My kids attend cyber school. That means that they’re always home, all of the time! Which means if I’m going to work at home, I have to work alongside them.

This used to be harder than it is now. They’re teenagers now, and when they were little kids it was way more of a challenge. But even when they were little, I got stuff done. And they never caught the house on fire, which I consider a plus.

It’s a hard thing to master, but if you can work while your kids are at home, you’re going to be a lot better off. Here’s what I do to get it done.

Check in with them before you start.

Transitioning from one activity to another can be hard for kids. Especially if they’re transitioning into something that they might not like. My kids are teenagers, and I still use some specific phrases.

“We’ll be cleaning up in five minutes so we can start making dinner.”

“I’m going to turn the tv off after this episode because it’s time to do your homework.”

“It’s going to be time to take a shower in five minutes.”

Here are some things you might notice about these phrases.

• They give a specific amount of time, 5 minutes. This gives enough time to prepare, but not enough time to forget.
• I clearly say what we are going to transition into.
• They don’t leave room for arguments.

So, if I know that I need to spend some time answering emails from clients, or writing, or editing, I will say to my kids, “In five minutes I’m going to go into my office and work for an hour. If you have anything you need from me, please tell me in the next five minutes.”

It’s clear, it’s specific, and it doesn’t leave room for arguments. In fact, it does one other thing. It gives my kids the opportunity to say or do anything that they need to before I get to work.

Establish a few simple rules and enforce them.

It’s important to establish certain rules with your work time. Your rules are going to vary, depending on your own specific situation and child. And they’ll change as they get older. Your rules should include what’s okay to interrupt for because there will always be some things that they have to interrupt you for. Your rules should also include how long you’re going to work. This is probably the most important rule. I know it can be easy to get into a grove when we’re working. We love our work, after all, or we wouldn’t be doing it.

But your kids are way more important. And they need to know that they can trust you when you say you’ll be wrapping up at a certain time. If they can be sure of that, then they’ll be more able to allow you this time. More than that, they’ll know that you will keep your promises to them.

The important thing with all of your rules though is consistency. You can’t waffle on a rule one day and expect them to honor that rule tomorrow. And, why should they? Keep just a few rules, and stick to them religiously.

Have some work time toys or videos.

I used to do this more when my kids were little. We’d have a box of toys and DVD’s that were just for Mom’s work time. As little as three, they knew that these were the special toys, that they could only play with when work time came.

This made the time not only bearable for them but pleasant. They learned that mom having her own time meant that they had their own time to do something fun alone.

Learning to play alone, in fact, spend time alone, is an important skill for everyone. Sadly, it’s something that not everyone learns. This time that you spend working can be a time that your kids spend learning how to be happy, all by themselves.

They might like to help you

Depending on what you do, your kids might be able to help you out. I obviously don’t have my kids editing client work for me. But they can help pack books to send to people. If you have a physical product, your kids might be able to help pack things or sort things. They might be able to help clean brushes or sweep up. Or, they might just like to sit near you and do an art project. Or write their own short story. Anything you can do to include them in your work is good for all kinds of reasons.

First off, it’s time you’re spending with them, and being productive at the same time. It’s the best case scenario when you think about it. You can’t do all of your work with your kids, but you can do some of it.

Letting your kids help you also encourages them to equate work with enjoyable activities. We don’t really teach kids that they should like their jobs. We teach them to look for jobs that have good security, and that will pay well. But that’s not going to really make them happy. You’re trying to start your own business so that you can do something you think is fun. Why not introduce your kids to that concept? Wouldn’t it be nice if your kids sought out jobs where they were happy with what they’re doing?

Don’t plan work time during homework time.

This used to be my default. It seemed like such a good idea, right? They’re busy, so you can be busy too!

Except that your kid might need your help while they’re working on homework. Or they think they do. Or they don’t think they do, but they really do. Anytime I tried to do work while my kids were doing homework, I was barraged by questions. Or, I found out that they didn’t do their work at all, because, “I needed your help, but you said I couldn’t bother you when you’re working.”

I usually try to do social media stuff while my kids do their homework. I can pick that up and set it down as needed.

