O Christmas Tree

Christmas is the time of year when evergreen trees become special. Whether fresh cut, potted or artificial, decorated, they serve a different purpose. Besides making homes cheerier, they provide a festive atmosphere in stores and businesses.

The song, O Christmas Tree (or O Tannenbaum), written by Ernst Anschutz in 1824, praises the tree’s faithfulness for staying green and bringing us so much pleasure. It still does.

Themes, colors, shapes and purpose vary widely. I love the variety - modern, sleek trees, humorous themed trees and candlelit, historic trees. But we each seek our own design for our homes.

Birds sing on my Christmas tree, stars twinkle, friends and family members live on.

While decorating my Christmas tree I realized how much my collection of ornaments reflects my life. There are a few things from the tree my parents’ decorated when I was a kid, but they are so fragile, I don’t usually put them up any more.

I purchased many ornaments as souvenirs when my husband and I traveled.  Something small for the Christmas tree was much easier to carry home than a teapot or vase. I have a miniature stained glass of a volcano erupting in Hawaii; a streetcar from San Francisco; a miniature street scene from Charleston, SC;  a miniature beer stein from Germany;  Dutch wooden shoes from Amsterdam; Falling Water from Ohiopyle, PA; and a cowboy boot from Arizona; a ball from Southfork Ranch, Tx (Remember Dallas and Who Shot JR?)and a and ski-lift from Wisp and decorated ball of the historic train station from Garrett County, MD.

Some reflect our average life, such as books, cats, dogs, goats, peacocks, horses, cars airplanes, nativity scenes and picture ornaments. Our children are there as redheaded Cabbage Patch ornaments, Raggedy Ann and Andy, children riding horses, Big Wheels, bicycles, ballet slippers, Barbie, and a computer.

I also honor other people I care about and keep those who are gone alive on my tree. There is a fire truck for Uncle Ted and his family, a sewing machine for Aunt Mil and Aunt Mary, a cake for Aunt Dot, an airplane for Aunt Marty and Uncle Otts, a personalized stork for my niece’s children,  a soldier and patriotic items for Dad and Mom, a rose for my mother-in-law, a guitar and soccer ball for my son-in-law, footballs for my father and brothers, a book and teapot for Betty, a postman for Ron and many more for family and friends.

I still have some handmade ornaments from my children, the Prunty children and Hailey Stivers; painted oyster shells from Leanne Englar and delicate eggshells from my brother John.

When my children were very young, I set up a tree in the basement that they could decorate with their handmade ornaments and cheap giveaway ornaments I didn't want to use on the main tree. I still have some of them. Now they are sentimental.

I enjoy seeing themed trees in public displays and in other homes, such as all blue and silver ornaments, cartoon characters, ribbons or dolls. If I were wealthy, I would have differently decorated trees in each room. But since I am not, I love my personal tree.

Like my writing, it helps keep family and friends alive.

Let me know if you have a special theme for your Christmas tree or an unusual tradition. Enjoy the season and have a wonderful New Year.

A Literary Community Wreath

What do reading a non-fiction book and helping to design a wreath have in common? To me, they just happened to come together at the same time.

I was reading The Write Crowd, Literary Citizenship and the Writing Life by Lori A May when my writing group decided to participate in this year’s Festival of Wreaths as a way to give back to the community.

In The Write Crowd, I read that Ralph Waldo Emerson and Walt Whitman believed it was our duty to engage the public, to help new writers or as we say today, to pay it forward. So, see the connection?

Author Kate Gale writes of being a literary citizen: “It means you are not only working on your own creative intellectual work, you are also doing something for the whole literary world.”

There are usually local and state organizations offering speakers, workshops and contests (which the Maryland Writers Association does). Join writing or reading groups or other organizations, such as City Lit or Lit Pub, to widen your circle of peers. You can make connections with online groups. Literary Journals and small presses often need volunteers. She gives many ways that you can be part of the literary ecosystem?

