HOME

It’s the season to be thinking about home, isn’t it? “Home for the Holidays,” “Over the river and through the woods, to Grandmother’s house we go,”* and, of course, “Home Alone.”

But home is important all year round. Some people, like me, have a house and a nice place to live, but don’t feel like we have a home. It’s only because we’ve moved around so much for 50 years that, even though I was raised for 18 years in Moline, Illinois, the house I grew up in belongs to someone I don’t know. I only have one cousin who lives in the area. We’re all nomads in my family, it seems. If I were to pick a place to return to, a home, I honestly have no idea where I would go.

I saw a quote on Facebook, on Larry D. Sweazy’s thread, that spoke to me yesterday:  "Obsessed by a fairy tale, we spend our lives searching for a magic door and a lost kingdom of peace." -- Eugene O'Neill

I remarked that I thought that the human condition is that we’re all trying to get back home. Larry posted another quote: "We're all just walking each other home." -- Ram Dass

Under ideal circumstances, I think we ARE helping each other home. I won’t mention recent horrific events that show up the lack of humanity in my fellow Americans. I’ll just pretend that most of us are good people. No, I BELIEVE that. I think most people are trying their best to do what’s right.

I’m working on two mystery novel projects right now and I’ve noticed I’m continuing to write about family. A lot. And really, isn’t home the place where your family is?

*That song, it seems was actually written for Thanksgiving and appropriated for Christmas. They were also going to Grandfather’s house in that version. Just to be clear.

all photos from morguefile.com taken by the following:

mwalldorf

mensatic

carmawrites

BUSHKO

Holiday Slow Down, But…

If you follow my blog, you’ve noticed how much it’s slowed down lately. This was partly due to my thumb surgery in October, then another part due to the disappointment of the election results in November. Following that, due to the bustle of getting ready for the holidays.

Things will speed up very soon!

https://mysterythrillerweek.com/

 I’m also getting ready for something else, and this event is getting more and more exciting as it gathers momentum. That something else is Mystery Thriller Week. It was, I think, put together by Benjamin Thomas and Vicki Turner Goodwin. You can find the preliminary posts here.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1333307913355544/.

The best place to find information is the web page. Click on the logo above for that

I’m not on Twitter much, but it’s #MTW over there.

Reviewers and interviewers will make it easy for a bunch of mystery writers to get ourselves before the public so they can get to know our books. For this event, I chose to promote the first novel in each of my Kaye George series. I have 3 one-hour slots lined up, all from 10 to 11 AM, on February 15th, 16th, and 17th. I’ll give away CHOKE on one day, EINE KLEINE MURDER another day, and DEATH IN THE TIME OF ICE the third day. I think I’ll concentrate on them in that order. I’ll also have some interviews and reviews being posted leading up to the event.

In other news, I haven’t quite finished my shopping for my family yet. Or maybe I have. After I set aside a time (do this!) to go through what I’ve bought, I’ll know. Also haven’t done Christmas cards, but I did get our family letter printed.

Many of you know that my dear Hubby suffers from both Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Some of you know that the Parkinson’s has gotten worse. That’s “normal” for the disease, of course. Not at all normal for us! So now, in addition to the adult day care (Grandpa’s Program) that he attends 3 days a week, we’re having a home health aide come in 3 times a week to help get him showered and dressed, and to make sure his PT is being done more regularly than I’ve been able to get it done.

Last bit of news for this week. I decided to put together a short story anthology that I’m calling DAY OF THE DARK. It’s inspired by the total eclipse of the sun coming up August 21st, 2017. Wildside Press has agreed to get it to publication in time! I’ve gotten several submissions already, but the deadline is 1/31/17. (Yikes, it’s almost 2017!) Here’s the details from the announcement I sent out. Feel free to ask me about this if you’re interested!

In order to get this out in time for the eclipse, the deadline for the stories will be 1/31/17. Length should be 3000-5000. Please turn them in standard format, double spaced, TNR 12 point font, 1 inch margins, with formatted (not tabbed) 5 point indents. Entries should be sent to me at kayegeorge at gmail dot com, attached.

I’d like some mystery elements in each story and, of course, to be based on “eclipse” in any form you’d like, but these don’t have to be straight-up mysteries. Some genre mixtures would be fun—all but erotica, okay? 

Happy Holidays!

Here’s the cutest thing I’ve seen this year. I think the name of the group is Straight No Chaser.

Let me change my hat to Janet Cantrell for just a moment. Okay, ready.

While I’m doing links, let me tell you about Season’s Readings—a giveaway every day until December 24th at Killer Characters! Take a look at the left hand column for all the giveaways that have happened already!

On our Nose for Trouble Facebook group, we five cozy writers are doing discussions and giveaways from week to week. We and our readers post some awfully cute animals pictures and videos, too. If you have a cute pet, stick a picture up there.

As both Kaye and Janet, I wish you a warm and merry holiday season!

Heading into the Fray

Here they come, the December holidays. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Bodhi Day, Festivus, or any other, these special celebrations usually involve getting together with large family groups, eating good food, and giving gifts.

How fun! How stressful! I attend a monthly meeting of caregivers. All of us are caring for loved ones with some sort of dementia (and I never realized how many different kinds there are before finding this group). The meeting this month emphasized making it through the minefield of the winter holidays intact. This can be done by caring for the caregiver (right, easy to say), but also by listening to the afflicted loved one and making sure he or she isn’t overwhelmed. OK, making sure neither of us is overwhelmed!

I guess the best way to do that is to simplify. When we both retired and started to (try to) live on social security, we cut down on the amount per kid and grandkid, but there’s more that can be done.

I honestly didn’t want to put up a tree this year, but Hubby wants to. So I’ll listen to him, help him put it up, and decorate it. He actually wants to put up two! We bought a new one last year and neglected to throw the old one away…so I guess we could have two, if I can figure out where to put them!

My usual Christmas letters will go into envelopes, skipping the cards. That seems to make sense. I’ve already mailed out the overseas packages and make fudge and peanut brittle for them. No one stateside seems to appreciate those two items like I do, so maybe I won’t make any more. Lindt truffles are awfully good.

Hubby and I won’t get each other gifts beyond the new patio and the oak tree that was taken down. That about shot THAT budget.

The best part of this Christmas is that I have exactly one deadline, December 16th, and when that’s over, I can relax and have a good time. Unless I work on STROKE. Or some short stories. Or the third book in the Carraway series, or the Neanderthal People of the Wind series. Stop me before I ruin the holiday!