I don’t know if it’s my imagination, or if it’s because Christmas ads and decorations began showing up way before Thanksgiving, but whatever it is, people seem to be making a bigger fuss about Christmas this year. For me, that’s a good thing. As a Christian, I love Christmas and all it signifies. As an author, I’m also noticing a lot of Christmas-themed books, and while my Egypt series is not based on Christmas, books 1 and 2 carry some Christmas scenes that will give you a glimpse of how my characters, and people in Trinidad where the story is set, spend Christmas.

Here is an excerpt from In The Wilderness: Book 2 of the Egypt series:

At last it’s Christmas Eve. Miss Lucy and her daughter have gone home, and we sit in the living-room admiring the Christmas tree and the decorations and sipping egg nog. Below the tree is an assortment of boxes wrapped in shiny gift paper and tied with pretty bows. The television shows women in beautiful frilly skirts and blouses with flowers in their hair, singing and dancing. The songs are in Spanish and they call them parang.
I’m holding Junior on my lap. June sits on the rug at my feet, her head resting against my legs. Junior tugs at her hair.
“Ouch!” She holds her head, and he squeals.
Across from us, Chrissy, seated on her father, also squeals and drops her rattle.
“Did we do this in Egypt Village?” I ask.
June turns her head. “Do what?”
“Sit around the tree and drink egg nog and watch TV.”
“I don’t think we ever had a tree. And we didn’t have a TV.”
No tree? It’s such a beautiful thing. I can’t understand why everyone wouldn’t have one. And no TV either? “We couldn’t afford it?”
June shrugs. “I don’t know.”
That’s another thing I don’t understand. She never wants to talk about our childhood and Egypt Village.
Junior takes another tug at her hair and she sidles away. “Come here, you.” She lifts him off my lap.
I turn to Miss Stewart. “Did you always do this?”
She smiles. “Yes, we did.”
I look at Mr. Bowen.
He nods. “We did, too. And you know what else we did?”
Everyone looks at him. “We sang Christmas carols and told the story of the Savior’s birth.”
“I didn’t know that,” his wife says.
He gazes at her. “Remember I came from a Christian home. When we lived in New York, we went to church on Christmas Eve night.”
“Was it snowing?” June asks.
“Sometimes, but we kids loved it. We would all bundle up in our coats, hats and gloves and sing carols while Dad drove us to church. When we came here, it took us a while before we found a church, so Mom made egg nog and we sat around and did the Christmas thing.”
“The Christmas thing?” June asks.
“Yeah. We sat around the crèche and told the Christmas story.”
That touches me. We don’t have a crèche, but maybe we can do the Christmas thing too.
Feeling shy, I ask, “Can we do that now?”
“Why not?” Miss Stewart gets up and turns off the TV. “Where do we start?”
June bounces Junior on her leg. “Let’s start with ‘Once upon a time.’”
Mr. Bowen picks up Chrissy’s rattle. “Okay, here’s how we did it. One person says a few lines of the Christmas story, then we sing a verse of a carol. Then the next person picks up the story from where the last person left off, we sing another verse and so on.”
“Sounds great,” Miss Stewart says. “I’ll go first. Once upon a time there was a man named Joseph, and he had a wife named Mary who was pregnant.”
June puts her hand up. “Joseph and Mary journeyed to Bethlehem in order to be taxed, in keeping with a decree from the emperor Cesar Augustus.”
“You forgot the song,” I say.
June slaps her forehead. “I’m sorry.” She clears her throat. “Silent night …”
We all join in the singing. When we finish the first verse, she repeats the lines she’d said, then everyone looks at me. I smile as I continue the story. “While they were there, Mary realized that it was time for the baby to be born.”
We sing another verse then Mr. Bowen continues, “Joseph tries to find a room in an inn so Mary could give birth, but he found none.”
We continue like this until Mr. Bowen ends with the angels telling the shepherds, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace and goodwill toward men.”
I look down at Junior now asleep on June’s lap. I think of the Baby Jesus who came into this world as small and innocent as this baby even though He was God Himself. What a beautiful story!
June interrupts my thoughts. “Sister, I’m impressed that you remember the Christmas story so well.”
I turn to her. “Some things I’ll always remember, but the things I want to remember, I don’t.”

