Are you the Novelist with a Plan or the Undiscovered Path?

When you set out to write your novel, do you find that you try to plan the whole thing out first?  Are you the one who creates your outline and sticks to it? 

Or are you the one who just has a somewhat idea in your head and you really don't have an inkling where your novel is headed?  The one who refuses to write a skeleton idea, and just hopes that the novel will write itself.  Are you the one who doesn't really have your characters knowing what they want?  And they have to go down a dark tunnel filled with surprises and you are just the type of person to pray that it all works out in the end and that you have a great story line that people are going to want to carry themselves through your journey with you.

I tend to be the person who just goes with the flow.  I do have a somewhat set out plan for my trilogy and my other novels.  But all the fillings in between the crust hasn't really been fleshed out yet.  And we sure know that the filling is the best part!!!!

As the writer, we know that the filling will be included.  After all a pie with no filling is really no pie.  And a story without a beginning, middle and ending doesn't really gel.  Also, a story without believable well loved characters is about as bland as a tuna fish casserole without the chips on top and all the yummy sauces.  You need a great story filled with your ideas if you are going to remotely have a chance of one that is going to hit the mark.

That's what we are all after, hitting the mark, coming up with an exceptional story that will be remembered for years down the road.  Make us millions and so that we can keep doing what we love to do.  Yes, that's it.

But, even if you are like me and you just go with the flow with your words, you still need to have some sort of outline, some sort of guidelines or a reference that is going to see you through to where you want your novel to go.

Don't be afraid of going back into it and reworking it.  Editing can be challenging but is really quite the fun part.  I always remember one of my old neighbor's teenage daughters saying that editing is the best part and the most fun.

When one is willing to look at the large body of work and decide to go back and see it in a new life, this is when we have freed ourselves to try something new.  To make the writing better than it ever was before is so absolutely satisfying that we just can't not do it.

We close the door when we aren't willing to tweak the story and change it somehow.  How many of us have written the first draft and felt satisfied with it to feel no need to go any further.  Yup.  First draft all typed up and yes, it's done.  In your dreams it's finished.  This is what we sometimes do back in Junior High or High School when we have written something we like.  We love it just as it is and we aren't willing to make something different.

When we grow up and become well seasoned writers, we unlock the mysteries of why we love to write and there it is right smack in our faces.  The pristine beauty of a novel we slaved over, processed and re invented into something it wasn't going to be but now is.  That is the glory.

And I really think it doesn't matter whether or not our novel is all planned out with no unpredictability or if it is a roller coaster with all these dips and bends that we didn't see coming.  Sometimes those are the best parts.

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted December 13, 2012

As is the same with photography, the composition should be well thought out, but not always.  One's approach to anything has limitless processes and no one way is more right than the other.

Delicious Broccoli Vegetable Soup

Broccoli Soup

On half a crown of fresh broccoli, chopped

1 can of diced tomatoes (mine was seasoned with parmesan cheese, zucchini, lemon pepper, etc.  leftover from fried zucchini with tomatoes)

1 large container chicken broth

1 cup of milk

2-3 tbsp butter

1 can cream of celery

some ranch dressing.  What I did was I had a leftover bottle of ranch dressing with a tiny bit left.  I added some water to it and used the rest in this soup.

2 stalks celery, chopped fine

1/2 cup shredded carrots, chopped

1/2 cup orzo

1/2 cup tiny penne

half of a romaine lettuce, chopped

1/2 - 3/4 cup parmesan cheese

6-8 good slices of sharp cheddar cheese

1 heaping tbsp minced garlic

1 tsp of my flavored garlic salt (I added parmesan cheese to mine)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp lemon pepper

1 tbsp oregano

1 tsp rotisserie chicken spice

1 tsp molasses bacon spice

Simmer all of this until broccoli is cooked and the noodles are just about done.  They will still cook while cooling.

Yummy!

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted December 13, 2012

Mine looks different than this of course.

Oh, and I've got my chex mix snack baking in the oven!  Haven't had that in a long time!  That was a favorite Christmas tradition with my Mom and many years I would make it too.  This year, I opted for a box of it with the packet inside, but other years, I have bought both boxes and other stuff and added my own seasonings.  Seasoning salt was a favorite, but that I am sure can up the blood pressure!  Oh well, it's the holidays!

