Write Anyway

Happy musical New Year’s Eve everyone!

Ah, New Year’s Eve. Even though I went to the Melbourne fireworks show last New Year’s Eve, I’ve decided I’d rather have a quiet night at home with good food, good drinks, good movies, and my fine husband.

The fireworks are awesome, but millions of people in one place – most of whom go for the trains after the show is done? It’s a bit much this year for me.

So, I bet you can imagine what the theme for this week is…or maybe not? This week I want to talk about changing things for the better.

Love them or hate them, a lot of people make New Year’s resolutions. (And usually give them up by the next week.) But still, it’s an exercise in, at least for a moment or two, wanting to change things in our lives for the better.

Some of us (including me) want to lose weight while others want more time to spend with the kids. Some want to be more financially stable while some want to try to be more impulsive and enjoy life.

No matter what your resolutions are for this year, I hope you make them seriously and are able to stick with them throughout 2008.

And now for some music! I have picked a few songs I love from previous Musical Mondays to feature today. Consider it a sort of 2007 wrap up.

Happy New Year’s to everyone. I hope you enjoy it to the fullest extent.

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I’m hosting part of a progressive dinner blog carnival on Fiction Scribe!

Have you ever been to a progressive dinner? You start out at one house or restaurant to have hors d’oeuvres and cocktails, then move on to a different one for appetizers, and continue moving from place to place all the way through dessert.

That’s the idea behind the new Progressive Dinner Blog Carnival…

Soup To Nuts is ONE BLOG CARNIVAL presented in five “courses”, each with a different host.

Entries are being accepted NOW.
Dinner will be served on Wednesday, January 30th.

{You can submit one post, per blog, on any subject - please do not use any post more than once}

You can participate in 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 courses

The Hors d’oeuvres & Cocktails course…
will be served at Fear and Loathing - The Gonzo Papers.
Email your entry for the hors d’oeuvres & cocktails course
to me {subject line Progressive Dinner} at: kilroy60@gmail.com

The Appetizer course…
will be served at Change Therapy.
Email your entry for the appetizer course
to Isabella {subject line - Progressive Dinner} at: moritherapy@shaw.ca

The First Course…
has not been assigned to a host yet.
Email your entry for the first course
to me {subject line - First Course} at: kilroy60@gmail.com

The Main Course…
will be served at Anja Merret - Chatting To My Generation.
Email your entry for the main course
to Anja {subject line - Progressive Dinner} at: anja@hqlondon.net

The Dessert Course…
will be served at Fiction Scribe.
Email your entry for the dessert course
to JM {subject line - Progressive Dinner} at: sylver1@tpg.com.au

Your entry should include…

—(-)-> Your name as you want it to appear
—(-)-> The name(s) of your blog(s)
—(-)-> The corresponding URL(s)
—(-)-> The title of your post(s)
—(-)-> The corresponding URL(s)

The Rules are simple…

1. Only English language posts will be accepted.
2. No posts with titles that include profanity or pictures of a sexual nature.

This is a one-of-a-kind blog carnival. The hosts would appreciate your help to promote the event. Let us know if you publish a post promoting the progressive dinner, your effort will be recognized. To make things as easy as possible for all involved, I ask the post more or less follow the structure of this one.

Hello everyone!

My spam filter has been eating all comments lately, so if you make a comment and it doesn’t show up, please let me know. (You can use the ‘contact me’ button on the right under the site description.)

I’ll try to keep a close eye on the spam trap until this sorts out, but I would greatly appreciate your help in this.

Thanks!

JM

I have decided to start doing another meme on this site called Friday’s Feast. If you are interested in participating in this meme, feel free to do so. Keep in mind, though, that I am starting with the first feast, so I’m going to be very far behind!

You can choose to feast with me or keep up with the latest. Either works for me. Be sure to link to your feasts in the comments section (new or old feasts) so I can check them out.

On to the feast!

Appetizer - What is your middle name? Would you change any of your names if you could? If so, what would you like to be called?

My middle name is Louise. I would definitely change that middle name, I think, due to it being a passed down family name. (Long story.)

As for my other names, I would have changed my maiden name and I did when I got married. I love my married name. It goes along quite nicely with my first name. My first name is unique, which I like, but given the chance, I might change it.

Soup - If you were a fashion designer, which fabrics, colors, and styles would you probably use the most?

