Despite inflation and high gas prices, I am currently preparing to go on vacation. It will be the first week-long venture I've taken in nearly a year and a half, and I am looking forward to having some quiet time to relax and recharge in the mountains. I've written before in this blog about how I use such vacations to get some work done on creative endeavors, and this time around will be no exception. I'll be taking my laptop along with me as well as my DSLR camera and some art supplies. I have plenty I hope to accomplish during the week, but also, I will be looking for inspiration for projects I won't be able to work on until I get back home again.
family
Love: Unconditional Not Required
Today is Mother's Day in the US, a day to celebrate the women in our families and show them appreciation for everything they have done for us. For many people, this holiday comes with pleasant images of flowers, cards, gift-giving, dining out, and pampering the moms in our lives. It's a good thing, and often it's used to teach young children the value of saying thank you to people they love... or at least those who they are supposed to love.
Holiday Traditions
Most people who celebrate the winter holidays here in the US will probably agree that sending and receiving greeting cards has decreased during the past decade or so. While I was growing up, my parents would hang the Christmas cards people sent us along the base of the railing around our stairwell. Nowadays, they receive only a handful of cards, barely enough to frame a quarter of the stairs. We also send out far fewer. I used to send cards out to the friends I met at summer camp, but with the creation of social media platforms, such as Facebook, many of us no longer exchange mailing addresses and convert our correspondence to digital formats.
Fandom Family
Over the past four days, I had a hectically wonderful weekend in Washington D.C. attending another Supernatural convention, and for the first time I felt like a true veteran of this fandom. If you've read my early blog posts, you'll know I was a late-comer to the show, but I've been attending conventions for three years now. My previous SPN cons with this company had all been solo excursions, but this time around was different. This time I had friends whom I had met online and from a previous convention. This time I had my own SPN Family.
The Dream of Storytelling
Much of this weekend threatened rain, keeping me inside where I spent most of my time editing my novel manuscript. I'm hoping to pitch or query it this winter, but putting the final polish on it is difficult for me, perfectionist that I am. I realize some other writers have the same problem, but such knowledge is not enough to silence my inner critic.
Friends, Family, and Memories
Memorial Day weekend always holds a lot of memories for me. In high school, I played in the marching band's drum line, and we always had two parades this weekend, one for each of the towns in our school district. I no longer go to the Memorial Day parades... Please click to read more...
HLHumbert 