Writing Through the Holidaze

Even the Cat Can Go Bonkers with Holidaze Stress

Nothing's busier than a person who writes, unless it's a person who writes during the Thanksgiving holiday. I prefer to call it "holidaze" for the obvious reason. The only way I get through this time and still remain sane is to have a schedule. I schedule everything during November, even when to take out the garbage. If I didn't, the garbage just might be ignored and that would be very bad indeed.

One DAY of my THANKSGIVING HOLIDAZE SCHEDULE:


AM

• 4:00 open eyes, create mental list for the day
• 4:30 find coffee maker in dark--don't risk waking family with bright lights
• 4:40 boot computer, sip coffee, wait for computer to wake up, sip more coffee, nudge computer, cuss
• 5:00 answer emails
• 5:40 check blogs and respond to all comments, visit at least 15 blogs before break
• 6:15 BREAK, coffee maker now clearly visible in dawn light, so make another cup, listen for footsteps upstairs
• 6:20 fb, twitter, LinkedIn, Google+
• 7:00 greet first family member with smile, but silence. They are very cranky in the morning.
• 7:30 find food, eat, talk about the day's plan, do dishes
• 8:15 return to computer, more emails and blogs
• 9:00 shut down social media, pull up WIP, cry, then rewrite
• 10:00 check garden, clean up after raccoons, cuss
• 11:00 eat lunch, take a walk down to the creek

PM

• 12:00 call friends and family re: Thanksgiving plans to firm up menu and make sure they're bringing stuff
• 1:00 Take out garbage (See, I was serious.)
• 1:15 Make Turkey Stuffing, boil Sweet Potatoes, look for wine.
• 3:00 Set table for T'day
• 4:00 Call in and order Pizza for pick up.
• 4:45 Drive to town, pick up Pizza, return home (MY ROAD TRIP FOR THE DAY)
• 5:15 Drink wine, make salad
• 5:30 Eat Pizza, drink more wine--use counter because table's set
• 6:30 Stack dishes in sink and call Elves
• 6:40 Find happy 30 minute sit-com on Netflix
• 7:15 Shower (if we have water--drought year)
• 8:00 Open Kindle and read
• 9:00 Face in pillow

Repeat with adjustments for after the T'day celebration. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

#atozchallenge -- Let the Challenge inspire you!

 
The Blogging from A to Z April Challenge is more than just a bunch of letters.

It's a community.

Not just for writers, but for any number of creative people all around the world. 

Doing this Challenge brings bloggers together that might never have found each other.

It unites like-minded bloggers and yet it also introduces us to brand new ideas, categories, and people.

The Challenge gives us all something to look forward to and something to strive for.

Meeting our own expectations, and cheering on our fellow bloggers, is not only exciting, but also inspiring!

Heather
 

The A to Z of Harry Potter Names

If you're a book lover, you probably love Harry Potter as much as the next reader. Harry Potter blogs abound on the internet and it's easy to get your Harry Potter fix. Sometimes we even get Harry Potter themed posts for the A to Z Challenge.

Recently I hosted a Harry Potter Tea Party; it was an all ages affair and I was impressed at the level of knowledge the adults had! One of the games we played was a Harry Potter Who's Who where everyone had a note taped to their back with a character's name on it. The object was to give clues to your partner and they had to guess who their character was.

Harry Potter Party table display

This game made me wonder if it was possible to do an A to Z of  Harry Potter names?

Let's see:

A - Hanna Abbott (part of Dumbledore's Army)

B - Katie Bell,  Sirius Black, and Lavender Brown (that's who I was dressed as for the party).

C - Cho Chang, Vincent Crabbe, and Barty Crouch (Jr & Sr).

D - Fleur Delacour and Cedric Diggory (way before Twilight)

E - Marietta Edgecomb (I know, who?)

F - Nicholas Flamel, and Mundungus Fletcher (I love that name)

G - Hermione Granger (of course) and Godric Gryffindor

H - Rubeus Hagrid and Helga Hufflepuff

I - Ivanova. An obscure Bulgarian Quidditch player

J - Angelina Johnson

K - Viktor Krum

L - Bellatrix LeStrange (try explaining who that is to a 9 year old), Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, Remus Lupin

M - Malfoy (yuck) and Professor Minerva McGonagall

N - Theodore Nott (he sees Thestrals)

O - Garrick Ollivander

P - Harry Potter!

Q - Quirinus Quirrell

R - Helena Ravenclaw

S - Rita Skeeter (and her pen)

T - Nymphadora Tonks (Tonks!)

U - Dolores Jane Umbridge (kittens & pink do not make her a nice person)

V - Voldemort, duh.

W - Ron Weasley (or any of them really)

Y - Yaxley, a Death Eater

Z - Blase Zabini, friend of Malfoy




Well, how'd you do? Were you able to name that many?





Pam Margolis
A to Z co host and Unconventional Librarian



Many thanks to these websites for the odd bit of help: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Harry_Potter_characters, http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Bulgarian_National_Quidditch_team