Desire and Destiny

I've been causing myself a bit of anxiety lately by trying to do too much. My biorhythm is lower in the Fall, going into Winter, so I'm listening to my body. I'm going into semi-hibernation mode. Do you do that?

My house is warm and toasty and I've taken out the warmer quilts and comforters for my bed. I have a warm blanket on my couch for naps and I've already made a pot of chicken soup that lasted me three days. Comfort foods and creature comforts are on the menu these days.

During this time of year, I don't accept many invitations and I enjoy my home. The river park is closed for the season and my car doesn't leave the lot as much. I stay close to home except for the Holidays which are fast-approaching. I love my home so this is a non-issue for me. I've lived alone for four years, so this isn't something that takes getting used to. I'm always busy and I enjoy the solitude at this time of year.

As for writing, I continue to edit my first novel, A Decent Woman. Seems hard to believe, doesn't it? Well, my new book on writing and editing the best novel I can, has inspired me. I know my novel is interesting to agents because I've had more than a dozen agents contact me for sample chapters over the last year. I've decided to give my novel a modern twist and this seems to be great for my historical novel. I'm not taking out a thing, only starting the book with a granddaughter who goes back for her grandmother's funeral and finds her journal which tells the story of Ana, the midwife. I am enjoying the process and I believe this will make my novel current and more commercial.

Agents have told me I'm a wonderful writer, that they enjoy my writing style and that my story intrigues them. The only negative thing I've heard from them and I don't think they're being kind to save my feelings, is that historical novels are difficult to sell. Well, adding the modern day element should fix that. I'm excited about going forward!

In my free time :) I decided to paint a portrait of Ana, the midwife. My Afro-Cuban, former slave will come to life. I've always wanted to paint Ana as I see her in mind's eye for my book cover. I am starting today. I haven't painted a portrait in two years, but I know I am ready. That part of my creative life has been missing and it seems like the time to start when I'm close to home.

This morning, I started Oprah and Deepak Chopra's 21-Day Meditation-Desire and Destiny; actually it begins tomorrow, but I wanted a head start. I enjoyed 20 minutes of relaxation sitting in my chair and I must have been very relaxed because I didn't even know that my cat, 
Pierre, was snuggled in my lap. Nice. I love meditating and the clarity and peace it affords me.

I desire to continue to write and my destiny is that of a writer and an artist. I'm blessed to do what I love and am passionate about.

Happy Veteran's Day to you. I honor my father today along with men and women who have served and still serve this country with honor, pride and sacrifice. I also honor their families and the sacrifices they all make.

Ellie

Moments of Pure Magic

Three inches does not a blizzard make. The weather experts on the local and national news stations looked a bit sheepish last night when they announced that the DC area had barely reached two inches of snow. I couldn't help but feel bad for them and was happy for all the kids who were off from school yesterday. I'm sure kids all over the area were hooting and hollering on their way out the door with sleds and dreams of epic snowball fights. Ya gotta love kids.

On the news last night, a mother told a reporter how she'd searched online for the location with the most snow in the area and she'd driven her kids to Manassas, Virginia so that they could play in the snow. Beautiful! Good for her and her kids, I thought.

I love a good snowfall, but I didn't enjoy trudging through the slushy snow to the post office yesterday. The sidewalks were impassable which meant that the only recourse I had was to walk the one block to the post office in the cleared street. Almost immediately, I felt cold wetness in my sock. Nice. The winter boots I purchased two winters ago were no longer water-proof. Fun!

I remember as a kid when NOTHING kept me inside and nothing prevented me from playing outside other than restriction, no matter what the weather was. My mother bundled my sister and I up until we looked like mini-blimps and once she opened that front door, we were gone until nighttime. How did we do it? How did we stay out that long? I suppose those were more innocent times when parents could let their kids out to play and not worry so much. We had no cell phones to keep us connected with our parents and were never where we told our mother we'd be. Never!

I remember one snowy afternoon when my sister, some friends and I decided that we would make an igloo. I'm laughing as I type this. Not should we or could we, we would. I love kids and their incredible imagination. They have no fear and no censor in their heads telling them that it's impossible. Of course we made that igloo! It was a fine igloo-like structure and it took us all afternoon. I still remember peeking out of our makeshift doorway in wonder as the sun went down and the snow glistened under the back porch light like millions of diamonds. A moment of pure magic! We heard my mother yelling for us shortly after that and I remember worrying that the boys would destroy our igloo in the morning. I hardly slept.

