WORK? BUT IT'S CHRISTMAS!

 

I love Christmas, but even I think this is too much!

I’m working on a new novel. In fact, I’m working on an entirely new series, but you’d never know it by my output here in December. As the days count down to Christmas and New Year’s, I can’t find the focus to devote to building my fictional world or molding my fictional characters, putting words in people’s mouths or setting the scenes they’re in. I might as well be nine years old again, waiting for Santa to come down the chimney.

I’m a bit of a Christmas freak, you see. Things weren’t always great when I was growing up; I had a few really rough holiday seasons. There are two ways to react to that once you’re grown: turn into Scrooge and reject Christmas or decide, now that Christmas is under your control, the holidays will be the best they can be.  I took the second road.

Every year, I go all in on the decorations and the cheesy movies and the music and the sentiment. I’m trying to pull back a bit on the presents—at this age, my husband and I have everything we need, after all, and my kids just need money—but Santa and her elves do get creative with what goes in the stockings. That can include nice little goodies as well as gag gifts to make Christmas morning fun.

We’ll be traveling to see family just before the holidays, too, with a long road trip to see both daughters and the grandkids. My youngest daughter was born on the Winter Solstice, so that’s been an automatic pre-Christmas party every year since. Then we’ll have guests here at home over Christmas and New Year’s.

With all that going on, there’s not a chance in the North Pole I’ll be able to concentrate on work. I’m not the dedicated author that, say, Stephen King is, writing eight hours a day every day of the year except his birthday and the Fourth of July. But then, I’ve always believed he’s able to do that because he has wife Tabitha keeping the emotional and housekeeping home fires burning for him. He probably just pops out of his office for the Christmas dinner and presents she’s arranged, then goes happily back to work. Can’t be that way for those of us women who make the home magic happen.

But, you know, I’m not unhappy or resentful about my December hiatus. I don’t feel too guilty about slacking off during this time of joy and peace to the world. Our minds should be on something else besides the next step on the career ladder. The long, cold days of January will be upon us soon enough. Plenty of time to work then.

Cheers and Happy Holidays,

Donna

 

 

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' DAY IN CHEROKEE

There's nothing like the Smoky Mountains in Fall.

This past week here in the U.S. we celebrated Indigenous Peoples’ Day, a holiday updating the long inaccurate and inappropriate “Columbus Day” meant to honor the “discoverer of America.” The problem with that was that Christopher Columbus didn’t really discover America (indigenous people had been living here for centuries and, besides, Leif Erickson had sailed from Europe before, too) and what followed Columbus’s landing wasn’t exactly something to celebrate for the folks living here, either.

So, Indigenous Peoples’ Day has a better ring to it. Here in Western North Carolina, the indigenous Cherokee exert a subtle presence over the land those of us of European descent have overtaken. Somehow that’s inevitable, not only because so many of the features of the landscape—mountains, rivers, towns—have Cherokee names, but also because the Cherokee lived in such close association with the environment that their spirit can still be felt here if you take the time to listen for it.

I spent the day after Indigenous Peoples’ Day in modern-day Cherokee country, across the old Quallah Boundary, west of my home in Marshall, in Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the town of Cherokee next door. Signs were written in both English and Cherokee (one of the first written Native languages), billboards advertised local Native crafts and businesses and, of course, Unto These Hills, the play written about the Trail of Tears.

Even folks who aren’t from this area are familiar with the story of the Indian Removal Act of 1830, passed by slim vote in Congress under the presidency of Andrew Jackson. Not only the Cherokee, but members of all Five Civilized Tribes (Cherokee, Chicasaw, Creek, Choctaw, and Seminole) from Michigan to Louisiana and Florida were subject to removal across the Mississippi under the act, to “Indian territory” (Oklahoma).

Seminole leaders fled into the swamps of Florida and largely avoided removal. Cherokees under the leadership of Junaluska (who had once saved Jackson life in battle) and others resisted by legal means since many were educated and owned farms and businesses. But they were betrayed by three others, who signed over their land for a promised sum of $5 million in the 1835 Treaty of New Echota. Despite the fact that the Cherokee Nation as a whole rejected the treaty, some 16,000 Cherokee were forcibly removed from their homes two years after Congress ratified the treaty in 1836. Four thousand died on the way to Oklahoma, a trip made mostly in winter, with little food. They were buried in unmarked graves, far from home.

