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It’s That Time Again…
Only one more day until 🎼The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year🎶 and the kickoff for Holly and Ivy. This year’s Holiday Season Serial Romance is about a pair of sisters whose hearts need to grow a few sizes before they miss out on the magic of Christmas.
Thanksliving
I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual. ~Henry David Thoreau
A couple of years ago, Pastor Russ gave a sermon about Thanksliving that really stuck with me.
As much as I gripe about summer, I do try to keep a spirit of Thanksliving about me.
I am grateful for my health (such as it is), my ability to do meaningful and challenging work that helps me pay the bills and the gift of creativity that I have been working on turning into my eventual form of primary endeavor.
The thing about Thanksliving is that even though we’re not perfect (no matter how I try to convince my wife that I am), we can always be grateful for what we have.
It’s okay to want more because it gives us something to strive for as long as it doesn’t drag us down into envy of those who already have it or obsessive, miserly grasping after more for more’s sake.
🙏🏼 Live simply that others may simply live. 🙏🏼
I remember Kelly showing me this and, like the idea of Thanksliving, it stuck with me. Despite what the slavering commies on the news are telling us, it is actually possible for us all to live and get along and have what we need in life without depriving someone else.
Maybe we should focus on how to get along today instead of trying to find some way to apply the standards of today to the occupants of another century.
Most people are trying to do their best to get along and live their lives. Those who aren’t are usually the architects of their own downfall, anyway. Thanksliving is definitely not about being in the latter category. You be you and let me be me, and we’ll all get along just fine.
A Feast For The Eyes
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving 1973 | FULL MOVIE | Warner Bros Animation
One of the best things about the holiday season is that there are so many enjoyable stories that have been brought to the screen.
It’s nice to see all of these depictions of people overcoming interpersonal strife and getting along over a tasty Thanksgiving meal.
😺 I’m thankful for happy endings. 😺
Hey, get your mind out of the gutter. I’m trying to be nice here…
From a fiction writing standpoint, there’s value to tragic stories but most of us prefer the protagonist to live happily ever after.
From a holiday standpoint, it’s an absolute must. The year is drawing to a close with alarming rapidity and we want to know it’s all been worth it. That’s part of the reason that Christmas is such a season of nonstop partying. We want some sense that everything we’ve been through this year has led to something worthwhile.
If we can’t have that, at least we can have some sumptuous dinners, some colorfully wrapped presents and a boatload of cookies to trick ourselves into thinking that it was. I guess that’s better than nothing…
🥧 Garfield’s Thanksgiving 🦃 Garfield & Friends 🍂
How To Remain An Artist
All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. ~Pablo Picasso
That’s the big question, isn’t it?
For me, I have no real choice in the matter. The muse may come and go. My productivity may wax and wane. Ultimately, I have no choice but to be creative. It just wants to happen.
I’m miserable if I don’t have an outlet for creativity.
Fortunately, ever since I came up with the idea of the Holiday Season Serial Romance, I’ve had a guaranteed avenue for creative expression.
The fact that it’s time-constrained also helps to prevent the quandary I’m faced with on The Sentinels. I thought writing the first trilogy of the full 13 book series in First Person/Present would be really cool and immersive. Unfortunately, all of that psychological intimacy compacts the time and makes everything take forever. Also unfortunately, it would put books 1-3 at odds with books 4-13 stylistically. I’ve heard that this tends to put readers’ noses out of joint.
Me being me, I don’t actually care so much about that. If people can’t cope, that’s their problem.
Me being a publishing company, I care about crashing future sales of what I hope to be a large intellectual property that I can replace my programming income with and possibly pass to my kids as a financial inheritance.
Me being me, I care and yet I don’t. It’s a bit of a minefield I have to traverse. The path between what I want to do and how I want to do it versus keeping readers from suffering cognitive dissonance is one that’s not so easy for me to navigate because deep down in my heart, I really don’t care what people want. I want to make what I want to make, how I want to make it and if people can’t cope, that’s really their problem rather than mine.
Unfortunately, it is my problem if I do something that kills the product. So, let’s don’t do that… I’ve got plenty of stories to tell and there’s no point in shooting myself in the foot if I can avoid it.
That’s all for now. I hope you have a scrumptious 🦃🌽Thanksgiving dinner🥧🥂 and keep an eye out for Holly and Ivy on Facebook.