Holiday Shopping List.

Hi all!

Yesterday I took my last exam, in my last class of Graduate School. Now it's all over except for the crying, as they say. I'm just waiting for grades and that little note on my transcript that says "Degree Awarded". Wow, what a relief. Three years and I never thought I'd be at the end. Special Project done, Portfolio done... all DONE!

I get my life back! I can write again! Woo Hoo!!!

And while I am exited to get back to it...I need to take a minute or two to breathe. Watch some TV and enjoy not having to spend every spare minute reading or writing academic papers. Recharge my batteries and rediscover my author-self. If you haven't noticed, I've also been neglecting my promotional responsibilities lately. So here you go.

It's the holidays. And you, like many, are frantically looking for that perfect gift.

Here's my suggestion: Look to the right hand side of this page. That's it... just a little further...there. See all the pretty book covers? With the links beneath? Go and check out the books of all our YA Authors You've Never Heard Of. We've got a pretty wide range of stuff, and it's all great. Even better, you'll be supporting authors and indie publishers -- small business people. You don't even have to buy a physical book. If you buy someone an e-reader, like a Kindle, you can buy them the ebook and send it.

AND... I know I am a member of Authorgraph, which is a really cool site where you can get an electronic signature for those books. Just FYI, I actually physically make the signature for every request. It's not a copied file, but an actual signature, kind of like when you sign the credit card pad at the store. I believe several other authors on the blog are members too. So you can get a SIGNED book even without having a physical book or traveling to meet me! How awesome is that?

And if you really want a signed physical book, well, I could be persuaded. I have some copies here at home, just a few, that I would be happy to sell to you and sign. Just drop me an email. OR I even have some bookplates lying around that I can scrawl my John Hancock on and drop in the mail for you.

So, while I am counting the blessings of this joyous season (and I will be doing some celebrating, don't you worry), I hope that all of you will do the same, and that your shopping is worry-free.

Happy Holidays!

Veterans Day

Veterans Day is a relatively new holiday that has gone through a few changes over the decades. There has been a big deal this year that the date is all ones - the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 2011. But the backstory is that the armistice (which is what the day originally celebrated) between the warring nations of World War I "went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month".

When I was growing up, there was still confusion over what the day was called. Armistice Day, which only celebrated the American veterans of World War I, or Veterans Day (as it was renamed in 1954), honoring the veterans of all wars. (For more information on its history, visit here.)

Whichever it was called, the day was important in my family and community. My Uncle George fought in the Battle of Okinawa and later in the Korean War. Several of my cousins joined the military. The director of the university library where I worked had fought at the Battle of the Bulge (and on slow days at work would talk about some of it). I have friends who are currently serving and others who have retired from the military.

There are those who see Veterans Day as only another holiday. The news media in my area might bring up the Armistice Day blizzard of 1940 when many duck hunters died in a sudden snow storm that hit Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan.

Veterans Day will mean different things to different people. A day off work, a day without mail delivery, or a day of parades and tributes honoring those who have served our country.

Thank you for your service, veterans.

Holidays

I remember many more holidays when I was growing up than those celebrated today. Some were national - Columbus Day, Lincoln's Birthday, Washington's Birthday, Arbor Day, Flag Day. Some were local, such as Founder's Day or Maxwell Street Day (which in small towns in Wisconsin was celebrated by city-wide sidewalk sales. Each town had a different day in August so people in neighboring communities would come and shop) or Octoberfest. Some were religious. I was raised Roman Catholic, so quite a few saints had their holiday celebrated with the entire class attending Mass. May Day to me isn't memories of parades of armies and weapons but of decorating small altars with the first flowers of the season. I grew up in the Chicago suburbs, so St. Patrick's Day was the wearing of the green (and/or orange when I graduated to a public high school) by students of Irish ancestry, followed by St. Joseph's Day two days later and the wearing of the red by students of Italian ancestry.

There were so many holidays that the most valuable book in a library's reference collection was The Book of Holidays (or various versions) just so a teacher could keep track. This was also a useful resource when researching various countries and cultures for Geography and History classes to see what holidays were celebrated by others.