Hm. I would use cotton based fabrics and pastels and natural colours. I would make nice, simple plus size styles. Too many idiot designers out there think plus size women don’t deserve pretty clothing.

Salad - What is your least favorite chore, and why?

Exercise. It’s time consuming (I walk to the gym then have a weights and cardio routine, and then I walk back) and I have so much to do.

Main Course - What is something that really frightens you, and can you trace it back to an event in your life?

Tsunamis frighten me, actually. I won’t tell you why because I don’t want anyone else to adopt the fear. (No, I haven’t been through one.) I can trace it back to my husband and I talking about it, actually. Combine that with a fear of water that I’ve been working for years to overcome.

Dessert - Where are you sitting right now? Name 3 things you can see at this moment.

I’m sitting at my desk and I can wee a lot of stuff. First, my small snow globe collection. Second, my statue of Isis. Third, an empty bottle of Frangelico (hazelnut liqueur).

Brought to you by Friday’s Feast

For this week’s free write, I would like you not to only write about Christmas but write about the holidays in general.

How does this season make you feel? What kind of memories do you have about this time of year and how do you think that reflects the way you view things today?

Is there a ‘true’ meaning of the holidays for you? Or do you go through the motions? Do you want to change how things are for next year? Why or why not?

Take the time for some introspection.

Most of you likely know the way this works, but in case you are new to the site…

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Hello everyone and welcome to this week’s Thursday Thirteen.

I know Christmas is over and we are now looking forward to 2008, but the theme is for the week and all, and I got the Christmas spirit late this year. I’m going to milk things just a bit longer. Having said that, here is a list of…

1. Carol of the Bells - I think this is one of the coolest Christmas songs out there. I sang it with my high school choir and I have never had so much pride in one of our performances.
2. Greensleeves - I’ve always found this was a beautiful and yet somewhat haunting song.
3. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
4. The Christmas Song - Appropriate, no?
5. My Grown-Up Christmas List
6. I Saw Momma Kissing Santa Claus
7. White Christmas - One of my childhood favourites.
8. I’ll be Home for Christmas - Another childhood favourite.
9. Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer
10. Let There Be Peace on Earth
11. All I Want For Christmas is You
12. Christmas Shoes
13. The Chipmunk Song

Check out my other Thursday Thirteens on The Book Stacks and Fiction Scribe

Hello once again on this lovely day after Christmas!

I have another prompt for you…

Earlier I asked you to write about your experiences from this Christmas, good or bad as they may be.

Now I would like you – after you have written about this Christmas so the memories don’t get changed – to write about your Christmases (or other holiday experiences if you don’t celebrate Christmas) of the past.

What were your Christmas experiences like as a child? Did you ever have any Christmases where ‘Santa couldn’t come to our house’ because money was tight? Was money fine but your parents were…not very creative and gave you school clothes every year? What were your favourite holiday traditions?

Whether they are good or bad, take a moment to delve into your past and remember your Christmases.

I loved Christmas when I was a child. My parents would take each of us kids our one at a time so we could buy presents for each other, which we got to open on Christmas eve. Then there was decorating the Christmas tree, which my mother and I usually did together.

My absolute favourite memory would have to be cookie night. One night in late November/early December, me, my mother, my aunt, and sometimes my grandmother and other aunt would get together and bake like crazy. One year it was just me and my mother, so my dad jumped in and helped too.

Anyway, we would bake and create dozens of different kinds of cookies for cookie boxes that would go to everyone we knew.

Good times.

How about yours?

Hello everyone!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas, if you celebrate. If you don’t celebrate, I hope you had a lovely day off. Either way, I hope the time was filled with love, laughter, presents, and great food.

Given I had the Christmas message up yesterday, we missed our prompt. I’ll be posting the usual Tuesday prompt today along with a few extras, so be sure to check back in here a little later today.

For your prompt today you should have an easy time writing heaps.

Tell me about your Christmas! (If you don’t celebrate Christmas, talk about your other celebration experiences.)

Did you spend it alone relaxing or were you trying to manage a huge family gathering? What kind of presents did you give/receive? Did you have some fabulous food choices or was the turkey a bit dry? Were there any moments you’ll always remember or was it simply a nice day throughout? Did you have a fun holiday tradition to take part of this year?