A small band of Cherokee families owned land around the Oconoluftee River in Western North Carolina under earlier treaties and, after a special appeal to the North Carolina legislature, was allowed to stay behind. Another group of 300-400 led by a man named Tsali hid in the mountains and avoided capture during the removal. Tsali was eventually captured by Federal soldiers but negotiated to allow his people to stay. All in all, about a thousand Cherokee remained in Western North Carolina (or returned from Oklahoma) to serve as the ancestors of what is today the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, who live centered in around Cherokee, NC.

On an earlier trip to Cherokee, I visited the excellent Museum of the Cherokee Indian, which is part history, part art museum. When I was much younger (like 12), I visited the living history Oconoluftee Indian Village, a recreation of a Cherokee village of the 18^th Century. I guess you could say I’ve always been fascinated with Native culture.

I didn’t set out to visit Cherokee for Indigenous Peoples’ Day. That was just a happy coincidence. Hubby and I spent the weekend in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, home of Dolly Parton’s Dollywood theme park—our first getaway that wasn’t related to family since COVID. Turned out it was a perfect fall weekend, with the leaves turning, the sun shining, the breeze just crisp enough. The crowds at Dollywood were a little overwhelming after all this time in isolation, but I love people-watching, so I got my fill of that. We ignored the rides and concentrated on the music (which was top-notch), the crafts and the food. Then we came back through the mountains, which were stunning.

The trip left us more grateful than ever to live in this wonderful place, once and still the home of the Cherokee.

Cheers, Donna

 

FROM ALL OF US AT SPACEFREIGHTERS!

 

 

LOTS GOING ON, SO . . .

Enjoy the beginning of Spring Festival, Lunar New Year and Lantern Festival! Remember to wear red, decorate with red and shoot off your firecrackers. Be positive in all things and start off the Year of the Rat (the first and fastest of the animals in the Chinese zodiac) with all possible good luck.

And, if you really want to have a lasting impact on your life in this New Year, maybe take up taiji or qigong!

Cheers, Donna

Back from hols and some website suggestions

It has been a busy couple of weeks chez nous. We've been away in Europe (France and Italy) for three weeks and as usual I've been blogging our adventures with photos taken by me. Okay, sometimes I steal his because he takes pictures of things that I don't. Anyway, should you be interested in what we did, take yourself over here. Apart from that we came home to find an electrical fault had shut off our fridges (with freezers full of mainly meat) about a week after we left. We tossed out several hundred dollars worth of no longer frozen food and replaced the fridges. Trust me, it's impossible to get that smell out. The stink permeates everything. I even tossed out the plastic containers in the fridge. They absorbed the odour and nothing would shift it.

Our joyous return not withstanding, I won't say it was the greatest trip we've ever been on, more like a roller-coaster ride. Hey ho. A few more things have been ticked off the bucket list. I've seen the statue of David and The Cinque Terre, and I've been on a budget airline. That wasn't actually on the bucket list. It was something we had to do because there was no reasonable alternative. I don't think we'll be doing THAT again. I also don't think we'll be going to Europe in high season again. I'm not good with crowds.

I haven't been writing any fiction lately. One lives in hope that the urge will return. But I did read an interesting article by Jane Friedman entitled 10 ways to build traffic to your website.

I'm fortunate that my name is unusual enough to get me to the top of the page if you type it into Google, but I don't actually get many visitors apart from the few who read my travel blogs, so anything is going to help. After all, like most small time authors, I don't have an advertising budget - or not one to speak of. I already do a number of the things Jane suggests - but instead of a page per book, I've had a page per series.

Sigh.

I kinda sorta knew I ought to have a page per book. I've done that now. I still have a page per series, but when you click on a cover, you get a new page with the details. It certainly does give greater flexibility on social media, because (of course) I can send people right to my book page instead of expecting them to trawl through a series.

