My Least Favorite Holiday by Bonnie Le Hamilton

This coming weekend will be my very least favorite holiday of the year. I so detest this one certain day of the year (or rather the holiday associated with it) that when I wrote my last post I originally said it was one holiday I’d never put in any of my stories. Konnie corrected me in the nick of time. I do have one story with this horrendous holiday mentioned.

And I have no idea why I forgot it. It was the first novel I actually finished writing. Though I also know when I wrote that story, I had wanted to ignore this one day, but according to the time line I had worked out, things happened on this most annoying day of the year.

Can you tell I can’t stand it?

I have actually tried hard to ignore it, and when possible, I’d hole up in my room to avoid my family on this one day of the year, when I could. However, if it was any day other than Saturday, I had to interact with others, unfortunately. Though now days, the only day I can’t avoid contact with people is well, usually Sunday, except, thankfully, the first Sunday in April is when my church holds their semi-annual world-wide conference, which I can view on my computer; I can hole up! Yeah. I can avoid any and all persons acting the fool, unless they happen to call me.

My father did that one a few times. Actually one year, Tom and I received big news on April 1^st. We weren’t sure any of our family would believe us when we called them, but we did try. I remember being totally frustrated with my father, the consummate prankster, who refused to believe it wasn’t a prank.

I ended the call before I started yelling at him and called Konnie. When I told her the news, she believed me right away, and when I told her how frustrating our father had just been she not only agreed he was being pigheaded, she got off the phone with me and called him and told him off!

My quiet, shy twin told off our father! Of course, she knew, I’m Bonnie. I don’t joke, I don’t tease, and most importantly, I can’t stand April Fool’s Day!

Now, Easter is another issue. As a good Christian, Easter, like Christmas, is important. And since this Easter falls on Conference weekend, I have two things I’m looking forward to, and will enjoy, on a day I usually wish wouldn’t happen.

And this is something else we need to consider when adding holidays into our stories. How do the characters feel about the holiday? How will they respond to the holiday? Do they have any traditions for that holiday? Do their traditions differ from each other? Are they compatible? Or not?

All of these can affect how you portray the holiday in your story, and how your characters will act.

Happy Writing everyone! 😊

The Best Laid Plans by Konnie Enos

Planning is supposed to work. Make a plan, follow it and get things done. The problem with planning is we don’t live in a vacuum.

You make a plan to do something and life will get in the way because inevitably the others around you affect whether or not you can be successful.

Take this month for example.

One, since we get all our money at the beginning of each month I generally spend about the first week paying all our bills and dealing with most of the finances which includes making sure my children get their money. Due to illness and just being busy, even this late in the month, I’ve barely managed to get the bills paid.

Then since it’s been about three months since my dog has had a grooming I had planned on taking her in since it is clear she is in need of it. Generally we bath her regularly but she also needs her fur and nails clipped once in a while. We don’t have the equipment or knowhow to do her fur so I take her in when she needs that done. Between being sick myself and just plain busy, I have yet to get her in.

I’ve also planned for several weeks to attend a local writer’s group meeting. The first week I thought I’d be able to go I glanced at the clock in my car as I was leaving the Quick Care with my son. The meeting was already starting. Considering how far away it was and traffic that time of night, I would have missed most, if not all, of it. The second one I myself was horribly sick. This of course was thanks to one of my children bringing a cold home from school.

  Then there is this week. Feeling better and finding it time to go to the writer’s group meeting I realized I had nothing stopping me from going so I just got up and went. It was nice to be able to do something I wanted to.

However, this week being the one I had to post I also planned on getting my post written well before Wednesday morning so I wouldn’t have to worry about while I was getting my kids up and off to school.

Yeah, it didn’t work out that way.

One, I wasn’t coming up with any solid ideas. Two, I simply didn’t have time. One child has been on my case to either help him with his homework or finish doing the finances for this month. He wants his money. Another child needed to borrow my computer to do either homework or something for school. And yet another child, currently hospitalized, wanted Mom. And while I was dealing with that I was told a trip to the grocery store was needed, again.

So again, my plans went out the window.

At the rate I’m going my son will get his allowance a whole month late. I doubt I’ll be able to get my dog groomed before her booster shots are due, next month, which means I have to get that done first. So putting that off too.

Being a mother is a constant juggling act and a never ending to-do list. Sometimes delegating works. Thankfully I have a daughter who can handle grocery trips when needed. It’s just all the stuff I can’t get anybody else to do that can be daunting. It can also put a wrench in my plans.

Back to the drawing board.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.

Happy St. Patrick's Day by Bonnie Le Hamilton

Luck of the Irish to ye! St. Patrick’s Day is this Saturday, and thinking about it beings to my mind my strongest memory of the holiday.

Way back in fourth grade, a week or so before it, word started going around our school that only those of Irish decent needed to wear green on St. Patrick’s Day; everyone else should wear yellow.