Tell me about how your holiday(s) went for you and your loved ones. Be sure to include everything from sights and smells to tastes, moods, and the funny things your relatives do when they’re drunk.

While this is a good writing exercise, this is also a good way to preserve your memories. Time tends to make things a bit different than they actually were and also dulls the senses a bit, so it’s great to write while it’s still fresh in your mind.

Merry Christmas Write Anyway readers!

I want to wish each and every one of you a very merry Christmas. May you achieve all you dream of, value the time you have with loved ones, and get all kinds of wonderful presents this year.

If you don’t celebrate Christmas, you have my good wishes to follow you in to the new year. I hope the best of everything for you as well and a life filled with happiness in love.

Merry Christmas Eve everyone!

Ah, Christmas. Christmas has always been my favourite season. I have always ignored the materialism and family dramas in favour of having an excuse to take the time to let people know how much they are loved and appreciated.

There’s nothing quite like picking out the perfect presents, the perfect bits of ribbon and wrapping, and the perfect card. The pleasure you feel as the person’s face lights up (or as you imagine the person’s face lighting up) is truly lovely.

I love giving presents to people all the time, but I especially love Christmas because I can give everyone presents as once.

And even more, there are a lot of yummy goodies to eat, fun people to talk to, awesome parties to go to, and receiving presents is pretty nice, too. (I won’t tell if you don’t. Ha!)

I really don’t expect anyone to be doing much writing or be in dire need of prompts, but for your enjoyment, I present some of my favourite Christmas carols, as performed by the group Celtic Woman.

Enjoy and happy holidays to you and yours.

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AS if! needs your help!

The Australian speculative fiction review site needs your help. AS if is a massive review site that relies on volunteer reviewers - of which Food Past’s Gillian is part of - to provide reviews on the site.

Why donate?

Donations to paypal will go towards covering postage for review copies to be sent out to reviewers. They would also like to recruit more overseas reviewers, who sit totally outside the community, to increase commentary. However, this would significantly increase the project costs.

Donations will also cover reviewers stalking second-hand bookshops and bookstalls and buying out of print Australian specfic for coverage on ASif! They could also look into buying copies of works of the bigger name writers whose publicists still don’t send review copies. Or, if you’re a big name writer and not currently reviewed on the site, perhaps you might consider sending them a copy of your work for review.

Also, another reason to donate is you can win some fabulous prizes! For every $5 donation to the drive, you will get your name into the ASif! Donation Drive Prize Raffle. So if you give $15, you have 3 chances to win.

Here’s a peek at the prize pool:

1 copy of In Bad Dreams
2 copies of C0ck
1 copy of Aggressive Retail Therapy by Grant Watson (out of print Angriest Video Store Clerk in the World trade paperback)
2 copies of the Issue 1 of Henry & Gil vs the Infinity Engine by Grant Watson and Edward J. Grug III
2 copies of Polyphony 6
2 copies of Twenty-Six Lies/One Truth by Ben Peek
2 copies of Swans Over the Moon by Forrest Aguirre
6 copies of Fables and Reflections
1 copy of Daikaiju 3
2 copies of Bad Case of Loving You by Laney Cairo
5 copies of Shiny Issue 1
5 copies of New Ceres Issue 2
1 copy of Potato Monkey Issue 5 (the final issue!!)
1 signed copy of Seacastle by Tansy Rayner Roberts
1 copy of Winterbirth by Brian Ruckley
1 copy of Celtika, Book 1 of the Merlin Codex by Robert Holdstock
1 copy of The Iron Grail, Book 2 of the Merlin Codex by Robert Holdstock

If you are interested in donating a prize, please contact girlie dot jones @ gmail dot com

If you are a writer and interested/willing to participate in a short story writing stunt (you don’t have to write a whole short story) - soon to be announced - please also email girlie dot jones @ gmail dot com

The December Donation Drive has kicked off and all donations received from now till Dec 24th will be eligible for the prize draw.

