Kindness Challenge Day 15

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 3 Comments

Day 15: Pay it forward. Pay for a strangers hot drink (in a cafe)

 

This might be the most self serving day yet. Woot.

This sweet little challenge meant I needed to hit the Starbucks drive through on my way to co-op. Make my day, why don’t you?

I usually don’t go because ten bucks a week adds up to 500 a year. Which sounds like very little but 500 dollars worth of coffee pays for a lot. Lest you think I am too altruistic, let me just say, I’m talking about 4 months of massages at one every 3 weeks. Priorities my friends. LOL

But today I got coffee, yummy coffee, and a spiced apple cider for the kiddo and paid for the car behind me. Which is double nice because I will never see those people again and won’t have to suffer through an awkward thank you.

 

If you don’t know what I am talking about with the whole Kindness Challenge, you can find the calendar here. All normal posts will resume in January. Enjoy the time off. Enjoy the kindness. Practice a little yourself.

Kindness Challenge Day 13

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 3 Comments

Day 13: Give a compliment to as many people as possible today.

 

Huh. This is an interesting one. I feel my creative juices revving up. Because of course, I can’t just flop out some lame-ass don’t you look nice today. The compliments need to matter.

On the other hand this is my stay home day, LOL.

I will probably only see my son and my hubs. I tell both of them the ways in which they are wonderful each day.

Okay, I will think of ten friends I can send a short text, email, or message to – and I will tell them something thoughtful, kind, and encouraging today.

 

If you don’t know what I am talking about with the whole Kindness Challenge, you can find the calendar here. All normal posts will resume in January. Enjoy the time off. Enjoy the kindness. Practice a little yourself.

Kindness Challenge Day 12

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 4 Comments

Day 12: Offer hugs to your family and friends.

 

Seriously? This must be like a rest day in a work out challenge or something.

I am ridiculously huggy.

I think a hug solves everything. LOL.

Ok, maybe not, but it sure flippin helps just about everything.

 

If you don’t know what I am talking about with the whole Kindness Challenge, you can find the calendar here. All normal posts will resume in January. Enjoy the time off. Enjoy the kindness. Practice a little yourself.

 

Kindness Challenge Day 11, plus Allie Potts’ New Book, The Watch & Wand

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 5 Comments

Day 11: Do an act of kindness to help someone.

Ok the chart said someone older but I promised this to Allie and it would have been unkind of me to break my word on a kindness challenge.

The Watch & Wand by Allie Potts

A few months back I got an email from Allie saying she loved my short in The Box Under the Bed. Why thank you! She also wondered if I would like to read her new book, the second in Project Gene AssistThe-Watch-and-Wand_02.

Lucky for her I have a secret love of YA Dystopia. LOL.

The Watch and Wand. The title alone is a super fun play on the basic idea of the book. It said magic to me, silly me. So I was expecting a bad Harry Potter knock off. So NOT what I got. Woot.

YA Dystopia, I told you that much already. There is two real main characters. A cast of supporting characters who vary in just how supportive they really are. LOL. Don’t trust anyone. Very good advice.

The Magic, however, is technology with a really big dose of how much is really good for us. Can we ever go too far? I don’t want to give away too much.

This was a fast paced and fun read. I slid right through it in one day without any effort.

Here’s Allie…..

Where did the idea come from for the book?
This one is all my mom’s fault. The Project Gene Assist series was originally supposed to center entirely on the protagonist from the first book, Juliane Faris, but one day my mom and I were out walking and she asked me about how I thought a particular side character briefly mentioned in the first book might turn out. The next thing I know, I’m 20,000 words into a completely different novel. Juliane will be back for the next book in the series.
 
I wish that would happen to me. When people ask what I think my characters are doing, I’m always tempted to snark as Agatha Christie did, “You think they send me postcards?” Maybe I should snark less. Which is the more important of these two: write drunk, edit sober?
 
That is one of my absolute favorite Hemingway quotes and fantastic advice! I’m going with writing drunk because in some cases that’s the only way to keep your confidence up enough to finish that first draft and without that first draft, no amount of sober editing will help you.
Laughing. Touche. So how long were you drunk then? I mean how long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
A solid agonizing and hair pulling year. Note to other writers out there contemplating setting their novel, not in the immediate present, but not in the far-flung future either, that setting is tough! You have to have technology that is somewhat advanced by our standards, but not too advanced, and there is always a risk that technology you choose will be out of date well before you finish the writing. By contrast, I have been able to write the first draft for an entirely different story, currently sitting in my work in progress folder, in less than three months.
Now you know why all my stories take place in the past. There’s no changing that. Except, well, that’s kind of what I do. LOL. Bet you’d never guess what I majored in? What’s something most readers would never guess about you?
 
I am as vertically challenged as I say I am on the about me section of my blog. People always seem to act surprised by how short I am when I meet them in real life for the first time even though I’ve never treated my height, or lack thereof, as a secret. Apparently, I have a larger than life personality.
Of course you. All authors do. It’s how we survive the process. Each book we choose takes a little. How did you choose the genre you write in? Or did it choose you?
 
I love how you worded that. The Watch & Wand and the Project Gene Assist Series is a blend of science fiction and fantasy with a smidgeon of post-apocalypse thrown in there for fun. It’s all the elements I grew up reading, however my first book, An Uncertain Faith is a mix of women’s fiction and cozy mystery, which is a genre mash-up that chose me.
 
It sounds like there might be a story behind that story. Too bad, it’s just about time to wrap this up. So leave us with some words of wisdom. What’s a good writing secret or time management secret?
One of the best tips I ever came across was to schedule fifteen-minute writing sprints rather than hour-long blocks of time. Not only is it easier to fit into the average day craziness of my regular life, I find my bottom is much more willing to stay seated and my brain willing to dream up words if I know I will only be in front of a screen for a short period of time. It also relieves a lot of pressure on me. If I the ideas just aren’t flowing during a session, I know I will have the opportunity to try again later without feeling like I’ve wasted a day.

