Christmas cards on mantle

Christmas cards on mantle

It’s the time of year when one’s thoughts turn to … Christmas cards.

Once upon a time, people diligently sent cards to everyone they knew – friends and relatives from far and near. It was the season of blessings and cheer, and sending cards was what everyone did. In those halcyon days, Christmas cards flowed from mail boxes to blanket table tops and mantles.

But in recent years, fewer and fewer people are sending yule greetings. And some of these lack any personal word scrawled above the hasty signature. Could these senders be reluctantly reciprocating? Am I complicating their busy lives by giving them one more thing to do?

But then there are the ones who exceed my own brief notes, adding photos and amazingly detailed newsletters. Others are sending delightful e-cards. I’ve been tempted to try this last technology – but since I occasionally send emails to announce new books, I would fear having my Christmas greeting mistaken for a promo.

Sending cards is time consuming and expensive. Even finding suitable Christ-mas cards can be a challenge. Despite the complexity of it all, I expect I’ll be mailing cards again this year. Canada Post will be appreciative.

November is National Novel Writing month when determined writers compose 50,000-word novels within thirty days! Inspired by their amazing feat, I decided to challenge myself with the far more modest undertaking of plotting out a novel’s outline, chapter by chapter. I posted my progress on Twitter as #PNoWriDa (Personal Novel Writing Days) and surprised myself by completing the task in twenty days without a lot of effort. A few writers told me they were also giving the process a try.

As well there’s the University of California’s online zombie course, The Walking Dead. With the exception of a module called ‘Modelling a Zombie Outbreak’ which was quite painful to my un-mathematical brain, the course is enjoyable. Only two more modules to go. I may even miss those zombies.

Finally, The Shushan Citadel has been selected by author and blogger, Prash Chopra, for rating on GoodReads. If you’ve read this book in paperback or iBook format, please take a moment to click on the following link and give the book a rating: http://ratemyebook.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-shushan-citadel.html.  I would so appreciate it.