Christmas and Memories #BWLAuthor #MFRWAuthor #Christmas #Memories #Grandfather #Goose #Nutcracker

 

When December arrives, two things echoe in my thoughts. One is the music from the Nutcracker. The strains of the lovely music are always in the back of my mind and sometimes when I'm deep in thought. The second is my grandfather's voice saying "Christmas is coming. The geese are getting fat. Please put a penny in the old man's hat." This was his Christmas greeting to me every day. My grandfather wasn't a tall man but he was strong. He worked on bridges and other high places. He even worked on the Golden Gate Bridge. When I hear him in my thoughts say those words, I hear the touch of England in his voice. I also remember him sitting iwth me on his lap reading to me and moving his finger under the words. My mother says he did this even when I was a few weeks old. "Go and catch a falling star." Those words also bring him to mind. He loved John Donne's poems and read them all to me. Maybe even the sermong. "No man is an Island," where other words I recall.

Grandfather loved Christmas and was like a child. He also loved circuses and amusement parks. Most of all he loved books and he taught me to love them as well. He took me to the library on my third Birthday to get my won library card. What a thrill that day was. So my Christmas memories are filled with lots of things and also of the coal he always managed to fit into my stocking, as a warnng to be good. Though I only had him in my life until I was six, he's still there in my memories. "Christmas is coming."

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Kids make the future bright, by J.C. Kavanagh

A Bright Darkness, Book 3 of the award-winning Twisted Climb series

I was invited to speak to the Grade 9, 10 and 12 English-class students at a local high school. What a fantastic and invigorating experience. I say 'invigorating' because it revived my heart and soul for the future of human-kind. These teens were engaged and curious. Life for them as young adults was just beginning and from what I observed, they were embracing the future whole-heartedly.

Yes, these teens were also inquisitive about all aspects of creative writing and quite receptive to my own tips on writing - factually through research, and creatively using 'the playground of the mind' as I like to call it. Or "Word Movie." The kids loved that phrase. 

I think it's the combination of true and accurate facts weaved into the fiction that keeps the reader in tune with the author.

There were approximately 30 students per class, with the exception of the final class. That class was a combination of grades 10 and 12, a huge, double class of 50 teens. Judging by the amount of questions in the Q&A segment the kids enjoyed hearing about my writing experiences as well as my reading a few excerpts from The Twisted Climb series. 

I ended each 75-minute session with a creative writing segment. I provided five key words and the class was then divided into five or more groups. Each group had to write a story based on those five words. What a hoot!

Examples 

Class 2, Grade 9 group: key words - picture frame, thunder, stopwatch, puppy, museum 

Story: Caribou

Once upon a time, there was a boy named Powell. Powell was takimg a stroll and went into the museum because he heard thunder. When he stepped into the building, he heard the thunder getting louder and louder, like a roaring lion. BOOM - lightning struck him and he was transported into a different world. He noticed that all the objects that were painted in the museum's picture frames had somehow been transported. He was in a special place. And lying dog with a stopwatch pulled up to Powell. "Hey," the dog said, "you're in a different dimension.  It's called 'Caribou.'"

* * * 

Class 4, Grade 12 group. Key words - lightning, scissors,  cedar tree, bookcase, mosquito 

Story: Stressed Steven

It's a day before final exams. Stress is lingering in the air. It's late at night, with the full moon gleaming through the library windows. Steven frantically searches for the source of noise from the cedar wood bookcases cluttered together in the back of the library. Suddenly, the lights begin to flicker and a shadow emerges onto the wall on front of the bookcases. Steven jerks his head back, but is presented with a large mosquito gliding through the air. He lets out a sigh of relief. The sky, which was clear just moments ago, produced a purple strike of lightning, which mirrored the shape of scissors. It momentarily lit up the sky.

Steven jumped in shock. "It's a sign," he muttered. "I'm going to fail my exam tomorrow."

* * * 

That's just two of the 30 stories! The encouragement of creativity in this school is most impressive.  Bravo to the high school teachers! 

It's only days from Christmas and I would like to wish you and yours a safe and blessed season.

J.C. Kavanagh

Author.j.c.kavanagh@gmail.com

www.facebook.com/J.C.Kavanagh

Instagram @authorjckavanagh

TEN IDEAS FOR FAMILY HOLIDAY TRADITIONS By BC Deeks, Paranormal Mystery Fiction Author

 

 

Visit B.C. Deeks' BWL Author Page for Book and Purchase Information

http://bookswelove.net/deeks-bc/

The holidays are just around the corner, and it’s got me thinking about family and traditions. Growing up, we had all kinds of rituals around this time of year. We decorated our tree on Christmas Eve and took it down on ‘Old Christmas Day’, or January 6^th, every year. We were allowed to open one gift on Christmas Eve so that we would go to bed without a fuss while ‘Santa’ made final preparations for the Big Day. We were always given a new pair of pajamas, so that we looked particularly cute for the annual family photo in front of the fireplace.

Our Christmas dinner always included the same items... turkey, of course, stuffed with my grandfather’s dressing made with Newfoundland summer savory... and English style trifle for dessert. Mom also made a dark fruit pudding that only the adult ate because it had a rum sauce that was liberally poured over the top.

As I hit my teens, some of the family traditions were a bit irritating, like having to be home on Christmas Eve for that family photo, when I really wanted to be out with my friends. But by the time I was an adult, I found myself replicating those traditions in my own home. I’m a domestic disaster in the kitchen when it comes to cooking, but I make our cranberry sauce from scratch and the trifle for the annual Christmas dinner.