When we got inside, my sister and I stripped off our wet clothing onto the bathroom floor. The hems of my pants were frozen and I probably could have balanced my stiff pants to stand upright. I remember looking at my red, chapped legs as I entered the hot bath, wondering if I'd lose my legs to frost-bite. The steam rose off the hot water and soon, I felt tingling sensations as my skin warmed up. I never did lose a limb to snow, but in later years, my sister and I would laugh that a hot bath is probably the worst thing you can do for near-frostbite! We didn't know and we didn't have a Merck manual at home. We simply played outside until we could no longer feel our fingers and toes and then, we went home with runny noses and huge smiles.

My mother was a relaxed mother or maybe she just needed time to herself. I, on the other hand, was not so relaxed with my young kids. I owned a Merck manual that listed every disease known to man and I used it! "Let me see that spot on your leg again," I'd tell the kids. "What were your symptoms again?" It got to the point where I was so frightened that something would happen to my kids that I couldn't relax. I threw out that Merck manual and my kids taught me to play again. It was either keep my kids inside or go outside with them because the world in the late '80's was much different from the world of the 60's. So, I joined in.

Last night, I took a slushy walk with my Pug, Ozzy. Again, I marveled at how the snow glistened and sparkled under the streetlight as we walked home. Pure magic. Today, my inner child is alive and well. Take your inner child out and get your play on.

Peace and love,
Ellie

Movie Lines, Sayings and the Weather

"We're getting a blizzard this week!" Yeah?

"Better get under cover, Sylvester! There's a storm blowing, a whopper!" Well, I've heard the first line a couple of times this winter and the second line is from The Wizard of Oz. My West Virginia town has yet to see more than two inches of snow this year."Bah, humbug," I say.

I lived to tell the tale of surviving two back to back blizzards three years ago when I lived in the DC area. I lived in Dale City when the monster blizzard of 1978 or '79 (can't remember which) hit. I took this photo from my kitchen window right after the snow plow went through my townhouse development in Falls Church, Virginia. It was freaking awesome that we didn't lose power once and that I lost a dress size from shoveling. I should have gotten brownie points or at least a T-shirt for those two. I lived alone at the time and there were no chivalrous men in my neighborhood, let me tell you.

I've run out to Walmart several times this winter to buy water, wine (hello??), food and candles when the national and local weather people were SURE as shinola that we were going to get pounded with over a foot of snow only to wake up to a measly flurry. The boy aka the weather people, have cried wolf too many times before for my region of West Virginia and I'm not budging this time. "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not taking this anymore!" Ha! 

Maybe we'll get a foot of snow on Wednesday now that I'm doing nothing to prepare and that would be okay with me - I love snow. But, then I want it to melt and not reappear until next winter. "Go big or go home!"

Even the poor daffodils and robins are confused! On Saturday, I walked home from the library and saw several groupings of daffodils with five inches of growth. On Sunday, I would swear on a stack of Bibles that I saw a robin in the tree in my yard!

**This blog post was inspired by my search for cliches, adverbs and all-around dumb dialogue that I've written for my characters Ana and Serafina from my novel, A Decent Woman. The adverbs were easy to find and delete and honestly, some just fit, so I left them in.**

The false starts and surprises of winter in Berkeley County, West Virginia. You just can't predict diddly squat in my area these days. My neighbors, born and raised in this town, tell me that we're due a storm of epic proportions, historic even. "We're gonna get hammered, just you wait and see!" This happens every year and they tell me that March is that cooky month to watch. "Show me the money!" Wild and Wonderful West Virginia, eh? Okay, show me some extreme weather because in the two winters I've spent here, I haven't seen a thing. Nada. Puny snowfalls and a whole of ice last year.

My daughter texted me this morning to tell me that Northern Virginia is expecting 5-8" of snow and the weather pundits are predicting 8-12" for me. I honestly hadn't known and haven't turned on the weather channel this morning. I thanked my daughter and then, texted both my kids to tell them to be safe! Is this true? "Please, sir. I want some more." Well, we sure can count on global warning...this I believe to be true. Global warning isn't a myth, but that's for another blog post.

The weather isn't as predictable as it once was. Or was it predictable, at all?  Maybe I've gone all batty, but I want things to happen when they're supposed to. It snows in winter, the daffodils come up in March and I can safely wear white on Easter Sunday with bare legs. Not so, brothers and sisters. The only things I can count on never to be late are the bills and taxes; they're never late. Okay, and death. But, I'm living until I'm way past 100. The psychic told me so, but I may delete this line because I'm very superstitious...

I find it interesting that although I want certain things to be predictable and on-time, I'm also a person who doesn't enjoy routine and predictability. I never have. I don't make appointments to get my hair done, I prefer walk-in salons. I'm forever running after the trash truck and I'm not great about paying my bills on time. I detest making appointments and have been known to cancel at the last minute because I'm experiencing a fabulous writing streak.

