Thanksgiving gratitude

Thanksgiving Day is a jewel, to set in the hearts of honest men; but be careful that you do not take the day, and leave out the gratitude. ~E.P. Powell

Slow Blogging

Maybe to ease my guilty conscience for not posting as often as I usually do... the New York Sunday Times had an excellent article on a new movement that's starting to gain hold slow blogging.

I am going back to my original idea of what my creative arts blog will be...a place for me to work on creative writing projects, writing prompts, poetry and photography stuff and inspirational quotes.I'm taking this holiday weekend off from blogging but I'll be back on Monday with a new creative writing post. Happy Thanksgiving! Now get back to your turkey or tofurky carving!

I just signed on as an affiliate with my favorite creative site, Artella. This was a no brainer because I tell anyone who will listen about this fun, creative writing, poetry and art site. Check it out by clicking on the Artellaland banner!

Sign up your blog or website be an affiliate for Artella!

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

Pen & Paper

Writers are just people who have a whole lot on the inside that they need to get to the outside, with pen and paper as their preferred method of transport. Same with dancers, artists, and singers - all the same urges with differing transportation. ~Graycie Harmon

Kmart Brings Back Layaway

Maybe some of my readers are too young to remember layaway, but for me layaway was as much a part of Christmas shopping as a Christmas club at the bank. Most families I grew up with were like mine, you didn't buy something if you didn't have the money for it. Most families didn't have credit cards. Credit cards were used primarily for businesses and cash was king. Layaway was started as a way to encourage customers to save for big purchases by paying off a little at a time, and here's the magic...no interest!! My mother would start her Christmas shopping early with layaway in mind. Each week after my father got paid we would stop at the layaway counter and she would pay what she could afford that week. Paying this way meant she didn't have to worry about putting out a huge chunk of money at once.

So for the newcomers to layaway, here's how it works:

1. Go to Kmart and pick out your items.

2- Look for the Layaway counter and make a down payment. Most stores I remember required a percentage of your purchase as a down payment.

3- Make a payment every 2 weeks.

4- Pick up your items within 8 weeks after you're paid in full.

Read more at their website and download a $5 OFF coupon for even more savings. This year's economy might have brought back a little bit of nostalgia.

Take advantage of Kmart Layaway for the Holidays and have a happy holiday!

Cranberry Chutney for your Thanksgiving table

One of my most requested recipes on Thanksgiving Day and all through the holiday season is Cranberry Chutney . Much better than the cranberry sauce in the can and almost as easy as a quick fresh cranberry relish.

This flavorful, sweet and spicy chutney tastes great with pork, chicken, turkey, ham and vegetarian entrees. It can also be made in advance which is a great time saver on Thanksgiving Day. Make a large batch of this chutney and you can have impromptu holiday/Christmas gifts ready to go in the pantry. Add this recipe to your "easy Thanksgiving recipe" file.

Lovingly,
The Cooking Nag

Gratitude Exquisite Corpse Poem

Great is the Morning

FREE EBOOK with purchase!

Buy this book on December 1 and get a FREE EBOOK! Details coming soon!

Mercy Street

Photography Scavenger Hunt

Not everybody trusts paintings but people believe photographs. - Ansel Adams

Taking photographs has become a big part of my "packet work" this year. Last semester I included photography with each packet and this semester I'm not only taking photographs but I'm working with other photographers using their art as prompts and integrating my words with their work.

Today, randomly pick 10 words out of the dictionary. Now take these 10 words and go for a walk with your camera. Don't only consider the literal be creative with your interpretation of the word. Take a day to reflect on your photographs. The next day use your photos and the ten words and work them into a poem or a short story.
Now get back to work!

More on ekphrasis.

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

view before coffee

view before coffee
Originally uploaded by cocoaberg25

The view I see every morning before my 1st cup of coffee.

