Natasha Wing's Blog, page 20

Battle of the Christmas Bulbs

Each Christmas season, I dig up old stories I’ve written about Christmas and work on them a bit more, while I’m in the Christmas frame of mind. Here is one I wrote about the competition between neighbors to have the best Christmas lights. (excuse the formatting below)

The Great Battle of the Bulbs

by Natasha Wing

Christmas season was in full swing. What should have been a time of peace and joy, turned into a Battle of the Bulbs.

It all started when Mayor Julie Annie announced that she was awarding a trophy for the outdoor display that best captured the spirit of Christmas.

My neighbors shifted their decorating into high gear.

First thing Saturday morning, I was jolted awake by dueling BEEP BEEP BEEPs and RAT-A-TAT-TATs.

Freddy Bob was backing a crane up to his house to string lights.

Travis was stringing his with a high-powered staple gun.

All day long those two stapled and pounded and cursed until their houses were covered with Christmas lights. There were so many lights, I needed sunglasses…inside my house!

In the meantime, I filled the bottoms of paper bags with sand. Then I placed a candle in each bag and set out my luminaries.

On Sunday, those two were at it again.

Freddy Bob was franticly setting up a winter wonderland complete with twirling ice skaters and sliding penguins.

Freddy Bob shouted, “Hey, Travis! Try to beat this Christmas spirit!”

“I can top that,” yelled Travis.

He recreated Santa’s village with real elves who were up all night hammering BANG, BANG, BANG! Oh, the noise!

On Monday, Freddy Bob brought in a full orchestra and a choir which played the Twelve Days of Christmas. He even had live turtle doves, French hens, milking maids and a partridge in a pear tree.

At first it was quite something to hear. But then the same song playing over and over again drove me nuttier than a fruit cake!

If that wasn’t enough, Travis staged a live performance of The Nutcracker. He imported dancers from New York City. They were spinning and twirling and leaping and quite frankly, were making me dizzy just watching them.

The performances went on until after midnight. And so did the line of cars.

What ever happened to peace on Earth?

At last, judging day arrived.

Freddy Bob and Travis worked up until the last-minute, adding spotlights and putting in speakers to broadcast Christmas music.

Silent Night this was not.

Me? I lit my luminaries. Then I sat on my porch sipping spiced cider and watched a steady stream of cars cruise through the neighborhood, looky-loos pointing and oo-ing and ah-ing at the Christmas spectacles.

Travis and Freddy Bob put on the final touches just as the mayor’s limo turned the corner.

Mayor Julie Annie stepped out of the limo. Her hair was piled high in the shape of a Christmas tree. Her bulb necklace blinked.

Mayor Julie Annie announced to the crowd that had gathered, “I am please to see that everyone in this fine city got into the spirit of Christmas. I would love to give each and every one of you a trophy. But I only have one.”

A couple of beefy men carried the trophy from the limo and set it on the sidewalk in front of Travis’s house.

“And the trophy goes to –”

Suddenly, a giant sleigh lifted off the ground and hovered above Freddy Bob’s house. Santa Claus waved to the crowd below.

Everyone cheered. Except Travis. He threw his hat to the ground and stomped on it. Freddy Bob has outdone him.

The men picked up the trophy and carried it to Freddy Bob’s house where Freddy Bob stood, his chest puffed up bigger than Santa Claus’s. The mayor proclaimed, “I proudly present the Spirit of Christmas award to -”

Just then, the sleigh flew out of control. It knocked over Santa’s workshop.

It took out the ice skaters.

The sugarplums fled for cover.

People ran screaming.

The sleigh swooshed and smacked into a pole. Not the North Pole – a street light pole!

Just like that, the lights went out.

There was total darkness. Except for my luminaries.

A hush fell over the crowd. From the silence, one voice sang, “Silent night.”

Then one voice became two, two became four, and soon, everyone was singing.

That’s when our town found the true spirit of Christmas.

And I discovered that a trophy makes a real good candle holder.

Filed under: Natasha Wing

Free on Kindle Prime

Ho! Ho! Ho! In the spirit of giving, I just signed my e-book up on Kindle’s KDP lending library so if you have Kindle Prime, you can borrow it for free!

Here’s the link. Pass it along.

Filed under: Natasha Wing Tagged: Christmas, free books, Kindle

It’s here!!!

New ebook!

I’m so excited! One of my out-of-print books is now available as an ebook. It’s the story about a boy who sends his mom’s grocery list to Santa instead of his Christmas list. When a snowstorm keeps mom from getting to the store to buy food for Thanksgiving dinner, Santa comes to the rescue!

It’s only $3.99 and you can purchase and download it here.

 

Filed under: Natasha Wing Tagged: Merry Thanksgiving, Santa, snowstorm, Thanksgiving

It’s coming!

Celebrate Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is next week! And you know what that means – the night before Thanksgiving is next week, too. November 21st to be exact.

Time to dig out your copy of The Night Before Thanksgiving and read it to your children. What? You don’t have a copy? You silly turkey!

Thanks to speedy delivery service you can have yours in time for the holiday. Just order here.

Filed under: Natasha Wing, Tamie Lyon, Thanksgiving Tagged: Tamie Lyon

Get a Signed Book for Donating

A sample of my rainproof bike seat covers.

I have two businesses – one, writing children’s books and the other making whimsical bike seat covers. bumcicles™ keeps me busy between book projects – and it’s a way to express an artistic side not using words.

So here’s the thing. I signed up for Community Funded to raise capital to expand my bike seat cover line into rainproof covers. I am also looking to assemble a table and tent so I can sell my bumcicles™ at events and promote biking and Fort Collins as a biking city.

If you are so inclined to help an entrepreneur, the way the program works is you’ll get a gift back for donating. Two of my gift backs are signed books. So check it out. I only have until November 13th.

FUND MY PROJECT

Filed under: Natasha Wing Tagged: bikes, bumcicles, Community Funded

Good-bye Blog

As I sit at my desk, the Rocky Mountain foothills burn to the west of me, the worst fire in Colorado history. My cousin lost his property, moose are showing up in Fort Collins, and more people are being evacuated. Knowing someone who has lost almost everything sure makes one rethink life a bit.

After the death of my unconditional love, my cat Jemima, followed six days later by the fire, I have no inclination to write. I sit at my laptop, stare at the screen, and feel the energy drain from my body. That’s not a good state to be in when writing children’s books. So I am taking time off from writing. I’ve been at it for 20 years, and lately it has been an energy drag. It’s not so much the writing – it’s everything else that is piled on top of it. The marketing. Setting up book signings and only two people show up. The layers of social media that require time away from writing in the name of building fans. The new social media that comes along just when you thought having 50 friends on Facebook was a good thing. The missed opportunities. The creating of opportunities that don’t pan out. The waiting to get paid for work completed months or a year ago while quarterly tax deadlines loom. The constant pressure to do my own publicity for negligible return when I should be writing – creatively – instead of being a publicist. The look on people’s faces when they tell you they have so many books already they haven’t read which means they don’t want to buy mine. The de-valuation of the book and diminishing respect for the skills and time it takes to create a story. Suffice it to say, I’ve had enough.

There are a few projects partially completed that I want to finish, but I’ve decided to get back to them when I’m re-energized and excited about writing again. Now’s not the time. I need to occupy myself with something that brings joy, playfulness, lightness in these times of heaviness. So instead of writing I’m making bike seat covers. Yep, bumcicles bike seat covers. Cloth, thread, elastic, and a label. That’s is. There’s something about playing with colorful fabrics that appeals to me now.  I design them out of fun mix-and-match fabrics and local seamstresses sew them. Then I post them on my Etsy shop. I don’t have anyone telling me that my choice of fabrics is wrong. Or wanting me to change my pattern. Or grimacing when they feel obligated to buy it. Instead people see my bumcicles and smile. But better yet, they make me smile. And that’s what I need right now more than trying to analyze how to get more school visits or sell more books at signings. Or chasing elusive opportunities. Or wasting writing time writing posts for this blog instead of stories that matter.

So I say good-bye blog. It’s time for me to try something new.

I’m excited to see what rises from the ashes.

 

Filed under: Natasha Wing

Farewell my Feline Friend

Strawberry moon

Sometime during the night, on the eve of the full Strawberry moon, my kitty cat, Jemima, passed away.

As a couple without children, Jemima was our furry family member. We got her as a kitten when we lived in California – the cutest little calico in the litter – and she drove across the West with us when we moved to Colorado two years ago.

She was “mamma’s girl”, always following me around, the two of us talking back and forth. She loved to take naps with me, or lay by my feet when I was working on my computer creating stories. Jemima was the inspiration for cat character Mittens Abercrombie, curator and famous catologist for the Museum of Modern Animals, in an adventure book I co-wrote with two other cat-loving writer friends. Although that story has yet to be published, it was fun to channel Jemima into a talking character who was full of spunk and intellect.

And now she’s gone.

The house is quiet. I don’t feel like writing.

You know what it’s like when you finish a really good book and you don’t want it to end?  But I must close the cover, and let her live in my imagination.

Farewell, my feline friend. I loved you so.

One of her favorite places, the deck.

Filed under: Natasha Wing

Review for New Book

Tis June, the time for kids getting out of school, bbqs, and Father’s Day!

This sweet review came in for my new book and I wanted to share it with you. http://bradyslady55.blogspot.com/ Autumn wrote me an email and said, “I really enjoyed it and the best part is how excited it has made my three year old to do something special for Father’s Day.” Maybe the book will inspire your children to do something helpful and free for Father’s Day.

The newest book by Natasha Wing.

And talking about fathers, here’s a photo of my dad. He’s 75 years old and still doing home repair projects!

The author’s father.

Filed under: Amy Wummer, Natasha Wing Tagged: Family, Fathers, Fathers Day, For Every Season, Holidays, Parenting

Where the Wild Thing Went

Maurice Sendak died today at 83. Maybe the Long Island Medium knows where his soul rested, but I’ll bet wherever he is, he’s being rascally. If you haven’t seen the Steven Colbert skit with Sendak, it’s a treat to watch. Here’s a short clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mPEZj21NmE

 

Filed under: Natasha Wing Tagged: Colbert, Sendak

3 Authors, 3 Questions

Check out Patricia’s blog where she interviews three authors about writing and marketing including guess who?

Filed under: Natasha Wing