Want more Allie? You can catch her on social media:

Twitter: @alliepottswrite

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alliepottswrites/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/alliepottswrite

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alliepottswrites

Kindness Challenge – Day 10

~ tahenryauthoress ~ Leave a comment

Day 10: Give clothes, blankets or toys to those who may need them

 

Every year we do toys for foster kids. It’s like this game with my son. He gets to go through the toy section throwing things into a cart like a mad shopping spree. Then he marches it into the collection site and gives it all away.

But since that’s pretty easy peasy and something I do each year…

Today I spent a chunk of my morning sorting out the donations that have been accumulating in my garage all fall. A friend is collecting items for a charity she believes in that provides therapy to children with special needs. But everything has to be sorted. Bleh.

Whatever, I sucked it up and did the work. It didn’t kill me. Tomorrow I can drop it to the friend for her charity drive.

Win, win. Clean garage. Help out a friend and a worth while charity.

 

If you don’t know what I am talking about with the whole Kindness Challenge, you can find the calendar here. All normal posts will resume in January. Enjoy the time off. Enjoy the kindness. Practice a little yourself.

Kindness Challenge – Day 9

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 1 Comment

Day 9: Buy some extra items and donate them to a local food bank

My son is cub scout. Every year they do a program called “lunch for the break.” It fills back packs with easy to make food supplies for kids who may not have enough at home while school is not in session.

The hubs is supposed to handle all scout related items but I got this one covered.

Mac and Cheese, PC and J, oatmeal, cereal, chili, soup, and spaghetti o’s. Not the highest nutrition but something a kid can microwave for themselves and not go hungry.

How about you? Grab a few extra items? You can also do the quick buy a bag at most grocery stores for ten bucks.

If you don’t know what I am talking about with the whole Kindness Challenge, you can find the calendar here. All normal posts will resume in January. Enjoy the time off. Enjoy the kindness. Practice a little yourself.

 

Kindness Challenge – Day 8

~ tahenryauthoress ~ Leave a comment

Day 8: Say something positive to everyone you meet today

I blew this. Bad

I barely slept last night. Stressing about a huge meeting at the co-op today. The Co-op which is in serious trouble from total lack of parent involvement despite the co-op name. Co-op where I have resigned from the board pending the return of our President from maternity leave. Co-op where I had to lead a community meeting this morning and listen to people bitch about how the board doesn’t do enough to make things easier for the parents.

I suppose eventually I said positive things to many people but I was also way harsh to others.

I fell rather cruddy about it all actually. I need 90 minutes of yoga and a long, hot shower.

If you don’t know what I am talking about with the whole Kindness Challenge, you can find the calendar here. All normal posts will resume in January. Enjoy the time off. Enjoy the kindness. Practice a little yourself.

Kindness Challenge – Day 7

~ tahenryauthoress ~ Leave a comment

Day 7: Pick up litter or leaves in your local neighborhood

Thursday is the kiddo’s day to walk the dog in the morning. But today I went with him and we picked up all the litter and dog poop left by others on our path. It’s seriously gross how many people don’t pick up after their dogs.

It didn’t add any time to our busy day and it left the world a little nicer.

If you don’t know what I am talking about with the whole Kindness Challenge, you can find the calendar here. All normal posts will resume in January. Enjoy the time off. Enjoy the kindness. Practice a little yourself.

Kindness Challenge – Day 6

~ tahenryauthoress ~ Leave a comment

Day 6: Do something helpful for a friend or family member….

This one is super hard for me. Because I feel like it should be something special and yet…I kinda already do helpful things every day. But should those count on a challenge?

I help run my son’s coop school. Every day.

I educate my special needs child, every day.

I never go to Costco without texting my neighbor to see if she needs anything.

I bake paleo cookies for people when they are having a rough day.

But I guess, if I have to come up with something special….

I bought and wrapped all my Christmas presents, for myself, for my hubs to give me. He’s just not good at that. He’s a terrible guesser/anticipator. He never knows if when I say, that’s cool or that’s pretty, if I mean look at that thing dear or buy me that thing dear. And after years of Hollywood thinking, “If he really loved me he would try harder,” I accepted he loves me. Probably more than he loves anyone on this planet, including himself. But gifts are not his thing. So I bought, I wrapped them, and I left them on his desk. I’ll be happy come Christmas morning this year. As opposed to last year when decision paralysis on what to get me led to our kiddo asking why Santa didn’t bring me anything this year. Yeah. LOL.

Maybe this makes me a micro-manager but I could see the stress melting from his face as I explained what the packages were.

If you don’t know what I am talking about with the whole Kindness Challenge, you can find the calendar here. All normal posts will resume in January. Enjoy the time off. Enjoy the kindness. Practice a little yourself.

Kindness Challenge – Day 5

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 8 Comments

Day 5: Keep track of how many people you smile at today

 

I feel like I am totally cheating on this one. The kiddo has a cold so we didn’t really go anywhere today. I walked the dog this morning which is where I picked up the majority of my numbers.

26. I smiled at 26 people today. (Not counting my hubs and son – I smile at them every day.) Which incidentally, was every one I encountered.

What’s more interesting is the number who smiled back. 6.

That makes me a wee bit sad. Less than 25% of the people I encountered could be bothered to return a gesture of kindness during the holiday season. What have we become?

Anyone else count today?

 

If you don’t know what I am talking about with the whole Kindness Challenge, you can find the calendar here. All normal posts will resume in January. Enjoy the time off. Enjoy the kindness. Practice a little yourself.