There you have it. Christmas with Marva, June and the Bowen’s. To read more about the Christmas celebrations with the Bowen’s, why not pick up a copy of the book on sale for only 99c. this weekend. And drop me a line and let me know how you spend Christmas at your house.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. It is still the best time of year for me. I really knock myself out cleaning, cooking, baking, shopping and doing all the things that tradition dictates I should do. But this year things seemed a bit different. For some reason, the mercury didn’t rise on my enthusiasm, but I did the best I could.

On Saturday, the day before Christmas Eve, I left our daughter’s house where my husband and I had gone to spend Christmas and did something completely out of my league. I went shopping! In a store with wall-to-wall lines and shelves that reminded me of a pre-Hurricane Irma supermarket. But I stayed, hoping to get something to put under my daughter’s Christmas tree. As it turned out, I left the store hours later with two items, a bad case of frustration and a back that screamed for mercy.

After picking up a few items, I waited in line for about an hour and a half, before getting up to the counter. I told the cashier I wanted to get something from the locked cabinet for my husband. I left my stuff on the counter and followed the young man to the cabinet. Big mistake! When we returned, all my stuff was gone! Yes, gone! I approached a female employee who was gathering up every stray item in sight with the speed of an engine and throwing it into an empty cart. My face must have betrayed my ire for she gave me a look as if to say, “Don’t look at me.”

Long story short, I retrieved one item I’d bought for my daughter and that’s how I happened to leave the store with two items. I’d lost precious time and had very little to show for it. And so, my friends, maybe that’s the reason I got sick on Christmas Day. I came down with a nasty case of the flu – runny nose, sneezing and headache. I am a little better as I write this, but I think I learned my lesson. At least for this year.

As I look back on my almost futile shopping trip, I ask myself why did I do it. Was it to please my loved ones or to please myself? They would not have loved me any less if I hadn’t got them a Christmas gift. They are used to me giving them stuff, not only at Christmas but all through the year. Spending time with my loved ones and letting them know I love them is far more important than any amount of toys or baubles I could have bought.

To my fellow writers, and readers, let us reflect on what is really important -in our relationships as well as our work. Until next time, remember “A room without books is like a body without a soul.”
― Marcus Tullius Cicero

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When I first began plotting Coming Out of Egypt, I read a lot of books by other authors and experts on writing because I wanted to do everything right. Now I know I said in my last post that I’m a pantster and that’s true. I didn’t outline the story, but it just seemed to pour out of me. However, I wanted to structure it in a way that would grab my readers and hold their interest right up to the last page. I also wanted to incorporate some literary elements that would give depth to the story and make it stand out. You, the reader, may not be aware of them, but they are what lift the story instead of making it flat and boring.

One of the things I picked up from the writing book is the use of motifs. What on earth is that, you are wondering. First, let me tell you what it is not. A motif is not a theme. A theme is the central idea on which the story is based, neither is it a symbol, which might be an object or an idea that appears once. According to this article motifs are “images, ideas, sounds or words that help to explain the central idea of a literary work i.e. theme.” Motifs tend to recur throughout the novel.

In Coming Out of Egypt, I have used a few motifs. The weather -rain- is a motif in the book. The other motif is the bandana. When you read the book, you will see that my character’s signature piece is a bandana. She covers her hair with it most of the time. It signifies who she is and it supports the theme of the book.

If you are still looking to add to your Christmas gift list or just pick up a good book for your holiday reading, why not get a printed copy of Coming Out of Egypt? This book will captivate your heart and have you thinking about it long after you put it down. But the book is not all you get. You also receive a bandana, a tote bag with the cover design, pen and bookmark, all for fifteen dollars, including postage. If you buy the book online the cost is $12.95 plus postage. So, hurry and place your order to receive it in time for Christmas. Just drop me a line at aquildon@yahoo.com

Now I know that some people have a negative view of bandanas, however you don’t have to wear one on your head if you don’t want to. This young lady posed for me wearing one as a scarf. You can do that or use it in your holiday decorating. I tried a couple ideas that I picked up here and here,I must say I’m really pleased with the effect. I think you will be too once you try them.