Here are TEN IDEAS FOR FAMILY TRADITIONS that you could add to your seasonal celebration.

1. Get in your cozy pajamas with a cup of hot chocolate and READ The Night Before Christmas out loud on Christmas Eve.
2. Download a Christmas audiobook to listen to over the holidays.
3. Surprise your best friend or family member with a new book in their stocking. My mother put a romantic mystery paperback in my stocking every year to encourage me to read!
4. Get the family together to play “I spy” with the ornaments on your tree. Do you remember  where the ornament came from? Is it one from your childhood? A family heirloom?
5. Gift your child an ornament every year. Make it a memento of a big moment or achievement from the last year.
6. Prepare a special meal for Christmas Eve, like a fondu.
7. Give each family member a book on Christmas Eve and spend the rest of the night reading curled up in a comfy chair.
8. Pick a special holiday-themed movie to watch together as a family on Christmas Day.
9. Find a holiday craft to do together on the lead-up to the holidays, like making cookies or ornaments.
10. Look for an opportunity to volunteer together or provide some other type of community service, like a gift donation as a family, during the holiday season.

Traditions signify the continuity of life from one generation to the next. They bring with them the warmth of family, even when you can’t be together during those special times of the year. The best thing about traditions is that it’s never too late to start a new one. Do you have any holiday traditions that are passed down through your family?

Libraries at Christmas

 

Find my BWL page here!

Here in Bellows Falls, Vermont, we're getting ready for our annual Holiday Party, the first one in a couple of years. We are so excited. Some local musicians are going to come and play old-time music. My fellow Friend of the Library Leslie and I will be leading a Christmas music sing along. We'll have treats and a pick your own present raffle. 

Lots of great choices!

My son-in-law Teddy make cute tags for the raffle gifts

My donation is two of my BWL YA novels and a bead ornament made by a local Abenaki craftsperson.

Do you have a favorite library story?

I grew up in a house without books, so the library was where the stories lived. I couldn't wait to get my library card. To achieve this passport to wonder, I had to be able to write my full name. I had a long last name, and like many young children, I was slightly dyslectic. I practiced and practiced, but as the librarian watched, I had a crisis in confidence over which direction the "b" in Charbonneau went. I hesitated. This prim, kind lady gave me a hand signal that opened up my world! Big thanks to her.

Happy Season of Light from Patience and Fortitude welcming all to the NYC Public Library!

My Novel is an Audiobook

 

                                                           Please click this link for author and book information

I view audiobooks as a wave of the present. Many of my friends like them for multi-tasking. They listen to books while driving, exercising, or cleaning the house. Book-lovers who develop eye problems with age find audiobooks a godsend. So I was thrilled when BWL was awarded funding to produce a group of Accessible Audiobooks and chose my novel, Ten Days in Summer, to be part of the group. 

BWL's next step was to find a suitable narrator for Ten Days in Summer. They selected Janice McNally, an Ontario narrator and producer. Janice has visited Calgary and attended the Stampede, which forms the backdrop for my novel. She produced a fifteen minute sample for us to approve. BWL and I agreed she sounded great and spoke clearly. Then Janice got down to work. 

Partway through the process, she contacted BWL with a question about how to pronounce the surname of one of my characters, Cynthia Hawryluk. Janice had looked this up on the internet and found several examples, each with a slightly different pronunciation. I'd taken the name from a doctor I had in Montreal and pronounced it like this: Haw (rhymes with cat’s paw, accent on this syllable) ry (short i sound) luk (luck).

Now I did an internet search and discovered that most websites pronounce Hawryluk similar to this. I don't know if my doctor anglicized his name or if I pronounced it wrong all these years. I gave Cynthia this surname because Alberta, the novel setting, has many Ukrainian residents and I assumed the name was Ukrainian. The internet advised me that Hawryluk is equally or more often Polish. 

The bottom line for me was Cynthia Hawryluk is a secondary character in the novel and her surname is only mentioned a few times. Since I'm not invested in the pronunciation, I advised Janice to go with the common one for readers familiar with the name. 

I was impressed with Janice's and BWL's attention to this detail. When Janice finished her work, BWL asked me to listen to the whole audiobook to check for errors. I've never read any of my novels after they were published and relate to actors who never watch their movies. Ten Days in Summer was released in 2017. Since then, I've moved on to three more novels. I cringed at the prospect at looking back at my writing.              

At first it felt strange and uncomfortable listening to someone else's voice telling my story. But less than a chapter in, I got used to it and felt Janice's voice nailed my Paula narrator. I enjoyed revisiting the story, chuckled at my old jokes, and found minimal errors. Three were different pronunciations for friends' names in the acknowledgments. 

Janice posted her view of the experience from her end.

Listening to my novel five years after its publications gave me a broader perspective on the story. Themes popped out. I'd say Ten Days in Summer might appeal to readers interested in the following:

Whodunnit stories

Psychology and effects of hoarding

The Calgary Stampede - Yahoo!

Ordinary people who murder

Social class 

Family relationships

Mothers and daughters

Trust

How human connection eases the pain

Baby boomers

Grown children and aging parents

Finding love and romance in middle age

I'm currently working on the fourth novel in my Paula Savard Mystery series and was thinking it would be the last. But, to my surprise, listening to Ten Days in Summer, book # 2 in the series, gave me an idea for a new direction for Paula, should she and I choose to take it. 

If you're looking for a Christmas present, here's a bonus offer from audible. 

Happy Holidays and my best wishes for a happy and healthy 2023. 

 

                                                                      I enjoyed a pre-Christmas holiday in Mexico