In a little bit, I am going to write another chapter to the Glorious Money Tree trilogy.  I hand wrote a chapter a few nights ago, so I should find that and see what I have to work with.  It's a chapter with Sally's mother's husband remembering back to the fairies.  I've got to figure out what his memories are going to be.

Of course I've got some love triangles going on now, fun, fun, fun.  There has got to be conflict.

And then of course we also run into conflict with our recipes!  Oh, you know when you've made the whole thing, popped it into the oven and realize you forgot one of the ingredients.  Or you're mixing up things and discover you need to make a trip to the grocery store to finish what you started.

And the occasional spills in the oven which tends to fire up the smoke alarm.  The smoke alarm at my kids house is an awful thing.  I swear it goes off at the slightest smell of smoke.  And of course many times it is because the burner needs to be cleaned before using!!!!!

Well, on my agenda today too is a chive batter bread recipe that I haven't made in years.  It required some wheat flour, so I made yet another grocery store trip.

And later on at some point, cookies and biscotti are in order and maybe a cheesecake closer to Christmas.  And Mollyanne has requested cherry pie filling, so I think I will go get two cans of that and we can all have a bowl of just that with maybe some whipped cream on top!!!!!

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted December 13, 2012

I keep wanting to type in August or September for some reason and I keep catching myself before I type it.  Ha ha.

Doing What You Want is What Matters

Since when do we live our lives by the rule of others?  We know that too often we do succumb to what others think we should do.  In the work force we often have to give in to what others want.  We need to please our boss and our co workers.  And those who are above us in rank.  That is if we want to keep our jobs and get money.

And even those of us who work for ourselves, we have to give in to certain rules too.  There are things that need to be followed whatever the job may be.  Because even though we may be self employed, we have clients that want certain things and we are constantly trying to create a product that people are going to want to buy.  So in that fact, the consumer is our boss.

But, we are the ultimate boss in what we choose to sell, create, make, and do.

And what we choose to do in our lives in any aspect is what makes our lives what we want it.  All too often, even in all the things we do, there is always those that try to butt in and tell us how to live our lives.  Trying to tell us not to say and do certain things.  And should we listen?  Sometimes it is good to listen as they may have a point and other times we have to know when it may be right for them to act a certain way but it isn't right for us.

And, for us bloggers, we should write exactly what we want to write and not listen to anyone.  It's our voice and not someone else's.  How many times have you heard someone say, "You will learn."  Meaning these people think that you shouldn't be writing certain things on your blog and they constantly tell you that you will learn.  Well, maybe it is them that need to learn that what we choose to put out there is our vision and it is up to us to delete things, leave the things in that are important to us and change what we feel needs changing.

And whatever ends up staying has perfect right to be there as we were the ones who put it there, we meant it, we don't care what others think about it, we're expressing ourselves, and it is a means to help out someone who may go away with new thoughts and inspiration in their heads.

I blog because I enjoy sharing with others.  I don't care if other's know about certain parts of my life.  It's me and it's nobody else's vision.  My thoughts, my opinions and life experiences.

Do you feel like you constantly do things to please others and then one day you wake up and think, "Why did I listen to them?  I wasted all this time worrying what others think that I didn't spend all the time on what I really wanted to do."  Do you ever get those nasty pangs and regretted that you didn't do what you wanted to do?  You listened and let them get to you.  It goes straight down to the mean girl on the school yard who gets to you and you let them enter your head instead of ignoring them.

Same with anyone who tries to make your life a hell. Mine would be my criminal neighbors and I've got to drown them out, and not give them anything to harass me about.  Counting down the days until they are gone!  That would be the best Christmas present.

They are the nosiest people ever, wanting to know every little detail of my life.  Hey, it's private and none of their business.  And if they seem to know all these things they shouldn't possibly know, then it's illegal and they need to be in jail for it.  If I catch them, that's where I'll make sure the cops send them.  I'm very quiet in my apt and I can't understand how they know all these things about me in the privacy of my apt.  I'm basically being stalked and it's not funny.

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted December 13, 2012

What is Next on Your Holiday Agenda?

You've gotten a lot accomplished hopefully for the holiday season, so whoop de do...... ha ha ha.

