IWSG December 2022 Roses in December

 

Welcome readers, writers, authors, and bloggers!

We’re glad you’re here! It's the First Wednesday of the month; when we celebrate IWSG Day in the form of a blog hop featuring all of the members of the Insecure Writer's Support Group. Founded by author Alex Cavanaugh (Thank you, Captain!) and fostered by like-minded associates, IWSG is a comfortable place to share views and literary news from our perspective writing desks as we record our journeys. Check out the December newsletter here

Our awesome co-hosts this month are:  Joylene Nowell Butler, Chemist Ken, Natalie Aguirre, Nancy Gideon, and Cathrina Constantine!   Feel free to hop around and say hello to everyone!

The optional question for this month is: It's holiday time! Are the holidays a time to catch up or fall behind on writer goals?

December is such a busy month I try not to have any writing goals – per se. But naturally, there are lists to make, misplace, and find the day before Christmas when they are no longer useful. There are holiday cards – and letters! Does anyone write those lengthy chronicles of everything that happened in your neck of the woods for the last year? I receive one every year and thoroughly enjoy reading about life on the outskirts of Saskatchewan. My one and only response was promptly returned, stamped ADDRESS UNKNOWN. Hmm… [Dear Sam, bless your heart, if by some wrinkle in time (get it?) you’re reading this, keep the letters coming and call me. The number is still the same.] But, honestly,

“How did it get so late so soon?” ~ Dr. Seuss

While there’s no shortage of inspiration this time of year, it helps to have an empty First Thing (next year) basket handy for ideas you can’t yet get to ;-) So far, there’s only one message in my basket:

 

 

Have you ever gone caroling? Do you decorate much for the holidays?

 

Merry Christmas, everyone!

 

IWSG October 2022 Cliffhangers

 Welcome readers, writers, authors, and bloggers!

We’re glad you’re here! It's the First Wednesday of the month; when we celebrate IWSG Day in the form of a blog hop featuring all of the members of the Insecure Writer's Support Group. Founded by author Alex Cavanaugh (Thank you, Captain!) and fostered by like-minded associates, IWSG is a comfortable place to share the views and literary news from our perspective writing desks as we record our journeys. Check out the October newsletter here

Our awesome co-hosts this month are: Tonja Drecker, Victoria Marie Lees, Mary Aalgaard, and Sandra Cox!    Stop on by and say Hello!

The optional question for this month is: What do you consider the best characteristics of your favorite genre?

As a reader, I love an unassuming (beat-up shoes and a stain on his shirt) hero with a taste for Red Vines, methodically plodding through impossible plot twists and deceptive clues that lead him to conclude that the ghost of the mansion didn’t kill the widow, the cable guy did.

As a writer, what I love most about paranormal is the absolute unpredictability. I can be curious or evil. Or curiously evil. I can save the day or end the world, and if I truly believed that, I wouldn’t be so flippant ;-) Likewise, teens and young adults, I suppose, who also seem to grasp this genre. Except, they’ve clicked the unpredictability level all the way up to Cliffhanger endings. I’m not sure how I feel about that. I love a good “page-turner,” but to be left hanging without the promise of a sequel or a “Tune in again next week, folks,” is a fresh form of literary torture ;-)

In the Children’s books category, I strive for simplicity in powerful messaging, particularly on issues involving family, friendship, courage, and kindness. And hope. Hope does for children what sunshine does for gardens.

It’s officially the holiday season! Any plans for Halloween? Most of our local stores skipped right over it and put out Thanksgiving decorations. I’ve even seen a few Christmas trees.

Did you know Washington Irving, author of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” is buried at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, about a stone’s throw from the setting of the 1820 short story. Besides Mr. Irving – and the Rockefellers, there are a ton of notable people interred there, including Paul Leicester Ford. The great-grandson of Noah Webster (yes, of Miriam-Webster), Ford was a famed novelist and biographer until his untimely death at the hands of his own brother. Ford’s only child, a daughter, was born one month after his passing.

As is customary for a non-profit institution owned collectively by its lot owners, visiting hours at Sleepy Hollow cemetery are strictly enforced, and visitors are requested to act as if they are attending a funeral or visiting one of their own. I think the request is fair.

I know a lot of people do, but I can’t imagine visiting a cemetery on a Halloween tour. Can you? Have you?

What do you think of the recent “Cliffhanger” trend in YA paranormal novels?

Have an inspiring month!

How the Dickens?

Welcome Readers and fellow Writers, to the December 2018 online meeting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group! Founded by author Alex Cavanaugh and comprised of writing members just like you (and me), featuring writing tips, resources, articles, contests, and IWSG swag! See what we’re all talking about here and join us as we share our writing journeys.

*We meet on the first Wednesday of every month – join us and enjoy!

Visit our gracious Co-hosts, and let them know you’re here:  J.H. Moncrieff, Tonja Drecker , Patsy Collins, and Chrys Fey!

This year, Christmas songs were playing on the radio before the Thanksgiving turkey was an item on my grocery list. No pressure, right? As I wondered how the dickens I’d ever accomplish all of the goals I’d set long before the days grew short enough to pass too fast to notice, a much more inspiring dickens occurred to me: It took Charles Dickens only six weeks to write A Christmas Carol. If that was possible, anything is ;-)  More Charles Dickens fun facts can be found here.

