Thanksgiving

It's that time of year again, where amazing food and the people you love come together for a memorable day. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because it's about spending time with the people you love and giving thanks for the blessings you have in your life, both big and small. I have a lot of things to be thankful in my life right now.

This is the first year where I am responsible for the Thanksgiving meal. My kitchen is small as is my dinner table but it will work out somehow. I'm particularly excited about the turkey that's currently roasting in the oven. I decided to go bold and tried for a whiskey, maple brine that I got out of a magazine. It'll either be amazingly delicious or frighteningly horrible. That's what's so fun about cooking for me. The adventure. You never know if the end product is going to turn into something that will make your taste buds scream in delight or if it's going to be an epic fail your family will be ribbing you about ten years from now.

Along with the turkey, I am doing mashed potatoes, another thing I don't have a lot of experience cooking, corn bread spoon bread, roasted mushrooms and pumpkin pie. All of my favorites.

Now I think I will stop typing and get back to cooking! Hope everyone has a memorable Thanksgiving.

When your brain doesn't want to work

Writing can be hard. It often feels like an uphill climb on a never ending mountain. Today, I'm reminded of just how hard it can be. I've stared blankly at my computer screen for the past half hour, willing my brain to churn out something, anything and haven't written a single word yet. At times like these, I'm stuck asking questions like 'Do I give up and hope it comes tomorrow or do I push on and force the issue?' My writing goal was high today as it's a Saturday. I even cleaned part of my house yesterday and dodged plans with a friend so I could concentrate on writing. I don't want to walk away from my desk with nothing to show for it.

I've learned over the past few book that a large part of writing is discipline. It's pushing through the initial brain soup and persevering on yourself. If I waited for inspiration, I'd still be working on my first book. There are times, though, that it doesn't matter how I push and pull on my imagination, nothing comes. I really hope today isn't one of those times.

Sometimes I can jump start my brain by distracting it with social media, goodreads or checking out other author blogs. Sometimes the process of brewing loose leaf tea with its precise measurements and methodical preparation relaxes my brain enough that the words inside can escape. Also, I just like using my really pretty cast iron tea pot. Other times, I switch my writing hats and work on something writing related (like this blog) before going back to the book.

Hopefully, complaining on here will have gotten the gears turning so I can achieve some progress today. Wish me luck.

So excited for December

I've already got my tickets to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens on Dec. 18. As you can guess, I'm pretty excited about this. It's the first time I've actually bought tickets in advance of a movie. Usually, I just show up on opening night and hope for the best. That's how I did it for all of the Lord of the Rings, Harry Potters and any other popular franchises.

I saw the original trilogy when I was on summer break in high school. My dad knew I loved Sci Fi so after I worked my way through the Aliens movies, he talked me into borrowing the three Star Wars movies from the library. They were amazing and totally opened my eyes to a whole new universe. I have to admit that I never cared for the prequels and didn't come even close to this level of excitement when they first came out. Some of that is because I don't really care for prequels that I already know the ending for. The other reason is that J.J. Abrams is directing the new trilogy and I love what he did with the most recent Star Trek movies. He's a very talent director and I am waiting with baited breath to see what he does with the Star Wars universe.

The only bad thing about this is I still have nearly a month and a half before the movie comes out. Ah well, patience is a virtue.