3 New Year’s Traditions: are they worth the effort?

SHOULD YOU EAT BLACK-EYED PEAS ON NEW YEAR'S EVE?

A Southern Tradition, traditionally called: Hoppin’ John (black-eyed peas served with rice, pork, and seasonings. If you follow the full tradition, you’re to eat 365 peas. That’s a mouthful.

Thought to originate from Civil War days – Sherman on his march through the South left devastated crops, and not much beyond black-eyed peas and salted port, which were considered animal fodder. The reeling South was grateful for any bounty and the practice of eating black-eyed peas (with pork/bacon/renderings) was thought to bring about good luck. Sherman’s marching dates seem to discount this theory, but it’s another Southern story passed along. (Wiki-pedia)

Superstition or not – Black-eyed peas are good for you:

"Even though it's myth that black-eyed peas bring good luck, it's fact they can benefit your health. Just one cup of black-eyed peas delivers 20 percent of the daily magnesium, calcium and iron one needs, plus they are a good source of soluble and insoluble fiber, according to the Mayo Clinic." (Times Free Press)

LOOKING FOR A GREAT KISS AT THE STROKE OF MIDNIGHT?

This tradition is thought to originate from an Ancient Roman (8th century BC) Festival of Saturnalia. The party started mid-December and continued on for days. The midnight kiss is thought to be part of this celebration. This theory holds that the kiss was rather just a ‘thing that happened’; no particular significance. (Bustle.com) Personally, if I'd been partying for two weeks straight, I'm not certain that I'd remember one kiss at the stroke of midnight.

However, The Washington Post offers a couple of different theories:

According to The Washington Post, Europe’s Renaissance Masquerades were events where anything went as long as party-goers were masked. To cleanse from their decadence, those misbehaving revelers laid one on the first person they saw after pulling off the mask. Something about keeping the evil spirits at bay. (The Washington Post)


Or


English & German folklore offered that the 1st person met/encountered in the New Year would set the tone for the upcoming year. Perhaps, these folks decided to tips good odds in their favor by kissing someone they liked or wanted to like them – rather like tempting destiny, I’d think. (The Washington Post)

PERHAPS MY FAVORITE NEW YEAR'S TRADITION: COLORFUL UNDIES.

That’s right. The shade of your panties, knickers, bloomers, thong could influence the upcoming year’s outcome.

According to the Underwear Expert, color matters.

Who knew there was an Underwear Expert????

Planning your last minute outfit? Don’t forget the color of your drawers:

Yellow: Prosperity, Wealth & Success
Red: Passion, Romance & Love (not exactly hard to figure out this one.)
White: Peace, Harmony & Happiness (also won’t show through the color of your garment for the evening.)
Blue: Good Health, Wellness & Tranquility (makes sense. Who doesn’t want to gaze at ocean blue?)
Green: Life, Nature & Well-Being (Mother Earth, I’m thinking.)
Pink: Luck in Love, Harmony (okay, ladies, decide if you want passion for 2019 or luck in love. Remember that those 2 goals are NOT the same thing. At least, not exclusively the same thing.)

However, you spend your New Year's, may the upcoming year be prosperous and filled with joy.

A Warlock Under The Mistletoe by S.S. Bazinet - book review

Are fantasies and fairy tales required for a happy ending? Or is true love the only necessary magic?


In S.S. Bazinet’s Christmas release, A WARLOCK UNDER THE MISTLETOE, heroine, Pippa sets out to prove to co-worker and friend, Adeline that real heroes are more than just a fantasy.

Readers, world-wide, will identify with Pippa, a heroine who believes in romance of the heart and has her very own true love: Chester.

Chester . . . Chester???? Can you really make a HERO out of a ‘Chester’?

If you’re author, S.S. Bazinet you can.

For doubting-Thomas readers, who believe there’s no conflict if the heroine and hero are already a matched pair, S.S. Bazinet proves that trite theory wrong.


By interjecting a sometimes cranky and always cynical co-worker into the mix, readers are treated to a full dose of the misguided friend and her attempts to prove to our heroine that: ‘People want believable stories, not some gibberish that’s all sweetness and fairy tale nonsense.’ (excerpt from A Warlock Under The Mistletoe, Chapter One.)