More Holiday Cash Back

I just received my first Paypal check from Ebates. To be honest I kind of forgot about it. Ordering through their website is easy and now they have double holiday cash back. So if the store usually pays you 2% of the purchase back through the end of the holiday season it's 4%. And now I'm guessing because of the struggling economy there are a lot more stores.

Join now, make one qualifying purchase through the end of the year and you automatically get $10 back. So you can buy yourself a book for free! Once you join you can also get referral cash when your friends join.

Mark Twain on Adjective Use

I notice that you use plain, simple language, short words and brief sentences. That is the way to write English--it is the modern way and the best way. Stick to it; don't let fluff and flowers and verbosity creep in. When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don't mean utterly, but kill most of them--then the rest will be valuable. They weaken when they are close together. They give strength when they are wide apart. An adjective habit, or a wordy, diffuse, flowery habit, once fastened upon a person, is as hard to get rid of as any other vice.
- Letter to D. W. Bowser, 3/20/1880 Mark Twain

Time

Life is all about timing... the unreachable becomes reachable, the unavailable become available, the unattainable... attainable. Have the patience, wait it out It's all about timing.”
Stacey Charter

Just a quote today. I'll be back tomorrow with a post.

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

Happy Veterans Day!

Veterans Salute
Originally uploaded by cocoaberg25

Veterans, I Salute You!
Happy Veterans Day!

WOOF Winners-for the week of November 7, 2008

WOOF Contest – Top 5 Picks:

Poetry

Penelope Anne Bartotto - “Never” - 100 words on being true to yourself.

Robert Bourne - “Shadowed Soul” - A poem of how I grew after years of hiding what was inside.

Dragon Blogger - “The Taste Of A Hamburger” - A poem based on a twitter contest where I write a poem based on random words.  This one turned out to be a poem about a hamburger.

About Writing

Writing Nag - “7 Ways to Keep the Passion for the Writing Life” - Like any relationship your writing life needs to be nurtured. Find new ways to fall in love with writing again.

Non-Fiction, Philiosophical, Opinion Piece

Mike Fried - “Proud To Be An American” - The Writer's thoughts on the Presidential Election.

Brought to you by PlotDog Press with the Serial Suspense "Intervention"

Presenting the finest of the writer’s blogs by the bloggers who write them. Highlighting the top 5 posts as chosen by the November 7, 2008 WOOF Contest participants. Want in to join the next WOOF? The next contest ends November 14. Submit a link to your best writing post of the last 2 weeks using the form at the bottom of this page.

Sweet Cocoa Brown

"Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole."
~Roger Caras

On Memoir

“When you put down the good things you ought to have done, and leave out the bad ones you did do -- well, that's Memoirs.”
Will Rogers



I've been engrossed with Natalie Goldberg's memoir writing book this week. I used to think memoir was only something written when you are old and retired, thinking back on your glory days, your childen, your career, your amazing travels. I guess I thought only famous people wrote memoirs or memoirs that sell anyway. This book has changed my thinking about memoir writing. Filled with creative writing prompts. Natalie uses short chapters to keep people with short attentions spans like myself, engaged and reading. Using examples from retreats or classes she taught Natalie illustrates how exciting and verbally stimulating writing memoir can be. As she states in the introduction memoir is not "a chronological pronouncement of the facts of your life" but instead a series of memories, moments and events that made you who you are. I think this book is a keeper, right up there with her classic Writing Down the Bones.
Inspired by her book, set the timer for 10 minutes and write about all of the houses you have lived in. Want more? 10 more minutes, write about a place you haven't lived. Now get back to work!

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

"H"

10 Things I Love That Start With The Letter H


Hazelnuts- heart healthy hazelnuts make everything taste better and it's half the ingredient of chocolaty Nutella

Happy Birthday's-especially mine, an excuse to eat a lot of cake, feel special and celebrate another year

Halloween-from the first candy bar to the last trick-or-treater, Halloween is one of my favorite holidays which brings me to...