Here are your actionable items this week-

• Set up a few rules for when you’re working at home. Make sure that you and your kids can stick to them.
• Make a work time box for your kids, with toys, books or movies that they’re only allowed while you’re working.

If you live in the states, I hope you find the time to read this. I know it’s Thanksgiving week, and I’m sure you’re busy. So I’ll make it brief.

I spend November focusing on gratitude for all of the great things I have in my life. I feel like Thanksgiving is a highly underrated holiday, more of a carbo load to prep for Black Friday. But I really love this whole month long love fest for the things that we have.

One thing I’m exceptionally grateful for is you.

I say it often, but I don’t think I can ever say it enough. I appreciate every single person who reads Paper Beats World. 2017 has been a great year for me, writing-wise, and you were all a huge part of that. Sometimes writing online can feel like screaming into a crowd of other people screaming. So your likes, shares, and comments mean the world to me.

I always try to find ways to give back to you, for all the love that you’ve given me. And I realized that I have a lot of new followers recently who might not know about something I did earlier this year.

I have two collections of short stories that are totally free. They’re available on Gumroad. Here are links to both.

Days, and Other Stories

Spook

They download into your Google Books if you have that. While many of the stories have appeared either on PBW or in other publications, there are at least two never before seen stories in each collection.

Now, I really want to ask two favors of you. I know that Friday is the official start of the Christmas season, and a lot of you reading this are eager to get out there and do some serious shopping.

I would ask you, please, to not hit the stores at crazy stupid hours.

Look, I used to work retail. When we opened our store at 5:00 in the morning, that was super fun! People were excited, we were excited. It was a fun day. And, my team and I were still able to enjoy Thanksgiving with our families. I had to go to bed early, but not super early.

Then we started opening at 7:00 on Thanksgiving night. And staying up all night long. That meant that retail managers, like myself, were not able to celebrate the holiday with our families. I actually worked from 6:00 on Thanksgiving night until 9:00 Black Friday morning. And guess what, retailers aren’t going to stop doing this sort of things to their employees until people start telling them that it’s wrong. Trust me, the people who work in these stores don’t have a choice. There’s a strong feeling in retail that everyone is replaceable. Stores don’t have any trouble replacing even an entire team, even in the middle of the holidays. Please help.

The other thing I would ask you is this, and I’ve said it before.

Do the things for the holidays that you want to do, not what you think you’re supposed to do. Bake cookies if you want to bake cookies. Decorate if you want to decorate. Send cards to people you actually want to keep in contact with. Buy or make gifts for people who it brings you joy to buy for! Christmas has a crazy high suicide rate, please don’t add to that.

Happy Thanksgiving. Please enjoy the time with your family.

Sometimes in business and writing, you’re stuck. You know you need to be doing something, creating something new or something different. You need a project, damn it!

I usually don’t have that problem. I usually have way more ideas at one time than I can realistically work on. This is the best of problems to have, like having too much coffee.

It can also blow. You’ll run into the same situation I often find myself in. You can’t work on everything, or you won’t get anything done. You can’t let progress slow to a crawl on the project you’re working on right now to give into the excitement of a new project. Worse, you can’t give up on your current project because you think that this new idea is better. Spoiler, it’s probably not. It’s just that when you’re in the middle of a project when the excitement of the new thing is gone and the end game is a long way off, anything you work on seems crappy. Everything new seems so much better.

When I come up with a new idea, here’s what I do. I write down all of the details I have at the time. Anything that has already occurred to me in the midst of that first spark. I write it all down and keep it in an Evernote document. (I don’t use my bullet journal for this because I might very well move onto another one before I get to this idea. I don’t want to carry it over.) This gives me immediate satisfaction because it’s an action towards this new project. It also captures that excitement, I hope, and stores it until I’m ready.

I compare it to a trick I’ve learned from curbing compulsive shopping. For me, it comes from a feeling of lack. I feel like I don’t have money, I can’t have this thing I want. My stubborn streak comes out. But if I say, “I can have this, if I really want it,” then I usually don’t. If I say, “I’m not giving up on this new project, I’ll get to it when I’m done with this one,” I’m happy. I might even put a mark on my planner, three or four days after the deadline for the current project. This is enough to keep my inner child happy.

