Thanksgiving! And words to the wise

cj Sez: Since we won’t be together for the Thanksgiving Day holiday . . .

  In the Did You Know Department: 

  In 1621, the Plymouth colonists from  England and the Native American Wampanoag people shared an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies.

  For more than two centuries, days of thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies and states. 

  It wasn’t until 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day to be held each November.

  “As an annual celebration of the harvest and its bounty, Thanksgiving falls under a category of festivals that spans cultures, continents, and millennia. In ancient times, the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans 

feasted and paid tribute to their gods after the fall harvest. Thanksgiving also bears a resemblance to the ancient Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot. 

  Finally, historians have noted that Native Americans had a rich tradition of commemorating the fall harvest with feasting and merrymaking long before Europeans set foot on America's shores.”

(Excerpted from: https://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving/history-of-thanksgiving )

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  Doubters, this post from Wrangling the Doubt Monster: Fighting Fears, Finding Inspiration (Bancroft Press, 2025) by Amy L. Bernstein offers hope on how to deal with those negative thoughts.

“What do we have here?

  A doubter’s manifesto. An article of affirmation. An artist who says: I see you.

  The hope is you see yourself, realize you are not alone, learn that doubt is not your assassin.”

Click the following link to read the post: 

https://janefriedman.com/doubt-the-near-constant-companion-of-writers-and-artists/

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  Okay, that’s it for today. You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same. Raising prayers for a happy and safe you and yours.

cj

  Tis the season for holiday shopping but forget Amazon. The best gifts are closer than you think (think your local indie bookstores), and books are gifts that don’t need charging and keep on giving. To order a book by any author and support an indie bookstore, contact The Haunted Bookshop here: https://www.thehauntedbookshopmobile.com/contact-us

  Blatant Self Promotion: Here are a few books to put on your shopping list. The stories in these Christmas anthologies may have a holiday theme, but each one is a year-round enjoyable read.

Christmas Through a Child’s Eyes

  You’ll find 70 stories written by adults recounting their extraordinary childhood Christmas memories.

  My story, written under my maiden name of Marilyn Olsein, is titled “Dancing with Daddy,” and relates how six-year-old me reconnected with my Swedish father after a thousand-mile, years-long separation.

  The anthology is available on Kindle.

Amazon.com : Christmas Through a Child's eyes

Finally Home

  This anthology gifts you with eight Christmas stories, all about our four-legged friends and the special people who rescue them. From funny, to sad, to romantic, there’s something here to tug at everyone’s heart strings.

  In “Puppy Love,” I write a tale about a woman who is passionate about giving abandoned kittens a second chance at happiness. My character’s carefully curated life is disrupted when she becomes a foster hu-mom to a puppy with an amputated leg. Then she is surprised by an even harder challenge when the man who broke her heart asks for a second chance, too.

Finally Home Buy Now

  My fast-paced novels, The Dawgstar and Death on the Yampa, are available on Amazon or through your favorite e-Tailer and bookstore.

  Nota bene: Angela Trigg, the RITA Award-winning author and owner of The Haunted Book Shop has a few signed copies of my paperback books in stock. TO ORDER, contact: https://www.thehauntedbookshopmobile.com/contact-us 

  P.S.: Pop on over to my Amazon Central Author Page for links to anthologies in which I have a short story.

➜ Follow me on        

➜ Amazon:    Amazon Central Author Page

➜ Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/CjPettersonAuthor

➜ BookBub:   https://www.bookbub.com/authors/cj-petterson

➜ Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3fcN3h6

 

Questionnaire: Why that book?

cj Sez: I found the questions below at another blog and thought, "What a great idea." So, here are some questions for you authors and readers.  

What makes you want to buy a book? Is it the cover or the blurb on the back of the book?

  For me, it's both. The cover has to grab my attention, then the blurb has to make me want to know more about the story, so I browse through the beginning pages and a few more.

When you get into a story, what keeps you reading? Is it the bad boy hero or the tough, strong-willed woman or the cast of characters that help push the story forward?

  Really doesn’t make any difference to me. That said, whether heroine or hero, I am drawn to a fast-paced story, and I have to find a plot. I also like to find humor and some quick repartee in even the darkest of moments. It’s kind of a release valve from the danger.

What makes you like one author more than another?

  I’m a wordsmith. That is, I want to be enchanted by the author’s voice and choice of words…how she/he uses a few precise words and syntax to evoke some visualization and/or visceral reaction in me.

If you’re into reading a series, when do you get tired of it…or do you?  

  As long as the author keeps the storyline and characters fresh, I don’t have a problem with continuing to read a series. It’s when the storyline get stale. The characters change but the story takes the same direction over and over. Sometimes stand-alones have that same problem, and that’s when I’m on to the next author.

