All posts for the month February, 2013

The Voice

There are times when I feel as though my blogging voice is gone, and lately this has been the case. I can tell you this doesn’t feel like a permanent condition, and I’m not planning to go anywhere soon. It just means I might find it more difficult to blog on a regular basis. Truthfully, I sometimes wonder what difference blogging makes to my writing life except to take time away from writing fiction. But no sooner do I have that thought then I remind myself of all those faithful readers out there who come by to visit, and the other bloggers I’ve come to know. Blogging shouldn’t be about accumulating a huge number of followers and racking up hundreds of comments, but engaging with those readers we do have. What that means is you’re all important to me and I appreciate your visits.

While I’m on this subject, I might just as well mention that, along with my reluctance for blogging, the same has been true for Facebook. I pop on by times, mostly to see any updated photos of Miss Charlotte, but when it comes to updating my status, I find I rarely have anything I want to say. I do try to update my page more often, but days sometimes go by before I feel the urge to post something there. Does it sound as though I’m whining? I sure hope not. As a 96 year old Grace once said, “I”m just stating facts.”  BTW Grace is an amazing woman who shared a room with my mother-in-law at the nursing home.

Don’t worry though, all this doesn’t mean I’m not writing, in fact just the opposite is true. I’ve been busy every day working on my next novel, and as any of you writers know, it can be an all-consuming task. Did I say task? Well, not so true. Writing isn’t and shouldn’t be a task. Expressing our creativity should be a must for all of us.

Sometimes our writing lives seep into our everyday lives, and people start to wonder just what the heck is wrong. That faraway look we have might not be one of indifference, but our minds busy creating those imaginary worlds that feel all too true. For a writer, our characters are real people who exist in a parallel universe. If we didn’t feel this way about them we couldn’t possibly make them come alive on the page.

Hopefully, once I have the first draft of my novel completed my blogging voice will return, and just so you know that first draft feels quite close to being done.  Believe me, I’ll be doing a happy dance at that point.

 Do you ever feel as though you’ve lost your blogging voice? Do you have times throughout the year when you devote less time to blogging?

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by Laura Best on February 23, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by Laura Best on February 23, 2013

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The Wall

Yesterday, I took a trip to the Annapolis Valley. We ended up in Aylesford, the little village where I went to elementary school. That was a few years back. It’s a nice little village and nearly an hour by bus when I was growing up. One of the things I remembered about the village was “the wall,” where young people used to hang out. I guess all small places have their “hang out ” spots. There was nothing fancy about the wall, it was just a wall that sometimes had graffiti written over it. Not so nice if I remember correctly.

Here’s what the wall looks like today. As we came out of the drug store the wall was directly in our view and I snapped these photos.

DSC03339As someone who loves history, I simply fell in love with this mural. It’s like a step back in time, showing what this little village once looked like. I have no idea who the artist is, but I think this is such a great change from what used to be there.

DSC03345DSC03343DSC03344DSC03342Sorry about the ridge of snow blocking part of the painting, but that’s winter in Nova Scotia. This is such a wonderful idea and a great way to preserve the past. It helps makes us conscious of where we come from and how things have changed over time.

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by Laura Best on February 13, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by Laura Best on February 13, 2013

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Waiting Out The Storm

Adopt the pace of nature:  her secret is patience.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

For days we’ve been warned about the blizzard that is heading our way for the weekend. An old-fashioned Nor’easter as we like to call them here in Nova Scotia. It’s a good day for staying close to home, reading a book, whipping up that next novel, and just trying to keep warm. Here’s hoping we don’t lose our power today.  My computer battery is charged and ready to go if it does. I wasn’t about to take any chances.

Will we get all the forcasted snow? So far it doesn’t appear to be a great lot of snow down, but I guess time will tell. We’re definitely getting the wind this morning, but from my window I don’t see any huge drifts, in fact, the doorstep was clear this morning. Of course that was due to the wind blowing it away. Maybe if we’re lucky it’ll blow all the snow from the driveway too!  For now, everything has been cancelled for the weekend, but that’s not a bad thing. Sometimes we need to slow down and take life at a more leisurely pace. As Emerson reminds us  nature has her own pace and we need to be patient.  Mother Nature has spoken.

So, I’ll stay warm and cozy in my house and work on my novel, perhaps give the treadmill a go. It’s a good day for staying in.

What is the weekend weather like where you are?

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by Laura Best on February 9, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by Laura Best on February 9, 2013

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A Penny For Your Thoughts

Calling all you penny-hoarders out there. Yup, I did say penny-hoarders.

If you’re a Canadian there’s a pretty good chance that you’re a penny-hoarder. Take heart, though, there are far worse things than hoarding pennies I wager. If you’ve ever seen the show Hoarders, you’re likely nodding your head.