Well, hopefully we all have some good starts.  My shopping for others is done!  Yay.  Next on my agenda is to do some wrapping.  That's the fun part too.  But I am glad it's not seven or eight years ago when the wrapping for the kids meant an up all night affair, where all the piles were, where is the tape, where are the scissors?

Don't you hate it when you are wrapping something, comes time for the tape or the scissors and you can't find the darn things even though you know they are right within your vicinity?  Many, many times, and I'm sure it will happen again.  I swear it's the devil elves or fairies that do this to us!  Just kidding.  Hmmm.... put that in my Glorious Money Tree book!  Devil elf.  Probably not, though.  I think adding a devil elf could spoil the novel.  I don't think it would fit the story line.

I've got to at least start wrapping the ones for my nieces and nephew and get it in the mail to them later this week.  My nieces will have to wait for their knitted legwarmers though as I haven't even started them yet.  I think I will end up just mailing them in a separate package.

I'm finishing up my olive green shawl.  It's getting larger, but it needs to be bigger so I can have it fit right as I want to make sure it covers me.  Earlier this week, I tried it on Julia and it looked just about the right size for her at that point.  I may have to make one their size later in a different color.  Or maybe make some to sell next year too.  I bet shawls for little girls would sell well at craft shows.  And they are lacy too.

I'm thinking I want to bind mine off in a picot or a bobble stitch.  That would be really pretty as it is draped along the neckline.

I spent Saturday waiting for my car to be inspected.  I was very happy that the damage wasn't too bad.  I got away with just needing a few new tires.  I've got to go back though to get my actual sticker as I didn't have some of the updated paperwork in my car.  Which means tomorrow, I have to do the legwork to retrieve misplaced copies.  Just a few extra steps, but it will get done.

Don't you hate it when those things happen?  Yesterday, in the process of getting part of it, I discovered that the place had moved to another town, went there and then when I got there the place was closed.

Sometimes it seems like a pain in the neck when we are travelling to something, wasting gas, and then when we get there the doors are closed.  Then you find yourself driving all the way back, and before you know it, you may have killed an extra hour.

But, these little dilemmas tend to get in the way and we just have to make due and deal with them the best we can.  There is always a solution.

And by that time, I just needed to get back to my kids, so I called the car place and told them I would have to come back in a few days to get the actual sticker.  And when I got back to the kids house, I had to see what sort of damage was done there.  The oldest was watching them (my 17).The girls had their friend over and the worst damage was three empty peppermint hot chocolate wrappers on the counter and my yarn scattered on the living room floor.

In the past few days, the girls have taken up knitting again.  Julia and the friend's knitting was kind of messy, but Mollyanne's looks good and she actually has something getting bigger on her needles.  She's got two to three inches done to something.  And the funny thing is she learned to double strand like I do.  That's cool.

Tomorrow, I will try to spend some time untangling the other stuff and see if I can salvage Julia's knitting in case she wants to work more on hers.  I had to pick up the needles a little bit though so none of us step on the wooden needles and break one.

And later in the evening, we got a knock on the door.  At first I thought it was their guinea pig, Bling Bling making a racket, but it ended up being a little boy selling Christmas wreaths.  And seeing as my car damage wasn't bad, I ended up buying one and it's hanging from the kitchen window to the living room.  I haven't bought a Christmas wreath in probably over ten years.  Hmmm... maybe some cool photography ideas with it.  And Mollyanne wants the red ornament on it later.

So, now I'm thinking of a few holiday trees for me (yarn at reasonable prices) and call it good.  I'm looking at a pretty purple cone yarn that would be pretty mixed in with my pink or green cone yarn.

My next knitting projects besides the legwarmers, may be ballet slippers and some basic socks.  It's been many years since I tried knitting socks.  The last pair I did was baby socks or slippers for Jake.  A cute little blue pair.  I don't think I have ever made a pair of socks for me and those ballet slippers look really pretty.

My girls are still asleep, so maybe next, I should be doing another chapter to the novel.  It's about 126 pages now.  I'm thinking that within a few weeks, I will have more opportunity to type on my novel.  I still haven't decided if I will bring my laptop home in the evenings.  At this point, I don't want my criminal neighbors to get access to it and delete all my lifetime's hard work that is on it.  I will have to wait on that until I know it is safe to bring it home.  That won't be for a long time.

