Memoir Monday: A Diverted Post

It's time for another Memoir Monday. I usually review a memoir written by a writer or artist. I love reading and sharing what helps them creatively and productively. Today's post is a little different. I received an email from a local writer (Thanks Kate Rothwell) and thought it would make a great Memoir Monday feature. It's a collection of authors and their writing rituals posted on the blog on http://www.mastersdegree.net/. I hope you find it as interesting (and odd) as I did.

"20 Acclaimed Authors and Their Unique Writing Rituals"

Have a creative, productive week!

Kristin : )

Snow Day!

Hi, brrr... It's cold out there. Come in, put your feet by the fire. Here's a cup of cocoa. Do you take marshmallows? Now this is how you enjoy a good snow storm :)

This picture of my kids' playhouse during Storm Benedict reminds of Robert Frost's poem.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.

Of course I was not on a horse and Frost did not have to airbrush lawn furniture out of his picturesque poem. I don't think I did that bad if you don't look at it too long. Ok, look away.

Winter Storm Benedict paid a visit to Connecticut and dropped 2 feet of snow. Yes, 2 feet! I have been tweeting about how funny Scout is in the snow and thanks to some much needed reminders from a Twitter friend (wink @MarshaEpstein )I finally have a few pictures to share. Above my son Spencer takes a break, but Scout is still eager to run. Below Scout plows her way toward Spencer and my daughter Megan and then does her best super snow dog impression. I think she actually caught some air there! Look at those ears and her smile! lol

Today is another snow day (3 inches + freezing rain) and those evil weather people are predicting another foot (A FOOT!!) of snow for Friday. I'm charging my camera now for more pictures and stocking up on the hot cocoa.

Do you have any snow pics? I'd love to see them. Leave me a link in the comments and I'll check them out.

Thanks for stopping by. Stay warm.

Kristin : )

New Zodiac Signs - Old Memories Shine.

Happy New Year everyone! I know, I'm a bit late, but in my defense it's a new year ALL year. :) I've taken some time off to focus on writing and family. It was a great break. So, what brought me back today? The new zodiac dates!

Now I'm not one to rely on star positions to plan my day and don't read my horoscope. I don't believe in finding my way through life using someone else's predictions and assumptions. I have many friends and family that do not or can not start their day without reading theirs. Whatever works for each of us, right? So why, when I heard that the Zodiac dates have changed, did I feel like someone had taken my internal ID and crossed out a big part? I'm no longer a Gemini? I'm a Taurus??? What? No, this can't be right.

Why was so shocked? So bothered by something I've never fully believe in? I really had to think about this. Why did it matter? What did being a Gemini mean to me? Why was it such a shock to loose something I didn't think I truly owned. Then it hit me. The first thing I associate being a Gemini with is my grandmother (RIP). She was a proud Gemini, among other awesome attributes.

On her wall, right beside the refrigerator, above the occasional chair that her blind chihuahua repeatedly walked into, were these wooden plaques. I'll never forget them. One was dark brown with the symbol of the Gemini, which was basically the Roman numeral 2 (II). Under that was all of the personality traits believed to be embedded into every Gemini in the free world. I always had a hard time believing that. The second plaque was lighter wood and simply said...

Gemini: Jack of All Trades. Master of None.

Under this was the picture of a man juggling many things with his face all twisted in concentration or constipation. I was never quite sure. I remember asking my grandmother what that meant. I could not understand why she would want this hanging in her kitchen, or anywhere. It seemed so negative to me. I saw a man who couldn't do anything right. Not a Jack of all trades, just a Jack Ass who couldn't juggle. But still, my grandmother loved everything about being a Gemini; the good, the bad, and even the Jacks. She would read "our" horoscope every morning and even got me interested in how our signs were depicted in the constellations. That part of it still amazes me, although the way our ancestors connected the star dots was quite imaginative.

I guess it shouldn't surprise me that the idea of not being a Gemini anymore bothered me. It's not that I feel I'm going to be changed today by it. But it will change a part of my past. It takes away, or changes something that I shared with a very special person, something that meant a lot to her. She unconsciously made it important to me. I've caught myself asking strangers if they were a Gemini because of something they said or did. I would immediately shake my head at myself and then think of Gram (and how much closer I'm getting to morphing into her). This morning, the thought of losing my standing as a Gemini felt like I was losing a connection to her.

A small consolation to this constellation chaos is my grandmother's sign would also change. Her birthday is May 31st and mine is June 15th. We would both be Tauruses. I wonder what she would think of this. Would she have been more like a bull in her life? As if she could have been stronger. Would she have taken life by the horns and have taken no BS from anyone? She already did that.

I guess this Zodiac change doesn't change anything at all. My grandmother, whether a Gemini or a Taurus, was the person who taught me what is important in life: family, friends, full belly laughter, dancing without music, singing off tune, helping others, and doing the best you can for the people you love. No sign in the stars or hung on a wall changes that.

