Parchment Paths

This year for Memorial Day my family and I went on a small trip first to the Tamaqua Railroad Station and then on to Cabela's an enormous hunting, camping, and outdoors store. Both made for a very nice day trip.  First, was the  Tamaqua Railroad The station itself was closed. My brother who works nearby explained that it once housed a restaurant and a  gift shop, but both had closed up. However, he said a new restaurant would be opening soon, which is good news. I hate for these grand old buildings to sit dormant. While the train cars that sat on the unused portions of track are in need of a fresh coat of paint, they were still fun to see and in my nephew and niece's case, climb on. After eating lunch, we went on to Cabela's.  My sister law told me it had a mountain with stuffed goats right in the middle of the sales floor, but I was not expecting how huge the entire place would be! While it's primarily a store there are all s...

This week I had my first experience with geocaching! Basically, it's very much like treasure hunting; geocaching websites give you directions and sometimes a description of what you're looking for and armed with a GPS or a similar APP , you set off to find it. My good friend Nicole has gone a few times with her boyfriend, so she was the leader. First, we went to a very easy cache at the Hoyt Library which contained   mostly children's' books. After taking one out, I put one in. That's the rule of geocachnig; replace what is in the cache so the next person has something to find.  The contents don't matter so much as finding them, thrill of the hunt and all that. After that we went for some harder ones at Francis Slocum State Park. Unfortunately,  one must have been removed because we simply could not find it! Disappointed, but enjoying the exercise and scenery, we moved on the next cache in the park, only to have the GPS give out. Still, we got a decent walk ...

Well, my first novel submission came back. Actually,  it didn't come back, just a rejection letter. Of course, I'm deeply disappointed, but I knew it was a possibility. I'm planning on rending it on to a agent with the next few weeks and have submitted a short story to the Writer's Digest contest. I'm also working on Steampunk novella.  So, I'm keeping up with my writing and praying for the best to come. After all, I have to write whether I am published or not, so I might was well enjoy it.

Over the Easter weekend I had the wonderful opportunity to visit the National Christmas Center in Paradise Pennsylvania.   A friend who lives in the area highly recommend it to me, knowing my love of the holiday. It was also mentioned on the Travel Channel during a show about the most Christmassy places in America. I’ve been extremely eager to go ever since. I was not disappointed; the place was utterly fantastic! It’s located along Route 30, which like a ribbon running through most of the Lancaster area.   The center is a museum that displays every imaginable aspect of Christmastime. The first display showcases how Santa is embodied in different countries around the world while also sharing the country’s other holiday traditions.  Another room was a replica of a 1950’s Woolworth store complete with period merchandise, only for display of course. I enjoyed this room very much because I remember my grandmother having some of the decorations when I’d vi...

I got the idea for a book swap party on Pinterest awhile ago and have been excited to try it out ever since. What urged me to actually throw the party was realizing how many books I had and most likely will never read again, such as the one mentioned in my last post. Why should they sit collecting dust and taking up space on my bookshelves, and floor,and boxes, when other people could read and enjoy them? Giving them away to friends seemed like the best idea, short of opening a used book store, which sometime I would  like to do sometime, but right now, a party was the best option. I got some decorating ideas on Pinterest, but I mostly stacked books around the house.  I printed some book themed pictures and hung them up backed by newspaper strips. Then I took the rest of  the old newspapers and made a table cloth. I liked the concept better than the final result, so I will need to rethink it for the next time.  For the food, I made popcor...

 Lately, instead of buying or borrowing new books to read, I've been reading some of the many books I already own but have not read. Most of them are older books I've picked up at library sales. The last one I read was a fun find at an antiques mall, a book published in the 40's called Home Sweet Homicide by Craig Rice. Here is my review of it from my Goodreads account.    I must admit that I hated this book to begin with. I thought the premise of kids with a mystery writer mom solving a local murder was cute, but I could not get over how obnoxious the kids were through out most of the book. It also bothered me that just solving the crime was not enough; they had to confuse and outright lie to the cops in order to get all the clues to themselves. Aside from being rude to the cops, including the one they want to set their mother up with, they fabricate evidence, contaminate the crime scene, and basically obstruct justice at every turn. Eventually, the kids bec...

I've read that that one of the worst things an author can do is think of their book as a baby because the emotional attachment will blind them to critiques. None the less, dropping my manuscript off at the post office to be mailed out was like leaving my baby on a doorstep. I did, after all,  create and nurture the thing.  The experience got me thinking. Is it really so bad to think of your book as a baby as long as you realize that it's going to be criticized? Isn't that what happens to real children? They grow, go to school, are praised  when they succeed and encouraged and instructed when they fail? Sometimes the criticisms are unjustified and sometimes they are. Parents talk to their children about the experiences and hope they learn from them. Of course this is where the analogy ends because a parent cannot change the child not matter how much they may wish to. An author can make changes to their work if they agree with the editor or agent.  Perhaps the books ...