Having that new, shiny project looming is also an incentive to work on those projects might give you a push during the tough times of your current project. As we already discussed, and as you’ve probably experienced, every project is harder to work on after it’s cooled. When you need a little extra push, knowing that you have a next big idea can give you a little extra push. Hopefully, it’s not enough of a push for you to rush your current project and do a crappy job on it. Just enough of a push to get back to work.

Finally, I’m afraid I have some bad news. Not all of your ideas are the best. Not all of my ideas are the best. No one comes up with nothing but stellar ideas. But in the heat of a new idea, everything seems awesome! Everything’s not. Sometimes distance will help you figure out if this one’s good or not. There’s a good chance that when you go to your future ideas log, you’re going to realize that your brilliant idea is shit. In giving yourself some time, you might save yourself some time by avoiding devoting time to a bad idea.

Here are your actionable items for the week. Open a document on whatever you like to keep notes in. I like Evernote, but that’s up to you. Title your document Future Idea Log. Now, promise yourself that you won’t finish the project you’re working on right now. If a new idea comes to you, give it some headspace. Give it space on this document. Then get back to work.

I’m going to take a little break this week from promotional writing and business advice. I’m doing this for a long overdue rant that I hope benefits you. I hope that because if I don’t say something about this I’m going to lose my ever-loving mind.

A little background, first. I watch Leah Remini’s show about Scientology. I love it. I’ll spare you my whole fangirl attack. The point is that I think what she and Mike Rinder are doing is important. So when I saw they were doing an AMA on Reddit, I might have lost it a little.

So while I’m scrolling through the questions and answers, sipping a coke and just feasting on the crazy cult stuff (I have weird interests, sorry) I came across a question that pissed me right the hell off.

Someone asked Leah who did her nails. She’s uncovering horror stories and secrets about Scientology, a cult that has ruined people’s lives. Who the hell cares about her nails?

Yeah, Leah looks pretty good on the show, I’m not going to lie. Her hair’s done, her nails are done. Her makeup’s on point and her wardrobe’s expensive. But that’s not the point of what she’s doing here! Hell, Mike looks good on the show, too! They both look like gasp a makeup crew worked on them before they were on national tv. Shocker. But I didn’t see anyone asking Mike who his hairstylist was.

This might seem petty. But I don’t think it is. We’re treated differently, as women in the business. Mom-prenuer, power suits, screw all of that. We’re all living under this cliche image of running our businesses with our babies on our hips while looking damn good. But we can’t look that good, or we’re too self-absorbed.

First off, no one heralds a man who’s going to college, going to work or starting businesses with babies in tow. Do people think we’re the only ones who do that? Single dad’s don’t exist, maybe? Or is it just shocking that a woman can do it too?

But I’m getting off topic.

The point is this; women who succeed are often still judged by their appearance. But let’s take a look at who’s doing the judging.

People who haven’t succeeded, or who haven’t succeeded as much.

I don’t mean to say that caring about your appearance is bad. I love me some Too Faced and Mac. But I’m a writer, not a fashion model.

So if someone starts talking to you about your looks, don’t take it. If you’re conducting a professional interview and someone wants to know about your weight, your makeup, your nails, then I’d advise you to look real hard at their credentials. Because the people I admire don’t give a shit about that. The people who are working, producing, earning, creating, don’t care if your nails are done or not.

Here’s your actionable item this week. Do as much or as little for your appearance as you want. Be happy with you. Then get back to the work. Because we’ve got more to give this world than our looks.

If you’re participating in Nanowrimo, you should have 16,670 words by today

Are you struggling with world building? That’s okay, we all are. It’s probably the most time-consuming part of the planning process.

But it doesn’t have to be. Unless you are really writing an epic story that is more about the world that you’ve created than the characters, you can answer a few simple questions and get to story writing. And if you haven’t done any world building at all, now’s the time to start. Even if you’re writing a modern-day story with no magic at all, you should still figure out the answers to these questions. The world details are what make the story real for your reader. And, believe it or not, someday people might want to know how we lived in 2017.

What’s your character eating?