Some of the book's chapter titles include:

• What is Literary Citizenship? An introduction
• Immersion 101: Finding and Creating Opportunities
• Community (re)defined
• In Print and Online: Working with Presses and Journals
• Community Outreach
• In and Outside Academia
• The Write Direction
• The Write Direction: Customizing your Community

Now for my writing group and the wreath. Carroll Arts Center's Festival of Wreaths is one of the largest fundraisers for the County Arts Council.

The Carroll County Chapter of Maryland Writers Association formed a volunteer committee, which I joined. We held two meetings for discussion and planning. Everyone was assigned a project to do at home, choosing a favorite book and making a small replica of it. At the second meeting we put the garland (in place of a wreath) together. Committee Chair Lona Queen, added finishing touches.

It was on display at Carroll Arts Center. The last time it was checked, bidding was up to $50. All money goes toward center’s art classes and projects. We had to rush this project since so many members were participating in National Novel Writing Month in November and would not have time then to help with the wreath.

The Carroll County Chapter of Maryland Writers Association has speakers at most of our monthly meetings where we discuss, publication, writing and similar topics. A monthly critique group also helps writers who want some feedback on their works in progress. We have speakers on various writing subjects at most meetings and sponsor some writing contests.

We also work with other writing groups, such as helping with anthologies, That One Left Shoe (which was in the top 100 books on Amazon in the Fiction: Anthologies category in 2011. It also made it to #1 on the "Hot New Releases" list for that category.

Members also worked with another county writing group to publish an anthology, Christmas Carroll, several years ago.  Carroll County residents were invited to send in stories or poems that were vetted and published in the anthology. Local artists also submitted some artwork to give the book more visual appeal. This was an opportunity to help local writers have some publication credit.

This past year, the CCCMWA hosted a Flash Fiction contest and published a booklet that included the best, as voted on by six volunteer judges.

I am proud to be part of such an active group and find it encourages me to write more and sometimes to try my hand at writing in different genres. Everyone’s taste is different so if you want to be part of a writing community, find out what is available in your area and what you would most enjoy.

Feel free to let me know if you have other suggestions or just want to comment on what you are doing.

Writing advice from Donna Drew Sawyer

Here is another blog especially for my writing and reading friends.

I met author Donna Drew Sawyer last month when she spoke about crafting characters that take on a life of their own. Whether you like them or hate them, her characters in Provenance, A Novel, definitely have distinct personalities.

Donna Drew Sawyer

Provenance was the winner of the Maryland State Writers’ Association 2017 Annual Book Award for Historical Fiction. Provenance also was a finalist for the 2016 Phillis Wheatley

 Award for First Fiction.

It also was been selected for the Go On Girl Book Club reading list in the novel category. The Go On Girl! Book Club, with over 30 chapters in 16 states is one of the largest national organizations dedicated to supporting African-American authors. Every year they choose 12 authors to read, discuss, review and champion. Sawyer’s was chosen for May 2017.

In this blog, I have varied my use of her name, sometimes referring to Sawyer (what my journalism training taught me) and other times as Donna, because she was so friendly and seemed like an instant friend.

She reminded the writers present about never building a character based on a single trait. Ask yourself why they are the way they are. You want to create understanding, she said. Even if your character isn’t nice, you at least might want to create some empathy.

They should make readers feel more than one emotion. They may surprise you while you are writing and surprise your readers.

“No one is any one thing all the time,” she said. “Layer your characters.”

Every character is on a mission of his or her own making. But you have to put the words in your character’s mouth.

Think about what makes a character breathe, including:

• physical traits
• emotions
• secrets, questions and lies
• engagement with other characters
• time and place
• action and reaction
• thoughts
• words or deeds
• beliefs
• life work or lack of it

Some quick notes mentioned by her are - Read everything, Observe, Empathize, Imagine, Write - Repeat and Live. I took that as meaning it is necessary to get away from your compute occasionally, get out, be with real people and enjoy life.

