Christmas Story Collection Volumes Available Now!

Louis & Clark Country Gifts in Westfield, MA is the exclusive retailer of my three Christmas collection volumes- Yuletide Stories, Always Christmas in My Heart and Together for the Holidays. The books are signed and dated for 2015 and are first editions.  Louis & Clark is located in the Hampton Ponds Plaza on the corner of Route 202 and East Mountain Road in the northeast corner of Westfield, MA.  The gift shop is loaded with wonderful things for the holidays and everyday! Linda and her staff are friendly and helpful and make the whole shopping experience rewarding. And there are usually homemade cookies on the table just inside the door! The fact that it is less than 2 miles from my home and is my favorite gift shop in town makes me happy because I believe in supporting local small businesses and I appreciate Linda's enthusiasm and willingness to help promote local people with something to offer the community. The books retail for $14.99 each.

PS4 Mature Content Warning- Really?

I went with my husband to GameStop this afternoon to look at PS4 games. I chose a couple and we went to the register to check out. The girl ringing up the purchase says, "Are you all right with the mature content of this game?"  I looked at John whose hair is silver now and then I looked down at my purse and said, "Do I have to show you my ID?  I honestly think I'm old enough to handle mature content at my age." The girl looked up at us and kind of laughed and said, "I guess so!"

Ouch. So this is what it's like to be in the shadow of the Baby Boomers. 

Oh well, I am as young as I think I am and my brain still thinks I'm an awful lot younger than I really am, like maybe two and a half decades younger. 

I just thought it was very surreal having this girl who looked like she was fresh out of high school warning me about the mature content of a video game- there are commercials and programs on TV with much more graphic and offensive content than one of these games! I skim past worst crap on facebook!

Maybe she thought I, God forbid, was buying the game for my grandchildren? (Nonexistant, by the way, I am no one's Grandma!)  And my only child is 24.5 years old this coming month.

Basically, I think I can handle this game, but thanks for worrying about the state of my cardiac and vascular system health. I doubt I'll be having a heart attack or a stroke over this. 

I am, after all, a long time Tomb Raider player(among other games). I can still remember playing it on the computer before we owned a PlayStation console!  Now if that doesn't date me I don't know what else will, except maybe carbon dating, although I don't believe I ever walked with dinosaurs!


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Last NaNoWriMo Weekend

While I finished my NaNo novel back on November 20th I have been editing it, something that usually gets done in December or later on, but I haven't been able to focus on any other project at the moment so I figured I'd tackle this massive chore. I was more verbose this year than I have ever been in a long time, since I wrote the epic Medina years ago for my best friend that topped out at 232,380 words. It was a contemporary romance about three brothers all in love with the same young woman. Two of the brothers are from the wrong side of the tracks while the third is a lawyer who had a different mother.

I am rooting Kelly on as she nears the 50,000 word goal. This year her story is progressing more smoothly. She's staying focused and getting the writing done.  Her story sounds interesting. I'll be helping her with the editing once it's done.

I need to further hack my story up, but right now I'm not sure what I need to remove. I'll get it cleaned up- all the typos fixed and the continuity issues corrected and the commas under control- and later on I can pare it down if need be. Right now it would probably be a 400 page trade paperback. a bit too hefty. 

Overall, this has been a different NaNoWriMo experience for me as I had a start and then a restart at the beginning of the month, and then we attended to write-ins whereas we have never attended one before. It took me longer to write this novel and I am still interested in it enough to reread it and edit it before the 30 days have passed. 

I'm already looking forward to next year's NaNoWriMo!

On Being Thankful

It's nearly midnight and I am winding down from a long day of cleaning and getting the house ready for the holiday tomorrow.

I've been editing my Nano novel- thinking I would be able to pare it down but the word count is going up instead of down as I clean it up and fix up some continuity issues. So this leads me to the first thing I am thankful for- I am thankful for this gift that I have been given, the ability to write with ease. For me it is like tapping directly into a muse who is a fount of ideas and the muse takes over and I just type. It's always been that way, even when I was young and would grab a pen and notebook from beside my bed and write in the dark so I wouldn't disturb anyone.

Second, I am grateful for my daughter- she is amazing. She is intelligent in a very analytical black and white sense like her father. She is techno savvy whereas I am not. And she has inherited the writing gene from me. She is the best of both of her parents and I am proud of her accomplishments so far in life.

Next, I am thankful to have a job in this country where jobs are outsourced to foreign countries while so many people are desperate to find work.

I am grateful to have a roof over my head and food on my table.

I am thankful for family and friends who make my life fun and interesting.

I am thankful for my two cats who keep me calm and leveled out when I'm on the verge of stressing out.

I'm thankful that there are still people who like to read.

