Month: November 2018

30 Days of Nano – Day 4

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While you were at Barnes & Noble yesterday picking up your copy  of the recent The Writer magazine, I hope you stopped off in their cafe/coffee shop. It’s a great place to sit and have a quick drink, maybe a snack and get some writing done. Or at a minimum, jot some ideas and notes down.

If you didn’t have time for that, try out Coffitivity, a sound website that gives you the feeling of being in a coffee shop or other places that are conducive to getting creative and getting some writing done.

30 Days of Nano – Day 3

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The Writer
I have been subscribing to this magazine for decades. At the beginning of my writing career, I would get it along with others to get a feel for the profession and the practice of writing. It is now (and has been for many years) the only professional subscription that I get. It is the best resource for all writers of all experiences and for all genres writers, fiction and non-fiction. Stop by your local Barnes & Noble and pick up their most recent copy. You won’t regret it.

November – Gratitude

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​November begins with the Solemnity of All Saints and finishes with the beginning of the liturgical year and Advent. In the middle are parent-teacher conferences, Veteran’s Day, Morning of Service volunteering, church breakfasts, health insurance open enrollment, medical procedures, a court appearance for a traffic ticket, the premiere of Fantastic Beasts, and  Thanksgiving.

I’m sure I’ve left things out, and I can hear all of you readers going over your lists in your heads and groaning. I know, I know. I’m sorry I brought it up.

First and foremost, November is about colors. We’ve been very slow at leaves changing colors. They seem lazy and slow to change, and they seem muted with the grey, cloudy, dreary-ish days that have started today, but they’re still beautiful, and mesmerizing as well as introspective.

Second for November, is gratitude. We need to slow down, and remember how lucky we are, and in reality, while things aren’t perfect for anyone, we are still very lucky in so many ways. Now is a good time to think on our blessings and remind ourselves of what we have and simply be grateful.

Third, November is National Novel Writing Month. I have signed on to participate again, and I’m hoping to settle into a rhythm of both updating this website and writing for Nanowrimo, and other writings and creative plans. Look for my daily, 30 Days of Nano column, offering suggestions and tips for a successful writing experience for Nanowrimo or your own writing endeavors.

30 Days of Nano – Day 2

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What’s your minimum that you need to just sit down and write?

I need a notebook/journal/document folder and a pen or keyboard. My notebook fits in my purse, and I pack away an extra pen and a pencil. I don’t normally use a pencil, but they don’t run out of ink, so they’re a good emergency backup.

Have your minimum supplies with you so you can always sit down and write some words, a brief stream of consciousness, a ten minute free-write.

Write daily.

And to write daily, be ready.

30 Days of Nano

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I will post a word of advice, writing resources, advice, tips, things to think about for the next thirty days of Nanowrimo. Please share some of your own, so we can use this community to support our writing and other creative endeavors that we are all involved with in our lives.

Day 1 of Nano

Get  your workspace ready. Keep a clear spot on your dining room table if you don’t have a desk. (I use a tote bag that I can bring to the dining room as well as on my writing field trips. Do you drink coffee? Tea? Set a timer on your coffeemaker, and have it ready for each day’s writing time. Do you like to light candles? Have them on the table, and know where the matches are. Is there enough ink in your favorite pen? Do you have a spare? Do you write in a journal or on a laptop? I use my Kindle Fire and a keyboard. Do you have a spare notebook, a small notepad to jot down ideas that float by? I use a notepad as well as Evernote and JotterPad (this one is new to me).

There is still time to write today, on this first day of 2018 Nanowrimo!

Let’s go!

Cosplay – Candy – Creepy Crawlies

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Yesterday was Halloween, and for those of us with children this is second in planning and importance only to Christmas. I’ve always loved Halloween. I like getting dressed up, I like decorating, I like theme desserts and meals, and the specialness of the different time of the year.

I have been somewhat lazy in the last couple of years, and my daughter discovered my holiday boxes. She has taken it upon herself to drag them up from the basement, and make the house, inside and out, look magical and perfectly balanced for the holidays, especially Halloween and Christmas. And I hate to admit, because I was really good at it, but she is better. She’s faster, she’s creative, she thinks outside the box, and it’s just a beautiful display.

Outside lights and pumpkins, decorated for Halloween. (c)2018


This year, her costume was the the 13th Doctor as portrayed by Jodie Whittaker. There were some things that she wanted, and needed to buy, but there were others that I just refused – no to $20 yellow suspenders (“but I’ll wear them more than once,” and she probably would) and I said no to the $30 new sonic screwdriver, and she borrowed my boots that coincidentally are almost exactly the same at the Doctor’s. For the sonic screwdriver, she spent $2 on orange sparkly lights from Target and used aluminum foil and built herself a sonic screwdriver, pictured below.

Handmade/homemade Sonic Screwdriver (belonging to the 13th Doctor). (c)2018


The Doctor. (c)2018


My son grabbed his Flash t-shirt and ring, and went to school as Barry Allen, the Flash’s alter-ego. He has his own wonderful way of being creative and creating costumes and decorations from what he already has. I’m glad that they’re both so independent minded and creative.

Barry Allen (The Flash). (c)2018


(c)2018


My cosplay was a riff on the one I did in 2016. In 2016, I saw an everwidening chasm towards the vilification of journalists, and it concerned me. I’m a strong proponent of free speech and a free press. They are so important to our country, to our ideals, to our democracy. This Halloween I had intended to be a professor from the Harry Potter world, a Hufflepuff, of course. And then the President continued with the enemy of the people rhetoric, Gianforte is running for re-election (google Ben Jacobs, journalist), Bob Woodward published a very frightening look at the Trump White House (and he and Carl Bernstein are personal heroes of mine), and then The Washington Post’s Jamal Khashoggi walked into a Saudi Arabian consulate in Turkey, and never walkied out. He was murdered, assassinated, but not just that, the level of response from the White House and from the Republican side of Congress appalled me, so I thought it was important to take a stand, especially this week before Election Day.