Christmas--loving it!

The holiday season is an exceptionally important celebration in my family, a fact that at times leads to a lot of pressure and friction as family members each pursue their own ideas of what constitutes the ‘perfect’ Christmas. Children marry and have kids of their own, bringing new obligations and traditions into play

Some coping strategies that have worked for me over the years include:

1.  Embrace new traditions as well as honoring old ones. When we understand why a specific tradition is meaningful to a loved one, it is easy for us to embrace it. Encouraging all family members to talk openly about what is special to them about the holidays helps create a shared sense of wonder and excitement. As well, such discussions allow us to eliminate stressful traditions that are no longer important. 
2. Easily and willingly adapting our celebrations to accommodate the changing lifestyles of family members is very soothing on everyone’s nerves. It’s just a matter of admitting that what worked well twenty years ago, might not be as workable or enjoyable today.
3. Invest energy in the traditions that make you happiest, don’t wait for others to create that happiness for you. And don’t fret about the time or money you invest, remind yourself that you are doing it because it what you love doing. 
4. Reduce the focus on gifts and giving to accommodate the financial situations of everyone involved. After all, that’s not what Christmas is all about. 
5. The Christmas traditions that make us so happy were gifted to us by our ancestors and it’s important to take the time to share fond memories of loved ones who are no longer with us. Sharing memories of Christmases past will bond the generations. 
6. To determine what is important about the season to you, think back to what you remember most about long-ago Christmases. The lights, the colours, the music. Family gatherings, Christmas concerts and Bible stories. Oranges, nuts, candy canes, turkey, wrapping paper and Christmas cards—the most treasured memories often have nothing to do with big expenses and everything to do with sharing the wonders of the season with those you love. 

From my family to yours,

Merry Christmas

Happy Holidays

and

all the best to you and yours

in 2015! 

Eileen Schuh, Author
DISPASSIONATE LIES
FIREWALLS
FATAL ERROR
Schrödinger's Cat
THE TRAZ

25 Days of Christmas Giveaways

Celebrate the Season with Imajin Books' 25 Days of Christmas Giveaways

This Christmas season, Canadian publishing house Imajin Books decided to do things a bit differently. Instead of only 25 days of contests and discounts as in past years, they're holding various events from December 1st to January 3rd. Okay, so they can't count, but they believe readers deserve to be rewarded. And we agree!

From December 1-25, Imajin Books will be awarding random prizes to those who leave comments on their Facebook page. So drop by, check out their posts and leave a comment or question.

Want to win even more? Check out their Share the Imajin Books Buzz contest. You could win a Kindle Fire HD or Kobo equivalent, or one of two $50 Amazon gift cards. This contest also runs December 1-25. To enter, visit the Rafflecopter contest widget below or at http://www.imajinbooks.com/contests-events. You can enter multiple times a day.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 25 Days of Christmas Giveaways brought to you by FIREWALLS

 
"Be prepared for a rollercoaster of emotions..."


"Packed with humanity, crafted with insight."

 "Schuh has created a character worthy of being called a hero." 

 "A tale of comfort and hope that we, too, can slay our own dragons."

The life of an author...

I don’t think there much commonality between the everyday lives of authors, not any more so than the lives of doctors or lawyers. Except for the fact that we wear pyjamas a lot and are usually awake and working after midnight and spend a lot of time worrying about our mental health, and such.
_________________

FATAL ERROR on Amazon

But here’s how my day has panned out so far. You can see if it compares at all to yours.

I spend several hours creating and scheduling promotional tweets for the busy upcoming Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales that the Americans love. Since I have four books to promote and two twitter accounts to fill, that took a long time. I saved all the tweets I created because I intend to reuse them for next year’s post-U.S. Thanksgiving sales-arama.

I spent a few minutes re-watching my first-ever appearance on YouTube MY THANKSGIVING and responding to comments about the video clip. My friends and fans were generally complimentary about my rudimentary acting skills. My family? Not so much. I keep checking the YouTube “views” counter. At 92 views by mid-morning, I’ve come to concede that it’s not likely to go viral.

 

Every hour or so I check my Amazon sales ranking on all four books and check for new reviews. Today, my sales rankings are all slightly better than yesterday and there are no new reviews. Maybe this afternoon.

It’s past noon and I’m still in my pj’s for two legitimate reasons. The first being I’m not feeling well and the second being I keep longingly looking out the window at the freshly fallen snow thinking I want to go for a cross-country ski before I shower and get dressed.

I have open on my computer, the press release I’m working on. My daughter is on the other end of my cyberline using her PR expertise to help me—between diaper changes, feedings, naps, and scoldings.  I want to announce to the local media the release of FATAL ERROR, my upcoming author presentation at the library, and my scheduled presentation at the Alternate Education Centre.

Also open is my middle grade novel that my beta readers are pestering me to get published.  I spend yesterday researching possible homes for RAINBOW, and now want to do one final read-through/edit before preparing the submission.

I will have to do up several different pitches/cover letters/ resumes/ etc. to go along with the manuscript to ensure I meet each publishers’ differing submission guidelines. Only one publisher on my list of possibilities accepts e-submissions. This means I will have to do a lot of printing and packaging and spending-of-dollars-on-postage as well.

 

My Christmas cards are calling to me to get addressed so this morning I confirmed that I have printer labels—wouldn’t want to have to go back to hand-addressing them. I also need to draft up my annual Christmas message to include in the cards. I will remember to mention I was gifted two brand new granddaughters in 2012, released a new book, and am grieving the loss two family matriarchs. I will likely cry when I write that letter, somewhat like what is happening as I write this.

I will post this to my blog and then go for a ski. I need the fresh air and excerise, and the solitude and peace of a snow-bound forest.

Eileen Schuh, Author
FATAL ERROR
Schrödinger's Cat
THE TRAZ
www.eileenschuh.com