On Station 86, people eat simulated food, or small amounts of naturally grown food from Earth or one of the other humanoid planets. Godfrey’s a cook and loves cooking Earth American food for his customers. Sennett, always busy, drinks something called Klav every morning for breakfast. It’s a rich drink, a juice from a fruit grown on Khloe.

This tells us a ton about the world. It’s cheaper and easier to simulate food than growing or raise the original thing. The inclusion of food from other worlds tells us that people on Station 86 are open to other cultures.

Godfrey and Sennett’s food choices are telling about who they are. Godfrey is very Southern. He shows affection with food, takes care of people by feeding them, reacts to stress by cooking. He loves the recipes from his childhood and is very rooted in his history.

Sennett’s not one to put too much thought into her food. But she loves klav, and Khloe food in general because it reminds her of the husband she lost.

What are they wearing?

Traditional clothing from different worlds and countries tell us a lot. Are men or women held to the same level of modesty? Do they favor wools and furs, or light cotton? Do certain colors represent anything?

What your character is wearing, especially in relation to what is expected of them in their society, is telling.

What are they listening to?

What sort of music is popular in the world of your characters? This is all about setting the scene. Are string instruments popular? Do people play winds? Do people sing?

What kind of relationships do they have?

How are marriages handled in your world? Are they handled by families or because someone falls in love? Do people raise their own children?

Who lives with whom? Do you have extended families living together, or just nuclear ones? Do men and women live separately?

This gives you all sorts of ways to tell about the culture and what they value.

What pets do they keep?

People who live hard by don’t keep useless pets. They don’t have fluffy cats or toy sized dogs. They don’t have any animal that doesn’t have a job.

Does your character have a hardy sheepdog or a Pekinese? Do they have a rat chasing ban cat or a pampered tabby? Have they perhaps gone to extremes and own a pet that they keep in a cage and does nothing?

Where do they live?

Houses that people make are suited to the locations that they build in. In Pennsylvania, we build thickly walled houses because it gets freaking cold. In the city, we build tall apartments because space is at a premium. In the south, they build sprawling mansions with lots of windows to let in the breeze.

What’s the weather like in your world? What kind of houses do they build?

What kind of money do they use?

Do they even use money? I mean, that’s the first thing you need to decide. Lots of societies don’t use money. But if they do, who’s on their money? In Station 86, paper and coin money is only used on planets. The stations use credit systems.

Think about how people use money in your society. Is your character well off or struggling? These things will all factor into your character and the world.

At what age is someone considered an adult?

This is a factor that a lot of people don’t consider, but it’s more important than you think. The longer someone is considered a child, the longer life spans tend to be. So if your character’s nineteen and still considered a child, that would tell us something about the world. If your character’s 47 and considered seasoned, people don’t really live that long.

Take some time and answer these questions. Your world will be richer and more realistic for it.

I’m a little late to the party with Hamilton. Fortunately, the party’s still going on so I’ve got time to play catchup. I mean, it’s not even coming to Pittsburgh until 2019! Until then, all I can do is play the soundtrack nonstop. (See what I did there?)

I understand why everyone is so in love with this musical. But I feel a personal attachment to Alexander Hamilton as an American writer. Songs like Eye of The Hurricane and Nonstop just stir my heart.

American writers have a rich and heavy legacy to uphold. Fitzgerald, Nelly Bly, Upton Sinclair. We write in their shadows, trying in our own ways to cause ripples in our societies. While the first call for a writer, at least a fiction writer, is to tell a story, many of us crave something more. We want to make changes, and for many of us, our writing is the way we do that.

And there’s a good reason for this.

We built this country on words. We may have fought a war to gain our freedom, but that wasn’t all of it. We had to convince people that war was worth fighting. Our founding fathers did that with essays and speeches, provoking our men and women to action. Common Sense is still read today, and the Constitution was a work of art. None of our battles would have even happened without them. We wrote our way to freedom. And that’s powerful!

We change this country with words, once we got it started. We wrote essays and stories that gave people the truth of situations that they might have preferred to ignore. We wrote fiction stories that had more truth to them than people realized. We revolutionized the food industry, the mental health industry. We cleaned house sometimes, when we needed to, with our words.

We should remember our heritage, as American writers. We’ve changed minds, changed lives, changed policies! Words have power, don’t ever forget that.

