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I had every intention of getting my blog out yesterday, and then I started looking for a particular photo to use with my blog, and ended up going down a rabbit hole looking at photos. It wasn’t a waste of time, as it was something I planned to do in the next couple weeks anyway, but it did take longer than I expected. The “rabbit hole” and my blog are somewhat related, since they both pertain to Christmas. Now that Thanksgiving is over, I am ready to start preparing for Christmas. If looking at the calendar wasn’t enough to get me going, reading the letter my three-year-old granddaughter wrote (well, dictated) to Santa will do the trick. It was sweet of her to include a request from her little sister in her letter. And based on the number of lines on her capital “E” when she signed her name, she is pretty excited about the big guy. Take a look at the attached picture, and you’ll see what I mean. She is totally getting into Christmas this year.  Thinking about my granddaughters and Christmas was indirectly responsible for the delay looking at photos yesterday. It has been quite a while since I gathered photos of the girls to share with my mom, and I want to make sure I have some ready before Christmas. We are going back to Wisconsin for the holiday, so I will take some printed pictures to give her. Since the internet service in her rural area is abysmal, my mom has given up on using her computer for email or online, which means she needs to get pictures the old-fashioned way.
I am looking forward to the trip back to Wisconsin. Yesterday, I booked a house for all six of us to stay in while we are up there. The price was quite reasonable, and we all prefer a house to a hotel. There is more room for us to spread out, and we can prepare most of our meals at the house, which is much easier than going to a restaurant for all of our meals – especially with small children. Best of all, the lady who owns the rental house has graciously agreed to bring over some Christmas decorations and a small tree for us. I am very grateful, because it just wouldn’t be Christmas for our granddaughters without at least a tree. Now that the trip planning is under control, I need to get back to some of the other holiday tasks which need to be done in the next two weeks. Two weeks! Yikes! I am not done with my shopping, and haven’t started making cookies yet. I suspect most of you understand the slightly anxious feeling I have right now. But, I know that everything that needs to get done will get done. And the tasks are not as important as enjoying the holiday with my loved ones. I hope all of you will also find time to relax with friends and family during the holiday season. (And maybe some relaxing moments to sip some hot cocoa and listen to holiday music by yourself.) Hopefully, we’ll all remember that the holiday season isn’t about frantically scrambling to produce a “perfect” event. It’s about the love and joy and blessings wrapped up in that miraculous Christmas birth. So, enjoy the coming weeks. And Merry Christmas.
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 Happy Thanksgiving. In spite of the ups and downs this past year, I know I have many things for which to be thankful. Unlike many people in this world, I have a comfortable house with a sturdy roof over my head, my family is (generally) healthy, and we have plenty of food to eat. Thank you to the Creator who provides us with so many blessings. Pie is one of my favorite blessings this time of year. I just finished making a Chocolate Truffle Pie to take along for Thanksgiving tomorrow. This pie became part of our Thanksgiving tradition after I first made it many years ago. My son loves it (as do others who try it.) In fact, I still remember an incident when my son was home for Thanksgiving several years ago. I had made this pie in a glass pie dish, and he reached into the fridge to pull out the remaining pie later in the evening. His hand somehow slipped, and the pie dish landed on the floor. I thought he was going to cry when he saw all of the rich chocolate goodness mingled with glass shards on the floor! (Needless to say, I made him another pie.) So, in honor of my son, and in honor of the other family members who are now too far away to enjoy the pie with us this year, I thought I would share the pie recipe with all of you. It is fairly simple to make, and well worth the effort. Enjoy! Chocolate Truffle Pie
Ingredients 2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips 1 ½ cups whipping cream, divided ¼ cup powdered sugar 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 1 chocolate cookie crust Optional: whipped cream and chocolate-covered peppermint candies or nonpareils for garnish Directions