Our daily activities and personal observations can make a difference in making our books sound authentic, and of course, fiction depends on our imagination. I often set my stories in places where I have been. Although I don’t use real people, I use various characteristics and partial descriptions based on real people.

If you are participating in National Novel Writing Month, great. We need to write! Even if what we are writing is rough. We can edit and make it better later.

I am behind in my writing at slightly less than 26,000 words, but I am usually good under pressure, so there is still hope of reaching the 50,000-word goal by the end of November. Even if I stop today, I have 26,000 words toward my next novel and the basic idea has been moving along better than I expected.

My character has been asking many questions about a murder of someone she knew. Why was he killed? Who did it? Did my argument with him lead to his murder?

I can empathize with her, feel what she might be feeling. Also, I try to make the less-than-perfect victim a fully rounded character.

Donna Drew Sawyer and some of the members
and visitors at the October CCCMWA  meeting.

As I write, I think about some of Donna’s basic suggestions - Observe, Empathize, Imagine, Write. I look forward to reading more of her books and her blog.

She recommended some writing books, such as Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Rennie Brown and Dave King and The Modern Library’s Writer’s Workshop, A guide to the Craft of Fiction by Stephen Koch.

At our meeting, she said Provenance is about a legacy of lies. It will be followed by Promise in 2018. Check out this author, reader, and ruminator at www.donnadrewsawyer.com.

Veterans Day

On November 11, Americans will celebrate Veterans Day  to honor our military veterans.

This observance began in 1919 as Armistice Day to recognize the soldiers of World War I. Fighting during that war had basically ceased seven months before the official Treaty of Versailles was signed. An armistice between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.

Ted Farinholt

In 1954, Congress changed the word "Armistice" to "Veterans"  to honor our military veterans of all wars.

There are so many excellent books about soldiers and veterans. Some recommended non-fiction books are:

• Unbroken: a World War II story of Survival Resilience and Redemption  by Laura Hillenbrand
• Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley
• D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Battle for the Normandy Beaches by Stephen Ambrose
• Tough As They Come by Travis Mills
• No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission that Killed Osama Bin Laden by Mark Owen.
• My Brother and the Lost Dreams of Americas Veterans by Catherine Whitney. In this book she writes about her brother Jim Schuler. A review stated that “He died the day before 9/11 at age

  

  Merrill Howard

  fifty-three, or, as the author tells us, three years younger than the average life expectancy of a Vietnam veteran.” “The great myth of war is that it can be left behind,” she wrote. 

While his father serves in
Europe young Carroll
Meile prepares for battle

Some picture books for children include:

• H is for Honor, a military family Alphabet by by Devin Scillian, illustrated by Victor Juhasz
• Tuesday Tucks Me In: The Loyal Bond Between a Soldier and His Service Dog, by Luis Carlos Montalvan and Bret Witter, photographs by Dan Dion
• The Poppy Lady by Barbara Walsh, illustrated by Layne Johnson
• The Wall by Eve Bunting, illustrated by Ronald Himler
• Rags: Hero Dog of WWII by Margot Theis Raven, illustrated by Petra Brow.

Joseph Farinholt training in England

 A HuffPost blog By Michael Giltz mentioned books to read for Veterans Day. These included:

• The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
• What It Is Like To Go To War by Karl Marlantes
• Willie & Joe: The WW II Years and Willie & Joe Back Home by Bill Mauldin.

My father loved Bill Mauldin’s Willie & Joe cartoons and reporter Ernie Pyle’s newspaper articles on the war. Dad said they gave Americans the true picture of the World War II. He taught us to respect active service members and veterans. 

Bob Farinholt

Frank & Irene Farinholt (Woolsey), first
female Farinholt veteran

Many member of my family served in the armed forces. I’ve included a few of their pictures here. 


A thank you to our veterans and today's
military men and women.

Have a fun Halloween

Next week Halloween will be celebrated by both children and adults with decorations, parties and trick or treating. It can be helpful in some ways to writers and readers, both of whom need a good imagination. Writers need imagination to create new worlds and make what is happening in them believable, and readers to enter and believe those worlds.

