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13 11, 2023

Then this happened

By |2023-11-12T15:58:35-06:00November 13th, 2023|A Writer's Life, Writer's Life|1 Comment

I’m usually deep into an imaginary story dreaming up havoc to dump on my characters. Conflict is a critical component of storytelling.

The characters and the readers should be surprised when a writer “throws another bear into their canoe.”

That’s a direct quote from writer friend JoAnn Ross during a writing class she taught. It refers to adding twists and turns to complicate characters’ lives when plotting.

Bears can be good things or bad things, whatever adds conflict to the lives of the story characters.

This week Mother Nature dumped a surprise bear at our house.

The beautiful 200-year-old oak in our front yard lost a massive limb on a bright sunny day with zero wind. Just kaboom and it was on the ground.

We don’t know what caused the limb to fall, but the theory is that the hard freeze of 2021 followed by the extended, excessive heat this summer has weakened the massive oaks that populate our neighborhood. Several smaller limbs have fallen throughout the neighborhood and many trees have died.

Our tree disaster is a perfect example of how story-plotting bears should work.

All those limbs and leaves in our front yard are a problem. Ever since its fall, it’s been raining which makes it impossible to get a tree company to come out, and clearing it ourselves is impossible.

The branch will just have to stay there until we get some dry weather.

Plotting bears work the same for writers. They can be good or bad things that complicate a character’s life as things happening in real life can be good or bad.

Have you had any complicating bears drop into your life lately?

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10 11, 2023

Flexibility

By |2023-11-09T08:56:06-06:00November 10th, 2023|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|1 Comment

A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

Honor likes to sleep on my lap when I am sitting at my desk. At first, she could curl up and fit easily. As she has grown, it has become more of a challenge.

Last week, I looked down and she had put her back leg over her nose to make herself into a smaller ball. I was impressed with her flexibility.

We have a Veterans Day program at school this week and then we start work on Christmas music. Between now and the end of the semester, things are pretty chaotic.

I think I need to print out this picture of honor and post it in my room to remind me to be flexible.

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6 11, 2023

Choosing Words for a November Attitude

By |2023-11-05T12:22:25-06:00November 6th, 2023|Make Me Think Monday|0 Comments

“Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic. Capable of both inflicting injury and remedying it.” ― J.K. Rowling

I agree with J.K. Rowling. Words are magic and that magic is found in how we choose to use them.

The ability to “create meaning from words” –– wordsmithing–– is such a wonderful gift.

As a writer, I consider myself a wordsmith and I spend my days wordsmithing. I look for not just any word but the perfect word to convey my meaning. For example, when describing a character’s departure, I could say.

He left.

He stormed out.

He ambled away.

He darted away.

He wandered away.

Each sentence suggests a different departure. I make the right choice based on the contextual meaning I want to convey to my reader.

We are all wordsmiths whether we’re writers or not.

Sometimes we do not give much care to what’s written or said. If you spend much time on social media, I’m sure you’ve noticed this.

Being a wise wordsmith is a choice. And we can only control our choices, not the choices others make.

We need to make our word selections carefully. Poor or careless word choices can inflict damage both physically and emotionally.

November is all about being appreciative. Good wordsmithing promotes good gratitude.

Try these four things to improve your wordsmithing skills and help cultivate a November attitude:

  1. Filter your thoughts before you speak. Drop thoughts that might bring negative feelings or trouble.
  1. Commit to no complaints and no gossip about anything or anyone, including yourself.
  1. Choose words to express appreciation first, no matter how small, if a complaint is unavoidable.
  1. Make a concerted effort to say thank you more often. Kind words generate happy feelings in you and those to whom you are speaking.

Can you add anything else to the list?

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30 10, 2023

Halloween Decorations

By |2023-10-12T15:37:58-05:00October 30th, 2023|Holidays, Make Me Think Monday|1 Comment

Halloween yard decorations have become as popular as Christmas decorating.

Ghosts swing from trees to greet early morning walkers in neighborhoods. Jack-o-lanterns light the way in the late afternoon. Witches crashed into trees and giant spiders in spidery webs crawl on the shrubbery.

In the 1900s, Halloween wasn’t so much about zombies and gruesome headless monsters, tombstones and skeletons, or other scary, scary things like spook houses and ghost tours. Back then, crepe paper pumpkins, plastic candy containers, painted tin noisemakers, and paper lanterns were the items of choice for a happy Halloween.

Not many of these items are around today because people used them and then threw them away. Last week, I dug out what’s left of my vintage decorations.

Only a few things are still around:

Pumpkins constructed from honeycomb tissue.

A gauze mask

A paper-mache jack-o-lantern

A tin noisemaker

A couple of black cats I used for old bulletin board posters and chalk tray decorations in classrooms

Check out Kovels’ Pinterest page here to see other vintage Halloween collectibles

Do you have a future Halloween collectible among your Halloween decorations?

