7 Days Until Christmas

Do you have that turkey or goose yet? Normally in my house in the U.K we put on a huge spread on Christmas Eve. We invite family and friends, and we have a big party! Normally my brothers get blind drunk, and my sister tipsy. My dad can’t drink much, and me and my mum are completely sober. My auntie get so sleepy on the few glasses of Brandy. She doesn’t drink much, but you could say that Brandy was her main vice when she did have a tipple. 

We also cook a lot. Mom had me making canapés one year. That was tedious. She went off to work 

  

  

  

  

  

  and left me with a recipe for a bunch of canapés. I had to make 50 in one day. It was ridiculous! I had no help whatsoever. I also had to make the gingerbread house (which I normally do every year, as I am normally a very creative person) and a cake. That year I decided to make a 3-D snowman cake. She also had me making a low diabetic ginger ale drink.

Monty -my dog – is no help. He either guards the sausages or falls asleep in front of the oven. It means nobody can cook when he does that. 

Nobody wants everyone has arrived we eat and drink and be merry, so to speak. We normally have my cousins children come over, so after everybody has eaten I normally gets out my spinning plates and let the children play with those. For them that’s the real perk of going to this Christmas Eve party. 

This party has happened ever since I was a child. Dad calls it piri-piri night because he likes to make his famous Piri-piri chicken. He makes a normal one and a spicy one. That’s what the adults come to eat really, I guess. 

Last years party was very quiet in comparison to all the at the potties. And actuality, dad actually forgot to give out the invitations. So everybody – that is to say on our friends not including our families – didn’t actually turn up because they had made other arrangements. They thought that the party was not happening last year. 

What do you do for Christmas eve?

Advice from an author number 17 … Or it was 18? I lost count. It must be the Christmas spirit going to my head. My advice is before sending your book to the publisher, make sure you have written your plan, written a first draft, typed up your book, printed it off, proofed it, made changes, add those changes to the manuscript on the computer, make edits big and small, overwrite, ask someone to proof it for you, add in the changes that they have added, crosscheck everything with your plotted plan to make sure you have all the key points in place and all the secondary subplots in place, read through it again and make any more changes that you want and do any rewrites that you need, print of the requirements for the publisher, do any cover letters, and submit your manuscript script.

8 Days Until Christmas

With only a few days before leaving for Florida, it would seem that immigration has made a bug up of things. I don’t mean the USA. I may have to delay and spend Christmas alone with nonalcoholic wine. Merry Christmas to me.  Everybody else … get drunk for me. Or better still, please wish me a miracle with immigration. 

Advice from an author number 15 – never start a book talking about just the weather. If you want to mention weather, then do it stylistically.