The Reason for the Season

As the Christmas holiday approaches, it may be worthwhile to look at how we're preparing to celebrate. Since I would scarcely be the first to comment on Christmas commercialism, I think I'll refrain. Suffice to say that, although the goal may be worthy for other reasons, "the reason for the season" is NOT making sure the local stores stay in the black.

For Christians it can be a challenge to keep Christ in Christmas what with all the distractions and opportunities to buy that assail us during the season, not to mention the guilt trips: Have you remembered Auntie Martha? Can you watch a child starve while you feast? Putting out our nativity scenes helps, but it can't be the only step. It takes work to keep the celebration of Christ's birth centered on Him.

What about non-Christians? Many participate in the secular, spend-it-all portion of the holiday, but let me suggest here that even those who don't remember Christ's birth can find a higher purpose for their holiday.

A friend recently suggested that Christmas should become the culmination of our Thanksgiving holiday, that we would do well to spend the whole season being grateful for all that is good in our lives. That's a higher purpose I can encourage.

Sharing love and concern and time with those we hold dear can also mean more than sharing expensive gifts that may need to be returned.

Whatever our religious or non-religious orientation, I am hoping that, as we contemplate and prepare for the holiday, we try to imbue it with greater and deeper meaning than department store sales. We all deserve better than that.

My Gratitude Journal: Characters

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I've already admitted that authors of fiction are crazy. We hear voices in our heads, listen to them, even respond. What's more, since we are writing fiction, everyone expects it.

My colleague Barbara Samuels, who writes brilliant books as Ruth Wind, calls her muses "the girls in the basement." I suspect mine occupy the attic, since they always seem to be floating at the top of my mind, keeping me preoccupied when I usually have more practical things to do.

They speak to me in symbols, images and (mostly) words, sometimes in song lyrics (tunes included) or lines of poetry. More often they speak in the voice and the guise of a particular fictional character.

Today I express gratitude to those characters who have popped into my head and stayed, refusing to be evicted until I had given them their due.

I'm thankful to Brandon and Robin, my firstborn fictional creations, who populated the story in BENEATH SIERRA SKIES, my first release back in 1990. I'm thankful for Meg and Jim, my first characters in Rainbow Rock, Arizona, for Jim's brothers Kurt and Chris, and for Alexis and Sarah, who showed up to keep them busy.

I'm thankful that Rainbow Rock kept giving me interesting characters to work with including Logan Redhorse and Eden Grant, Cretia and Max, Angelica and Joe.

I appreciate Sarah Kimball and her cast-of-thousands family, Craig Emory and all the Burnetts.

Today I'm especially thankful for Maggie who has been insisting on having her say, even when I tell her I'm too busy and she is going to have to wait. She simply won't be silenced, bless her.

I'm thankful for all the real people in my life -- the ones who see me through good times and bad, and I'm grateful for all the fictional people whose voices continue to inspire me. May they nag succesfully for decades yet to come.

Proper Care and Feeding of a Writer

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Many writers I know insist on chocolate, chocolate and -- oh yeah! Chocolate.

For me that's one migraine after another and therefore, not conducive to writing (or thinking, or standing up, or much of anything!). Yet I have my weaknesses.

Give me a bowl full of caramel popcorn and a half-dozen chilled, caffeinated sodas -- oodles of caffeine and sugar to feed my muses and push the creative mind. Then give me hours in front of the computer with nothing else to do or think about so the writing flows like water or, um, caffeine. That's what my muses like!

Life is full of conundrums and here's another: What my muses like and what's really good for me (not just as a human body, but as a writer, too) are very different things.

What my mind wants is one thing; what it needs is another. The proper care and feeding of a writer requires some mild to moderate exercise at least several times a week, lots (and LOTS!) of clean water to drink -- usually 3 to 4 quarts a day -- and healthful meals with plenty of vegetables.

The proper care and feeding of a writer is, after all, the care and feeding of a human mind and body. Darn it all.

How do you prefer to feed and care for your muse?