Christmas Greetings from a Fairy to a Child

by Lewis Carroll

Lady, dear, if Fairies may

For a moment lay aside

Cunning tricks and elfish play,

‘Tis at happy Christmas-tide.

We have heard the children say —

Gentle children, whom we love —

Long ago on Christmas Day,

Came a message from above.

Still, as Christmas-tide comes round,

They remember it again—

Echo still the joyful sound,

“Peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Yet the hearts must childlike be

Where such heavenly guests abide;

Unto children, in their glee,

All the year is Christmas-tide!

Thus, forgetting tricks and play

For the moment Lady dear,

We wish you, if we may

Merry Christmas, glad New Year!

This is my last post of the year.
I wish you all Happy,
whether it's for
Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, 
or you're just glad to be alive.

Help the Elf

The time has come to Help the  Elf. Poor Pete lost Santa's Naughty and Nice list and was only able to find the Naughty one. What a disaster!

The awesome Angela and Becca over at The Bookshelf Muse (and authors of the fabulous Emotion Thesaurus) have solicited the aid of the blogosphere to help find people who belong on Santa's Nice list. They're hoping that we'll be able to add to the list without Santa being any the wiser.

I found this lady:

Tristi Pinkston

I first saw Tristi (from a distance) at the 2011 Storymakers conference I attended. What a fun, witty lady she was as she helped with the conference. I have since gotten to know Tristi better by reading her books (delightful) and serving with her on the iWriteNetwork board.

What can I say about her? Did I mention that she's funny? Besides that she's kind, generous, friendly, giving, compassionate, and intelligent? Trisit's helpful. SO helpful. She's a wonderful support to fledgling writers, with both encouragement and advice. She's traditionally published and self-published, so she's has had a lot of experience. Tristi is also a freelance editor (you better schedule her soon because her schedule fills early), so she knows her stuff.

Thank you, Tristi, for being you. You're an inspiration to me. I want to be like you when I grow up.

The following I submit in tribute to Tristi: 

Thank you very much!

This is the reprise at the end of my favorite version of A Christmas Carol, Scrooge, starring Albert Finney. When I first saw the movie, this scene made me tear up because it was so poignant after this version of the song. Tristi doesn't need the first rendition.

How about you, Readers? Is there someone you'd like to say Happy Holidays to, or tell them how much they mean to you? JOIN US! There's plenty of days left until Christmas, and sometimes a kind word can lift people up in a way that they really need. It's as easy as sending a free ecard or email note, posting on a Facebook wall or sending out a tweet. So go ahead and spread some kindness and cheer!

You can also check the following for other people on Santa's Nice list:

1.	Angela & Becca	10.	Juli Page Morgan	19.	Yvette Carol	28.	Lynn Kelley
2.	Sheri Larsen	11.	Zena Parks	20.	Robin	29.	R.w.Foster
3.	Linda	12.	Chantel Rhondeau	21.	Robyn Campbell	30.	Kate (themagicviolinist.blogspot.com)
4.	Donna K. Weaver	13.	Marcia Kuma	22.	PK HREZO	31.	Father Dragon Writes
5.	Laura Pauling	14.	Susanne Drazic	23.	Lori Freeland	32.	Monique Bucheger
6.	Ross Lampert	15.	Donna Galanti	24.	Deb A. Marshall	33.	Claire
7.	Natalie Aguirre	16.	Mart Ramirez	25.	Sharon K Mayhew	34.	Rachna's Scriptorium
8.	Not the Library of Alexandria	17.	Jeanelaine	26.	Erin, Creative Soul in Motion	35.	febe moss
9.	Teresa Robeson	18.	KittyB78	27.	stina Lindenblatt	36.	tara tyler

Under the Mistletoe

 Under the Mistletoe

I did not know she’d take it so,

Or else I’d never dared;

Although the bliss

was worth the blow,

I did not know she’d take it so.

She stood beneath the mistletoe

So long I thought she cared;

I did not know she’d take it so,

Or else I’d never dared.

Countee Cullen

Cheers, Cavanaugh Blogfest

It's finally here! The day Captain Ninja "dies" . . . 

of embarrassment.

So . . .

 In +/- 20 words, what does Alex look like?

From Alex's comments on his blog, he's mature.

Source

In +/- 20 words, who could play Alex in a documentary? (Living or dead.)

Alex must have a wonderful voice like James Earl Jones.

Hmmm.

Does Cap'n Ninja wear a mask . . .

or play the cello?

In +/- 20 words, who does Alex remind you of?

Because he's so giving.

The fourth question has to do with writing a flash fiction. 

Um. No. I'll spare you.

The bottom line is that our own Cap'n Ninja rocks. 

Thanks, Alex for every thing you do and--more importantly--

everything you are.

Not worthy

Clarity

Source: PowerPoint

I fear our high schools do writers—both for business and for fiction—a disservice by merely assigning students to write a specified number of words. Clarity in business writing is important. It’s no less so in novel writing.

Padding our word counts by saying something simple in the longest possible way doesn't help clarity. While there might be an occasional character who speaks this way, most of the time we want to avoid this.

Following is a fun exercise we did for a business writing session at a conference I attended this year. It’s taken well-known proverbs and done a high school student job on them.

Can you figure out what they are?

1. An ignoramus and his lucre are readily disjoined.
2. In the absence of the feline race, certain small rodents will give themselves up to various pleasurable pastimes.
3. A plethora of culinary specialists vitiate the liquid in which a variety of nutritional substances have been simmered.
4. Impetuous celebrity engenders purposeless spoilage.
5. Illegal transgression has no renumeration for its perpetrators.
6. A winged and feathered animal in the digital limb is as valuable as a duet in the shrubbery.
7. The warm-blooded class Ave who is governed by promptitude can apprehend the small, elongated and slender creeping animal.
8. Provide the privilege of affranchisement, or I will feel that life is not worth living.
9. A conditional characterized by tardiness is more desirable than one that is systematically marked by eternal absenteeism.

Operation: Help the Elf!

I'm Pete the Elf

You may have noticed this little guy in the column to the left. The wonderful gals over at The Bookshelf Muse (and who are authors of the wonderfully helpful Emotion Thesaurus) are at it again.

When they released ET, they did a Random Act of Kindness event that was so fun to take part in. I'm a firm believer that our perception controls our reality, so I'm all about looking for what's right in the world.

Well, Angela and Becca are doing something along that happy vein--with a fun holiday twist. Poor Pete the Elf messed up, and he needs our help to put things right.

Please head over to The Bookshelf Muse and check out the details. 

Consider signing up to help Pete. I think you'll find you want to.

Let's shout this to the world . . . and save Christmas!

Writing Conferences & NaNoWriMo

I'm posting today over at the LDS Writers Blogck and talking about NaNo and some upcoming writing conferences.

Yes, this is me. Squeee!