Which brings me to reviews:  Do you take the time to write a review?

  Without readers, authors have no audience, and without an audience, authors are out of a job. Honest feedback—Amazon, Facebook, Goodreads, etc.—is what keeps us going. We want to know our strengths and our weaknesses. We’re polite; we say please and thank you. . .  except to trolls. A Facebook friend once wrote that someone seemed to have joined Goodreads just to give her latest book a one-star rating. The problem was, the book hadn’t even been released.

  I’d love to know your answers to these questions. So write in, already.

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  Okay, that’s it for today. You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same. Raising prayers for a happy and safe you and yours.

cj

  Books make perfect gifts for everyone, and it’s not too early to do some holiday shopping.

Blatant Self Promotion: 

  Here are a few books to put on your shopping list. (The stories in the Christmas anthologies may have a holiday theme, but each of them is a year-round enjoyable read.)

Christmas Through a Child’s Eyes 

  You'll find 70 stories written by adults recounting their extraordinary childhood Christmas memories.

  My story, written under my maiden name of Marilyn Olsein, is titled “Dancing with Daddy,” and relates how six-year-old me reconnected with my Swedish father after a thousand-mile, years-long separation.

  The anthology is available on Kindle at

Amazon.com : Christmas Through a Child's eyes

Finally Home

  This anthology gifts you with eight Christmas stories, all about our four-legged friends and the special people who rescue them. From funny, to sad, to romantic, there’s something here to tug at everyone’s heart strings.

   In “Puppy Love,” I write a tale about a woman who is passionate about giving abandoned kittens a second chance at happiness. My character’s carefully curated life is disrupted when she becomes a foster hu-mom to a puppy with an amputated leg. Then she is surprised by an even harder challenge when the man who broke her heart asks for a second chance, too.

Finally Home Buy Now  

  My novels, The Dawgstar and Death on the Yampa, are available on Amazon or through your favorite e-Tailer and bookstore.

  If you’re looking for free versions of these fast-paced reads, break out your library card. You can read the ebooks free from Hoopla.

  Nota bene: Angela Trigg, the RITA Award-winning author and owner of The Haunted Book Shop has a few signed copies of my paperback books in stock. TO ORDER, contact: https://www.thehauntedbookshopmobile.com/contact-us  

  P.S.: Pop on over to my Amazon Central Author Page for links to anthologies in which I have a short story.

➜ Follow me on        

➜ Amazon:    Amazon Central Author Page

➜ Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/CjPettersonAuthor

➜ BookBub:   https://www.bookbub.com/authors/cj-petterson

➜ Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3fcN3h6

 

They are all one and the same

cj Sez: Veterans Day, Armistice Day, Remembrance Day, Poppy Day: They are different names for the same day, depending on in what country it's observed (and how old you are, I guess). On Monday, November 11, the U.S. respectfully commemorates Veterans Day, a day set aside to honor all the war veterans whose heroism made and keep this country free. Amen, and thank you!

   “When first celebrated as Armistice Day, the day marked the end of World War I, formally recognized on the ‘11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month’ in 1918. The U.S. continues to honor the original connection to WWI, and Veterans Day is on the same day every year—November 11—regardless of which day of the week it falls.”  (Source: https://www.military.com/veterans-day )
 
  Excerpted from an American Legion page: “Poppy seeds can lay fallow for years, yet bloom brilliantly when the soil is disturbed or when the soil is freshly dug. After the battles were fought in World War I, the blood red poppy flourished in France and Belgium when battlefields became burial grounds. 

  The red flowers suddenly bloomed among the newly dug gravesites of fallen service members, turning the new graveyards into fields of red.

  Surviving soldiers came to see the poppy as more than a flower—–it became a symbol of their sacrifice; a tribute to the price of freedom.”
 
  Canada honors its veterans also on November 11 by celebrating their heroism with “Remembrance Day” and wearing red poppies.
 
  In England, many people wear paper or ceramic red poppies also as they commemorate Sunday, November 10, as Remembrance Day.

§§

 
  For all you word warriors: NaNoWri deadline is still more than two weeks away. You have time to reach your NaNoWriMo goal of 50,000 words on or before November 30 . . . Keep up the good work…you got this!

§§

  November 30? Now that I think about it, since I get paid monthly, that means I have only one more payday before Christmas. Aarrgh

§§

 
  Okay, that’s it for today. You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same. Raising prayers for a happy and safe you and yours.

cj

  Now some words from my sponsors:
 
  Books make perfect gifts, and it’s not too early to do some holiday shopping. Blatant Self Promotion: Here are a few books to put on your shopping list:
 
Christmas Through a Child’s Eyes

  This anthology has 70 stories written by adults recounting their extraordinary childhood Christmas memories.
 
