Happy Thanksgiving to all

May we all have a moment to remember all we have to be thankful for.
No matter how big, no matter how small, the fact that we are thankful unleashes more for us to be thankful for.

Ironically, Thanksgiving Day often has the least amount of time available for us to acknowledge, really acknowledge that we are thankful, and have so much to be thankful for.

May we all have much to be thankful for.

A peaceful heart, answers for our questions, love and support when we need it.

May the beginning of this holiday season find us all with much to be thankful for.
And may we find time to appreciate and be thankful for everything we are blessed with. Even more than and beyond this Thanksgiving Day.

NaNo Lobotomy

Does NaNo cause lobotomies?

I mean really! Yes I understand that the real lobotomies NaNo can cause come from whacking your head too many times on your keyboard.

But I’m beginning to think NaNo can sure cause mental lobotomies! Or excuse me I am sure thinking it can. No contractions for NaNo after all.

But it sure does seem to make your brain go really dead at times.

Or maybe that’s just mine. Pthhhhhtttt. Contraction again. The bane of my NaNo.

Not to mention all the brain leakage that’s going on. Maybe that was the warning signs!!! OH NO!!!

Snow and Leaves!

It’s been snowing today! Can you believe it? Before Thanksgiving! In Richmond, Virginia.
Snowflakes were just lazily drifting down like crazy outside my window. Thank God it wasn’t inside! Then there’d Really be a problem.
But even outside it was disconcerting, especially when the wind was blowing. Snowflakes were all mixed up in with all the leaves blowing around.
At least the snowflakes weren’t as big as the leaves! And didn’t stick as much.
I’m not ready for all the cold and snow. I feel like I’ve not even had an autumn yet! You know, the warm days followed by cool nights. Or even sunny brisk days that still make a jacket enough to wear for warmth.
I feel cheated!
As I do by all the non-NaNo that I’ve not managed to get ahead on.
Ah well, soldiering on. Which according to all the advice we get at the Writing Shows and James River Writers Conferences is what a lot of this writing life is all about anyway.
Does anyone hear a tune being whistled?

Bemused at Time Passing

Where does all the time go? I turn around and it's been forever since I've posted anything. What is with all that?! Sure doesn't seem that long, that's for sure!
I'm certainly bemused by that!
Bemused Writer sitting bemused by life at the moment. All the unexpected things that come at you.

According to definition I found Bemused is 1) to make confused : Puzzle, Bewilder 2) to occupy the attention of : Distract, Absorb.

Which all apply right now. I’m Bewildered that I am a writer to begin with, how did I come to find myself in this place? Sometimes I’m bewildered by all the wonderful writers I know and have come in contact with. Which I do know is because of James River Writers in Richmond, Virginia.
And 2) I am distracted by all those musings etc.. from working on my books.

Okay, so part of that is maybe partly excuse. Writing is Really hard work! Or at least it is for me! As one of my writing group members, Dragon Queen, and I were talking, it’s like having brilliant flashes of a few brilliant words strewn with a few-to-bunch of words of mediocrity. Not what I’m aiming for! But I’m trying to learn to live with some of it just to get the story out of my head onto the paper [or screen, since my husband has pushed me from the writing on paper to the writing on computer. For the most part.] As everyone keeps saying, especially all those currently in the mid-throes of NaNo writing right now, you can’t edit a blank page. Which if you don’t know about NaNo and all that, do check it out. November is NaNo month, after all.

Sigh.

Is writing easy for Anyone?

And do I want to know? Really want to know?

Well, I Think I’d like to know what they do that makes it easier for them to write.

If there is such an answer.

I’ll have to see if anyone’s ever done a poll of writers and asked them that – Is writing easy or hard for them?

But I guess I should wait to do that until I get back to the task of writing myself.

Since I really do want to get the book I’m currently working on done so I can get back to some of the other books I have waiting on the back burner ready to simmer forth.

So for this November NaNo time, or just any writer in the midst of writing, I wish you Happy Writing!
Or at least an easier time, if like me you find it really hard work.

And if you have ideas for what makes it easier for you Please Post!!!

Loss and Knowing authors?

What is it about books and authors that bring us in and make us feel we know a person, and know them well enough to be sad at their passing?

What is the connection that doesn’t seem to transcend into other mediums as well? At least not for me. I can enjoy a great piece of art or sculpture, without ever feeling the tinge of sadness that the originator is no longer around to produce more.