Holidays- the tradition of each one starting with champagne and a kiss on New Year's Day to my favorite holiday, Christmas, gingerbread cookies, decorated tree, parties,

History-learning about where we came from and what people overcame is always inspiring to me, all the stories they didn't teach us about in history class but should have

Honey-from exotic flavors to local wild flower honey, drizzle some on pancakes or slip a teaspoon into tea- honey is comforting, go bees

Home- my house, it's little, cozy, old, and wonderful to come home to every night

Hot Springs- Colorado is home to a lot of them and I plan on taking advantage of every single one of them

Hello's-hello's mean new friends and old, family visits and a welcoming feeling

Hope-"The Grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for." Allan K. Chalmers

Thanks to Lauri for the fun meme

America Chooses A President

Thoughts on Election Day

~ Those who stay away from the election think that one vote will do no good: 'Tis but one step more to think one vote will do no harm. ~
Ralph Waldo Emerson


Notes from my journal-Friday, October 31, 2008

I voted today, early voting in Colorado, I waited in line for 45 minutes for a mail in ballot, the line for electronic voting was said to be 2-3 hours long. The clerks are efficient, the process goes quickly for as many people that are in the building. I take my ballot and fill it in in the county clerk's office. Next to me a young couple are getting married. It is very surreal sitting in the office voting with the wedding ceremony going on less than 3 feet away. Many of the couple's family members are there supporting them. I wonder if the clerk likes her job, I think I would like that job. The wedding is over now and the kids get up. Everyone cheers, people wait in line to vote, there is no grumbling, people seem content, relaxed even happy. I double and triple check that I have voted correctly and that I made no mistakes. Seal the envelope, sign my name and drop it in the ballot box. I leave Centennial Hall to walk to work, I walk in the grass in the median of the road, it is Halloween but unseasonably warm, today will be 75 degrees. I find a "I Voted" sticker in the grass, I stick it to my coat. I hope.

VOTE and then get back to work!

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

Rhonda's Pumpkin Oatmeal Muffins

Pumpkin-Oatmeal Muffins

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup quick oats
3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup dried cranberries or any dried fruit
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup canned pumpkin or sweet potato, pureed
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup skim milk
1/3 cup canola oil


Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Coat each cup in the baking tin with vegetable oil or cooking spray.
In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, cranberries, pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In medium mixing bowl, combine canned pumpkin or sweet potato puree, milk, eggs, oil, and vanilla, mixing together well. Combine moist ingredients with dry ingredients, blending together just until moist.
Fill each muffin cup. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.


Serve warm with Writing Nag's honey-nut butter.

Recipe Approved by pumpkin loving squirrels.

Nana's Raisin Bread

Anti-Aging Foods
Oatmeal Pancakes


Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

7 Ways to Keep The Passion for the Writing Life

Life can't ever really defeat a writer who is in love with writing, for life itself is a writer's lover until death - fascinating, cruel, lavish, warm, cold, treacherous, constant. ~Edna Ferber, A Kind of Magic, 1963

Writers who feel a passion for writing might consider writing their constant companion. And with every relationship there are good times and bad. Times that you are in love with writing and times you wish you could end the relationship and start another hobby. How do you keep the spark in your writing relationship? How do you fuel the passion for writing week after week?

1. Experiment with different forms of writing, within and out of your genre

2. Try writing in another voice that is far removed from what you usually write

3. Read genres you normally wouldn't read

4. Attend poetry readings and read every time, make a name for yourself and support fellow poets, artists and writers

5. Join a critique group or your local writers group and actively participate

6. Use other forms of art to prompt your writing; attend art and history museums, take a watercolor class, explore collage, altered art, or photography. Write about the experience and write about the memories that the art brings to the surface

7. Find a writing partner and collaborate on a writing project or just check in on a regular basis as an accountability partner

Today, start your own list of writing styles or forms you might want to try. Spend some time this week reading the local paper or free independent papers and find out what's available in your area to explore. Maybe there's a book signing or a photography hike, a venue that needs someone to start poetry readings, a critique group looking for new members...Now get back to work!

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag