IWSG, Cliffhangers, and More!

 

How is it already December?!!

It's time for another IWSG post, where we ask all our questions, release our writing fears, and support this awesome community!

Our lovely hosts for this month are:  Ronel, Deniz, Pat Garcia, Olga Godim, and Cathrina Constantine!

The optional question for this month is: Do you write cliffhangers? Do they turn you off as a reader/writer?

I personally don't write cliffhangers, but maybe that is mostly because I've never written a series. I'm not particularly turned off by them if they are done well. Especially for a trilogy or series you have to make the reader want to find out what is next, but I don't think that requires a dramatic cliffhanger. If you've written the characters with enough depth and the story is compelling, readers should automatically be drawn to the next book or chapter.

I hope everyone who celebrates had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday or at least enjoyed some well deserved days off! 

We had a great time with a bunch of our family who came in to visit. Lots of food and laughter. My favorite dish is always the apple pie! What's your favorite?

We also went to see the new Wicked movie. As huge Broadway fans, we were blown away by it! We were moved to tears almost as soon as Cynthia Erivo (Elphaba) began singing. She was absolutely divine! I'd love to hear your thoughts if you got to see it. 

Happy Holidays to all!!

Kathy :)

Thanksgiving Fun

We had a great Thanksgiving full of...

                                             baking fun with Grandma,














                                   
                                                                                                       snowball fights,



lots of great food,

 

bonding with cousins,

lots of great movies, and so much fun!

Almost the whole gang, this is my side of the family.  My wonderful in-laws took the picture.

Hope you all had a great holiday.
(It's taken me a few days to recover from all the fun, but I'm back now!)

Kathy :)

Feeling Thankful

Thanksgiving is my favorite time of year.  I love the crisp fall days, the crystals of frost coating everything, and  the plethora of people that swarm my house.  Every year we host Thanksgiving because our house is the most central location for everyone coming from N. Carolina and Michigan.

For four crazy wonderful days, we have 17 people in our house.  Of course there is not really room for that many, so all the kids "camp out" together on our family room floor.  My girls are the oldest of the group so they have fun leading the pack and their cousins simply adore them.  This year Alyssa is planning on leading the kids in lots of fun activities like the Sweet Baking Club and Story Time (where they are going to write short stories together and then act them out).  It's a great bonding time for all the kids (and allows us parents to catch up).

This is the one time of the year where our entire family, including my husband's parents, can get together and just enjoy each other.  Despite all the hard work, I feel extremely thankful to be able to have everyone together and I'm thankful my husband enjoys it too!

I probably shouldn't be sitting here writing, I should be planning this year's menu and running to the store.  But I wanted to let all of you know how thankful I am for you as well.  You are what makes all this hard work of blogging so rewarding.  It seems the older I get the more grateful I am for all the wonderful people who have touched my life.

I hope all of you have a Thanksgiving holiday filled with love and of course great food. (I may not be posting again until after turkey day as I'll be in the kitchen!)

****

As far as exercise goes this week for the Healthy Writer's Club, I did my usual skating practice. Then the kids and I decided we needed a little extra workout so we ran up and down our stairs about ten times.  It was fun but my legs felt like jelly afterward!

Don't forget today is Alex Cavanaugh's, Oh I Miss You Blogfest. I didn't officially sign up for it because most of the people I've met blogging seem to post more than I do.  But I definitely notice when someone is absent for a while and I miss their witty posts and comments.

Also coming up are blogfests hosted by L'Aussie Writer and Stephen Tremp  along with some of his buddies.

I'd also like to ask people to send positive energy or prayers to Jess's best friend Kate who is having heart surgery today.

Kathy  


    

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays.  What could be better than a day celebrating a bounty of delicious dishes and people coming together as friends and family?  But this year, Thanksgiving has a whole new meaning for me.

I never imagined when we moved out to Seattle in October that I would ever again be hosting Thanksgiving dinner surrounded by our wonderful family.  But it is funny how things work out and as we we drove across the country for the second time in a month (this time back to Ohio), I was already planning for the only time of year our whole family manages to get together.

When all 17 people arrived at our house Wednesday night, I couldn't have been happier.
I don't know how, but on Thursday everything ran smoothly and we actually got the food on the table an hour before I expected. I  think I simply wanted to enjoy every moment.  When my mother-in-law made a toast, tears of joy filled my eyes and I was truly thankful for so many things.

Some of which are:

Being back in our house that is relatively easy to get to from either Michigan or North Carolina.
The cousins all getting along.
Having great helpers in the kitchen.
Having my 90 year old Grandpa with us!
Having a family including in-laws, who all enjoy being together for 4 days!
My husband and kids!

Not even my kitchen faucet breaking in the middle of the holiday would spoil my weekend!

Cousins watching a movie together.

Silliness with fake mustaches 

More silliness

One of my great helpers!

         









I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend!

Kathy