Not All Who Wander Are Lost

It's that time of year when we all pull out some traditions. For some, it's the insane rush of shopping in the wee hours of Black Fridays. For others, it's feet up and the game on Thanksgiving Day. Still more, pull the Christmas lights out of attics and basements and begin decking the halls. As writers, we have the unique opportunity to allow our imaginations to go wild and create some new traditions for the worlds we've spun out of nothing but vain fancy, to paraphrase Shakespeare. I know, it's a little bit of an oxymoron, creating new traditions, but I believe that inserting those bits of culture into a book gives it so much more depth than ignoring them. Think about it. If our characters inhabit stale worlds with no traditions, not in dress, celebration or food, we've got pretty cardboard characters. What are they fighting to save? What are they struggling towards? That simple Midwinter's Celebration that your character's mother has had for as long ...

So, I turned forty last month. Right at the end of last month to be precise. As such, I raised a few glasses, opened a few presents and ate way too much cake. The big gift I received was a new computer. I'll admit I needed a new one. My last laptop was great. It survived three post grad classes, I don't know how many student papers, and three novels. However, it was slower than a flock of turtles stampeding uphill through peanut butter. It also had an unfortunate accident. I'd had it plugged in on the dining room table. I needed to keep it plugged in since the battery couldn't hold a charge anymore. The two dogs and the small one flew through the dining room, hooked the cord and down it flew. Thankfully it didn't actually break. Thank God, I hadn't pulled all my pictures off the computer yet and there were at least four unfinished books on there. However, the adapter cord just didn't work anymore. I needed to tape it into the computer. Tape. Duct tape. Class...