Here be Magic: decorations

By Maureen L. Bonatch

Everyone has their own way of decorating a Christmas tree. Some like white lights, while others prefer multi-colored. A few may coordinate specific decorations, while some choose ornaments with a special story or memory behind them. Still some hang whatever ornament catches their eye.

We always put our Christmas tree up the day after Thanksgiving—during the last week of National Novel Writing Month (#NaNoWri). Once we had our tree complete this year, I sat and watched it move on the rotating base and considered how decorating the tree was comparable to crafting a story.

An Outline, or An Idea

You start with the bare bones. It’s just a tree. Beautiful in it’s own right, but displaying the potential for so much more. Perhaps it sits in your yard for months, or years, as you consider just how you want to mold it for the end result. Then you find the place of honor in your home where the tree gets the best attention. (Environment)

Main Characters

The lights go on first. You decide if you want just one color (First Person POV) or more than one color. You know what catches your eye and enthralls you. There are people who will tell you they prefer one over the other, it’s your job to convince them why your color(s) is just as beautiful, if not more.

Secondary Characters

You add the ornaments. Each one serves a purpose to enhance the overall effect so it’s pleasing to the eye. A few have a really special story to tell about how they earned that place on your tree. All of the ornaments look fabulous together, yet none stand out more than another.

Bring Your Story Together

The tinsel drapes over the tree and brings all the ornaments, and the lights together in harmony. Then the tree, and the varied decorations, make one beautiful whole.

I Hope Your Holiday Is Beautiful and Fills You With Awe

Just don't choose your Christmas tree from the woods of DESTINY CALLING.

When the woman who raised Hope is murdered by something not human, Hope loses the only family she knows and discovers one she might wish she never met. With a touch that can make the desperate hopeful, Hope is the answer. The only question is if she can deal with sibling rivalry, accept that entities feeding off despair exist, and determine if Griffith is the man of her dreams, or not at all what he seems.

Author Bio: Maureen Bonatch grew up in small town Pennsylvania and her love of the four seasons—hockey, biking, sweat pants and hibernation—keeps her there. While immersed in writing or reading paranormal romance and fantasy, she survives on caffeine, wine, music, and laughter. A feisty Shih Tzu keeps her in line. Find Maureen on her website, Facebook & Twitter

So, I was sitting in my office all relaxed and trying to figure out what we're going to do today. Then, while perusing my email, I got one from Here Be Magic and wondered why I started shaking. It wasn't a bad email--not like they're kicking me out (right, peeps?). I couldn't figure out why I reacted so oddly. And then it hit me. I was supposed to post today.

D'oh!

And now I sit here, frantically typing since the day is half over and I have nothing ready to go. Truth is... this is kind of my life. It's much rarer when I'm ahead of schedule and have all my blog posts out and scheduled and on time. Quite honestly, with blogging it often works better for me because I can blog about something that's on my brain right now and I won't wonder what the hell I was thinking when it posts. This is me. Today. Raw.

But hey, at least I showered.

The funny part is I'm in the midst of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), and for the first time in ages, I'm ahead of my goal. No procrastination there. I haven't had any killer word days, but I'm averaging over 2100 words a day. If I really buckle down for the rest of the month, I could even have a completed draft by the first of December.

Yay, NaNoNovel!

On the other hand, I don't think there's a blog post I haven't written on the fly this month. I have stuff I was supposed to mail weeks ago. (One letter is sitting in my car right now, waiting for me to remember to get stamps.) The house gets cleaned in fits and starts (which means it's never really clean.

Hello, my name is Seleste, and I'm a procrastinator.

*everyone* Hello, Seleste.

*jerk in the back corner* That's not even your real name!

*me* Shut up, dude, that's really not the point.

Because of today's posting oops, I'm back at wanting to "cure" my procrastination sickness. And I'll probably bust ass over the next week and get crazy-ahead on life. Holiday cards will go out, blog posts will be written (and in a few weeks, I'll wonder what I was smoking when I wrote them), the house will get cleaned, decorations will go up. My writing might suffer a little, but hey, it's just my NaNoNovel, right?

Er... Back the truck up.

Out of four NaNos I've done, two of those novels (in some form or other) have gone on to be published--includingBadlands. A third is in limbo at the moment because I'm being very particular about who I'm willing to sell it to (at some point I'll let everyone know how that worked out).

That means this could be the NaNoNovel that changes everything, the one that breaks me into the big leagues, the one that makes me a household name (hahahahahahaha--okay, I don't really believe that). But it's important too. Arguably it's more important than the cards and the decorations and the cleaning. Maybe not more important than the blogs posts (I am ahead, after all), but I'm one of those people who generally needs to embrace my procrastination.

Without it, I'd never get the most important stuff done.

Now if you'll excuse me, my son wants to teach me how to play Lego Harry Potter.