If you don’t care for the print version of Coming Out of Egypt, you can simply purchase the kindle version here.

And don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter where you can get updates on my books and other offers. Until next time, stay safe and be blessed.

Christmas is over, but you may still be enjoying time with your friends and family. Part of the conversation around Christmas and Thanksgiving tables usually centers on what are we thankful for. What are some of the moments over the past months that made us do a happy dance or pump our fist in the air and say “Yes!” Even though we may not think of being thankful at the time, all of these incidents should call forth a feeling of gratitude.

So, as a writer, what are you thankful for? It doesn’t have to be a lot. Maybe all you did was start a blog or website, join a writer’s group or write some words for NaNoWriMo. Whatever it is, it’s more than you did before, and you should be thankful and proud of yourself. See it as a stepping stone to better and greater things so that by the end of the year you can have more things to be thankful for.

For me, I am still thankful to be able to wake up each morning and see the sunrise, feel the fresh air on my face and hear the sounds of birds as they call to each other. I am thankful for my family who makes every day worth living. I am also thankful for the gift God has placed inside of me. I call it a gift because not everyone has the ability or the desire to sit down and write something that others will enjoy reading or even pay for.

Even before I started writing seriously thirteen years ago, I had a short story published in a college magazine. At that time I was an inexperienced writer and my writing was a diamond in the rough, but I joined a writer’s group and the members helped me polish my writing to the extent that I have now been published in such reputable anthologies as A Cup of Comfort for Mothers by Adams Media and Chicken Soup For the Soul: Reboot Your Life. I have self-published a Christian non-fiction book Women For All Seasons  and written a fiction trilogy Coming Out of Egypt. In addition, I have written hundreds of articles on health, fitness and education for online sites.

So, I’m thankful for all these things, but especially for God and the people who helped and encouraged me along the way. People like you, my readers, who take the time to read and follow this blog. So, what are you thankful for? Share it in the  comment box below.

Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and is looking forward to the New Year. With my grandchildren around me, my Christmas could not have been better. I am now looking forward to what 2015 holds.  Which brings me to the reason for the headline above. Actually, it came about as a result of a post I read this morning, one that had nothing to do with writing. The author was speaking about expectations in general and she stated that expecting too much from others can lead to disappointment. And she was right. We should only set standards by ourselves.

So, what expectations do we have of ourselves as writers? I know for myself, I set my expectations very high. I want to be the best writer I can be. I want my work to stand out from among the others. There is a trend in writing and publishing toward producing work that is quite similar to what is already on the market. One person writes a successful vampire story and hundreds flood the market. One person writes  a dystopian novel and we get hundreds more.  And I wouldn’t even touch on the romance market. I suppose we are afraid that no one would read our books, or, worse yet, we would not be able to find an agent. The latter may very well be true, but whatever happened to originality and creativity and uniqueness?  Where are the Shakespeares, the Jane Austens, the Faulkners of our day?

A friend of mine who is a voracious reader told me recently that Agatha Christie, who wrote 91 books, 82 of which are mysteries, has a unique plot and unpredictable  ending for each one of her mysteries. Now that’s what I call creativity. I read Agatha Christie when I was growing up, so I may have to go and reread some of them through the eyes of an author.

In 2015, my expectation is to be my creative best, and if I get only one reader, then so be it. What are your expectations? Please share them in the comments box below.

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It’s a joy to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a bright and prosperous New Year! If you are a writer, you are probably looking forward to the New Year so you can achieve some of  the goals that eluded you this year.  Or, maybe you would like to correct  a few mistakes here and there. In addition, you may be reflecting on all that took place over the past months.  Whatever your situation, I wish you much success in the new year. (more…)