I can't help but wonder what kind of plaque Gram would have hung if she had known she was a Taurus. Probably something along the lines of a bull saying, "If you can't pick up your own BS stay out of my pasture." I may have to make this sign for my kitchen!

Thanks for letting me blog this through. I'd love to know what you think of the Zodiac signs changing and the added 13th sign, Ophiuchus. I can't even pronounce it. No wonder it was booted from the pack eons ago ;)

If you want to read more about the new Zodiac signs here are a few links.

New Zodiac Signs

CBS News coverage of Zodiac changes

Happy 2011! May the new year bring all your heart desires :)

Kristin :)

Writer Wednesday: Marc Vun Kannon

~ * ~ Holiday Edition ~ * ~

Featuring Vampire Christmas and Steampunk Santa...

Once upon a time, my publisher, Echelon Press, asked some of us authors to write short stories for a charitable purpose, to raise money for a charity that aided people whose houses were destroyed in wildfires. ‘Write a story about fire,’ she said. This was in November sometime, as I recall. I already had a Christmas story I was thinking about writing. Being a fantasy author means you have strange ideas as a result of hearing common songs, or watching ordinary TV shows. (One episode of a spy drama I watch made me think of capturing people’s souls and putting them in boxes.) In this case it was a Christmas song that I heard over a radio. I got the idea of vampires at Christmas.

We all know that Christmas as a holiday is a feast day that was grafted on to an existing tradition among the pagan peoples of Northern Europe. The actual birth date of Christ was probably nowhere near mid-winter, but if they’ve already got a ceremony celebrating renewal and rebirth, hey, go with it. But where did these pagan people get it from? You guessed it, from the vampires. What would they celebrate, and why? What did it mean to them? And most important, how could I bring this all out in a short story? About fire.

It was the fire that did it, I think. The vampires needed a god, even in the original version of the story which never got written. In this version the fire connected immediately to Balder, god of the day, who was killed when his blind brother Hodor, god of night, threw a sprig of mistletoe at him. Well, right away, ideas started popping into my head left and right. Day, night, blood, mistletoe…evil? Well, Loki, the god who gave Hodor the mistletoe, was evil. Are vampires evil, even by association? Could they feel…guilty of some vampiric original sin? Is that what the ceremony was for? To bring this story out into the open I needed a human to discover it, see it, participate in it. What happens to him?

The story that grew out of all this, called ‘Bite Deep’, is a story of evil, sacrifice, and redemption, and is best described thusly: “For lo, unto the vampires this day a Savior is…well, not born, exactly.”

Once upon a different time (last month actually), my publisher again asked for stories, although this time she was looking for Steampunk. Or holiday. I asked her if she wanted steampunk holiday stories. Well, as you can imagine a bit of a challenge grew from this as several of us each decided to write a steampunk holiday story. I think I won, but they were all doing NaNoWriMo at the time so it probably doesn’t count.

Steampunk as a genre is a fusion of SF with a Victorian style culture and tech level. Try to imagine James Bond with gadgets that require wind-up keys and steam engines to work. How does this tie in to Christmas and Santa, you ask? Well I’d love to tell you. Honestly I would, but I don’t remember how I got the idea so I can’t. Some stories I have to wring the ideas out, or wait 6 weeks until an idea occurs to me so I can continue writing. Some stories the ideas cascade and the trick is trying to keep up. This story the idea just seemed so natural, that two elves would be holding a contest to see who could make a better sleigh, traditional elfin magic or the new steam technology.

Not that I wrote that story. Ideas that seem great on paper often fail the Story Logic test and need to go a bit sideways from the original intention. Bite Deep was supposed to be about a party. My steampunk story, which ultimately got named ‘Steampunk Santa’, outgrew the simple contest motif and became a story of friendship and teamwork, as two very dissimilar elves participating in Santa’s contest find themselves up against the same challenges in the workshop. It has the flavor of the old Rankin-Bass specials, which was on purpose, as I found myself narrating the story in Fred Astaire voice and doing the elves in squeaky elf voice. I believe that this is my first try at a third-person style of writing, too, with the narrator who knows all. It’s not my usual style but it fit the story so I went with it.

‘Going with it’ pretty much defines my writing career so far. My only rule when writing is to never do what I’ve already seen done before. Every book I write is different from the one I just finished. Every story I start is an opportunity, a requirement, that I change, learn, grow into some new thing.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Thanks Marc for being this week's Writer Wednesday guest and for sharing your holiday writing. I love the unique titles! And your idea for Steampunk Santa really does sound like a great holiday classic. My family and I are big fans of all of the Rankin-Bass specials. I wish you all the best in your writing and in the coming year.

If you would like more information about Marc Vun Kannon or his writing you can stop by his website and his blog. He's got a new release coming out soon!

Coming 2/2011: St. Martin's Moon
The Moon is haunted, but the werewolves don't know that!

http://www.marcvunkannon.com
http://authorguy.wordpress.com

A special thanks to all of you readers. I appreciate that you take time out of your busy schedules to stop by. I wish you all the best of luck and health in the coming year.

Happy New Year!

Kristin : )