My favorite line from Hamilton is this: “America, you unfinished symphony. You sing for me!” These words, especially weighty after realizing how important his legacy was to Hamilton, rest on my mind. We, American Writers, are his legacy. When you think you’re too tired to write, you remember that. When you’re afraid that you might get backlash for something you’ve written, remember that.

Don’t throw away your shot.

If you’re doing Nano, you should have 5,001 words written by the end of today.

I hope those little updates don’t bother you because I’m going to keep doing them for every post the rest of the month. You know, to help you keep track.

I have the utmost respect for Nanowrimo. It inspires new writers to get started, helps them push through that ever-difficult beginning, and is just fun. It’s all about everyone reaching their own personal finish line.

That being said, I haven’t participated in Nano for several years now. I’ve done Nano Edmo for two years straight, but haven’t done Nanowrimo in a very long time. Here’s why I don’t, and why I think you probably should.

Why I don’t do Nano anymore

The years that I did Nanowrimo were quite difficult for me because I write longhand. That is crazy hard when you’re doing Nano because you can’t scan a page and put it into the word counter. And I can’t work on a computer for a rough draft, I just can’t do it. For one thing, I can’t carry a computer with me everywhere, and I find myself incapable of writing on a tablet. For another, I feel that my words don’t flow as well on a keyboard as in a notebook. And finally, I find that the act of typing in messy pages of text is the best and most in-depth way to do a second draft.

Nevertheless, I really tried to make it work for three years. I stopped trying when I looked at 50,000 words of Starting Chains rough draft, realized it was all shit, and threw it away to start from scratch. That was the last time I participated in Nanowrimo.

I understand that you don’t really have to use the official word counter. I get that I could just count my words every day and not officiate it. I think I’d rather cut my wrists than count every word I write, but I could do it. So the fact that I write longhand shouldn’t really stop me. Here’s the real reason why I don’t do Nano anymore. It doesn’t always mesh with my writing schedule.

Take this year, for instance. I’m working on a rough draft right now, of Station Central. (Station 86, book 4. Don’t forget, Book 3 starts on November 29^th.) But I’ll actually be done with it pretty soon since I started in October.

Could I have waited for November first to start Station Central? Sure. But I’d have wasted all that time, and I didn’t really want to do that. I had an outline, and I was ready to go. Now, I’m almost ready to start on the second draft of Sandwashed. (The first of the new duality, set after the Woven Trilogy. The second of the Woven Trilogy, Starting Chains, is coming soon.) I don’t want to delay that or start it early so I can do Nanoedmo in full this month. I need to work on the project I’m ready to work on when I need to work on it. I can’t stop or start a project just because it’s November.

Why you should

Let’s be clear, I’m kind of weird. Most writers have no problem writing rough on a computer. (But if you do, it’s nothing to be ashamed of.) Most writers don’t feel itchy when they’re not working on a project. Some writers finish a book and then don’t start on another one right away if you can believe that. So, for lots of writers, Nanowrimo works just fine.

For instance, if you haven’t started your novel, but you want to, then Nanowrimo is right for you. It’s the magic of a deadline, and you’d be amazed how motivational that is. You need to get your outline done and get started! No more hem-hawing, no more maybe someday. Here is the day you’re starting, right now! And by that I mean, if you haven’t’ started on your novel on November first, start today. We are only three days in, you can catch up. Just start writing!

If you don’t know if you can really finish your novel, you should also do Nanowrimo. Maybe you’ve started rough drafting, and you have some notes. You have an idea of the character’s, maybe a vague idea of the ending. But you’re not really working on it like you should. You might take it out and play with it sometimes when you need to feel creative. Well, now’s the time to knock out 50,000 words of your little project. I imagine that you’ll find you want to keep going after that.

If you’re not really sure that you’re even a writer anyway, but you really want to give it a try, then I can’t suggest enough that you do Nanowrimo, right now! Trust me, if there are two things that will inspire you to write, it’s a deadline and other writers cheering you on! You will be inspired, you will be motivated! You will be a writer!

Here’s some good news

Just in case you’re still on the fence about this whole Nanowrimo thing, let me give you a piece of inspiration. You know that book I talk about all the time? Broken Patterns?

It started out as a Nanowrimo novel.

So if anyone tells you that its’ a waste of time, that Nanowrimo books don’t get published, you can tell them that they are dead wrong.

It’s November, and we’re down to the wire for 2017. I’m feeling pretty good about the year, if I can be honest. I’ve done almost everything I wanted to do this year, and I’ve got the last few things scheduled. And November is going to be a lot of fun, if also a lot of work.

Controlling Your Life, the email course, will be starting on November 13^th. Is November the best time to start actionable items that will give you a better handle on your day to day so that you have time to write? Of course it is! Because these are tips and habits that you can start right away to make your life run more smoothly. Click here if you haven’t signed up yet.

This is exciting for me, because I haven’t done an email course since the 30 Days, 30 Ideas event. I’ve taken way too long to come up with another one. (By the way, if you didn’t get to participate in 30 Days, 30 Ideas, don’t fear. I combined the whole challenge into a free ebook, that you can get by clicking here right now.)

Virus is starting on November 29^th. This is the third installment of Station 86, and it’s where some serious questions are going to be answered. Why has Earth gone silent? What’s happening, now that April’s secret is out?

I’m excited to start getting Virus out. It’s the longest Station 86 book to date.

Obviously, Thanksgiving and Christmas are both happening in the next 60 days. And so is my husband’s birthday. I don’t think I need to explain how much of my time this is taking up.

For those of you doing Nano in November, my online scifan group will be doing all sorts of fun things. While I’m not competing this year, I am going to be spending some time cheerleading.

Oh, and one more thing, nothing major. Just that Starting Chains, Book Two of Woven, has been accepted by Solstice Publishing! I can’t begin to say how excited and humbled I am by this. I’ll be working with my editor to get everything just right over the next few months. And I’ll be sure to tell you as soon as I know when the launch date is.

November and December are going to be amazing, and I am so deeply thankful for everything that’s happened so far.

Speaking of gratitude, I’ve been doing something all year that I’d like to share with you today.

See, 2016 wasn’t a great year for almost anyone. In fact, it was a garbage fire kind of year. While my book, Broken Patterns, did get published, that was about the only good thing that happened.

I was not feeling the new year excitement when we started 2017. I wanted to feel okay, but I didn’t think there was enough good happening to make that happen.

I’ve known for a while that a lot of people practice daily gratitude. I’d tried to do this in the past, writing down at least one thing I was grateful for in my bullet journal. The problem was, I forgot. It was on a page that I didn’t necessarily flip to every day. So, I’d miss a day or two, get discouraged and stop trying.

Starting on January first, I decided that if there was one habit I was going to get down in 2017, it was a habit of daily gratitude for what I have. Because, especially in these times of fighting and unrest, I’ve got a lot to be thankful for. My children are strong and healthy. I have a loving husband and a roof over my head. The damn roof might leak, but it’s there. We have food in our house, even if it’s pasta more days than I’d like. (Pasta and chicken are cheap. So, they’re staples of our diet in my house.) I have a good job. I have a couple books published, and most months I even sell a few copies.

I started writing down two things I was grateful for the day before, in the side column of my Erin Condron Planner. They could be little things, or huge things, it didn’t matter. Maybe a bat got in the house and I got to pet it before we let it out. Maybe dinner was especially nice, or my mother in law sprung for takeout. Maybe I could get overtime, or found an extra dollar I didn’t know I had.

Whatever my day was like, I found that I could think of at least two bright spots in the darkness. Even on the bad days. Days I was fighting with my kids, hadn’t slept well, was down because of the news. Even as I was praying for Puerto Rico, Texas, Florida and Los Vegas. Even as I was increasingly frightened by what I heard on the news. I searched for those bright spots.

I had the extra money to donate. (And if you want to donate, click here.)

My best friend messaged me, just to say hi.

I found some chocolate dipped cookies that were cheap at Aldi

We went downtown today, and saw the community garden.

I finished a big project.

The kids didn’t fight today.

Rick and Morty is back.

I made pork chops in the crock pot and they were good.

I managed to keep this up every day this year. And by remembering the good from the day before, I made every day of 2017 a little bit brighter.