The series page

The book page

I'm hoping the new structure will give me a better SEO. I've taken Jane's advice and added a few key words to the text. We'll see how it goes.

A question: I have a number of short stories (10-15k) that I sell as stand alones. Do you think I should do a page for them, too, or keep them together on the series page?

I can't sign off without making reference to 11th September. It is a date etched in most older people's minds. I'm sure we can all remember in detail what we were doing when we heard the news - even in far away Australia. It was a sad, dreadful time. My sympathies go out to victims, friends, and families.

To my American friends, if you're in the path of a hurricane, I wish you all the very best.

On Writing -- Muse 0: Distractions 4

So, I did it. I opted out of the next Pets in Space collection...provided there even IS a next Pets in Space collection. For the last two years, I've invested a major chunk of my time in writing and revising two successive Pets in Space novellas, and in blogging, tweeting, FBing and promoting the collection. (A genuine and valuable learning experience!)

It was a very difficult decision to send an email to the organizers telling them in advance I was opting out, but my aim is to get back on my professional track and start kicking out more of my own titles next year. I planned to get right on it. I rolled up my sleeves to tackle my next two projects, and...

Well. Easier said than done, as it turns out. Distractions are the devil, and lately I've had my share of them.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi!

In just four days! Definitely a major distraction! How is a writer supposed to write when the anticipation (and/or dread) is so high? Please, please, please, Hollywood, don't ruin a standard in storytelling that's stood for decades--most of my lifetime, in fact--by turning out yet another glib, depressing piece of motion picture garbage. Don't do that to my beloved Star Wars. Don't you dare!

The movie trailers and previews look promising...

 



But, well, we've seen that before only to have the film do a big, fat belly flop.

Again, I say, don't you do to Star Wars what you've done to so many great ideas. Ruin them. I'm holding you accountable, Hollywood. Me and millions of other fans. I hope you're shaking in your boots right now. You should be!

This latest installment better darn well live up to the bar that's been set.

And we'll find out in just four days!

Taking on the 2017 SFR Galaxy Awards

Several years ago Heather Massey had a wonderful idea to create an award program for Science Fiction Romance that focused on different stand-out aspects of different books (and the occasional movie, graphic novel or video game). The whole point behind the awards was to help readers find books they'd really enjoy reading. We teamed up together to launch the first SFR Galaxy Awards for 2011. This year marks the 6th anniversary of the awards.

Recently, Heather contacted me to see if I'd have any interest in hosting the awards for 2017, because life was just a little too full for her this year. I agreed to take the reins, at least for this next round. And so the awards will go on.

Look for the announcements to begin posting the morning of January 30th in their usually pattern--one round per hour. We also have a new judge this year, and you can meet her, as well as get re-acquainted with our returning judges, on the SFR Galaxy Awards site.

I hope you'll tune in for the festivities when they roll out in January.

The Holidays
 
Tralalalalala. It's almost Christmas! Seriously. How did that happen? Wasn't it January just last week?

I love the holidays, but they do bring their fair share of time-gobbling must-do's. Shopping, attending parties and events, decorating, wrapping, and writing out cards.

Now that I'm retired, I have no excuse not to slow down and smell the Poinsettias, so I have to allow myself the seasonal break even though it's going to cut into my writing time. After all, the holidays only come once a year, and each year, there are fewer ahead to look forward to.

Life's too short not to celebrate.

But then...

A Personal Loss

This was a very sad event indeed, so I won't go into detail and depress everyone, but suffice it to say we recently lost a long-time friend to ALS. Of all the things I'm juggling right now, this one has been the most difficult to deal with. No amount of organization or planning can "fix" the loss of a friend. No amount of holiday festivities can overcome the sadness. No recounting the memories or the good times can bring back the past.

Sometimes life is like a steamroller. It's going to flatten you as it rolls on toward the future.

There's a movie called The Village in which the residents of the small town often gather to share a big feast. Before they begin, they say a prayer.

It starts: "Thank you for the time we have been given..."

Yes. That.

Sorry to end my blog on such a somber note, but of all the setbacks mentioned, grief has packed the biggest wallop of them all.

Thanks for stopping by. And have a great week.