I'm thankful that while this country has continuing racial issues that we are not at war among ourselves and can pull together and present one united front when we have to. his is a huge country with a lot of people living in it coast to coast. We're blending in more and more cultures yet when something terrible happens we are one country, one people.

I wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving as you count your own blessings tomorrow. I know I will continue reflecting upon mine.

Christmas Story Time and Christmas Memories

Now that I've conquered the NaNoWriMo challenge for November I can start thinking about this year's annual Christmas story. I started writing an annual story back in 1997 or so, when Kelly was still in elementary school. I stopped for three years after my mother passed away in 2000 and resumed in 2003. Some years I write one tory, some years 2-3 stories. It depends on free time and inspiration factors.

After I finished my NaNo novel this year I wrote an 8600 word Christmas story based on the characters in the novel, celebrating Christmas Day three years into the future. This would most likely end up as a bonus story at the end of the novel since you would have had to have read the novel to know these characters and their back stories.

I've been feeling nostalgic about the Christmases I shared with my family growing up in the 60's. It was a more innocent time and families were closer, not everyone running off to do their own thing, or connected to their cellphones and disconnected from real life. It was a time when towns really decked out Main Street with garlands across the road every hundred feet or so- lights and bells and conical-shaped Christmas trees in the town I grew up in, lights and wreaths in the bigger town north of us. It was always an adventure to eat dinner on Saturday night then pile into the car and drive around town and the surrounding towns looking at how people had decorated their houses. This was the era of the big bulb lights, real laurel and evergreen roping. There were no giant inflatable decorations in front yards. There were snowmen in the yards, decorated sleds or ice skates on the porches, candles with colored bulbs in the windows, an occasional colored spotlight illuminating a front door wrapped like a giant gift with foiled paper and a wide band of ribbon and a huge bow. The town I grew up in had a pond in the center of town and on this pond there was a raft, and on the raft was a lit and decorated Christmas tree. This was the era of shopping downtown so all the storefronts were decked out for the holidays. I remember one shoe store in Northampton had an animated Santa. I just loved him as he turned from side to side and waved. There were also either painted flat wood or fiberglass nativity scenes on most town greens back then that reminded us of the reason we celebrated Christmas. People did not find them offensive. The nativity scene in Easthampton where I grew up was beautiful and fueled my love of camels. So did the fiberglass camels in West Springfield.

I have been trying to get back in touch with the magical feeling of Christmas morning when I was little. I remember having to wait in my bedroom like my brother and sister in their rooms until our parents got up. We'd be talking back and forth, kind of loudly because our parents' bedroom was at the opposite end of the house from our bedrooms- "Do you think he came yet?" we'd ask one another. Finally Mom would appear at the end of the hallway and Dad would shuffle past in his Santa boxer shorts over his flannel pajama pants and his red sweatshirt, dressed to play Santa. And then it was a shoving match as we dashed up the hall, hearts pounding with excitement to behold the lit tree, the real aluminum tinsel glittering and flashing, the mountain of gifts beneath the tree, the bulging stockings hanging from a clothesline tied between the coat closet and front door doorknobs. We all had our favorite place to sit. We always had at least one cat and the cat would join us. We'd open presents and then stockings. Mom always got a box of Yardley English lavender soap-her favorite. Dad always got Brylcreme in his stocking. We got jars of paste, bottles of LePage glue, crayons, pencils, bubble bath and small toys in our stockings. My favorite gifts were received over several years-my Pebbles Flintstone doll with the plastic bone through her topknot (I have her downstairs and she still has her bone!), my '63 titian ponytail Barbie doll 9which is probably why nearly all my female lead characters are redheads- Pebbles and Barbie were a huge influence, and my maternal grandfather had a passion for redheads besides!), my Pushmi-Pullyu that talked from the Dr. Doolittle movie, Larry the Lion who also talked, and my Sears copper-colored child-sized Kenmore range- oh, I loved that stove and the toy pots and pans I got to go with it. I "cooked" up a storm on that thing! And my white and pink Columba bicycle and when I was older, my green Columba bicycle. We had to go out and ride our bikes even with snow on the ground and freezing temperatures (This was back when Dad's had to build the bikes, usually on Christmas Eve- God bless his heart staying up late and building three bikes- that is real love!)

My Uncle Pete, Dad's older bachelor brother always joined us on Christmas Day. He got a box of cigars and one of those big packages with the various sausages, cheeses and crackers. He had a Polaroid camera which fascinated us all as we watched the pictures develop. I can still smell the developer after all these years! It stung my noise but the magic was so powerful watching our images emerge from a fog on the paper we didn't mind the stink of the chemicals. Uncle Pete always wore a white shirt and a necktie on Christmas. Mom usually wore a dress. I can't remember what my Dad wore, probably one of his plaid work shirts and slacks. The three of us kids wore corduroys and sweaters or turtlenecks.

