Kate Warren

As I sit here typing on the eve of my birthday, ready to bid my twenties farewell, I feel an urge to review my life thus far and make plans for what the next chapter will hold.  Unfortunately I am in no condition to do either of those things as I have a cold and antihistamines rob me of the ability to think very deeply about anything.

We are in the midst of the Winter break for school, which means the boys are all home and tripping over each other all day long.  I think they will be relieved when school starts up again in January.  So the house has more daytime noise than usual.  The Christmas tree is, remarkably, still up.  In previous years it had to be taken down right away due to the younger kids' inability to leave it alone.  We have tinsel and ornaments hung in the livingroom and kitchen this year.  I think we'll keep that tradition.  It's nice to look up and see something other than the ceiling.

No writing has been done since the first week of the month.  Not even Christmas cards. Hoping January will see things settle a bit.  In the mean time I will get those cards out before Easter, and I've got a few new story ideas that I am nobly refusing to start while my work-in-progress is in progress.

I wish everyone a happy new year with success and joy brimming over.  See you in 2012.

Kate

It's getting close now.  There are only two days left of school this year.  Christmas Eve is Saturday.  Christmas Day (also my oldest son's birthday) is Sunday.  I've got my holiday YouTube playlist nearly ready to go--test running in the background as I type.  No presents wrapped as yet.  No cookies made.

The ugly plastic tree is going up tonight.  I console myself with the fact that it will look ok from way back in the kitchen and that my husband let me buy new decorations.  He also bought me books.  He's getting into it this year.

So far only one child has requested cookies for a school party.  The same one who is praying for snow because he doesn't want a green/brown Christmas (which I have pointed out to him was what we had the year he was born). 

The kids are all helping set up the tree.  This should be interesting.  One asked if it's supposed to be a fake pine or spruce.  I don't know.  Soon begins the vigil of keeping the youngest two and the puppy from knocking it over or chewing on the lower branches and ornaments.  Admittedly, the puppy is more likely to try eating the tree.

My next post will be post-Christmas so I'm going to wish you all a wonderful holiday, whether you celebrate it or not.  Enjoy the time off, and have some fun.

Kate

'Tis the season for making things sparkle.  I look forward to hanging the garland on the stair railing, the colored lights, the different ornaments.  But there's one part I don't much care for: our tree.

You see we have an artificial tree.  It looked really good when we first bought it, five years ago.  Now it looks like...an artificial tree.  No pine-y smell.  No piece of the outdoors indoors.  No hanging ornaments deep in the branches because there's only wire back there.  The reason we have an artificial tree is that my husband can't stand the smell of real Christmas trees.  It's a shame.  I really miss that.

Of course not all Christmas trees are pine.  Some are spruce.  Or fir.  Or...some other such evergreen.  Apparently they all smell too strong though.

There are benefits to artificial trees though.  No needles stuck in the carpet.  No worrying about watering the tree.  Don't have to buy one every single year.  And you don't have to worry about disposal because you just put it back in its box for another 11 months and three weeks.  They are also much less flammable.

Given that every year I ask if we can get a real tree and every year the opposition wins out, I'd like to ask my readers:

Do you prefer real trees or fake ones?

I'm really interested in public opinion on this one. 

Kate

Now that NaNoWriMo is over, I find myself a little sad.  The boards are becoming more desolate, the frantic energy that kept me writing has disappeared, and the weather has turned cold.  Normally the weather would have already been cold.  It's been an odd fall.

I still have the novel to finish.  52,000 odd words wasn't the whole story.  But I'm exhausted.  Things have been nuts at my house.  We have a puppy, who is adorable, but takes plenty of supervision to assure he does not chew the house down.  The kids have various projects coming up for school.  The holidays are coming up.

We don't have a lot of traditions.  There have been some I've tried to start that didn't work out--more about that later.  We have our fake tree (not my first choice, I can tell you) and some decorations we put up around the house.  We have ornaments that hang from the light fixtures in our kitchen year round actually.  I like to bake a few different kinds of cookies and treats to share.  I give a plate to our mail lady, and to the kids' bus drivers. 

We also have a birthday on Christmas Day so we used to celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve but our son who has that birthday has requested that we merge the two.  There are a few movies we watch leading up to the big day.