A bet, a dead-line, and a woman’s heart are all on the line as Pippa must confront her own questions about her fiancé, their relationship, and romantic disillusionment.


Don’t be fooled by Chester’s steady-Eddy personality. Or Pippa’s ever-sunny take on life. There are bumps for these characters along this Christmas path. Change, even inside the most stable relationship, is bound to cause a bit of world tilting.


No spoiler here: I’ll not reveal how Pippa finds a warlock in her fiancé, Chester, but I will remind all – and especially those who have truly loved another – that magical heroes come in all shapes and sizes and appear in the most amazing places: like under one’s own nose or mistletoe.


A WARLOCK UNDER THE MISTLETOE is a true sweet romance; closed bedroom doors only in this book.

Do today’s readers demand the edgy, steeped in reality, border-line harsh styled romance?
Or is there room on the shelf for a sweet read that’s just a really great story?

My holiday heart projects that readers will embrace A WARLOCK UNDER THE MISTLETOE.


Discover the magic of Christmas, as Pippa finds love in the strong arms of her Warlock under the mistletoe.

AUTHOR'S PAGE

Snapping Photos?? Breathe LIFE into Writing . . .

I’m old enough that Kodak still means cameras to me. Instant camera was our phrase from the 60s & 70s. Of course, considering today’s technology, it’s ludicrous to think those were instant pictures.

1) First to film – The lucky owned a 35MM, which meant loading the camera was always a treat. Lining it up - perfectly - to catch the leading edge of the film reel (and hoping like crazy that you’d really accomplished that feat so you’d be taking pictures instead of just turning the hand crank). For the novice photo buff, it started with a Kodak Instamatic: a pop-and-click camera.

2) No do-overs -- As you shot the roll of film, it was framed or not. Blurry or not. Too dark, too light, the wrong angle OR not.

3) Film development – Then, budding photographers were off to the photo store to drop the precious roll of film.

4) Pictures – Finally, the film results were returned. Not just moments later, or hours later, but days later, the camera buff could enjoy their photo reward. Oh, and the sleeved negatives were the accompaniment, in case, a second print was required.

Stop & Consider:

How often did that picture actually match the remembered image in your mind?
The memory of the event, the landscape, the adventure?

Even today, with the serious advances in iPhones, Smartphones and photography equipment,
does the captured image provide a mirror testament to the moment?

Why not?

What’s wrong?

Why isn’t that image on our social media, in print, framed and hung on our wall, the perfect recreation?

Because – how ever good the photographer – memories are about more than the two dimensional image.

Memories capture:
1) Sound: sea rushing to shore, a child’s squeal, a seagull’s scream.
2) Smell: briny ocean, clean air, tempting scents of grilling hotdogs, smoke from a beach fire.
3) Feel: cold wind, warmth of the sun, slick of suntan lotion.
4) Taste: salt on the tongue, hotdogs slathered with chili & onions, chilly rocky road ice cream.
5) Sight: waves breaking against impenetrable rocks throwing mist high; sun illuminating a dad teaching his child to swim; clouds building, deepening, darkening, threatening until the brilliance of lightning splits the sky.

The photo can highlight one instant in time, but to truly capture the ‘Kodak’ moment, all senses must be enveloped.

As a writer do you store these memories to access when creating a scene? Building a character’s backstory? Designing real-life dialogue?

Life is more than a snap-shot.
It’s more than 3-D.

Life is meant to be fully dimensional. Writers, then, must create the moments, the experiences and breathe those images onto page.

One of my New Year’s Resolutions – and I commit to these sparingly – to develop pics from my camera phone (QUICKLY) then list one or more sensory memories on the back of the photo. I have several underutilized photo boxes (normally filled with junk I simply haven’t cleaned away – ooh, sounds like another worthy NYR). I don’t want to overcomplicate the process, so I’m planning to file under settings. Then as I write a beach scene, I can thumb through these Kodak memories and relive the experience, that slice of living in the moment.

The goal: no matter how good my sense of ‘senses’ can be during a writing session,

I always want to dig deeper,
bring more to the page,
breathe more LIFE into the writing.

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