Dinner was a feast. Mom ordered Table Talk pies- apple and mincemeat, from the corner variety store. They arrived at the store and we received a phone call to come and pick them up usually the day before Christmas. Although the store was in walking distance Dad usually drove there, not risking one of us dropping a pie on the way home! I remember the big Coca Cola display signs with Santa Claus in the store. Mom had gotten one sign for us one year from the storeowner- it was about eighteen or twenty inches high. She hung it on the coat closet door with a bunch of Dennison holiday cut-outs from W.T. Grants. There were Gurley Christmas candles shaped like snowmen, Santas, angels, carolers, a street lamp, a tree with silver glitter, and nativity figures on the divider between the living room and kitchen, also bought at Grants or Bradlees.

I am full of reminiscence tonight. I've been reading Reminisce and Good Old Days magazines and enjoying the stories, all the memories of Christmases past. Maybe all of this will help inspire me to write this year's annual Christmas story.

My most favorite memory of my own daughter was when she was eighteen months old, dressed in red long johns and bootie slippers, her hair longer than she wears it now , curling at the ends, still golden blonde. She is standing at the tree which is loaded with Hallmark ornaments and in her left hand she is holding her favorite ornament, a clear red acrylic heart- she always called this an apple for some reason. The sweetness and innocence radiating from her in the picture is breathtaking as she reaches for another ornament that has caught her eye. Children grow up so fast, the magical aspects of the holiday fade and become memories. Suddenly we are the adults who make the magic happen.

I don't know for sure what I'll be writing about this year...but it's been wonderful revisiting all these fond memories of Christmases past.

The Look My Cat Gave Me Was Priceless!

I love the Portuguese flannel blankets sold by the Vermont Country Store. Kelly has two on her bed, we have two on our bed, and there is one on my chair in the living room, and another twin size plaid one somewhere in the house that Kelly had on her bed when she was younger. Revere loves the red tartan plaid blanket on my chair and has claimed it as his own. He was getting miffed with me when I'd take it at night and throw it across my feet in bed because sometimes I get cold and can't warm up. I recently bought myself a twin size gray plaid blanket so I don't have to borrow "his" blanket. At the same time I bought one of their Portuguese flannel nightgowns in the same red tartan plaid as "his" blanket. Tonight I was chilled after coming home from the NaNo write-in so I put the nightgown on. When I opened the bathroom door and he saw me the look on his face was priceless. He recognized the color (I don't know what color he sees it as but he obviously recognized it) and plaid pattern. I can't begin to describe the exact way he looked at me, but it was a combination of surprise, confusion and a desire to curl up in my lap and take a cat nap! "Mom" was wearing "his" blanket! I had to show him that I hadn't harmed his blanket by cutting it up- it's still on my chair in the living room. But he is definitely not a stupid cat- he's an excellent pattern matcher!

By the way- the blankets are the best flannel blankets I've ever owned, and the nightgown is soft, warm and cozy! Pricey but they are durable and well worth the expense because they last (one of them has to be fifteen years old at least!) and don't pill or fray.  They're manufactured to keep writers (and their cats) warm- at least in my world!

Chilly Nights and Cats

Last night while Kelly was working toward her word count goal for the day for NaNo I wrote an 8,547 word Christmas story using the characters from my Nano novel and setting it three years into the future. Tonight, as the temperature dropped into the low 20's here on the mountain in the northeast corner of town I edited the story while she pounded out her goal word count for today. She's making steady progress toward 50,000 words and my fingers are crossed that she'll reach the goal and be a winner this year-and then she will be able to get her two free copies of her book. I'm anxious to read it!

My long-haired gray and white cat has been super affectionate today. Although he's a longhaired cat he gets cold on chilly nights. When he comes to bed with me he'll literally fling himself down against my side or my hip and then nestled himself in until he's comfortable. It doesn't matter if I'm comfortable or not as long as he is! His tuxedo big brother also likes to sleep with us. Revere has to have my hand and wrist under his upper body and head. He pins my arm down and sleeps on it. He's got his own idea of comfort. I'm surprised I get any sleep at night with the two of them jockeying for position. occasionally Riley Beans will actually throw himself down right on top of Revere! John more or less sleeps through all this feline maneuvering throughout the night. I suppose I could close the door and shut them out like Kelly does every night, but I grew up with cats and have always shared my bed with one or two felines. John's gotten used to it over the years-even though he wasn't a cat lover by any means when we got married. He didn't really care for cats until we adopted big old tiger tom cat Marty, a stray that had hung around at my mother's and loved Kelly. John found a feline buddy in Marty. We had him for ten years until he developed cancer and we had to say goodbye to him.

On cold nights there is nothing better than a furry friend to curl up with. I might just call it an early night tonight and not burn the midnight oil, just crawl into bed and bask in the warmth of my fluffy companions.