But with authors and books it is different. From Robert Jordan’s passing earlier this year with his to-be-completed final novel left behind, to the recent passing of Tony Hillerman, author of the southwest Indian mysteries with the characters Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn.
Whether I have read the person’s work or not there always seems to be a loss in the world somehow.
That the world is somehow an emptier place without them.
A world a little less rich.
A little less varied.
A little less interesting.

Maybe it’s not knowing the author so much as the characters?

And feeling their loss?

There is only so much time to read and so many books to read nowdays, and there is a sense of loss when you pick up a book, especially if you really like the book and the characters, of knowing there won’t be anymore. No new frontiers and ages for the characters to transcend, no new growth or possible changes for the author to come into, and spread on to us. As a writer I mourn that possibility. As a reader I mourn.

Quotes

A friend gave me a most lovely birthday card recently that I had to share -
"If a little dreaming is dangerous,
the cure for it is not to dream less
but to dream more, to dream all the time." - Marcel Proust

Hold fast to your dreams...


This reminded me of some of my favorite quotes:

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." - Maya Angelou

"History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again." - Maya Angelou

"There are only two ways to Live Your Life.
One is as though nothing is a miracle.
The other is as though everything is a Miracle." - Albert Einstein

"Remember, a journey is not measured by the amount of breaths you take, but the things that take your breath away!"

And inspiration comes from all sorts of places if you allow it.
For those that have not yet discovered the Wonderful whimsical jewelry of the Kirks Folly Family I would highly recommend checking them out. http://www.kirksfolly.com/ I have a wonderful collection of their unique pieces that I have accumulated over the years and they always make your heart sing in some way. Whether from just looking at the lovely things they do and create, or just the thought of possibilities....it's all good, as one of my fellow writers says.
And while you are over on the Kirks Folly site, be sure to sign up for Jenniefer Kirk's newsletter - the Fairy Godmother newsletter, as she always has a great quote in it. Which is where most of the ones listed here have come from. And she had a quote in one of her newsletters about the choices we make, and what we choose to believe and choose to think. I must find it again sometime as it was an incredible thought.
But in the meantime I will use the ending of one of her newsletters -
I leave you with this: Your Thoughts Become Your Destiny

Wisdom and Advice

Wisdom and Advice
We sure had a lot of great advice and wisdom from all our wonderful speakers at the James River Writers Conference this past weekend.
From Kirk Ellis, coming off his Emmy win for John Adams, telling us to never take no.
He was fantastic to talk to, with all the interesting projects he’s working on.
To Adriana Trigiani with all her wonderful advice, and what she considered her best - ‘Finish your damn book.’
To her recommendations of her favorite books that she believes everyone should read – which I put in a previous entry, directly from her email.

And then there is the lovely and gracious Diane Mott Davidson, of the Goldy the caterer culinary mystery series fame.
I don’t think I’ve ever met a more gracious person than Diane, and that’s saying a lot considering the world around here also holds the lovely gracious writer Emyl Jenkins. But then Emyl also taught Diane and takes credit for her writing career. ;) So maybe there were other things that transferred in there too. ;)

Diane was also interested in the books Adriana talked about and counted some of Adriana’s favorites as her favorites too.

Diane said that Napoleon Hill's THINK AND GROW RICH, which Adriana emphatically recommended – go buy it! - is an old favorite of hers.

As it is of Adriana’s also since Adriana said she bought another copy on her way to the airport.

Hmmmm, both successful authors, wonderful people, really liking this book – I think I need to take a look at that!

Diane mentioned that she wasn’t familiar with some of the other books that Adriana mentioned so she headed to a bookstore to remedy that.

And since I was lucky enough to have Diane tell me some of her favorite recommended books also, I will share them here with you -

The first recommendation Diane has and her favorite she said is Henri Nouwen ----

“I'd list the Nouwen first, and that would include my favorite Nouwen, The Art of the Beloved, which is also a FABULOUS audio, if you can get the one that Nouwen reads himself. I noticed the Henri Nouwen Society had reissued it for very little $.“

Diane also recommends Nouwen's SPIRITUAL DIRECTION

Then she lists - Norman Vincent Peale's THE POWER OF POSITIVE THINKING … “I also have an audio of Norman Vincent Peale reading The Power of Positive Thinking and it's super.”

And Louise Hay's YOU CAN HEAL YOUR LIFE, comes in on the list.

Diane did mention she had a bit of trouble finding the books as Adriana listed them in Adriana’s session at the Conference, but found books that she thought might be what Adriana was thinking of – THE MAGIC OF BELIEVING which Diane said was all she could find. And “The other book Adriana recommended that I didn't have is THE POWER OF YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS MIND, by a fellow named Doctor Murphy. “

So there you have it as I have it.
And now I need to go find some books.