It’s a great time for horror writers and suspense writers since you never know who or what might pop out on the other side of that bush?

There are plenty of scary corn mazes, hayrides and other spooky events. Cemeteries and old houses seem much more sinister during the cooler, dark nights near Halloween. Since it is part of Autumn, homes are decorated with pumpkins (and Jack-o’-lanterns), corn stalks and scarecrows.

 I have received decorative ideas and recipes from Pinterest. A friend posted the recipe and picture of a cauldron cheese ball on Facebook (it looks delicious) and there are oodles of suggestions for making snacks for children look festive. And of, course there is pumpkin everything.

Halloween is a fun time for children who don’t question why they can’t be a superhero, werewolf, ghost, ballerina or witch. They think only the right clothes and maybe makeup are needed.

My daughter loved Halloween and her costumes as a child included Raggedy Ann, a butterfly, and grave robber. My son was a cowboy, robot (with blinking lights) and Superman.

Some of our costumes were purchased, but most were homemade. Some difficulties were caused by their desire to be authentic.

A few costumes I think we used bent hangers to have my daughter’s hair look like Pippi Longstocking. She and a friend found their own threadbare clothes and made a lightweight coffin which they carried between them when they were grave robbers.

Superman was not a problem at first since my son had the pajamas and even a cape, but as he was ready to go out, he insisted that superman had to have dark hair. Resourceful Mom used black shoe polish smeared over his thick hair. It was dark and it wasn’t flyaway. However, it was hard to remove.

Some people think months ahead of time about their costume while others buy or make one that day. My daughter usually had her costume plans made by August. Her son went as a turtle for his first Halloween children’s party and was a wolf this year. She said she was making the decision these early years because he would probably choose to be a superhero when he is old enough to choose.

The festivities have been part of the recognition of the end of the harvest season. The basics of Halloween also are thought to date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. People would light bonfires and wear costumes that supposedly would ward off ghosts. Around the 8^th century, All Hallows' Day was officially switched to 1 November, the same date as the Celtic Samhain, at the request of Pope Gregory IV. All Hallows’ Day was a special day to honor all saints.

The evening before later became known as All Hallow’s Eve. Later it was called Halloween.

Let your imaginations soar as you are surrounded by fairies, unicorns, superheroes and creatures of the night.

Don’t forget to leave your lights on for the trick or treaters, or make sure they are off if you don’t want to be bothered or won’t be home.

Have a Happy Halloween.

NaNoWriMo Hints

November is important for Veteran’s Day and Thanksgiving, but for writers it is important also for National Novel Writing Month, commonly referred to as NaNoWriMo.

Those who attempt the 50,000 words in 30 days, find it challenging to write an average of 1,667 words every day of the month. When there is an opportunity to type more than that, take advantage of it. This challenge is exhausting, but also fun and productive.

Writers in Carroll County, MD gathered

together in Taneytown for a 2016

Write-In

If you want to try NaNoWriMo this year, you can start planning ahead of time, writing a rough outline, deciding on who your main characters will be, your setting, time frame and main plot. It is also time to do any research that might be necessary for your proposed book. Additional research can wait.

Some writers say you should know your theme before you start writing. Others swear it doesn’t matter. It will develop later as you write.

Do not start actually writing the book until November 1.

Some of my friends, don’t register at the NaNoWriMo site, but still try to write the 50,000 words, because it still challenges them. Some want to continue a story they had already started.

I think it helps if you register, even if you don’t complete the challenge. This gives you a firm commitment. Also, you will be sent motivating messages and hints from famous writers. You do not have to write your novel on their site. I never have. I just update my count periodically. Information about your novel, word counts, etc. can be posted on the NaNoWriMo website at www.nanowrimo.org.

You just have to post your story on the NaNoWriMo website at the end, so the 50,000 words can be verified. If you don't succeed, you still have that much of a story ready to go, probably a lot more than you normally write.