Do you ever wonder if the candy you pass out on Halloween is a popular treat or a dismal trick? Since today is Halloween, I thought it would be fun to see what candy we are all buying to pass out this year. The first surprising thing I learned is that there are several versions of the map, each with different results. I chose to use one from CandyStore.com, in part because they included a list by state below the graphic, in case you are from one of the tinier states and can’t see it too well on the map. Also, they have been tracking candy sales for twelve years, so I think that makes them a bit of an expert. According to the map, Skittles (my favorite!) is the most popular candy in the US, followed by two more goodies, Reese’s Cups and M&Ms. In Iowa, the center of corn production, they not-surprisingly picked candy corn as their favorite candy. Regardless of the type, Americans will spend a total of approximately 2.6 Billion – with a “B” – dollars on Halloween candy this year. That’s a lot of candy! And that’s enough stats about candy. Without further ado (or so you know what to rush out and buy before the trick-or-treaters arrive), here is the map of most popular Halloween candy by state. Happy Halloween!   Book releases are an exciting time, from what I have observed. Exciting, but not easy. (I am hoping to experience a book launch with one of my historical romances someday, but until then, I’ll base this on watching other writers.) A good friend just had her latest book released last Friday. This isn’t her first book, but that doesn’t seem to make the process any easier. What with asking people for reviews, and doing blog tours, and anything other promotion which might help, it doesn’t seem to be for the faint of heart. But I suspect most authors don’t mind doing at least some of this work, even though authors are required to do more of their own promotion now than ever before. After all, the alternative is to never publish a book. And I think most writers live for the day they can share their creation with other people. This makes me think about a conversation I had with a friend recently about opportunities for writers. On one hand, with the proliferation of books available now, whether traditionally or self-pubbed, it is much harder to make one book out of thousands get noticed. And as I said earlier, much of this work to get a book noticed falls on the author now. This is why, in some ways, I personally think it may have been easier to be a successful writer 20 or 30 years ago.  But on the other hand, there are “publishing” opportunities now which no one dreamed of years ago. For example, there are many digital platforms online for sharing creative works, audio books are increasingly popular, and the many viewing options on TV now have led to increased demand for stories which can be turned into a new movie or series. Perhaps it all balances out.
Regardless of the format, though, I don’t think authors will ever lose the thrill they feel when they sell a story they sweated over. Writing a good story takes months of hard work, and I can only imagine the satisfaction gained by having that hard work recognized by others. So, congratulations to my friend and all of the other authors working hard to have their stories noticed. Well done!  My husband and I finally put up some decorations for Halloween today. We didn’t do much in our rental house last year, so this year we decided to put in a little more effort.
But first, we had to get some decorations. We didn’t have much to begin with, and left most of it in Wisconsin when we moved last year. So the other day, I was in a hobby store looking at their choices and trying to decide what to get. It was harder than you might think. My granddaughters are only 1 and 3 years old, so while I wanted something fun, I didn’t want anything too scary. I don’t want to be responsible for traumatizing my own granddaughters! We settled on a few friendly-looking ghosts and a scarecrow. My husband also got a string of pumpkin lights, but we are hoping the store might have another string to purchase. One just doesn’t look like enough. However, as I write this, I am realizing one thing we are still missing. Real pumpkins! Is it even officially Halloween if we don’t have a jack-o-lantern? We better get a few, just to be on the safe side. Though after reading an online article this morning, I am glad we didn’t purchase any fake spider webs. I learned that each October, there is an increase in birds with damaged wings or claws after getting tangled in the fake webs people use to decorate their front lawns. Small animals such as chipmunks can also get caught in them if the webs are low to the ground. Even deer can get their antlers tangles in webs, light strings, etc., so given the number of deer in our neighborhood, I am glad our one string of pumpkin lights is up high near the edge of the porch roof. I guess we have a couple weeks to complete our decorating. Our granddaughters are coming over this weekend, so they may have some input for us. Though, if the 3-year-old tells us we should have some skunks (she recently decided they are her favorite animals, after petting some baby skunks at a wildlife exhibit) I will definitely have to draw the line. No skunks -- that would traumatize me! Have fun with your own Halloween decorating. And don’t forget to buy candy for the little trick-or-treaters. Our neighbor warned us he usually gets two big bags of candy (though he did admit some of it is for him.) Happy Halloween, and if you have any ideas for appropriate decorations for small children, I’d like to hear them.  In the course of writing my current novel, which takes place shortly after the start of Prohibition, I came across some fun and surprising facts about that time period. (The 18th Amendment took effect on January 1, 1920 and was repealed in 1933.)