I heard last night on the news that the average Canadian is hoarding at least 600 of these little copper beauties in jars and containers in their homes. I always wonder where these stats come from, how there’s some invisible force out there that knows exactly what I’m doing. Spooky.  Take this morning, as I was sitting down to breakfast, the radio show host claimed that 13% of all kids have hidden food in their socks from their parents. Really? I mean how do they know these things? And why the heck would anyone put food in a sock, and why is money being wasted to collect these useless, albeit fun stats, why?

As for these penny stats, I’ll admit there are pennies in my house; there have been for years.  Gee, does this mean my kids even hid food in their socks?

When the kids were small, their father began hoarding pennies in gallon jugs. Over the course of many years he’d managed to hoard a gallon of pennies for each of them. It was more of a novelty than anything, I suppose, important in a way that perhaps only another penny-hoarder would appreciate. Those pennies have long since been rolled and put back in circulation. At least I assume they’re in circulation. They could be sitting on someone else’s dresser or shoved into a drawer never to see the light of day.

Today, businesses will begin rounding up or down, and the Canadian Mint has announced it will no longer be making pennies. It just costs too much. They’ll be gathering them all in and melting them down, and the penny will be no more. And this morning, Google.ca is paying tribute to our penny, as only Google can, so you know it’s got to be a big deal, right?

And what about a penny for your thoughts? Has anyone thought of that? Will it now be replaced by a nickel for your thoughts? My guess is that old saying will slowly be taken out of circulation as well as soon as this next generation comes along.

If you’ve been hoarding pennies for years and have decided to finally part company with them, here’s a good thing to know. The 1936-penny with a dot is worth mega-bucks. Last night on the news they said only three were ever found in circulation. Now, something makes me think that more that three were put out in circulation that year! Makes you wonder where they could be? You know what that means, don’t you? Some penny-hoarder out there could be sitting on a gold mine. It might even be you—um, or me! Hey, I’m just an average Canadian living my average life. I know you won’t judge me since you’re probably just as average as me. Come on, fess up!

So if you’re planning to roll up your 600 pennies today and exchange them for “real money” you might want to check the dates. I’m all for finding out I’ve been rich for years and didn’t know it. Better late than never, I say.

Now here’s a moment of truth for my fellow Canadians, have you been hoarding pennies for years? Do you have at least 600 of those puppies pennies sitting around gathering dust? And my American friends are you an average Canadian? Do you have at least 600 pennies hoarded away? And lastly, for all you penny-hoarders out there, have you been hoarding for a specific reason, you know saving up for something really big like your next car or something?

 

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by Laura Best on February 4, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by Laura Best on February 4, 2013

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Candlemas Day

If Candlemas Day be fair and bright
Winter will have another fight.
If Candlemas Day brings cloud and rain,
Winter won’t come again.

Candlemas DayOn Facebook this morning people are talking about Groundhog Day. It’s also being talked about on the radio. Bright and early this morning we were being told that we were due for six more weeks of winter, but growing up we always went by what the weather was like at noon on this day. Somehow things get changed along the way without any of us knowing how or why. Who knows, maybe that was just a regional thing?

But Groundhog Day isn’t the only happening thing going on today. The 2nd of February is also known as Candlemas Day an ancient festival that marked the midpoint of winter.  Yay! We’re half-way there. Isn’t that enough to make you shout for joy? Already, you can see a big difference in the amount of daylight hours we have and I find it exciting. I love the way the longer days are becoming more noticeable. It makes me feel happy and hopeful in a way that I don’t feel any other time of the year.

From what I read Candlemas Day was originally a pagan festival called Imbolc which was called the Festival of Lights and focused on lighting fires. The lighting of fires celebrated the increasing power of the sun over the coming months, and we’re certainly feeling that!

So how did The Festival of Lights become known as Candlemas?

The church turned this pagan festival into Candlemas Day. It was the day when all the candles, that were to be used in the church during the year, were blessed. They were then distributed around and a lighted candle was placed in the window of each home. Sounds kind of nice actually. Of course, back in the day, candles were important, not only for shedding light, but people thought they gave protection against nasty things like the plague and famine. Nothing like a famine or plague to take the fun out of winter I like to say.

So while I did know this day meant we were half way through winter I didn’t know exactly why it was called Candlemas Day. Thank goodness Google can answer all our questions.

While this is totally unrelated to Candlemas or even Groundhog day, I do want to mention that there’s still time to enter a contest over at Lynn Davidson’s blog for a chance to win a copy of Steve Vernon’s YA novel, Sinking Deeper OR My awesome brilliant Questionable Heroic Decision to Invent a Sea Monster. I’ve already read the book and enjoyed it a lot!  Here’s the link if you’d like to enter.

So what am I planning this Candlemas Day? Well, I’m not building any bonfires I can tell you that right away, but I may just light a candle tonight to welcome in the second half of winter. I’m also going to enjoy this sunny day and feel glad that we’re half-way through winter.

Happy Candlemas Day! Do you have any special plans for today?

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by Laura Best on February 2, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by Laura Best on February 2, 2013

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