Of course, being as it was in fourth grade, we all already knew the “punishment” for not wearing green on St. Patrick’s Day, but this tale about wearing yellow including that a person should be punished for wearing green if they weren’t Irish.

Now I knew I had at least some Irish blood in me because my maternal grandmother’s maiden name was of Irish origin, but come St. Patrick’s Day it dawned on me I didn’t have anything green in my wardrobe. For that matter I didn’t have anything yellow. Let’s face it, my favorite colors are red, white, and blue – guess what was in my wardrobe?

My mother helped me fashion a shamrock out of green construction paper and pinned it to my shirt. Though being as spring had not yet sprung, when I entered school that day my coat was covering my shamrock and my cousin, who was in the same grade as I was, noting all the blue I was wearing, promptly slugged me in the arm.

I opened my coat and prepared to slug him back, but he stepped away from me insisting that as we were not Irish. I reminded him of our shared grandmother’s maiden name then got him once of hitting me and a second time for wearing yellow. His sister, just a year younger than him, had been wise enough to wear both yellow and green.

But that is the only year I heard anyone, besides myself, say anything about not wearing green on St. Patrick’s Day. And, of course, I do have Irish blood, so after that, I have managed to have something green to wear for St. Patrick’s Day other than a construction paper shamrock.

Only thing is, after marriage, and not having any kids, I’ve lived through quite a few St. Patrick’s Day’s where the only face to face contact I’ve had was with Tom.

Once Tom come home from work and asked me why I didn’t remind him to wear green. “Uh, let’s see, because I was asleep when you left.” I also tried to inform him that I forgot and wasn’t wearing green either. Tom was quick to point out that my flower covered dress had green leaves. That doesn’t mean I remembered.

And then there was last year. I had nowhere to go; I never once stepped out my front door, nor did anyone visit me, and with Tom now gone, I didn’t see anyone, but I did wear green; I guess it’s just part of who I am.

And it makes me wonder why I’ve yet to write a scene involving St. Patrick’s Day. I know I have stuff involving Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and even New Year’s, but not St. Patrick’s Day.aH I also have one with April Fool’s day, and I don't like that holiday.

How about you? What holidays do you have in your stories? And which don’t you have? And why?

Happy writing everyone! 😊

Book Reviews and Plot Holes by Konnie Enos

This past week I’ve read two new books which in and of itself is unusual since I don’t get as much time as I’d like to read.

The first book I read was Tamora Pierce’s recently released Tempests and Slaughter which is set in the lands of Tortall but unlike all her other Tortall books, the leading character is a male. The subtitle for this book is The Numair Chronicles. The lead hero is Arram Draper who latter (not in this book) changes his name to Numair.

I am so thrilled to be able to read his backstory and I was, just a bit, disappointed, that I didn’t learn how or why he left Carthak and changed his name. I cannot wait until the next instalment, The Exiles Gift, comes out so I can learn the rest of his story.

One thing I did learn about Tamora Pierce’s writing is she knows how to handle the delicate matters of going through puberty in telling a story. I’ve seen it in how she told both Alanna’s and Kel’s stories and I see it here. I sort of wish I’d had this book when my boys were tweeners. It would have helped me discuss their changing body with them. I’m going to recommend my daughters read this before they have sons going through that phase of life.

The second book I read was a romance. I saw on Goodreads that my eldest daughter was reading so I checked it out. It was free on Kindle so why not?

The story line was actually very interesting and held my interest but within just a few chapters I learned something.

I got an excellent illustration of what a plot hole is and how it can pull the reader right out of the story.

You see in this lovely story the author went into some detail describing the heroine’s rattle trap car as she’s parking outside the hero office building just before they are to meet for the first time. Within minutes of them meeting, he drags her off in his car (there are reasons for this) and then much later that day returns her.

Here is where the plot hole is.

Now I understand why the author has the hero return the heroine to her home, NOT his office. She needed him to know where the heroine lived for the next scene and the most logical way was for him to take her home. In fact, if he’d just taken her to her car he would not have known her address or phone number and therefore he would have had difficulty getting in touch with her in the next scene. So I understand why he took her home but she never once addressed the heroine’s car. And she only shows the heroine returning to that office building one other time, over two weeks later.

Through the rest of the story the heroine’s car is never mentioned again. Not once.

I read the whole story wondering what happened to it.

If she had never mentioned the heroine’s car I wouldn’t have given it a second thought. But that wasn’t the case and now I’m left wondering who stole the girl’s car and why didn’t she report it to the police?

I’ve heard of plot holes before. I understand I’ve got at least one in one of my stories that I’m currently working on, but I’d never seen one so obvious and glaring as this one.

Anyway, if you are into fantasy you really should pick up a book by Tamora Pierce.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.