Below are ten pieces of Prohibition trivia you can use to astound and amaze your friends:
 I am taking a departure from talking about writing romances or my personal life this week. The last few days haven’t been a lot of fun (dealing with insurance, and I think my computer is about to die) so I decided this week’s blog should make up for that. Have you ever heard of Fat Bear Week? I hadn’t either. But as I just learned, Katmai National Park in Alaska runs an annual online contest every October for people to vote on their favorite fat brown bear. This time of year, the brown bears in Alaska are shoveling in food and bulking up to prepare for up to six months of hibernation. They eat up to 90 pounds of food a day, and end up with huge bellies full of fat which they’ll live while in their dens over the long winter. (This is one instance when being the fattest is a good thing, because it indicates good health – for a bear – and a better chance of survival.) The contest started yesterday, and the first round of eliminations is nearly complete, so get your votes in now! Here is a link to a press release from the National Park Service with more information: https://www.nps.gov/katm/learn/news/river-river-in-the-fall-who-s-the-fattest-bear-of-all.htm And here is a link to the voting on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KatmaiNPP/ If you want to choose based on more than just a name, you can even watch the parks bear cams to help you decide. The winner of “Fattest Bear 2019” will be announced on Tuesday, October 8th. I freely admit this is a bit of a departure from my more typical blog topics, but I will also freely admit that for those of us who have had a long week, this might be just the sort of fun diversion we need, at least for a few minutes. So get your vote in. Somewhere in Alaska, a brown bear is waiting to be crowned.   I have been reminded lately of the fleeting nature of time. The seasons march on, we see a stranger when we look in the mirror, and those children we remember from years ago are now sending their own babies off to school. I experienced all of this in one way or another recently. The weather has been an obvious sign. In what seems like an overnight switch, we have gone from 90s and sweltering to 70s and fall-like weather. I usually enjoy this type of weather (September might be my favorite month of the year) but I don’t think I’m ready for summer to be over. I’m certainly not ready to see Halloween candy and decorations in the stores. And speaking of Halloween candy – how much will we need this year? This will be our first October in our new house, so we have no idea how much to buy. I guess we better not let too much more time pass before we ask a neighbor for an estimate. And then there are the signs of time each of us sees in the mirror, or in our doctor’s office. (Or in my case, every time I step on a scale.) A very good friend had a health scare recently, and while it thankfully turned out to be a false alarm, it did serve another purpose. It reminded me that we all only have so much time on this earth, and we need to make the most of it. We all casually say “life is short,” but do we really understand it, deep in our bones? I am now reminded to take advantage of any opportunities to spend time with my friends or to soak up the changes in my sprouting granddaughters.  Speaking of granddaughters, our older one started pre-school a couple weeks ago. Unbelievable! She is the youngest child in her class at not quite three, but she is smart as a whip, with a great vocabulary and a huge imagination. (I know I’m a proud grandma, but that doesn’t make it any less true!) Then, just when I was reconciling myself to the fact that she is not a baby anymore, I learned our niece’s daughter started college this week. Wow. Since I remember when her parents got married, that definitely means some serious time has gone by.