A question for my readers...what are your favorite holiday traditions?  Do you put up a tree?  Light the menorah?  Watch special films or read certain stories?  Do you put up stockings or leave cookies and milk out for a certain man in a red suit?  Is there a particular ornament or song that means a lot to you?  Please share your stories.

Kate

Hello readers,
  
I am back to writing after having taken that day off.  I'm slowly gaining back the ground I lost.  I started yesterday a little over 3,000 words behind and by the time I stopped writing I was 1,900 words behind.  I'm hoping to get caught up either today or tomorrow.

Slow going write now as my brain is exhausted and wants to shut down.  At the moment I wouldn't say no to a long winter's nap.  Still the wordcount looms, like an anvil placed above my head.  No idea where that similie came from but I'm so not editing this post.

Thanksgiving at my house will be largely the responsibility of the men in the family.  I will make my famous mashed potatoes but other than that I will be writing.  Should be an interesting experience.

To all of my American friends I wish a happy Thanksgiving Day, one during which you truly find the grace to give thanks for your blessings, however small.  To my Canadian friends, happy Thanksgiving last month (you lucky people, no holiday to interfere with NaNo up there)  To everyone else:  good wishes for a peaceful and plentiful Thursday.

See you all next week.  Keep writing.

Kate

My kids have the right idea: ignore thermometers and wear as little clothing as you can get away with. 

With a heat index near 115 F my plan was to keep them inside during the heat of the day.  Sadly, at least one of my kids is smarter than I am and slipped outside during the 30 seconds that I wasn't looking.  But there was shade on the patio and all he wanted was water in the wading pool.  We did one better and hooked up the sprinkler too.  The next oldest brother quickly went for his swim trunks and the youngest had to be called back inside to put on her little swimsuit (can't really blame her for wanting to be out in just a diaper).  Eventually the oldest got in on the action as well.

While I didn't indulge myself (my swimsuit hasn' t seen the light of day in long enough that it is now too small) it was fun watching the kids splash around.  Ice cream for dinner doesn't happen everyday either.  One of life's most important rules is that sometimes it's important to ignore the rules, especially when it's too hot to cook.

Well it's a holiday weekend and our plans include having hotdogs, potato salad, green cottage cheese and chips, and watching 1776. 

Hope you all have a fun and safe holiday weekend.  And don't set your truck on fire like a local volunteer fire department once did during the festive fireworks display, but that's really a story for another time.

Kate

Actually, probably not that nasty.  Tonight I'm going to attend a family get-together the likes of which only happen once a year.  In addition to the colorful adults in the family there will be more than half a dozen kids running around.  I've noted before that children are wonderful for writing.   This could be fertile ground for the creative mind to harvest ideas. 

My biggest problem will be remembering any of the stuff that happens, because I won't be able to take notes.  That would be way too obvious, and I don't need to alert my siblings that there's a slight chance their actions will turn into fodder for my career.  Did I mention I have a devious streak?

But really, every writer needs to be an observer of human nature and interaction.  That's how we get three-dimensional characters and realistic dialogue.  I'm not advising copying from life verbatim, but anything can inspire you to create similar situations in your work. 

This happens to be Memorial Day weekend and a lot of people will be gathering with friends and family.  Keep any high (or low) points in mind next time you sit down to write.  Also, for any of my readers who are travelling, I wish you a safe and uneventful commute to your destinations and home again.

Kate

Are you a woman?  Do you know a woman?  Are you perhaps related to a woman?

If you answered "yes" to any of the above, you may now join in celebrating International Women's Day.  Now I hadn't really heard of this before last week, but I'm willing to bake something delicious anyway and raise a cupcake (or perhaps a cookie) to my fellow women.

Women face unique challenges.  We harbor new life, we give birth to said new life, we often raise the new life (a frequently thankless task),  all while maintaining our homes and selves.  Some of us work outside the home.  All of us work inside the home.

Take a look at the women around you.  What do you see?  Friends, family, a few rivals?  Misunderstandings and sometimes perfect understanding can get in the way of sisterhood.  This is a day to let go of any grudges and respect the challenges we all face everyday, a day to support each other and lift each other up.  Celebrate International Women's Day.    If nothing else, be glad you're not a man.

Kate