I think I am looking at January hopefully not February to see them gone.  Eviction takes a while.  It's no comfort at all with them there.  A death threat is never a comfort, whether it is a scare tactic or real.  You just don't know.

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted December 9, 2012

Okay.  My ex boyfriend's cat, Rascal.  I like this picture.  Later I will take some of the Christmas wreath.

Little Girls and Knitting

This was pretty funny last night.  My ex husband's girlfriend and her little girl were visiting at his house and I was there visiting the kids for the day.  I had a good day yesterday making a pumpkin pie.  It was my first pie I had made in well over a year and a half.  I have got to start baking more often as I really do like to do it and sometimes I forget how fun it is to gather all your ingredients and get messy in the kitchen.

I took some pictures of the pie when it was done, so I can use them for the future recipe/memory book on my Mom.  I think I should search for some new silk flowers for the photography set ups at some point.  I almost got one at Goodwill, but I guess it wasn't the right arrangement and I didn't get it.

Or maybe I should treat myself to some store bought flowers sometime.

So, the pie baking/photosession was done and then later in the afternoon, his girlfriend and her daughter came.  After a short bit, she busied herself in the kitchen making an awesome quiche.  Boy was that good, I had to have a second helping.  Mollyanne wanted to go straight to pumpkin pie which in fact she did get me to slice her a piece.

Then we got situated in the living room watching Brave with the girls and their new little friend.  She is four.  As we got started in on the movie, she got interested in my yarn, so I gave her a needle and a skein of yarn to play with while she was sitting down.  Immediately, she said she wanted me to make her a sweater.  That was funny and I kind of said, that's a big project.

Then I talked about making slippers and I showed her my slipper pattern that she might like me to make her sometime.  Of course it was cute, she was picking out the ballet slipper color she wanted and I had to tell her it might be a different color from the picture.

So we sat down and watched the movie.  I had never seen Brave and thought it was really good.

Meanwhile their little friend was sitting wrapping the yarn around the needle.  She was trying to figure out why she couldn't get to the purple color yet, so I had to explain to her that it was multi color.

It was funny, watching her trying to knit.  At that young age, little girls have a hard time figuring out how to knit.  Even my daughters have a hard time casting on and figuring out how to knit with two needles.  Julia can finger knit really well, but she hasn't grasped the concept of knitting with needles.  I went and dug out my knitting mushrooms last night too so they could practice with those.

I've used them before too, but really I am saving them for grandchildren and last night thought this was the perfect moment to dig them out.

Their little friend was suddenly talking to her mom about how she was making slippers.  Then after a little bit both her mom and I had to decide when to tell her she had to be done winding the yarn around the needle as we didn't want her to unravel the whole skein.  At a later point, I found her a different skein she could play with.  A ten cent yard sale one.  Ha ha.

Then it was funny, she started to gather a few of my balls of yarn and more of my double points and started to make a face and body out of the yarns and the needles.

I wish I had thought to get my camera out as at one point both Julia and little Brooklyn were sitting together working with the yarn.  It would have been a priceless picture of two little girls learning to knit.

I guess there is always next time.  There will be plenty of opportunity as I always have the yarn around.

Years ago, my daughters would use the yarn and the needles and I would get it started for them.  They did pretty well learning, but of course there were mistakes and they would get stuck and I would finish up the messed up row for them to get them past it and onto a new row.

One of their older friends used to knit a lot.  Maybe she still does.  I'm friends with her grandmother and her mom and her grandmother does a lot of felting work.  Hats and pocketbooks.  I will be due to do the craft shows with her next year for sure.

The timing wasn't right for me this year.

A few days ago, Julia had been cleaning up her room a little bit and she and I discovered this old knitted bear I made for one of them.  She's thinking it is her's but I'm remembering making it for Mollyanne.  Hopefully that won't turn into an argument in the future.  But, Julia also has this knitted girl I made for her once, so both girls have some funky looking stuffed toy.

One of these years, I also have a book or two on making these cute knitted dolls with all the outfits you can make for them.

