Tag: Thanksgiving

Thankful Thinking

by Linda Nelson, posted in writing

I am thankful more often than not. I just don’t usually post what I’m thankful for, and I probably should. So this year for Thanksgiving I will post my 27 Thankfuls.

  1. I am Thankful I have a job. So what if I am a writer. I have a full time day job that I do enjoy. It is a good feeling to like your line of work.
  2. I am Thankful for being part of a loving family. Some families are full of so many crazy negatives that it takes away from being able to enjoy the time spent with them. If you find you are in this way during the holiday season, remember everyone is at a different place, everyone has a life story and a plan. You just need to wait and let it all come together.
  3. I am Thankful for those who are present in my life. You have been given to me for a reason. I don’t need to know the reason at this time, just enjoy the moments and have the aha moment later.
  4. I am Thankful for those who had been in my life. They taught me many a lesson and left me with many memories. Both Good memories and bad memories serve a purpose. Learning from your experiences make you a much stronger individual.
  5. I am Thankful for the food on our table. Lord knows some people are probably going with out and others will have more than their share. I know I have what I need.
  6. I am Thankful to be a descendant of the Mayflower. It brings even more meaning to my holiday knowing this.
  7. I am Thankful for being a New Englander. Our season weather is never boring. If you don’t like the weather just wait a minute it will change.
  8. I am Thankful our dog is feeling better. Julie is the best dog ever and we will greatly miss her when she is gone.
  9. I am Thankful I wrote those stories. I feel they are all tales that needed to be told.
  10. I am Thankful I am a writer. I have found a constant outlet for my own entertainment.
  11. I am Thankful for my fans. They are the ones who have read and liked my stories.
  12. I am Thankful that NaNo is almost over. I never did expect myself to finish that WIP on time, but it did give me motivation to get a good head start.
  13. I am Thankful for online ordering. I don’t have to face the crowded stores if I don’t want to. I shopped last year on Black Friday. That was an experience.
  14. I am Thankful it is warm out. We are saving on heating fuel.
  15. I am Thankful that the next writers meeting is only two weeks away. I can’t wait to see my friends at the NHRWA chapter once again. They are such a great group of gals.
  16. I am Thankful for starting the next work in progress. It feels good to be writing again. Now if only I could keep my butt in the chair, it would hurry up and get done.
  17. I am Thankful for almost having my granddaughter’s sweater done. I have one sleeve and the hood left to do. It needs to be mailed to her by December 20th if she is to have it in time for Christmas.
  18. I am Thankful for the Hens who lay our eggs. If only they would lay more often so we would have plenty of eggs for all the goodies I plan on baking in the coming month.
  19. I am Thankful for the love of my life. He has brought me nothing but happiness for the past fourteen years.
  20. I am Thankful my son is back in recovery. May he find strength to continue on this journey he is taking. I know the path is long and winding and some do die along the way.
  21. I am Thankful for knowing the mothers/friends in my life. One lost a daughter and a son at very early ages, randomly. The other, lost her son before his time too, accidently. Their strength they have exhibited has shown me that if this were ever to happen to me for what ever the reason, life can and does go on. They are my heroines.
  22. I am Thankful I have a granddaughter. She is sweet. Someday in the future we will have a week together.
  23. I am Thankful for the service workers. They are the ones who help keep us safe.
  24. I am Thankful for planting apple trees this year. Hopefully we will have a great crop come next fall.
  25. I am Thankful for the garden we had this summer. Our freezer is full of peaches and green beans.
  26. I am Thankful for the price of gas dropping. It has made it a little bit easier to afford those Christmas gifts.
  27. I am Thankful I don’t have to travel for the holiday. The weather is not the best, but it is fine if you are remaining home. Oh and the traffic at this time of the year is amazing.
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Sunday Scoopful and #ROW80

by Linda Nelson, posted in ROW80, writing, writing and poetry

Can you believe it is already the third Sunday of the Month? Where did the days go? Next week is Thanksgiving.

Being the third weekend of the month means that yesterday was the third Saturday of the month, and it was the day my other writing group meets. The Monadnock Writers’ Group meets every third Saturday of the month from September to June at the Peterborough, New Hampshire town Library, downstairs. For all but two months, we are entertained by a speaker, a guest who shares tidbits about what it means to be a writer. We have had screenplay writers, poets, artists, photographers, and others who have something to share with the art form of writing.

This weekend we were visited by Judson D. Hale, Sr., The current editor-in-chief of The Old Farmer’s Almanac and Yankee magazine and is Chairman of the Board at Yankee Publishing. He shared tidbits of what an editor faces when it comes to submissions. He gave many example of queries he has received over the years and why he told the person no and why he said yes to a story. He said it was all in the blurb or tag line of the story on whether or not he found the story to his appeal. If the story line sounded boring he would say no, and if they gave him a blurb with juice to it, he would say yes. It wasn’t the subject matter that made the difference it was all in the way it was presented.

Judson had some genuinely excellent points, and he shared his witty humor with us along with some of his favorite quotes.

So who is doing NaNo-ing?

*raises hand…

ROW80 Check In:

I’m still NaNo-ing. Yep, that’s right. I haven’t given up hope just yet, even if I missed writing a few days this week.

Remember, my best is writing a first draft in 90 days. So, if I can beat that best, then I win my own personal goal, even if I don’t finish the work in progress in due time to make the NaNo goal.

Today I am happy to report my 5k for today. I might finish the first draft by the end of January.

I did have to go and revamp my plot outline before I could go any further. It is so helpful to have that plot point by plot point all figured out. The characters may not always behave the way you might want them too, but if the goal is there already for them to get to the rest of the character building falls into place.

It does not matter if your character is not as strong as you wanted them to be. They can still be kick ass and sweet and simple too. The most crucial thing is to make your characters likeable. Then you can pick the characters off one at a time if they don’t want to behave.

I must say, I can’t kill off characters as easily as Suzanne Collins did in Hunger Games. As I read her book I was miffed at how easily she was able to kill them, one after the other. In the end, I found myself saying – out loud – huh? Now why did she kill him off, I kind of liked him? He must have been a terribly crummy boy for her to do that to him.

Now I am learning the art of killing off characters (lol). At the 20% point of the work in progress, I have successfully managed to kill off one character. I wonder how many more characters that I can kill off by the end of the story.

Happy NaNo-ing and may your WIP treat you well for your next ROW80 check in.

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