I want things my way or the highway, thank you very much. Is that too much to ask?

Peace and love,
Ellie

But, I Digress...

Hi all,

We had snow flurries this morning!  I woke up, checked my phone for the time (no one wears watches anymore) and at 8:38, we had wet snow and snow flurries.  I was as excited as a kid, teen or adult who is hoping to get out of school or work or the commute to work.  And, I work from home :)  Hell, as an at-home Mom, I was excited for my kids to stay home so we could play! They had my ex-husband's genes in that respect, however...they never wanted to miss a day of school.  But, I digress...

Then, it was all over.  The snow flurries landed on wet sidewalks and it was all over, really before it even began.  Bummer.  I really wanted to see snow on the ground this morning.  I wanted to put on my old gray robe, make a pot of vanilla chai tea (chai means tea, doesn't it?) and write to my heart's content, watching the snow fall from the dining room window.

I've always wanted to live in a Currier & Ives painting. I want to live in a thatched roof cottage by a lazy river that has a brick bridge going that leads to my children's homes because they live a stone's throw from my house.  But, I digress...

Of course, I put on my old gray robe, made a pot of vanilla chai and powered up the laptop.  I edited my novel yesterday from 9 in the morning to nearly 10 at night with a few breaks. I was on a roll! Why?  Because I forgot to pay my cable bill that includes the Internet :)  No distractions and it worked like a charm.  I made huge strides on my novel and I'm so, so pleased with the first ten chapters.  But, I digress...wait.  What is this blog about any way?  Writing, snow, or kids?

So, I powered up the laptop this morning, shoo'd the cat away from my vanilla chai (which must be a drug as powerful as catnip for my Maine Coon, Pierre) and took Ozzy my Pug out for a quick walk.  On our walk, I noticed that Main Street has put on their Holiday accessories which are beautiful.  I just LOVE walking through small towns with big Christmas and holiday decorations like the town I live in.  It's charming this time of year, but I digress...

You know what? I don't have a damn clue what this blog is about.  I started losing the thread almost immediately and I don't think I even had a thread!  I just started writing.  That's the way it happens with me.  I just start to write and I end up with a short story, five poems (I canNOT write just poem) or a blog.  I write dialogue, scenes and character descriptions.  I rewrite paragraphs, whole chapters, beginnings and endings.  I never get bored.

I don't really know what today is all about, but I DO know that I have to write like I have to breathe.  I have to write and you should, too.

So back to my novel :)  Happy writing.

Peace and love,
Ellie

The Writer's Life in Winter

Hi all,

Despite having the heat on and the small heater in my bedroom on HIGH, it was cold this morning!  I grabbed my old, gray cashmere robe with the holes in it (moths?), put on thick socks and my black yoga pants (I don't DO yoga), and slipped into my fake black Uggs before coming downstairs.  This is my favorite winter writing outfit.  It was even colder downstairs in the kitchen!  Wooeeee!

Note to self:  buy another space heater for the kitchen.

I let the Puglet out from the kitchen door and he turned back at me like I'd told him to walk the plank off a ship into freezing waters!  "Be a man, Ozzy.  Get out there and do your business!" I told him and had to shut the kitchen door or he would have run back inside.  Eventually, he sniffed around and did his business on my nearly frozen hydrangea bushes.  Nice.  I'll have to remember to wear gardening gloves next Spring.  I could hear him say, "There, happy now?"  He did look a little smug when he ran inside.

Winter is the perfect time of year to write if you tend to hibernate like me in the winter months.  There is no gardening to be done in my yard although I could put those bulbs in the ground that have been sitting in my gardening shed for a year already.  Nah.  Too cold already!  My grapevine doesn't get pruned until March, so I live indoors now.

I either write downstairs on the dining room table with the view of my garden or upstairs in my bedroom.  I can choose between my comfy, warm bed or the huge banker's desk that sits against the wall if I go upstairs.  Nice to have choices :)  All my writing books are in a bookcase in my bedroom, as well.  My dictionaries, Thesauraus, books on plot, character development, POV, the latest Writer's Digest, and then some. I make a pot of tea or coffee and I'm set for the day.

To be a writer means playing alone in your head for hours upon hours a day.  It's nuts really, so you may as well be comfortable, warm and happy going nuts.

I usually begin writing and editing downstairs and as the day progresses, I move upstairs because the TV is close to the dining room and I can easily switch it on out of habit.  Too many distractions with the History channel, the Food Network, Bravo TV, NatGeo, SyFy shows and I am addicted to the Housewives shows!  All of them.  I know, I know, don't ask!

Do you have a favorite place or time to write?  What's your favorite writing outfit?  Have a nice day :)

Peace and love,
Ellie