I think it is really good for girls of all ages to learn to knit.  So when Brooklyn just tried to do it in her own way, I just let her do it.  I didn't care if the yarn got tangled a little bit as I can always fix it later.  The point was that she was trying to make something and learn how to do it, and the process is important that she and my daughters just try to learn and do it at their own pace.

This is true with any task that a child is trying to figure out how to do.  We need to just sit back sometimes and watch them do it and let them make their wonderful discoveries.  Brooklyn's mom said that she has grandparents who like to knit.

I think that is great when little girls have someone who likes to do it.  Someone who can show them how to do it.  My Grammy used to knit a lot when we were growing up.  I can remember visiting at my Aunt Harriet's camp and my Grammy would be sitting in the green recliner chair with her project in her hands.  One year she was making an intricate cabled sweater for my cousin.  She used to make them for us too.  I vaguely remember an ivory cabled sweater cardigan for me.  There is probably a picture of me in it somewhere.

She made my first born son a baby blanket and six pairs of little cabled socks.  I'm not sure if I have all the pairs now, but I have held onto all the things she knitted for him.  She passed away when he was three months old.

When I got married, I stayed over her house for a weekend shortly before marriage and she helped me to sew a tank top on her sewing machine and she helped me to knit up one of those dishcloths.  At the time, she had expressed how she wished she could have done this with me when I was younger.

This may have been an issue between her and my mother.  There were many times when my Mom would be on the phone with her for a while and sometimes she would take the phone into my brother's room and lie on his bed talking to her with the door closed.  We used to have special sleepovers once a year on the Christmas holiday.  My Aunt Harriet would be visiting too and it was always a special time for my siblings and I to have some alone time with Grammy and my aunt.  Sometimes it was my sister and I and other times it was a one at a time sort of thing.

But thinking back on this, Grammy may have wanted to have more opportunities to have a weekend alone with us.

I wish now that I had had that opportunity too.  I am thankful that she did teach me how to knit a little bit.  A lot of what I know, I also ended up learning on my own.  I did take a knitting class at a woman's house when my boys were very little, but still a large part of it, I have learned on my own.

The other really funny thing this last fall was trying to teach my sister how to cast on stitches and learn how to do it.  I wish I had a video of that one!!!!!!  For the life of her, she couldn't do it.  But her oldest daughter did have it down pat by the end of the evening.  So my sister, said there is hope for her daughter to learn!  But not her!  Ha ha.

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted December 5, 2012

This was my Mom and my sister at my wedding.

yum.  This one was from my Grammy's recipe she got from a friend and my Dad always loved it.

My skinny scarf I made earlier this week. It's a wool yarn and I would say it must be boucle yarn.

Luna my gray Siamese mix.  She's on my blanket I had as a little girl and one year my Grammy sewed new satin trim on it.  Actually, it may have been the same weekend that I was over learning to sew my tank top and knit the dishcloth before getting married.

Here, I was playing around with the different color, sepia and black and white effects on my little green underwater camera.  I was bummed, I had to throw out a little red Kodak one as the lens must have broken.  Hmm...   might be a good reason to knit up some little bags to contain these so there's no future breaking.  And add some padding.

My coffee table in the evening.  When I get home, I tend to over load it with the things I am using.  The little clock is one my Mom gave me one Christmas and it still works!  I almost was inclined to throw it out as it's not white like it originally was.  It now has that aging yellowing effect going on.  But where she gave it to me, it has sentimental value.  That's the way I am.  I get very sentimental about things.

I felt a little bad about throwing out my Nana and Grampy's picture frame a few days ago.  I took the artwork out and didn't throw out what I did, but the frame and the glass kind of was giving me creepy feelings as my neighbors upstairs were talking about it.  And when I thought someone had broken into my apt one day, this particular picture was extremely crooked.  Then once again, three weeks later, it was extremely crooked once again in the same exact manner.  Just didn't make me feel quite right.  And there was a small hole in the glass that I didn't see before.  I can't see how there would be any camera in it, but I threw out the frame all the same as the paint was chipping. And after I threw it out and came back in, the girl upstairs was saying that I threw it out and that they didn't need to go into my apt after all and take it out.  Yet, later in the evening they seemed to still be talking about being able to see me.  I swear they are just messing with me, and I can hardly wait until they are gone.

