The Fear Behind the Smiles

On Writing and The Immortal War Post At Cover Stories

Check out http://www.CoverStoriesBook.com today for my latest post on the writing process and a bit of background for The Immortal War.

More Ho-Ho-Ho's

Today's holiday euphiction comes from N. Pendleton. Check it out at http://www.coverstoriesbook.com and thank me later. *grin*

A Blog Full of Holiday Stories

If you haven't been paying attention to the Cover Stories website, you should be. New stories to read every day this week!

Today's pages of holiday goodness come from Derek Handley. Click here to read his story.

The Story Behind "Home for X-Mas"

When Derek Handley initially contacted us of the Cover Stories gang to write a holiday euphiction I admit that I considered claiming flu-like symptoms and hiding under the bed til the holiday season had passed. I'm not big on holidays unless it's Halloween.

The thing is, I like Derek. I consider him a pretty close electric friend, in fact. He has this way about him that just makes you want to say 'yes' to his ideas and then make them happen 150%. So I said yes, and I gave it 150%. My first ever holiday piece.

Being that I'm me, the Hallmark special based on my story 'Home for X-Mas' will most likely not happen anywhere in the future. For the record, it ended much happier for Saint Nick than my initial story concept.

The idea came as many of my ideas come: late at night, and usually when I'm just about to fall asleep. I could see the end of the story, and it was bleak. Very clearly I could see a cozy living room, very Donna Reed decor. Everything was perfect in this Norman Rockwell living room. Too perfect. It was unsettling, and the old  Victrola was playing a warped record with the song 'I'll Be Home for Christmas' playing over and over again in a scratchy but endearingly hair-raising kind of way. On initial inspection I couldn't see a damned thing wrong with the room. The kids wore their footie pajamas and set out a picture perfect plate of cookies while mom sat on dad's lap and they kissed under a held sprig of mistletoe. Picture. Perfect.

It struck me as sad that I distrusted this happy family and scene so much instead of embracing it as an ideal to aspire to, but again there was something wrong. I just hadn't figured out what it was yet.

That's when I looked in the fireplace. Amidst the happily crackling flames that the children played near I made out the charred remains of red fabric spread over the logs. Gaping holes dotted the back of the garment where flames had burned their way through, and the white trim was blackened in the embers. All that was left of the belt was the smoke-damaged glint of a buckle attached to what looked like a mummified snake.

I glanced up at the family in a sort of horrified daze. The kids were oblivious to the implications of that charred red suit. Perhaps they hadn't even noticed it. The parents... they smirked knowingly at me, and the father raised a snifter of brandy as if toasting my detective work.

The pen couldn't write fast enough to get it all down as the story unfolded around me. I could see this very dark tale of horror, and then I stopped writing. I stared at the pages and
hated myself. How could I kill Santa Claus? Even worse, how could I kill off Santa knowing full well that my mother still believes in him?

I put the pen back to the page and began to cross out certain things, add certain other things, and created a much more light-hearted story than what I had started.

And now, for your reading pleasure, I present to you.....

Home for X-Mas: A Holiday Tale of Dysfunction 

Solstice Invitation, aka The Decision to Let Go

The other day I received an invitation to attend a Solstice Meditation gathering at a new friend's home. In the invite attendees are requested to bring a dish of something to eat and something to 'let go' as a sort of Secret Santa. This struck me as odd that a request for something previously used would be made, but not only must it be pre-owned, it must be something valued but no longer needed.

I went out of town this weekend to stay in a hotel in Gettysburg, PA, and I've been pondering the invitation and the somewhat strange but endearing request for a gift. I'm a bit of a pack-rat by nature, you see, and all things in my various collections are loved and have stayed well beyond their welcome. Typically a request like the one made in the invite would send me into an anxiety attack of 'Oh no, what do I give?! Will it be good enough?!' followed by me running to a store and buying something to wrap up and give instead of parting with any piece of my collection.

This time, however, I'm really enjoying the journey of figuring out what to bring to this gathering of people I don't know. It's also got me thinking of things I can give to others. Things that I've been holding onto for far too long. My concern when I started hoarding these items was that they would just be thrown out and wasted. If given to someone that can appreciate or even love the item, however, it's not wasted and it's found a good home with someone who will appreciate it as much as I did when I needed it. This weekend I realized I've been gathering things to me out of an initial need, then holding onto them out of guilt.

It's given me the opportunity to stop and look around to see if I have something that someone else may need. It's good karma three ways from Sunday, really. The person who gets the item needs the item, I get to give the item out of love and guilt-free because it's going to a good home, and my art studio gets some free space. Good things all around.

Serendipitously, I've been reading a book called CrazyBusy by Edward M. Hallowell. It's a great read, and discusses everything from the clutter of daily life caused by emails, texts, and over-scheduled schedules to social disconnection. I realized while reading it in the hotel last night that I've already started to try to de-clutter and regain control of a work-life balance. Toxic people have kindly removed themselves from my life, and I thank them for that. My natural hoarding tendencies made me incapable of actually hitting the 'x' on Facebook, though I had stopped communicating with them.

Starting Tuesday I'm coming up with a bigger gameplan. Number one item on the new to-do list is clean up my home office, which is stacked with junk mail, scraps of paper, computers, and just so much stuff that I don't even know why it's there to begin with. Second item is to gather items found in the clean-up that I no longer need and am just holding onto and wrapping them up for shipment. They will all be going to good homes. Third thing on the list is to create a more detailed Outlook calendar wherein I have time alotted for the things on my work to-do list and have time alotted for a hopefully daily routine. It's even plugged into my phone's calendar, so I have no excuses.

Things happen for a reason, and they happen when we need them to happen. It's up to us to figure out what the message beneath it all is.