The Lady Tree

This is my mother's favorite tree, she refers to it as the Lady Tree. Angels and doll ornaments grace its branches.

Writing: A writer cannot be ladylike when writing. Characters must be portrayed with all their socially unacceptable thoughts and actions. Most readers appreciate the honesty because secretly they have thought or done the same things. Don't worry about the readers who might confuse your characters with you--these same people will try to re-write your book and question your sanity. They are not your friends and should be avoided.

My husband was out of town when I put up this tree. When he returned he complained, "That tree was for outside." "No," I said, "the directions say indoors and outdoors." Unconvinced, my husband sees a gap in his outdoor light display and an ugly tree in our bedroom. I see a tree the Jetsons would have loved as much as I do.

Writing: Writing well means following grammar rules and and accepted writing practices. Can these rules be broken? Of course, but only very occasionally. You may break any rule as long as you know you are breaking it and why--and are able to defend yourself to your fellow writers. This rule, however, is never to be broken.

Another Trio of Trees

May husband gave me the red tree after he told me no more trees. The other two were part of my yard sale find of five little trees for a dollar.

Writing: Everyone tells you how important the first sentence and paragraph is --how it has to hook the reader while telling him what the story is about. Contemporary books do this well. The premise that first hooks me keeps me reading and then-too often-- the ending disappoints and I feel cheated. Perhaps agents and publishers don't notice this since they seem to concentrate on the hook. Personally I'll forgive a slow start and the occasional stumbles if the ending is good. Give me a great ending and I'll sell your book to all my friends.

The theme and some of the ornaments for this tree came from a trip to Tanzania. The safari was like nothing else I've experienced. The large exotic animals, the flat expanse of the land and the overwhelming sky that stretched forever was so different from home, I could have been on another planet.

Writers live in their heads. It's where they work. And despite the frustrations, it's a comfortable place to be. But it's necessary to brave life without editorial controls and embark on adventures into the unknown--to gather sights, sounds, people, places, emotions--the it's where we find our stories.

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Joy

to

the

World

and

Joyeux

Noel.

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The little elf atop of this tree came into my mother's house on a bottle of Joy dish liquid in the '60s. It took quite a few years for the little guy to merit his lofty position. Today he hangs onto the tree topper my husband and I bought for our first tree. Years later my children and I painted wooden ornaments, including the noel on this tree.

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quote: A writer lives for twenty-five years and spends the rest of his life writing about it.-Kurt Vonnegut.

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Writing: Writers have to dip into their memories, recalling the intense emotions that accompanied the firsts of their lives--the first kiss, the first death, the first best friend. They have to feel again the pain of unrequited love, a friend's betrayal, a parent's fall from perfection. Experience elicits the same emotions but with a sense of familiarity. Writes can't afford dulling senses. The best story feels like a 'first.'

This tree is decorated with flowers I dried, most of which I grew. I keep the tree up year round (without the lights lit). After three years the flowers are faded and I throw them away.

Writing: A novel starts with a seed of an idea that has to be nourished and grown-- through research, outlining and mentally trying out different scenarios. But when the writing begins, the words falter and the characters move robotically. What had been a promising bloom withers. Rewriting and editing preserves the bloom. But like a dried flower, the color is changed. Sometimes the story doesn't bloom, instead it crumbles into dust.

I decorated this tree as I handed out Halloween candy. It has a Fall theme after all.

Writing: Setting is more than where the story is happening. It's also when --the season (See how I connected this to the tree), the time of day. Setting extends to other details the reader needs to experience the character's world-- the weather, the political climate. Through setting a mood is drawn, a plot twists, and a sense of reality is struck with with reader.

Note to self: I'm working on a book set a hundred years from now--expand on setting until I know this future world as I know my own present.