Manipulating photos. This was a photo of a jaguar I took in the Omaha Zoo. He was playing Santa last night and now he’s taking a snooze in front of the Christmas tree after setting the packages out.
It’s hard, but this is often how it works. It’s freezing out, I’m writing about the jungle heat. It’s steaming out and I’m writing about a blizzard. So how do I get in the mood? Believe me, I really don’t feel in the mood to watch Christmas stories right now, or listen to Christmas music.
But, I began making Christmas trailers for the two books coming out this year. First, A Silver Wolf Christmas for the Oct 6 release, and then for Alphas Unwrapped, Dec 1 release. Finding music and Christmas pictures for them, diving into the Christmas stories helped. Then having the Christmas party for A Silver Wolf Christmas did too. I watched Arctic Blast a while back when it was soooo hot, I think it is called, campy movie, but it’s cold. There are others like it where people are running around in the frigid cold and they work well for giving the visuals to help create a cold snowy environment in my mind.
But wait! These are jaguar shifters. It gets cold in Texas, but not that snowy. And if we have snow, it’s in the new year, February, later. It’s ruining my whole Christmas mood. NOT to mention that it’s 97 degrees this weekend, even though we are going into the second week in October. Did anyone mention to the weather god that it is fall now? Please turn off the heat. And while you’re at it, we desperately need some rain. Max fell into a foot-deep crack in the earth yesterday when I took him walking in the front yard.
Jaguars lived in the southern states bordering Mexico–Texas, Arizona, NM, California. No longer, but at one time, they did. So my jaguar shifters live in Texas. And they go on vacations to South America and other locations where jaguars still run free, though who knows how long that will last as people still illegally hunt them for sport.
So, here is my dilemma. I want a Christmas card Christmas for them. Without it, it just doesn’t seem like Christmas. Even though for most of my life, I’ve had to go north to see snow if I want the Christmas card experience with snow. 🙂 <3 Florida, Texas, California, no snow at Christmas. When we lived in Florida, we had an aluminum tree and colorful wheel of lights. It was really pretty, but Florida just didn’t seem Christmassy enough to warrant a green tree.
That had me revising my trip plans–for my jaguars. They have to go north to see a white Christmas. Have to. Now I’m in the mood for Christmas. I wrote 7,000 words yesterday! Still 13,000 words behind, but I was 20,000 words behind, so hey, it’s working!
I only wrote a brief snow scene, and have been working from the beginning on edits, which doesn’t add as much because I’m taking out, adding, taking out, and switching sentences around, changing words. And every night, I print out 60 pages to revise so in the morning I do revisions, and tackle the next 60 pages. I have a Nov 1 deadline and Billionaire edits are coming, so no time to goof off.
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And that’s how I write a believable story that feels real even when the temperatures outside scream, “Liar, liar, liar!”
I am in the mood for snow and Christmas and it’s very real to me….until I take the puppies outside and enter the Hot Zone.
Have a super great TGIF!!! 🙂 <3 I predict by December, it will be cooler than the 90’s. Maybe January. 🙂
Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
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