Blogoversary Giveaway / You asked!!!

Hello My Darlings!   Thank you for all the wonderful comments, thoughts and wishes.   You all asked some great questions:

Kristen asked:  "What has been your greatest challenge in blogging?"  Time mainly. I never imagined how much time blogging would take.  Along with creating the blog, there is the time it take to keep it up to date, create and write all the posts,  I don't schedule my posts ahead of time because I like to see them out there as soon as I write them.  I tried writing some in advance and scheduling them to post later, but it made me antsy for some reason.   Sometimes I get ideas in the middle of the night, which has me sitting down in the morning and typing like mad or searching the internet for information to write my posts.  Or I get an idea to improve the blog and make a new widget.  I enjoy the creativity of blogging and writing.  

Booksync of Books in the City asked:  "I notice a theme of Irish in your blog - what is the connection"

You know, sometimes you get a thought in your head and life synchronizes with you.  I'm part Irish and have been wanting to expand my reading repertoire a bit.  Learn more about the country where my family originated.  Coincidentally, Carrie of Books and Movies started the Ireland Reading Challenge and I thought what a neat idea. Perhaps I'll join.   Then all of a sudden, everywhere I looked - on the internet, movies, books were about Ireland.   Just as I decided to join, but hadn't mentioned it yet, I was offered the chance to read Venetia Kelly's Traveling show by Frank Delaney.  Synchronicity (the coincidence of events that seem to be meaningfully related) is a wonderful thing.

 

Candace of Beth Fish Reads asked: "I'm not sure if you've discussed this before, but when you decided to home school, how did your families react? Were they immediately supportive, or did you have to convince them that it was right choice?"

My parents were immediately supportive.  My father in law, not so much.  He's a teacher and has worked his whole life in academia. He didn't think we were qualified to teach James because we weren't professionally educated teachers.  Plus the whole subject of socialization came up.  The repeated refrain was he needs to be socialized.   Personally I've always hated that word.  Socialization:    a continuing process whereby an individual acquires a personal identity and learns the norms, values, behavior, and social skills appropriate to his or her social position.  No, the kid doesn't know he is supposed to have a "social position."   Is he social - yes.  James is a very social kid and gets along with everybody. It doesn't matter whether they are a baby, kid, teenager or adult, he's very personable.    As far as my father in law is concerned, we didn't make the right choice.   We just don't discuss it with him and my husband has learned to "pass the bean dip."   The people I expected to be the least supportive in both our families - opinionated aunts and uncles have been surprisingly supportive. 

 

Staci of Life in the Thumb asked:  "Do you just sit down and start writing or did you sketch out the characters and a storyline ahead of time?"

There's a quote I love by Walter Wellesley "Red" Smith that says "There's nothing to writing.  All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein."    That didn't work for me.  When I first decide to attempt writing a story for the 2007 Nanowrimo, I got an idea, sat down and figured out my main characters, and outlined the story.   I wrote as many notes as possible, drew little sketches of an imaginary town, cut out pictures from magazines, printed off all kinds of articles about this,that and the other.  I had a huge notebook of stuff.   The story evolved from there.  I ended up not using half the stuff I printed out, but it makes for some interesting reading.    I think all that work is what helped me fall in love with the characters.   I didn't do as much work with my current story, flying more by the seat of my pants.  I'm slowing falling in love with the characters of Eyes in the Ashes as I get to know them through the story.   However, I can see the benefit of all the research and the character sketches and town drawings.    

Thank you for all your interesting questions!  

After entering all your names in Random.org, randomizing the list and then letting the random integer generator pick the number, the winner of the BevMo $25.00 gift certificate is: 

*****Candace of Beth Fish Reads*****

Congratulations! 

 

Cheers and a Irish toasts to another blogging year

 

Here’s to you and yours,
And to mine and ours,
And if mine and ours ever come
Across you and yours,
I hope you and yours will do
As much for mine and ours,
As mine and ours have done
For you and yours!