To make a donation, go here.

win, free, books, contest, australia, speculative fiction, fiction, In Bad Dreams, C0ck, Aggressive Retail Therapy, Grant Watson, Angriest Video Store Clerk in the World, Issue 1 of Henry & Gil vs the Infinity Engine, Edward J. Grug III, Polyphony 6, Twenty-Six Lies/One Truth, Ben Peek, Swans Over the Moon, Forrest Aguirre, Fables and Reflections, Laney Cairo, Shiny Issue 1, New Ceres Issue 2, Potato Monkey Issue 5, Seacastle, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Winterbirth, Brian Ruckley, Celtika, Book 1 of the Merlin Codex, Robert Holdstock, The Iron Grail, Book 2 of the Merlin Codex

I have decided to start doing another meme on this site called Friday’s Feast. If you are interested in participating in this meme, feel free to do so. Keep in mind, though, that I am starting with the first feast, so I’m going to be very far behind!

You can choose to feast with me or keep up with the latest. Either works for me. Be sure to link to your feasts in the comments section (new or old feasts) so I can check them out.

On to the first feast!

Appetizer: Where do you plan to go on vacation this year, or where would you want to go?

The husband and I are thinking about visiting Tasmania late next year.

Soup: What color is your bedroom? If you could redecorate it, what would you change?

It’s yellow. Haha. If I could redecorate, I’d leave it yellow but change the blue trim.

Salad: Do you have a bumper sticker on your vehicle? If not, make one up!

No bumper stickers…but my hubby loves the one that says “Honk if you love Jesus…and I’ll introduce you to him.” Heh heh.

Main Course: What’s the worst pain you’ve ever been in?

Not something I care to talk about.

Dessert: Who is your favorite celebrity? What do they do that inspires you?

I don’t have a favourite celebrity…

Brought to you by Friday’s Feast

Most of you likely know the way this works, but in case you are new to the site…

For your Friday free write, you can write as much or as little as you want. You can also write for as large or small time frame as you like. I recommend at least five minutes, though, to really get your mind going.

The only real rule is that you cannot go back and edit until the time is up. No going back whatsoever. This is about having a stream of consciousness.

The point of stream of consciousness writing isn’t so you have to devote a lot more time to editing (thought you might have to). Stream of consciousness writing lets your subconscious come out to play without having to worry about your internal editors.

When any of us sit down to write, we have a series of voices (someone telling you that you can’t write, some other voice saying you really shouldn’t talk about that…) that act as filters and censors. It’s getting past those censors and voices that you can find your true writing style and voice.

Take a few moments to breathe and centre before you start reading if you need to to quiet the censors, but do try to do it. It’s worth it, and you might find you’ll write something you didn’t expect you could write.

Have fun and remember to incorporate this week’s theme. We’ve been talking all about love, love, love, so you should have a lot to talk about.

This week we’re talking about love! First love, long lasting love… All kinds of love that make you feel.

This week I’m listing thirteen ways to say ‘I love you’ because hearing those three words can truly make someone’s day a lovely one. No pun intended. Sometimes they can be the easiest thing to say and sometimes the hardest.

No matter what it means to you or how easy or hard it is to say it, here is a list of ways you can say it, in case you’re needing a little inspiration.

1. Actually saying the words, “I love you.”
2. With gifts.
3. In an email.
4. In an e-card.
5. With stones/shells on the beach spalling out the words.
6. On the big screen at a sporting event.
7. With letter magnets on your refrigerator.
8. With a massage for your partner after a long day.
9. A bubble bath complete with candles and your partner’s favourite treat.
10. In a spot in the newspaper.
11. With touches/caresses/kisses.
12. With a song or mix CD.
13. Poetry.

Check out my other Thursday Thirteens on The Book Stacks and Fiction Scribe

Today I’ve decided not to do the random word bank. If you are truly eager for a random word bank, you can always talk to random people and ask them to give you words for your list.

You might make some new friends!

Given we are talking about love this week and there are so many things you can talk about when it comes to love, I decided to put up another “move me” prompt.

Yesterday I asked you to write about the ‘rosy glow’, first love type of love. That kind of love is wonderful and deserves its own place, but today I would like you to talk about a different kind of love.

This might not be possible to write about for some of the younger readers here, but if you don’t have direct experience you can interview people you know about theirs.

Today I would like you to talk about the long relationship kind of love. There comes a time in relationships when the rosy glow fades away and you see and feel a deeper kind of love. You may not be dreading every moment you spend apart anymore, but that’s because you’re secure in the knowledge that you love and are in love.

This deeper kind of love may take weeks, months, or even years, but time doesn’t matter. Deep love is something wonderful and should be cherished. It comes with security, understanding, and a lot more.

Write about this kind of deep love or interview people about their long relationships.