My old Raggedy Ann doll.  She plays the music.

Part of my coffee table that I redid a few weeks ago. I will be inclined to do more of this with some new yard sale pieces next Spring.  Or some new collage frames to hang on my wall, to replace the retired piece.

My Bella Swan doll and my Mom's clown figurine.

Ella, my Siamese Tortie Point.  Whoops, she's sideways.

My Jennifer porcelain doll that my Mom gave me one Christmas.  She was my very first one.  She has a big gold key that goes into her back.  Next to it is my old musical jewelry box she also got me another Christmas.

Get to Know Your Dates first before diving in

how many of you are online looking for that perfect soulmate?  I'm one of them.  It's important to take things slow and be careful before taking any plunge and then find that you get hurt.  Well, you can get hurt of course even after the later dates too, we all know that.

But, when you are putting yourself back on the dating scene and are new and fresh, take your time.  Watch out for all these dating sites too as with any number of them, you could always encounter spammers of all sorts.  Nobody is immune to this.

I'm a little skeptical of Datehookup although I did have some good luck with that one well over a year ago, but unfortunately the relationships didn't last.  Hence, I'm back on the market (the grocery store!)  All good food of course of all kinds just like people of all colors of life.

Watch out for these sites when the men or women wanting to meet you are from far away states.  I received some from Florida, Texas and California among others.  Watch out for how they talk to you in their messages.  If they say you are the angel that their mother was talking about and all these other lines, run!!!!!  And if they have a wife that passed away, kids that died, they are starting fresh and their jobs take them overseas (importing/exporting), run........           I've dealt with these types of men on MySpace a few years back and you need to run far as soon as they start asking you for money etc.....  You will most likely never meet them.  None ever saw a penny.

And also, watch out for the local guys too.

Take it slow, chat of course.  Don't reveal all.  Please don't make yourself an open book.  Check out their profiles thoroughly to see if they will match you before you message them back.  Block some if they are vulgar.  I blocked one immediately.

Think about how far you want to possibly be travelling to them and them to you.

Also, a perfect first date is to meet them in a public place.  I like to meet them at somewhere like Starbucks for a coffee date.  That is a good way to meet them in the beginning.  

And now, if they seem to be pushy, want to immediately rub their legs against yours, kiss you and feel you up on the first date, by all means run!   I encountered this one.  I do have a second date with him planned today for a pizza lunch date in a public place, but after that, it's not going to continue to a third date.  

You can tell with some of them that they only want one thing, and good lord if they are pushy for this on the very first date, run far away.  I'm only doing the second one as I'm hungry for pizza and nothing more.

Some of these men are hoping that women are easy and they can get in their pants and then they are satisfied that they got what they want and then they move on.  Women, don't let them get their way.  Play a little hard to get.  Make them wait for it a little bit.

Tell them you want to get to know them first like I did.  Make sure that they are your friend first and if it is destined, then later on you can become more than friends.  But take your time, girls.

Yes, there is always a chance to get hurt and burned later on first, but at least you got to know them first as friends and didn't jump off that white plastic diving board and let them have their fill.  Tell them to take their bucket elsewhere if they just want that one thing that many men are guilty of.  Not bashing men though as it's not all men.

There are many men out there that really do want a relationship.  And it's just a fact of this new online dating scene that it sometimes takes all of us to go through meeting a handful of different people before we find the right fit.

We do need to find the match to our glove, but we also shouldn't go into it with a blindfold on.  Who knows what else you could encounter if you haven't opened up your eyes.

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted December 4, 2012

When Your Novel takes a surprise twist you weren't expecting to write.

Isn't it funny when we are writing our novels and something unexpected happens while we are writing?  I think it's great.  Of course it seems that all the time, there are surprises that happen as we type upon a blank page.

I personally think it is great when we are just winging it and going with the flow of what our mind wants to put out there.  It's simply amazing.  Sometimes we do seem to know exactly what we want to write, have a well thought out plan and then we trip upon our paved path and something happens we totally were not planning on.

