Susan Buffum's Blog: Welcome to My World, page 30

Giveaway #3-You Decide

All right- I will offer another book giveaway but I need input. What book do you want to read? Look them over and then send me a message letting me know what book you want to read by posting a comment to this post. Whichever book generates the most interest will be the next Giveaway book. Respond in the comments by Christmas and I'll help kick off the New Year with the giveaway!

Giveaway Books Mailed

Received the winners names for The Subtlety of Light and Shadow and packaged the books and addressed the mailer bags while eating breakfast this morning. Took them to the post office during my lunch break. They are on their way! Thank you all for your interest in my book.

Surprise Gift for a Friend

I wrote on my personal facebook page about my current book giveaway on Goodreads. A young lady I "adopted" as my office daughter at work who had moved to Florida recently saw the post and wanted me to pick her as a winner. Of course I have no control over who wins a giveaway. I have had two or three book giveaways at work and felt bad that she had not been there...so the next day I packaged up a copy of The Subtlety of Light and Shadow and a copy of My Magical Life and mailed them to Florida as a surprise. She received them today and posted a picture of the books and a message that said quite plainly how happy she was not to have been forgotten by her "office mom." That's what makes me happy- making other people happy.

The Christmas Angel

Finished writing the first of this year's annual Christmas stories, but unsure if this is the one I will gift to friends and family this year or not. It turned out to be a lot longer than intended- 70-something pages, 21,000 plus words. Will start editing it tomorrow and see what's what. As usual, the characters had their own story to tell, not the one I necessarily had in mind!

New Christmas Story Started

Now that NaNoWriMo is over it's time to get cracking on this year' annual Christmas story. I started one last night but I'm not sure where it's going yet. I sometimes have false starts...will just have to see what develops with this one. Going out to do some Christmas shopping this afternoon with Kelly. Doesn't feel very Christmasy for New England yet- was warm and int he 50's yesterday and will most likely be the same today. No snow in western MA yet.

Christmas Lights

John and I went out to dinner tonight. While driving through the small town of Southampton we saw quite a few houses decorated for Christmas. We saw three houses with what looked to be laser grids projected on the front of them, which I guess is a new thing. Being a fan of ghost hunting shows it sort of looked a little creepy to me, not like snowflakes of whatever it's meant to be. I expected to see the pattern interrupted by a giant shadow being (and then I really would have been creeped out!!) It seemed there were more houses decorated so far than there were last year, but if I remember right we had early snow, so maybe our lack of snow so far (I have only seen snow flurries one day this year prior to Halloween)...so maybe it's our lack of snow that s giving people more time to get the Christmas lights up this year. One huge disappointment was that a house we traditionally drive by abut a mile from home was not illuminated yet this year-on Indian Ridge. That was rather disappointing, but, maybe next week. Looked as if there was a ladder against the side of the house so maybe it's this weekend's project, getting the place decked out for the holidays?

A Dreary Day

Today it was cold and dreary with downpours. I stayed in hoping that the rain would let up but it didn't. I ran to the post office to send a couple books to a friend who moved to Florida. She and I used to organize the office Christmas Party so I miss her this time of year. She'll be surprised when she receives her package! Then I ran to Barnes & Noble to get some gifts. While checking out I chatted with the girl at the register saying that I hoped all the bookstores in the world would not go out of business! I just cannot see myself browsing the internet and not being able to handle the books prior to purchasing them. I have a Nook but my eyes hurt after reading it even after adjusting the brightness. It was still raining when I got home, and tonight it has been pouring outside. I don't mind some rain, but when it rains practically non-stop all day it makes me feel gloomy. Tried perking myself up tonight by coloring with Kelly. She has a coloring book called Tessellation Patterns (perfect for an engineer and OCD patterning girl) and I have an Art Nouveau design coloring book. He spent about two hours coloring and laughing- I colored my hen in shades of pink and she thought I was insane, but then I layered on reds, russets and browns to make her a Rhode Island red. I've been coloring longer than she has! I know how to layer colors. She is a pure single color type colorer. Also spent a little time this morning sprucing up my facebook author page. Still needs work...that'll be another day!

NaNoWriMo nearly over

It's been a wild ride through the moth of November as I finally put Remy and Lissa's story in novel form. There are only a few similarities to all the pre-NaNo short stories I wrote about these characters, sort of practice sessions to get their voices right, their back stories worked out and the characters of their family and friends fleshed out. For the past 19 days I've been editing the novel. On Day 21 of NaNo I wrote a Christmas story set five years into the future that has been added to the end of the novel as an epilogue chapter- I've done this with other novels like The Archetypes series and the Talon series, although the Talon holiday story will be added to the end of the as yet only half written book 3 in the series. I write a lot of Christmas stories! Anyway, I had fun writing this year and wish to congratulate everyone who wrote a NaNo novel and those who made a whole-hearted attempt at it. Keep writing! The world needs your stories!

Feeling Nostalgic

I don't know what it is but I am feeling powerfully nostalgic for the 1960's-the years when I was growing up. I really didn't care much for the fashions and hair styles of the 70's but it really wasn't that bad, although I am still not a fan of polyester and disco. I am more the peace-loving flower child of the hippie generation, even though I was just a kid back then.

I don't know exactly what has set off this nostalgia binge- but it might have something to do with how violent and ugly the world has gotten, the callous disregard for human life. I grew up in a time when people loved and cared about one another and progress was being made toward making us all equal as we should be. There was hope for the future. Now there is just fear and frustration .

I don't know if all this has influenced my writing or not- it probably has since my stories have a lot of romance in them, a lot of gentleness and love. Even my cold-blooded killers (The Archetypes) are red hot lovers who have strong family values, solidarity and great love for one another.

Every year I really do wish for World Peace. When I said it one year my husband had a sweatshirt with a beautiful blue and green earth encircled in misty white clouds and the word Peace printed on the front made up for me. It was the best that he could do. At least he tried. I just don't think I'll see it in my lifetime. We seem to be going in the completely opposite direction.

In my writing I find peace and solace. And sometimes a little window opens up in a story through which I catch a glimpse of the world and what it was like when I was little.

Peace and Love to you!

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving!