Janalyn Voigt's Blog, page 40

Quick Notes: My Last-Minute Christmas Punch List

The Holidays can amplify time issues. Believe me, I know. Here's a last-minute punch list I developed in time-pressed years. I hope it helps you. You don't need to do everything on the list. Pick and choose.

My Last-Minute Christmas Punch List:

Finalize Gift List – If you're stumped, just write the number of gifts to get next to the person's name and decide in the store. Often, you can come across a perfect item you would never have thought of while shopping.
Schedule your Christmas shopping a little at a time over a week or in one blitz over a weekend, but finish it no later than Saturday evening. Also pick up any extra gift tags, tape, bows, bags, boxes and wrapping paper you might need.
Put up all outdoor lights and decorations.
Wrap all out-of-town gifts and prepare them for mailing.
Update your Christmas Card and/or Letter mailing list.
Take a cute picture of yourselves or your child(ren) (perhaps pose them in the snow or wearing a Santa hat while feigning sleep). Either upload and order enough to send with Christmas Cards or put the photo card somewhere you'll have it when you go to the store next.
Purchase or otherwise bring home or dust off your Christmas tree.
Finalize all holiday plans with family members, including your New Year's Eve plans.
Schedule to attend a holiday event (like a light show, singing Christmas tree, or a play).
Inquire into church activities and add them to your schedule.
Schedule any necessary babysitting now.
Mail out-of-town gifts and pick up all stamps for sending Christmas Cards and/or Letters.
Have the cute and creative picture you took processed into prints and send with Christmas Cards and/or Letters.
At the same time you have your prints made, pick up any Christmas stationery, if you want it, to print your Christmas Letters on and more colored ink for your printer. (Or you can have these printed for you somewhere like Kinkos). Make sure you have enough plain white envelopes for your Christmas Letters, if you are only sending them and not including them with a card.
Write and print a Christmas Letter to send with or in lieu of Christmas Cards. If you're foregoing Christmas stationery, you can download free clip art into your word-processing program (such as Microsoft Word) and make a quick banner of reindeer flying across the page or something similar and just print on regular copy paper.
Address Christmas Card or Christmas Letter envelopes, sign, fold and insert cards and/or letters, add creative pictures and seal Put Christmas Letters in mailbox or sort and take to Post Office for mailing.
Make a list of people you would like to give food gifts to (people like mail carriers, co-workers, and neighbors). Decide what to give them, schedule the time to make it, and add any needed items to your shopping list. At the same time, plan all of your holiday menus in one fell swoop. List all foods you will need and also any special pans or serving ware. Don't forget to plan the rest of the month's meals, keeping them extremely simple. Make one master shopping list and schedule your grocery shopping in two tripsonly: one to do right away for staples and any cookware or serving utensils you might need and a last-minute run for perishable items.
Try to get all your Christmas chores finished during the work week so you won't be in the stores on the weekend. Instead, attend a holiday event you scheduled. You can also drive around to see the lights in your neighborhood.
Have a gift-wrapping party. Play holiday music and drink eggnog while you wrap and make pretty all your Christmas gifts. Either do this in a separate room from the rest of your family, take the kids to their grandparents for a visit (after they've wrapped their own gifts) or wait until they are in bed. Put a few gifts under the tree and hide the rest.
Make cookies or candy for last-minute gifts. Don't forget to include your mail carrier and other service providers.
Put the last touches on your house and gifts.
Clean the house and prepare for Christmas guests.
Throw or attend a Christmas party on the weekend or schedule a family Christmas movie night or Christmas story reading session.
If you're having a turkey dinner, be sure and put the turkey in the refrigerator to thaw no later than Sunday, December 20.
Try to be done with everything no later than Tuesday, December 22, so you can concentrate on your final holiday preparations, your special menus, and your family.
Put away Christmas gifts and packaging and clean your house.
Do any needed shopping and preparation for New Year's Eve.
Merry Christmas!

© 2010 Janalyn Voigt

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Reader Notes: Featured Book: "I Know Why the Angels Dance" by Bryan Davis

Bryan Davis gives us a rare glimpse of heaven through a child's eyes in this moving story of death and life.

Young Tabitha experiences a series of visions and prophetic dreams that confuse the adults around her. Tabitha's dreams predict deaths, and they contain details she would not know on her own. When they begin to come true Tabitha and her pastor father, John, bear a grave responsibility, for they must work to bring lost souls to the saving knowledge of Christ before time runs out. Tabitha's childlike faith cuts through disbelief and unbelief. John struggles to overcome his glib sermonizing and truly engage the heart of his hearers.

John and Tabitha labor under the conviction…

Read my entire review on Book Readers Central.

© 2010 Janalyn Voigt

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Grace Notes: Mist Song

Gossamer threads snag

In branches bare

And shimmer there.

A wild pulse beats

Beneath a cloak of gauze

As winter greets

Its reflection.

© 2010 Janalyn Voigt

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Grace Notes: Are You Networking Wrong?

Have you ever, in a group, passed a whispered story from ear to ear? If you have, you'll remember the laughter at the differences between the original story and its final form.

Listening is a forgotten art in this hurry-too-fast age we live in. It takes focus, attention and energy to listen well. It requires an attitude of humility and respect for the speaker. Others appreciate it when you truly listen to them, and they can usually tell when you don't. With online social networking here to stay, it serves well to remember that. You don't want to come across as insincere. It's probably better to do nothing than to do the right things in the wrong way.

If time constraints hold you back, narrow your focus to those activities you can undertake well. It's fine to shift back and forth between social networks, but it doesn't serve you well to never return to a group at all. Splintering your focus too far can dilute everything you do. Don't expect the impossible of yourself. No one can be everywhere at once. If you can only hope to gloss over participation in a group, you might be better served to leave it and focus where you can participate.

As always, comments are welcome. I appreciate you.

© 2010 Janalyn Voigt

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Viral Notes: An Online Database for Book Promotion

Sign up for a free author page, list your appearances in a syndicated database,  search for a publicist, use an automated tool to build a book tour, and find local media contacts at Booktour.com. Most services are free to authors.

Watch this interview with co-founder and CEO Kevin Smokler:

How to Successfully Promote Your Book: The Kevin Smokler Interview

© 2010 Janalyn Voigt

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Notes to Self: Listen

When I posted that I needed to refuel and planned to take some down time, a friend commented that my doing so would give her a chance to catch up on my posts. It never occurred to me that someone would want to read every word I write. I'm touched. I can only hope to be worthy of such a commitment of another's time.

The comment took me aback, since I didn't plan to take time off from blogging. I at first rejected the idea, but it grew in appeal. Why not take an annual rest during the Holiday Season when few people have time to read blogs anyway? Starting on Monday, the 20th, I'll take a two-week sabbatical from blogging.

Sound advice can come in unexpected ways.

Note to Self: Don't forget to listen.

© 2010 Janalyn Voigt

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Notes to Self: Listening

When I posted that I needed to refuel and planned to take some down time, a friend commented that my doing so would give her a chance to catch up on my posts. It never occurred to me that someone would want to read every word I write. I'm touched. I can only hope to be worthy of such a commitment of another's time.

The comment took me aback, since I didn't plan to take time off from blogging. I at first rejected the idea, but it grew in appeal. Why not take an annual rest during the Holiday Season when few people have time to read blogs anyway? Starting on Monday, the 20th, I'll take a two-week sabbatical from blogging.

Sound advice can come in unexpected ways.

Note to Self: Don't forget to listen.

© 2010 Janalyn Voigt

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Newsy Notes: Four Book Lists

Book Lists

#FridayReads Top 10 Most Read List

CBA's 50 Bestsellers of 2010

Time's All Time 100 Novels

The New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2010

© 2010 Janalyn Voigt

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Novel Notes: Fantasy Maps, Promotion and Editing

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As a child I poured over the maps my parents gave me during road trips. A map imparts to travel a special element far beyond its practical use. I loved to watch our progress along the tiny printed lines and to mouth the names of towns along the way: Modesto, Phoenix Abilene, Wichita. Later, I would study maps of Tolkein's Middle Earth with much the same fascination.

The life of an author en route to publication has its surreal moments. It's hard to describe the first glimpse of cover art that features characters who once existed only in your head. When others comment about these figments of your imagination, well, it feels a little like they're reading your mail. This week I'll sketch Elderland — a world heretofore residing only in my head, so that artist Holley Heisey can transform my chicken scratchings into beautiful fantasy maps for others to enjoy.

I'll spend this month wrapping up odds and ends, planning promotion and editing DawnKing, book two of Tales of Faeraven. I hope to start research for my planned historical romance, Hills of Nevermore, in January.

© 2010 Janalyn Voigt

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Quick Notes: How to Organize Bookmarks into a Gmail Account

I can see an application for writers to organize their research with a dedicated account. That way you can keep your regular email free of research materials and find all your online notes in one place.

© 2010 Janalyn Voigt

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