I think this happened to me in my Glorious Money Tree novel trilogy yesterday.  I was writing up a scene with a bunch of the children in it and something unexpected kind of turned up.  There was a particular character that came into the scene whom I wasn't planning on being there and suddenly as my fingers typed it, there the character turned up.  It's a character whom I was thinking would at some point change through the course of the trilogy and I ended up deciding to have the character play an important role in this particular scene.  It turned out quite well and I am pleased.  Of course at this point, the character of course hasn't changed yet.  That will probably still happen in a later book.

In fact, I think all the characters need to change at one point in the trilogy, seeing as that's a given.

Then, earlier this week, I started thinking about how many characters I have in the novel.  Where it is a fantasy, I was kind of surprised that there are quite a lot.  But, then it is a trilogy and a fantasy which sometimes allows for more.  If you look at Harry Potter, there were lots of characters.  Of course in any novel, there are the main characters, the players and then there are the minor characters too that also play an important role.

I did tally up my characters and have decided that I shouldn't add more at least for this first novel.  Let's just say, it is a good amount.  Ha ha.  I guess I haven't quite pushed the forty to fifty button yet.  But then, I'm looking at my human characters, the kids, the adults, and then all the magical characters.

I am now up to 123 pages.  I'm hoping I can get some more accomplished with it later today.

I've got a pizza date this afternoon with someone and I haven't decided if there will be a third date after.  But I can already taste that pizza!  I'm just enjoying coffee dates and chats at this point and am in no hurry to push the envelope.  Friends first is a really good plan!

Well, this last weekend without my kids, I had another movie weekend.  I bet I popped in about ten movies on Saturday and Sunday at least.  I watched Frida with Salma Hayek portraying Frida Kahlo.  That was really good.  I like watching biography movies sometimes.  More Alfred Hitchcock movies of course.  The Lady Vanishes.  There were definitely some corny scenes in that one!  A sign of the times of when it was made.

Times have sure changed from when the word Gay used to mean happy.  Their train of thought was so different back then.

Last night, I watched one of my Christmas movie treats.  Shadow of a Doubt another Alfred Hitchcock one. That was good!  I wanted to watch it to see what MacDonald Carey's acting was like way back when.  I always remembered him as Tom Horton from Days of Our Lives.  My favorite soap opera.

I met my ex husband's new girlfriend, her little girl and their dogs on Friday and had a really nice time.  It's good for my girls to have a new playmate.  It's all good.  I think she will be a nice new friend for me too.  And I'm already excited to take some pictures of one of her dogs.  Or both, but one I really want to take some cool pictures of.  She's a pretty pale yellow dog, called Lola.

Her little girl was so excited to see my girls and of course they got all wound up.

I was also doing a lot of knitting over the weekend.  I think when I am minus the internet, I tend to do more knitting.  I was knitting up some belts for my nieces and daughters.  And working more on my green lacy shawl.

The belts are simple:

double pointed needles of your choice of size

cast on ten stitches

Knit row.
Don't turn and just slide to the other end and knit again.

A really simple one that doesn't involve the mind!!!!  ha ha.

I've got to work on my nieces legwarmers next.  I'm not sure if I will get them out in time for Christmas but will try.  They want gray.  I went to a local yarn shop and am going to add a touch of blue and some pretty ribbon yarn at the top.

Today, I am whipping up a quicky boucle wool skinny scarf with the same belt pattern.  I'm almost done already as the skein is almost gone!  Maybe I will have it done before my pizza date!

Onto my second cup of coffee.  I got bummed when my can of whipped cream was gone!  Darn it, no cinnamon on top of whip cream!  Time for another trip to the grocery store.

I finished practically all my Christmas shopping yesterday except for the one who wants cold hard cash!  Next to wrap.

And then to think of what I'm planning to bake!  I'm thinking of at least one batch of biscotti, maybe some toffee (small batch), and there's been a request from my daughter for pumpkin pie.  And I am thinking of cheesecake too.  Of course I don't want to overdose on all the baking as I have done in the past as very often it all ends up being there for just me to eat!  And then I'm looking at some of it for the whole next month.

Jennifer Fay

Copyrighted December 4, 2012

The shawl.  It's bigger than this now.   Double stranded.

My wrist warmers.  These are done!  And they fit my feet too!!

My first legwarmers.  This pair is quite warm, but my future pairs need to be skinnier.  Definitely less stitches.  This pair was 64 sts worked in the round.

For me next time around, I am thinking 40-44 stitches.