  My story, written under my maiden name of Marilyn Olsein, is titled “Dancing with Daddy,” and relates how six-year-old me reconnected with my Swedish father after a thousand-mile, years-long separation.
 
The anthology is available on Kindle. Amazon.com : Christmas Through a Child's eyes
 
Finally Home

  This anthology gifts you with eight Christmas stories, all about our four-legged friends and the special people who rescue them. From funny, to sad, to romantic, there’s something here to tug at everyone’s heart strings.
 
  My story, “Puppy Love,” tells a tale about a woman who is passionate about giving abandoned kittens a second chance at happiness. My character’s carefully curated life is disrupted when she becomes a foster hu-mom to a puppy with an amputated leg. Then she is surprised by an even harder challenge when the man who broke her heart asks for a second chance, too.

The anthology is availaable here: Amazon.com: Finally Home (Christmas Romance Anthology)

  The stories in those Christmas anthologies may have a holiday theme, but each of them is a year-round enjoyable read.

  My novels, The Dawgstar and Death on the Yampa, are available on Amazon or through your favorite e-Tailer and bookstore.
 
  If you’re looking for free versions of these fast-paced reads, break out your library card. You can read the ebooks free from Hoopla.

  Nota bene: Angela Trigg, the RITA Award-winning author and owner of The Haunted Book Shop has a few signed copies of my paperback books in stock. TO ORDER, contact: https://www.thehauntedbookshopmobile.com/contact-us 
 
  P.S.: Pop on over to my Amazon Central Author Page for links to anthologies in which I have a short story.
 
➜ Follow me on        
➜ Amazon:    Amazon Central Author Page
➜ Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/CjPettersonAuthor
➜ BookBub:   https://www.bookbub.com/authors/cj-petterson
➜ Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3fcN3h6 

Today we have Plan B

cj Sez: Apologies, apologies. Author Anne Louise Bannon was unable to appear as our guest today. I’m hoping we can schedule her for a later date.  Plan B topic of the day is the time change. I hope you set your clock back one hour Saturday evening. Here's a tidbit you may not know: We writers adhere to our own kind of clock.

  I actually did set back all my clocks way too early on Saturday and then spent the rest of the day not really knowing what time it was. By the by, I think I found the answer to why there is a time change twice a year. According to one news dot com site: “Daylight saving time was first enacted by the federal government March 19, 1918, during World War I, as a way to conserve coal.” 

  I just wish they’d make up my mind and keep one time or the other. Which would you prefer?

 
  Authors, there is a correct way to write DST in your stories. The correct term is daylight “saving” (not savings) time, and the AP Style Guide says when written out, it’s properly all lower case. (P.S. The rule really applies to everyone.)
 
  And that finishes that topic until next March, when the clock will reclaim that hour you gained.

§§

 

  

A couple of Jane Friedman recent (and helpful) blogs:
 
   This post is by author and book coach Kristin Melville who writes:

 “Story structure promotes the concept that every scene of your story should serve a larger purpose—e.g., the inciting incident sparks the problem, and the climax eventually brings everything to a head.

So what do you need to succeed?”
 
  Click on the link to read more.
Murky Middles Begone: Ensure the Middle of Your Book Stands Strong | Jane Friedman
 
  The following post is by developmental editor and book coach Hannah Kate Kelley. Ms. Kelley writes:
 
“What is Gothic fiction?
Gothic fiction, also referred to as gothic horror, is a subgenre of Romantic literature born out of the late 18th century. These stories typically feature a hauntingly beautiful and dilapidated setting, suspenseful narratives, and dark themes like oppression, guilt, shame, and insanity.”

The link below will take you to the post:  
How to Outline a Gothic Novel | Jane Friedman

§§

 
  Okay, that’s it for today. You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same. Raising prayers for a happy and safe you and yours.

cj

  Now some words from my sponsors: Books make perfect gifts, and it’s not too early to start your holiday shopping.

  THE DAWGSTAR and DEATH ON THE YAMPA are available on Amazon or through your favorite e-Tailer and bookstore.
 
  If you’re looking for free and fast-paced reads, break out your library card. You can read the ebooks free from Hoopla.

  Nota bene: Angela Trigg, the RITA Award-winning author and owner of The Haunted Book Shop has a few signed copies of my paperback books in stock. TO ORDER, contact: https://www.thehauntedbookshopmobile.com/contact-us 
 
  P.S.: Pop on over to my Amazon Central Author Page for links to anthologies in which I have a short story.
 
➜ Follow me on        
➜ Amazon:    Amazon Central Author Page
➜ Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/CjPettersonAuthor
➜ BookBub:   https://www.bookbub.com/authors/cj-petterson
➜ Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3fcN3h6