Antique experts predict these items might be a future collectible:

  1. Special holiday bottles and cans with special holiday flavors like Gruesome Grape, Spooky Strawberry, and Orange Ogre. Look for other limited-edition plastic bottles with scary faces.
  2. Plastic candy containers either reproductions of the 1950s and ’60s figures and jack-o-lanterns or contemporary plastic decorations with clever designs.
  3. Zombies and vampires of plastic, rubber, or resin-like zombie-hand candleholders.
  4. Charm bracelets with pumpkins, bats, and black cats; jointed skeleton earrings decorated with rhinestones and spider rings.
  5. Motion, or voice, activated figures that light up or emit scary sounds and music. Look for pumpkin men, witches, vampires, black cats, and body parts like crawly hands.
  6. Paper or plastic masks, costumes, treat bags, and dolls.

If you’re thinking about increasing your collection, there’ll be some good buys at reduced prices after Halloween, and don’t throw away the items you have. You might have some vintage treasures like mine one day.

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27 10, 2023

Trash or Treasure

By |2023-10-25T16:58:23-05:00October 27th, 2023|Uncategorized|2 Comments

A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

I have a friend who is an art teacher. We worked together at a small private school for many years. When the school closed abruptly, we started to meet with other teachers every week at the local Dairy Queen to grieve together. Over time, we each moved on but we continued to meet and talk about life.

I’ve learned much from my friend. She has a unique way of looking at things and I find myself seeing the things around me with new eyes. She sees potential in many things, students included which is what makes her a great teacher.  It also makes her a great friend.

An ordinary leaf becomes a dancer or a bottle cap becomes an earring. I started taking her things to use in her creations. Most recently, I took a piece of cardboard that had been part of the packaging for something.

It was too interesting to simply recycle. I thought it looked like a spine – perhaps because we have been learning the rhythms of the poem Skeleton Parade by Jack Prelutsky.

I took it to our Dairy Queen meeting and we set it on the table. We sat and discussed the cardboard, turning it in all directions, for 15 minutes or more.

My friend saw a building and the other friend saw a set of jaws.

At one point, the manager, who we know from our regular visits, came out to see what we were looking at.

He thought we were playing a game like Jenga.

This is what I love about my friend. She has taught me to be inspired by a piece of cardboard.

My friend and her husband recently bought a house in a nearby town. It turns out to be the house she grew up in. But that’s another story for another time.

Eventually, they will move. I will miss our weekly meetings. I may have to take road trips periodically to see her.

And, of course, take her interesting treasures to sit and discuss.

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23 10, 2023

Change is Coming

By |2023-10-22T17:59:30-05:00October 23rd, 2023|A Writer's Life, Make Me Think Monday|1 Comment

You can feel it in the air.

You can see it in the shifting of colors on the trees–shading from green to red to brown.

Shadows are lengthening as the sun shifts.

I’m sitting on my swing porch with a  cup of tea. I can feel the change and at the same time dread it.

The constancy of seasonal changes can be comforting. If you live where leaves put on a show of color, nature supplies a master class in how change can be beautiful.

I definitely welcome the cooler temperatures after the sweltering summer we had.

The annual shift from Daylight Savings Time–that’s a major problem for me. My body protests the loss of an hour’s sleep and takes weeks to adjust.

I’m not a tree willingly changing color and shedding foliage. I’m a Texas tree that slowly fades to ugly, boring brown instead of glowing with reds, yellows, and oranges.

Grumbling and complaining, I  remind myself there’s not much I can do about the weather or the time change except adjust my clothing, our thermostat, and our clocks.

I know Spring will roll around again and I will get back that hour of rest I lost. But the change tends to steal my peacefulness. It doesn’t have to.

A better approach to the change is with pliancy instead of frustration. Flexibility keeps our happiness steady. That’s why I take a cup of tea to the porch swing and relax.

Others recommend these three things when any change is stressful.

  • Breathe –By breathing slower and more deeply from your stomach, you signal your nervous system to calm down when you can’t control the situation. Purposeful breathing allows you to calm down and think rationally.
  • Smile – Smile even if whatever change has thrown your way is not funny. You’ll find a certain amount of detachment can lead to acceptance.
  • Pray or Meditate – To refocus the mind.

Most importantly,  remember that change is the only constant in this world. Whatever the catastrophe or circumstance, eventually it will change.

What about you? What strategies do you use when change stresses you?

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20 10, 2023

New Puzzle Challenge

By |2023-10-19T09:26:16-05:00October 20th, 2023|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

I have always enjoyed jigsaw puzzles. I cannot set one up during the school year because I will work on it to the exclusion of everything else.

I am actually pretty good at them, and I enjoy puzzles of all kinds. When I was visiting our grandsons this weekend, I encountered a new type of puzzle that was most challenging.

Alex loves trains. He has a set of tracks which he loves to put together. These tracks came in a box with a picture. While I was there, Alex decided he wanted the train tracks put together like the picture.

No problem, I thought as I got down on the floor and began to work.

I’m not sure whether it was my old eyes or my lack of spatial awareness but I could not make the train tracks look like the picture on the box.

The curves were going the wrong way and there were gaps in the track that did not match any available pieces. My daughter came to the rescue. She had watched her husband put the track together for Alex recently so she had an advantage. We finally got it all together and Alex enjoyed running the trains around the tracks.

When Alex tired of playing trains, Theo took over.

It was worth the team effort to make the track look like the picture.

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