Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all. Yes, I called it Christmas because that's what I celebrate. If you honor a different holiday, good for you. Happy holidays to you. I respect your right to enjoy your traditions. Please respect mine. Thanks all.

What Makes a Person Start Writing?

In a recent writers' discussion about interview questions that catch you unprepared, the question, "What made you start writing?" seemed to stump several writers. Many couldn't remember why because they started writing at such an early age they couldn't recall when they started yet alone why.

For many, I'm sure it was the encouragement of a teacher during their schooling or a family member who advised them to write down something they found entertaining so they could share it. In later life, it might have been a friend saying something they did would make a great story thus the seed was planted. In any case, recognition of a worthiness of a person to write or a story to be told is the beginning. Then there are people like me.

What made me start writing? My writing usually starts with an idea that grows into characters, and those characters start interacting in my head. The jerks won't shut up until I get them on paper. They keep me awake at all hours of the night. He should do this, or she should do that. Until, I work on the story to finish and flush them out of my head for other ideas, their name is legion for they're many, to possess my thoughts.

So, the quick answer is to stop the voices in my head.

Enough Negativity Happy Holidays

Enough is enough when it comes to negativity from the politicians during the holidays. I'm pretty sure it was a bonehead error to give the super committee a Thanksgiving Day deadline and not done intentionally to ruin our holidays, but I don't think it helped our confidence in opening our wallets and purses as consumers. So, they start another economic sky-is-falling the day before the Black Friday sales. We may not be rocket scientists, but I think we all know why consumers aren't spending as hoped. Personally, I would have liked them to set the arbitrary deadline they were never going to meet toward the end of January about the time we recover from all the holiday food and beverages.

We took our two grandsons around to look at lights the other night. They both loved it, but I had to search for decorated houses. I guess I'm getting old because I caught myself saying back in the day, but it was true. Back in the day, almost all the houses on every street were decorated and maybe 1 or 2 dim. Sadly now, the opposite is true. So here is my wish this year, I hope our economy turns around so the holiday spirit gets going full blast. Merry Christmas everyone!

To Listen To My Interview From Australia On Mix It Up Radio

To listen to my interview on Mix It Up Radio in Queensland, Australia, and 48 countries around the world, you can download the podcast archive at  http://www.mixitupradio.net/ then clicking on the podcast link. Follow the instructions by clicking the listening icon, enter the username: talkback and password: radio1. The show archive you want to click on is In The World’s Corner the select the interview with Frank G. Poe, Jr. dated 12/01/2011. You really must want to hear the show interview. It was almost 1 hour and 40 minutes long and was originally only scheduled for 1 hour. I promised I’d post a link, but their archive requires the user name and password mentioned. It may take a little while to download depending on your internet speed. You'll need WinZip to unzip the compressed file.