember our trips – Seattle, Vancouver, Paris, London, Amsterdam…even the LA County Museum of Art has provided us with an interesting ornament.
In my Demon series, the Caine men remember their childhood tree filled with angel ornaments that their late, beloved mother had collected. Every one was special; every one had a story, but most of those Angel stories have been forgotten. Or have they? I’m working on a Christmas Novella for the Caine men and the Angels their mother left behind.
What kind of Holiday Tree traditions do you carry on, year after year? If you’re a writer, do you have holiday traditions for your main characters, whether you have a holiday story or not?
by Christine | Life, Writing
No, I’m not talking about the now-defunct soap opera. I’m talking about my passions in life – first and foremost is my husband, of course. But next is my undying passion for writing.
I love writing. Even when I hate it, I love it. The hate thing usually comes about from me getting in the way of the story. The love thing comes about whenever I sit down to write and time flies because I am so absorbed in the story.
Plus, the ability to work anywhere, any time, is a huge perk. Yesterday, as a friend worked on recording songs for her 4th grade play, I worked on paragraphs to wrap up the books in my series. So that was really nifty. Having a pen and paper really helps, though playing plots in my head is fun, too.
I guess I’m lucky.
Cooking is another passion. Cooking for people with special dietary needs is a challenge. I am cooking for a family tonight, only one of whom is a vegan – but I’ve got the perfect recipes for us, so I’m excited about dinner. Sounds funny, but there you go.
My gardening passion kind of dried up this summer. I hope to resurrect the garden in time to plant for winter crops – easy to grow in So Cal, but we’ll see if the cash and the time is there.
Passions. Life without them would be an unrelenting gray, I think.
by Christine | Life
I’m headed off to my dear friend Tammy in Snowmass, Colorado, in just a couple of days. One, I want to disappear for awhile. Two, it’s no hotter than the low to mid-70s in Snowmass right now. Three, there may still be mushrooms to be found! YUM!!! (I am definitely a hobbit when it comes to mushrooms.)
I will, however, be taking my laptop and my camera, and may end up posting photos if I can figure that part out. If not, then I’ll contact my guru Jenn and figure it out when I get home.
The writing is going well. Focused on the play right now, as I want to finish it before I leave on Thursday. But I have ideas on how to change up the paranormal novels that don’t seem to be going anywhere. Which reminds me, I need to update my books page to prove I actually AM writing novels, and not just saying I am. Maybe I’ll get to that tomorrow.
In the meantime – dinner is over, the family is happily off to either bed or reading before bed (because we’re big on that), and I too must head off to read in bed for awhile.
Tradition, after all, must be kept at all costs.
