Wild Wednesday

Tradition is a big part of the holidays.

In more ways than just the overall scope of things.

Families gather because of tradition.

If you google the tradition of Christmas trees you find – The first records of Christmas trees being cut for display comes from the 1820s in Pennsylvania’s German community, although trees may have been a tradition there even earlier. 

In my house we get certain gifts every year because it is traditional. A box of Christmas Crunch, a bag of Andes mints, A thing of Sparkling Cider, and some Hot Chocolate.

We stretched out the holiday by letting our daughter open one present a day until Yule in December. (That meant she got 21 presents at least although we really did not do stockings and such.)

We did a lot of homemade gifts. Which focused on time spent together. We still do. Jams, and Jellies are likely to be a favorite this year.

What are your traditions? If you celebrate a different holiday please don’t hesitate to tell me your holiday traditions. I honestly want to know. This is not a place of judgement. This is a time when sharing knowledge makes us all wiser.

Wild Wednesday

So as of today I have been posting 95 days in a row.

That matters because tomorrow is the last Pad challenge Day. And the last Daily thing I had planned. At least until April.

I am going to be doing the pad challenge again in April.

And I am going to be doing the Mermay art challenge.

There’s an art challenge for June, but I have yet to decide if I should do it…

This is going to be a busy year for publishing for me.

Single Author books we have scheduled through August already. There’s a lot of stuff coming. Currently scheduled for eight separate books with a few more possible.

And Fae Corps Publishing is doing 3 anthologies this year. Okay I am doing 2 calls and a special Anthology for the Owl Light Network. We all know that the calls can end up being 2 or 3 anthologies by the end.

And I am still working on writing and reading and living in the meantime.

So I am going back to the normal schedule for the week starting next week. Just thought I would give you a heads up.

Wild Wednesday

Thanksgiving has always been a large feast of a meal for me.

I spend days ahead cooking.

Sometimes traditions change.

The last couple of years have been bad because I have not been able to do the big meal. So I am doing it again this year. With minor changes.

We have to adapt to changes or they will wipe us away.

One of the Changes for me is the inability to make my favorite dishes. We have several Diabetics at the table so making so many desserts is a bad idea. Since I cannot make it, I wonder what recipes you are making, or cannot make.

This year I cannot make my banana pudding.

Wild Wednesday

So I am going to drop the holiday thing.

Yes I realize it is really early for this… but I kinda am in the mood for the conversation.

We do yule. It is a wonderful thing where we celebrate the time together more than anything else. Yes we do presents but we don’t make it a big deal. Most of my gifts to my daughter have been homemade for years. I try to get the rest of the family something that will make them smile.

So much of the people end up feeling like they have to go into debt to get the best gift for the holiday thing… for me the best thing about the holidays is that I get to see some of my family that are too far away to see otherwise.

Wild Wednesday

This time of year is so niche. First the artists in September/October are all doing all sorts of nifty art challenges. Then in November the writers all start talking about writing challenges. Not a writer and curious about what the challenges mean?

well For Poets there is a P.A.D. Challenge. This is fairly simple and easy to explain. It is a Poem A Day Challenge. The idea is to write at least one poem everyday in November. (I am trying to do 2 or more but that is because I already do a poem daily as one of my daily goals. The idea is to challenge yourself after all.)

The other Major challenge that goes on in November is NANOWRIMO. Which stands for National Novel Writing Month. The Idea is to write 50000 words during the month of November. (preferably all in one manuscript. but some split it up into shorts and other ideas just to get the writing done.) In order to accomplish this you would need to write  at minimum, you should be writing 1,667 words a day, or approximately 11,700 words a week. That can be daunting.

I am not doing Nano, but I am trying to boost my daily writing activity. I am hoping to make the habit stick. What challenges do you try to attempt? Are you a Writer or an artist? There is also art challenges throughout the other months of the year. April also generally sees a PAD challenge for National Poetry Month.

I am curious what other challenges people put themselves through. I end up having to explain the PAD challenge and Nano so often I wonder what challenges I may be missing out of ignorance.

Wild Wednesday

I enjoy photography. I am not a professional by any means.

I decided to take pictures of some urban decay. These turned out wonderful.

Wild Wednesday

I was searching for the theme…

I wanted Halloween Music. I came across this List.

I love it. When I had searched for the same sort of thing on Movies…Well I found I was disappointed in the list. Scary movies most of these are not…at least not to me.
Boyfriend says I am desensitized.

He might be right. I was reading horror books back in elementary school – like real ones. Steven King and the like. My parents did not limit what I read. (I was reading College level by time I hit 4th grade.)

I remember being scared by some really well written stories.

And My imagination is far richer than most movies.

So, I end up being disappointed by the movies because they can not live up to the full richness of the stories in my head. I get people who get mad at me when I say that I am not a video person…because the shows rarely are worth the time I have to spend away from my books.

And I have no way to explain that without sounding strange. I love music. I love books. Movies and television however often disappoints.

Old radio programs and Theater shows are amazing however…

Wild Wednesday

I am a certifiable board game geek.

I love all sorts. Today I am going to introduce you to one of my favorites.

Give me the Brain. You pay $4 get a pdf and print some cards. it’s neat as all get out. this is how I did it. The game is so fun. the concept is you are zombies running a restaurant. There is one brain between you. Some tasks require the brain to do. some don’t. The winner is the one who ends up with no cards.

There is a version of cards already made on Amazon…But I like my printed cards best. We went and had them laminated. Found a fake brain at the dollar tree that we keep with it and a six sided dice. (You need the dice) It has been hours of fun for us.

A single game usually takes around 15-20 minutes to play and can be anywhere from 2-10 players with no problems. The flavor text on the cards are a source of humor…and it really is good clean family friendly fun. (we got the deck when my daughter was around six. She loves it.)

Whelp It’s Wednesday!

I normally do Wow Wednesday…but this week is going to be a crazy one for me…and I am likely to be late next week on being able to schedule my blog. I am going to be out of Internet ability next weekend.

I will try to get it up, but I cannot guarantee anything.

I have things planned for every day this week. EVERY DAY.

Monday I am taking my girl and we are going to Spirit Halloween to look around.

Tuesday there is doctor appointments. Multiple ones.

Wednesday (Today) I need to go help my sister go through her storage building – with possibility of my walking away with a new keyboard (musical type). She is needing to condense it down and wants me to take stuff I want. So I really am looking forward to spending the day with her (Even without the storage building being involved) and the adventure sounds fun.

Thursday I am supposed to be packing/ getting ready to go out of town.

Friday I am going to my friends camp and spending the weekend. It is a nice camp, but I will be out of reach. No cell signal. No internet. So Techno geek me – panics. But we promised we would go.

We will return Sunday…but it will be forever….ya know?

If I don’t have my usual posts next week – that is why. I will have the Drawtober posts regardless. I have already scheduled those through October. (I went ahead and did the art for it so I did not have to worry about things like this.)

Wild Wednesday

Well it’s time for this again…

Help me choose what my new volume will be? I have less than 10 poems in Echoes left to write. Each of these are supposed to be Free Verse with no theme….

The writing on this new one will probably be done in November but the volume itself will not be ready for release until next year.