Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Prequels and the Christmas Spirit

Okay, Prequels don't have anything to do with Christmas spirit, but I'm on a roll here, two things to talk about today.

First, let's get the writing thing out of the way.  I got my NaNo project out yesterday and sorted everything I'd written into Back Story, Act 1, Act 2, and Act 3 (which were kind of arbitrary, but at least that way I can see what I have).  I found that Back Story has at least as much crap as Acts 1,2 and 3 combined.  So maybe I need a pre-story, so that I can set some things up before I try to tell the story that I was trying to get out in the first place.  Is it overly ambitious to try for a trilogy before I've managed to complete even a short story?  Oh, who the hell cares, I'm going to do it anyway. 

I've managed to delete all of my dead husbands at this point, but now I have too many alcoholics.  As Roni and  Tiffany pointed out the other day on Twitter, dead wives are all the rage, so I may have to jump on that band wagon and work one in.  Especially since I'm just not good at vampires, shape shifters or mer-people.  I'm thinking maybe I can substitute PTSD for addiction in one of my characters.  We'll see.  I need to sit in a few more traffic jams to work this out in my head. 

Okay, so now for Christmas.  I have a real problem getting Christmas decorations going.  I just hate dragging out all of the stuff, because it's just going to have to be put away again.  Not until Easter, but still.  On the other hand, I do appreciate me some fine holiday displays.  This house down the street from our carpool friends is one of my favorites, because their Santa has a little of the Captain in him:   
See?  Just reversed. 

And I am not completely without holiday spirit at home.  I have managed to keep this Christmas cactus alive for two whole years, and this year, it even decided to bloom! 

On the left there you can see "Mushroom Man", who my daughter bought a few years ago at the Santa's Workshop thing they do at school.  Next to that is the pretty hand-thrown vase I got at the Renaissance Fair, then my Christmas cacuts in the Alice in Wonderland tea cup, and the cat tile my sister-in-law made.  I deleted the dirty sink below the windowsill.  I am slightly better with Photoshop than I am with a sponge. 

6 comments:

  1. Heh. That last line is killer.
    I still have one dead husband floating around (in my NOVEL!) and I don't think he can go anywhere. Maybe I should kill the MC, so I can have dead husband AND dead wife?

    My Christmas decor is pretty minimal. Just enough to give me the spirit, not enough to be troublesome to take down. A tree, two wreathes, swag on the front door, some garland, and a mantle thing. Presto! Of course, we live in a small apartment, but...

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  2. Ha! I too am better with photoshop than with a sponge. Of course, in my case, the bar is set low.

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  3. Summer, you are MILES ahead of me in the decorating race. You call that minimal?

    Linda; housecleaning is way overrated. The place just gets dirty again.

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  4. What are you writing? and why do you have so many dead husbands and all?
    That is one Santa hitting the bottle hard. I am not decorating this year cos we are going to houston on the 23rd and my 2yr old does not really understand (I haven't exactly helped)

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  5. I hear you on the reluctance to get out the Christmas decorations because you know they have to be put away eventually. I have some stuff out, but there's a lot more I want to get out and just haven't yet.

    I always love a Christmas cactus. They thrive on neglect. The perfect houseplant for me.

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  6. I like Christmas stuff. And the only reason it is put away before Valentines Day is my husband makes me :D I have had a Christmas Cactus for 3 years now and it has yet to bloom, but it is hanging on to life! :D I used to be good with plants. Somewhere, i lost my green thumg. *looks around* nope not there...

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