The act of writing this blog has reinforced a lesson I often forget. Time is not just fleeting, it is precious. It is a gift from our creator we dare not squander. I don’t want to waste time thoughtlessly, lest I wake up one morning and realize the seasons of my own life are creeping toward winter, with too few happy memories stored up to sustain me.  Do you know what movie holds the record for most tickets sold? A lot of you might have guessed the most recent Avengers movie, because of the publicity around its huge revenues. However, I read an interesting online article recently which disputed this. The article included a list of the top selling movies based on the estimated number of tickets sold for each movie. Their list of the top ten movies was a surprise, though a pleasant one. The list is below: 10. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) Estimated ticket sales: 109 million tickets 9. The Exorcist (1973) Estimated ticket sales: 116.5 million tickets 8. Doctor Zhivago (1965) Estimated ticket sales: 124.6 million tickets 7. Jaws (1975) Estimated ticket sales: 128 million tickets 6. The Ten Commandments (1956) Estimated ticket sales: 131 million tickets 5. Titanic (1997) Estimated ticket sales: 143.5 million tickets 4. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) Estimated ticket sales: 147.9 million tickets 3. The Sound of Music (1965) Estimated ticket sales: 157.2 million tickets 2. Star Wars (1977) Estimated ticket sales: 178.1 million tickets 1. Gone with the Wind (1939) Estimated ticket sales: 201 million tickets  A few things struck me about this list. First of all, Titanic (released in 1997) is the most recent movie on this list. The top ten movies based on ticket sales are all over 20 years old.
Secondly, unlike the blockbusters of today, these movies were made at a time when there was very little movie revenue from other countries. These movies made the list based almost entirely on ticket sales in the US. Today, US ticket sales are only about half of the total revenues. Two of the movies, including the number one movie, Gone With the Wind, came out during the Great Depression, which makes this feat even more astounding. Even though the average price of a movie in the 1930s was only about 25 cents, that was still a significant amount of money – more than one hour’s pay for the average worker. But I think what really caught my eye was that, most of these are family movies. With one or two exceptions, I think older children could watch nearly all of these movies. Some of them are also appropriate for younger children. Snow White is one of my granddaughters’ favorite movies. That was what made this list such a pleasant surprise. It is somehow reassuring to know that, in spite of the hype and hoopla around some movies put out today, the classics still reign supreme. Which raises the question. Which movies are you surprised are not on this list? If you made a list of your top ten favorite movies, which ones would make the list?  Sometimes, we need to hear something said again in a different way before it really sinks in. This happened to me recently. A conversation with a writing friend reminded me that I had both of Lisa Cron’s writing craft books, Wired for Story and Story Genius on my bookshelf. I had started reading the first book before we moved last year, then never finished it.
That conversation prompted me to read both books. I am so glad I did! First, because I was fascinated by her explanation of how humans are still biologically wired not just to learn through stories, but to actually crave them. I always like to learn the “how” and “why” of things, so I found this to be a captivating read. More importantly, the associated tips for writing stronger stories truly resonated for me. The sad thing is that, if you get right down to it, she did not say anything I haven’t heard before. But something about the way she said it – the way she told her story – forced me to really listen this time. I guess we have all had something similar happen at some point. How often have we heard something (maybe from a coworker instead of a parent or spouse) and instead of rolling our eyes because we’ve heard it before, we stop and pay attention this time? Maybe we give more weight to words spoken by people we don’t know as well or need to hear the words phrased in a different way. Or perhaps this person is simply a better storyteller. Whatever the reason, the result is the same. Suddenly, light bulbs are going off, brightening our world in literal and figurative ways. In my case, I am glad I listened to my friend and read Lisa Cron’s books. I am in the process of applying her techniques to my current manuscript, and am excited to see if they improve my writing as I think they will. I’ll keep you posted on my results. If you are a writer who would like to learn more about Lisa’s techniques, you can find her at http://wiredforstory.com/ . In the meantime, if crazy old Uncle Henry starts telling you something, don’t just use the time to check messages on your phone – pay attention. He just might have something worthwhile to tell you! |
AuthorI write historical romances, and I invite you to share the journey to published author with me. Archives
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