Somewhere between the first draft and last revision, have you ever thought about how many times you tweak that first line? I sure do – think about it, that is. After all, it could mean the difference between a ‘Welcome’ mat, and one that reads: “Ring bell and pull weeds till someone answers.”

Here are a few of my favorite First Lines:

“I have been afraid of putting air in a tire ever since I saw a tractor tire blow up and throw Newt Hardbines’s father over the top of the Standard Oil sign.” ~ Barbara Kingsolver   The Bean Trees - 1988

“I write this sitting in the kitchen sink.” ~ Dodie Smith   I Capture the Castle - 1948

“Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board” ~ Zora Neale Hurston   Their Eyes Were Watching God – 1937

☼

This month’s optional question is: What are five objects you’d find in my writing space.

An Hour Glass

A small silver alien made of squishy rubber lies across the number keys of my desk phone

A candle that smells like a stack of new books (it really does!)

A Magic Rub

A small yellow-haired Wishnick balances (for the most part) on the rim of my pencil caddy

☼

What’s your favorite first line? Do you have a personal best first line?

Happy Holidays, Everyone!

“What greater gift than the love of a cat?” ~ Charles Dickens

The Lasting Spirit(s) of Theatre

On the last day of an often vexing year, we decided to end it on a high note by all piling into one car (not so bad on a cold and rainy day) and taking in a late afternoon show at The Gaslight Theatre. The musical comedy was loosely based on a Christmas favorite and fittingly titled “Elf’d.” I think we all laughed more than we had all year and won’t soon forget all the pizza, popcorn and Rootbeer floats!

It’s impossible to overstate the rustic ambiance of the wooden walls, floors, and stage.  Lining the knotty walls are images in black and white and glossy color of past and present Gaslight stars that lend a sense of graciousness surpassed only by the warm handshake you receive from each actor on your way out the door. 

Naturally (or not), on the ride home I thought about all the shows; the actors, and the patrons who keep the live stage theater alive and kickin’. And of course, I thought about those who’ve passed on.

Thinking about theater ghosts took me way out of my desert digs to a place on the south coast of the Isle of Wight; in the English Channel, where more than a few ghosts tenaciously linger at the Ventnor Operating Theatre. 

“The prettiest place I ever saw in my life” ~ Charles Dickens

The Royal National Hospital for Diseases of the Chest at Ventnor saw upwards of 100,000 patients in under a century. Most suffered from consumption – or Tuberculosis; a disease for which a cure had not yet been found, leading to much speculation and an alarming amount of experimental surgeries being performed in the Ventnor Operating Theatre. 

By the time the last patient left in the summer of ’64, plans were already forming for repurposing the grounds in anticipation of brighter days, without the pall of death and sickness.

 

The first phase went as planned and the Ventnor Botanic Gardens soon flourished across the half-mile stretch of land where terminal patients were once housed.  Problems began with the demolition of the hospital itself.  To all who witnessed, it seemed the hospital was not willing to go.

There were equipment malfunctions, and utter failures - tractors, excavators, and a Ball Crane were all wrecked in the process - unexplained accidents, and grizzly sightings of moaning ghostly figures that led even the toughest worker to flee from an honest day’s pay. 

"Ventnor is a sun-box - north winds would have to confess that they have not even a visiting acquaintance with her." - Ward Lock Guide (1931)

When at last only the Operating Theatre remained, and all other efforts had been vehemently resisted, it was decided that the remaining demolition would be done by hand, there were few takers. Those who dared attempt to complete the work, left with their sledgehammers long before dark each day, having endured being scrutinized by disapproving spirits since sunrise. At least a couple of the workmen who saw the demolition to the end recall the strong smell of ether as they stood in the icy rubble of a stoic Theatre on a balmy summer day.

Once it was clear that not so much as a weed would grow where the hospital once stood, it was paved for a parking lot; a place where lights often flicker at night and dogs won’t approach by day. 

Have you been to the Isle of Wight? Would you visit Ventnor Botanic Gardens?

IWSG Holiday Frenzies!

December arrived with a bone-chilling wind out west this year. I gaze at a dozen summer plumped Dove huddling on a weaving ocotillo branch, and wonder how long before it snaps. Everything has its limits – including me.  And that’s basically what’s on my mind today, this first Wednesday of the month when IWSG members convene through blogging, Facebook and Twitter to talk about whatever is on our writing minds and agendas. See what we’re all talking about here.

By design or curious coincidence, the Question of the Month: “In terms of your writing career, where do you see yourself in 5 years, and how do you plan to get there?” is perfectly timed for the week of ‘National Write a Business Plan Month’! 

Where do I begin when the trouble seems to lie in finishing what I’ve started? 

Five books, five years and who knows what in between. Sounds doable, but something has to give. My day job? Nah, I like the money. Writing? No way! Socializing? But I love it…

Perhaps it’s the holiday frenzies! Right now I delight in the dazzling displays, the renewed sense of hope and plans being made, the promise of bright smiles, big hugs, and good cheer. The roaring blaze can wait, I think, while I enjoy the kindling warmth of the season.

So if I don’t get around as much as I’d like in the next few weeks, know that you’re not far from my thoughts or my insatiable interest and that I wish the happiest of holidays to one and all!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

What was the greatest gift you ever received in a small package?