Christmas Baking

Christmas time. I love it and dread it. But after work today, I have the next five days off. Gifts are all wrapped, except for three late arrivals. But will wrap tonight so . . .all is a go.  After baking 106 cinnamon rolls, 150 spritz cookies, 2 large pans of fudge, and 11 loaves of Christmas Bread, the baking is nearly done.  I just have to make a cheesecake tonight and a cherry dessert for Christmas Eve with my family. My husband is going to smoke a turkey breast and then we are ready to celebrate.

Looking forward to posting a chapter a week of one of my books at the start of 2016. Deadlines and all that . . . are kind of important. Without them I sometimes get lost in one chapter and do not surface for far too long.

So wishing each of you a very Merry Christmas and that the Son of God will find a home in your heart this year.

 

Winter

It's a snowy Colorado afternoon. I hope to stay inside all day long. Family members have been coming and going. Christmas shopping, going to work and running errands. But not me, no. I sit in front of the compter, writing away.  

Starting in January, I hope to post a chapter a week of a book I wrote some time ago. It is set in Colorado and I am hoping to get feedback from you, my reader to help me get it ready for publishing. 

A picture from the mountains of Colorado to remind me that summer will come again. Winter will not last forever. That even as the snow falls, flowers are hibernating beneath its chilly blanket. That bright colors will once again burst open and just the sight of such spendor will make me think . . . Winter wasn't all that long. 

Cave of the Wind

Just finishing up the last chapters of my book. (I know, I've written that before.) Getting ready to enter it into another contest. It's funny how things go. . . last year I was doing the same thing. I had such great hope that after working on this book for over ten years that it would do well in the contest. But it never made it to round two.  Now after spending yet another year on refining the plot and characters I am sending it out or actually will send it out in January. I'm not as hopeful, not because I don't think it is a good book. More because judging is very subjective. One day I read a book, and I love it. The next time I read it  -- I wonder why I thought it was so good. But I feel this book is at its absolute best. . .meaning that it is the best that I can do.

 Went to Cave of the Winds for my daughter's birthday. It was snowy and cold, but once inside the cave, it was much warmer. It was a neat experience. With stalactites and stalacmites in various caverns. A great tour even if it was a little cheesy. Naming formations and the tour guide speaking for a few minutes and then running to the next area. What could we do but follow.

  

Wedding Bouquets

I am behind. Behind in writing, behind in cleaning, behind in reading, way behind in cooking for Thanksgiving. I'm behind in so many more ways. But I press on. I think I'll be able to catch up this weekend. With Thanksgiving tomorrow and setting up the Christmas tree on Friday, I'll have Saturday to shop and then Sunday is my daughter's birthday and we are going to go to Cave of the Winds in Colorado Springs and then out to eat. So I'm not sure when I will do the catching up . . .

I did finish bouquets for my nephew's upcoming wedding.  The five bridesmaid' bouquet's are on the right, the maid of honor's is in the middle and the bride's on the far left. My daughter re-did the bride's bouquet. It looks 100 times better. She has such a good eye and then is able to create it.

So until next week.  Happy Thanksgiving.

France

I am saddened by the loss of life and freedom the French people are suffering through this week. To hear the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower and other famous places are closed makes me sad. May God bring peace to everyone who is living in or visiting France. May the God of hope fill them with all joy and peace as they trust in him so that they may be filled with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Here is a link to my favorite blog. http://historicalromanceuk.blogspot.com/  It is wonderful to have a wide variety of Regency Romance Writers blogging about historical places in England and of the writers, poets and people of the past. Some of my favorite writers are contributors to this blog. 

Both pictures in this post are different views as we were on the bus of St. Paul's Cathedral.

This week my editor and I finished the last chapter of reviewing my first novel. Now I will go through it and do clean up. In January, American Christian Fiction Writers have a contest. I will enter it as I did with the Romance Writers of America's Contest last year. Perhaps I will make it to the next level as I did not in the previous contest. 

Or perhaps I will finally come to the realization that writing for me is a hobby that I enjoy but do not excel at. I do enjoy writing. I enjoy having a concept and then continuing to wrestle with it until it takes a form all its own. Sometimes so far away from my original intention.  I have heard writers say that sometimes the writing takes over and they are just along for the ride. I've experienced that. I wonder if all art forms evolve seemingly as you work on them.  

Writing and Colorado

It snowed last week about two inches, but the weekend was nice enough to go for the last boat ride at the inner city lake. A light jacket with the heat of the sun felt just the right. My husband didn't catch any fish, but it was still just wonderful. There is something so peaceful about being on the water. From the boat I took these pictures of the mountains.

My writing is improving little by little. But because it is taking so much time, I have not been able to put to paper the beginning of my second novel.

I take that back. I've written pages and pages of first chapters and not one have I liked for more than a day. So I'm back to brainstorming until I can find the right way to continue the sequel to "A Series of Scandals" in the Agents to the Crown trilogy.

Remembering Uncle Dee

This weekend, I went with my sister and her husband to visit relatives in Brighton. They are my mom's cousins. A brother and sister who live together. The brother is blind and has been for many years. They were delightful. After lunch we went to the house that my Great Grandma lived in. I remember as a child coming to this house. It was so much larger then. I remember playing on the railings while my parents visited. My Great Uncle also lived there. Hardwood floors, and the only way to get to the bathroom was through a bedroom. On one side of the door was a bedroom and on the other the front room. Then the dining room that led into the kitchen. The second bedroom is behind the first. And that is the whole of the house.

Then we went to the hospital that my great uncle was instrumental in bringing to Brighton. I heard this weekend that my great grandma used to get upset when Uncle Dee would come home, eat dinner and then go out canvassing the neighborhoods to solicit donations to start a hospital.  The first one was no bigger than a house and my uncle thought his city needed something more for the people of the town. 

At Platte Valley Medical Center they remember him with a bench and a plaque. He would have been honored. 

Finally, we went to the church that he had been a part of for decades. We looked for the paver with his name on it. But we could not find it. They must not have put it in yet. 

At the end of summer we went to the spot in the park where they also honored him, with a plaque on a stone telling of all the wonderful things he did for Brighton. There was a great ceremony with speeches and memories and refreshments. No cake, slightly disappointed. But not everyone loves cake the way I do.

Anyway, onto writing. I did write one chapter this week. So yay. Unfortunately, it was not the lead in to my 2nd book. I can't seem to find the right way to start the story. So I will work on other writing and see if the right setting will come to me.