Don’t worry if your story starts to change as you write. That is all part of the process, the purpose is to just write, as much and as fast as you can. As you write quickly, the story flows. There is time for editing later.

If things changed a lot, you can choose which version you like best or which best fits the action and theme of your novel.

This practice of intense writing is critical to becoming productive writers. It also can help you find your voice. Since you do not change your words constantly, but writing what you are thinking, you can improve upon it later.

Some books I recommended in the past about writing rapidly include:

• Book in a Month, the fool-proof system for writing a novel in 30 days, by Victoria Lynn Schmidt, Ph.D.
• If you want a little more time, there is The Extreme Novelist, The No-Time-to-Write Method for Drafting Your Novel in 8 Weeks. She promises “Out of chaos will come beautiful order and an amazing book. But first you have to write rough.
• 
• No Plot? No Problem!, A Low-stress, High-velocity Guide to Writing A Novel in 30 Days was written by Chris Baty, founder of NaNoWriMo. He started the program in 1999 with 21 people. By 2004 it was up to 25,000 participants and in 2014 it increased to 325,142 participants. In 2016 the number of people taking part increased to 445,179.

At the end of November, you can have a rough draft of a novel. That is a huge accomplishment. Even if you don’t write 50,000 words, you have the start of a book. After the 30 days, take a break. Let life get back to normal before you start editing.

If you don’t like to be too isolated you could attend some Write-ins. They are held at various locations, times and places during the month, such as at libraries and coffee shops. It is a way for writers to stay in contact with each other, socialize and get more writing done then they possibly would have alone.

I have written other blogs about this month for writers. You can check out:

·         11/27/16          Writing a Book In a Month or Two
·         10/21/15          NaNoWriMo 15, No Plot? No Problem!
·         11/13/12          NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo is about quantity, not quality. This and similar programs that stress output offer us a chance to push yourself. No one is going to criticize you if you do not finish.

I reached the goal three out of six times. One book is almost ready for publication, except for some final editing. Another is more than half finished with a rough outline of the rest of it. I may return to some of the others in the future, as time permits. Each effort has helped me learn to write faster.

By December 1, you will have tried something new and have something tangible for your efforts. Remember, these are your words, your thoughts. Write and have fun.

Hints for writers from Wojo

“Ideas are everywhere,” comedian and author Michele “Wojo” Wojciechowski, told a group of writers recently. Sometimes it feels like you have nothing to say. It’s time to ignite your writing.

She discussed where she gets ideas and gave a list of hints that can help. “You can use the same hints for fiction and non-fiction and business,” she said.

“Jot down notes, Write it down, you will not remember it,” she said. “Organize your way. Find out what works for you. Otherwise you won’t keep doing it.”

Other hints included:

• Keep a notebook handy, whatever type works for you. Often something is there to stir your imagination.
• Look for happenings in your daily life.
• Maybe have an idea buddy. Someone you trust.
• Listen and talk to people.
• Do random searches.
• Think journals, collections.
• Write down what she calls fabulous realities. Why is there only one shoe in the road?
• Use word mapping.

• Watch social media for ideas and trends.
• Don’t worry about keeping ideas for a long time.
• Regain your childlike sense of wonder.

“So many ideas are out there” she said. You have to be alert and keep track of what catches your attention. Above are only some of the hints she gave.

Rebecca Colletti and Wojo 

Michelle Wojciechowski is author of the award winning book, Next Time I Move, They'll Carry Me Out in a Box. She is a freelance writer and her works have appeared in magazines, such as Parade, Reader's Digest, Maryland Life, Family Circle and numerous others magazines, including some scientific and historic magazines.

She performs stand-up comedy and is on the faculty of the Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshops. She also writes a blog, Wojo’s world where life is always funny.

You can find out more information about Wojo through her Facebook page, @wojosworldfan page/ or at parade.com/member/Michele wojciechowski/ and twitter@themichelewojo.