But then the Catholic Church changed the list of saints, dropping many (including the one my grammar school was named for) and the Federal holidays changed to those that could be celebrated over a three day weekend such as merging Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays. Some holidays fell out of popularity - though stores seem to remember them for sales. Holidays that could be celebrated with a card were added, as well as others (such as Read an Ebook Week) that one has to be in the know to even realize they exist. On the plus side, there is now more awareness of other cultural and religious holidays and more mention of them in the media.

Celebrations and holidays can unite a community, whether it be a classroom, a town, or a country. Each can have rituals or customs that either make sense (the planting of trees on Arbor Day) or originated so long ago that no one remembers why they began.

When developing the world for a science fiction or fantasy novel, adding holidays and celebrations helps establish traditions for your society. Do your elves have a spring or an autumn celebration? Do your dragons celebrate hatchings or first flight? Are the birthdays of royalty celebrated by the whole kingdom or only the royal family? Are there fall festivals similar to modern day Renaissance Fairs?

Will the holidays of today be celebrated in the future? Do the people in a space colony celebrate the day the first ship arrived? The day the space station was completed? Do they have the equivalent of Thanksgiving? Are there parades?

What are some of the celebrations in your books or your favorite stories?

Time

I am late. With this blog. Seems I am always running late these days. With everything. Real life has gotten very hectic, it would seem. And I thought I had it under control. Guess not.

Time. It slows, quickens, stalls out completely, runs out completely. Strange thing, that. When you're waiting for a much anticipated event, time seems to be at a standstill. It drags. It refuses to come, despite much coaxing. But when you're needing it to stay put, does it? Oh, no. Then it comes swooshing in, all feisty and demanding and full of itself. It cannot be pushed back, and simply either runs you over or swallows you whole.

That's where I am right now - being swallowed.

I am in between two craft fairs - desperately finishing up pieces - pricing, bagging, counting and gathering materials. Each show I change my focus just a little, to capture more of the audience. This time, I'm showcasing my picture books. Only they are not in print - they are electronic. The illustrations are gorgeous, but I need to show them. So, I made up samples - binders, with the pages all printed out and slipped into plastic sleeves. Customers can read the book and then purchase the CD. Hopefully. Printing out the books, putting them on CD, labeling, jacketing, etc, all takes some of that precious time.

I am also caring for my son's puppy. Only three days a week, but I have to be vigilant. The puppy is learning about the proper place to go potty - and it's not on my floor, although he seems to think that is ten times better than schlepping through the wet grass and driving rain that Mother Nature is tossing this way so that he can attend to mother nature in his own way. More time sucked up.

And, of course, there is the usual to be taken care of - cleaning, laundry, shopping - which is getting into full swing with Christmas approaching so quickly. Again, time is swooshing instead of stalling here. It seems that we were just getting done with Halloween and here it is almost time for St Nick.

The stores seem to be rushing everything these days,too. On one side of the aisle you see Thanksgiving, on the other side Christmas, with a few shelves reserved for leftover Halloween decorations. It's like Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas have all blurred into one long holiday. Time is getting all balled up in itself here, tumbling over and over like a dung beetles prize.

I remember when I was a kid, Christmas exploded on the scene the day after Thanksgiving, not before. Downtown would be transformed overnight into a winter wonderland, with the swags and lights and decorations. It was almost magical. Those workers must have been up all night to accomplish such a feat. Now? It's not surprising to see Christmas decorations lining the shelves BEFORE Halloween. For some reason, this destroys the whole magic of the season for me. Time has gone into overdrive, almost hyperspace, where I am seeing three realities at once.

Ah, time, you are a wicked one. When we are young, we can't wait to grow older, to get things accomplished, to gather material goods, to get "our place" in society. And, once we get to that coveted age that we so longed for, we look back and wish that maybe we could have projected forward a little better and let time do it's thing the way it's supposed to. Let it amble, instead of rush. Let it be without brakes or accelerator. Let time be timeless.

JennaKay Francis
www.jennakayfrancis.com
www.readerseden.com