What are you thankful for this year? What good has come your way, big or small?

If you’re doing Nano, you should have 1,667 words written by now

Many years it rains on Halloween, here in Western PA. We parents have learned to plan costumes around the bad weather. When I was a kid, they had to be planned around snow suits, most years. But it doesn’t snow as much as it used to anymore.

My kids costumes are ready. One’s a zombie, the other is a vampire. Simple costumes this year, but that’s alright. There’s nothing wrong with the classics.Soon I’ll be fixing their makeup, and we’ll head out for trick or treating. It’s probably the last year they’ll want to go. They’re thirteen now. They might just hand out candy next year. Their turning into women, in that bitter-sweet way all children do.

No matter how old they get, though, they still watch It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. They’ll leave out candy so that The Great Pumpkin will leave them presents. We’ll watch Thriller and Rocky Horror Picture Show. We’ll watch Nightmare Before Christmas and all of the other horror movies we have time for.

Our pumpkins are out on the front porch for everyone to enjoy. They were carved with care, then the seeds were baked with salt and oil. They’d filled our house with the good, clean smell of fresh pumpkin. In a few days they’ll be in the garbage, but right now they’r eout there, grinning their wicked grin.

Happy Halloween, everyone.

One of the first things I do in the morning, after getting up and grouching at the day, is check the weather. It’s going to have an impact on my day, from what I’m getting dressed in, to where I’m writing after work.

Do you consider what the weather’s like in your book? I imagine that it’s not something that you want to go into too much detail, of course. The weather’s fodder for boring small talk, after all. It’s nothing that anyone wants to write about unless it’s deadly.

But then, what about the fact that it’s one of the first things we check up on in the morning? If it’s so boring, why do I check that before I check the Penguins score?

Because it has an impact on my day, that’s why. And it’ll have an impact on your characters day, too. At least, it probably should.

Setting the time of the year

As the season’s change, so do our lives. In the winter, we’re celebrating warmth. We bundle up, go skiing, watch movies at home and make stews. When it’s summer, we go camping and swimming. We eat lighter foods. We garden.

Your characters lives will be different depending on what time of year it is. Are they getting ready for a Winter holiday? Are they plotting to overthrow the king while preserving vegetables in the fall? Are they falling in love while planting in early spring? All of these things help give a sense of realism to your book.

Making things harder, or easier for your characters

If your character needs to get through a mountain pass, they’re not going to get too far in the winter. If they accidentally start a fire in the city, it’s going to cause more damage during a dry summer month.

You get the idea. The weather can be a mild irritation, a huge inconvenience, or downright deadly depending on what’s happening in your book.

You can absolutely use this to your advantage, especially if things are just a little too easy for your characters right now. (Things should never be easy for your characters.) So maybe your character needs to get errands done, and they’ve now got a flat tire. Maybe it should be raining while they have to change their tire. Just to make it a little worse, and kick them when they’re down.

Mirroring, or contrasting your characters emotional state

One of my favorite lines from the second Men In Black movies is when Kay (played by the amazing Tommy Lee Jones) says to the character we’re just now realizing is his daughter, says, “It rains because you’re sad, Baby.”

That line hits me, not just because of the one moment of human emotion in it. (I mean, I could write a whole post about that. It’s the one time in three movies we see Kay. We see his emotions falling out. Maybe we even see real regret, for this child that he didn’t ever get to know. That he now has to send away for the good of a planet he’ll never get to see. Is that why he never tried to raise her? Because he knew she’d have to leave and he’d never see her again? Those movies don’t get enough credit.)

Anyway, it makes rain something more than just water falling from the clouds. It becomes symbolic of tears, both those of Laura and her mother on the day that she died. Perhaps Kay’s as well.

But in Broken Patterns, Lenore and Victor share their first kiss in the pouring rain. She’s just tried to fire him because she can’t stand that she’s falling in love with him. Instead, he begs her not to send him away, and they share their first kiss, terrified and excited. In this scene, I used the rain as a misdirection. Hopefully, upon first reading it, a reader will believe that he’s about to leave her life.

Do you have to start every new scene with a description of the weather? Of course not. But it’s one of the many tools you have at your disposal. So you should learn to use it effectively.