Betsy Snow White Bibliophile

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  • How to Write a Holiday Movie

    I love those insane holiday movies produced by Hallmark, Freeform, Netflix and others. They make me laugh and occassionally cry, and they always have a happy ending. What makes them great is that you can absolutely see where the story is going in the first five or ten minutes and then you can just sit back and see how it all unfolds. Sometimes it involves magic, or just the spirit of the holidays, but it is always for the better of the main character. After watching far too many of these films I thought I would lay out a plan so you can write your own.

    1. Start with a girl who is from the city or from the country and is disillussioned with life/over worked/ having a crisis.
    2. For some reason she has to go to the city or country for work/family/something else.
    3. She meets a guy. He might be her ex. They might not like each other at first.
    4. She has to do something christmassy against her will and ends up working with that guy.
    5. They are falling in love but resisting it, or there is something working against them.
    6. Everything comes together in the end on Christmas/ Christmas Eve.

    That’s the basics. Now write your own and sell it to netflix.

    ❄☃️🤶🎅🎄

  • Gruss vom Krampus!

    Gruss vom Krampus!

    Columbus has over the past couple of years really embraced the darker side of Christmas which has led to a prevalence of Krampus related activities. This year the first day of December was marked with the second annual Merry Krampus craft show and the Fourth Krampus Walk sponsored by a local pagan shop, The Magical Druid. The International Wenches Guild Local 73 decided to plan an invasion of the Krampus events.

    The Merry Krampus was held at Strongwater and featured many alternative craft vendors. I had splurged and bought early bird entries for myself and Seth which gave us an hour of shopping before the show was opened to general public. I bought a beautiful hand printed calendar from Midwest Mermaid and an amazing wrought iron wand from Rust Wolf. I ran into some friends who were vending and selling chain maille and knives. My Madame of Vice, Sarah, and I got our pictures taken with Santa and Krampus.

    We then headed down to Clintonville to participate in the Krampus Walk. We had a pretty good turnout of wenches, and had a wonderful time parading down the street all dressed up. We were photographed a lot, and made quite an impression. Obviously I chose to go for more of a Krampus look, and I had a great time.

    General consensus is that we are mostly naughty, but a really good time. Happy Krampusnacht!!

  • Skatemare Before Christmas

    Skatemare Before Christmas

    On Saturday the 30th Seth and I went out to support Ohio Roller Derby (OHRD) at their fundraiser/ exhibition bout Skatemare Before Christmas. This bout pits team Halloween, The Roller Ghouls, against team Christmas, The Jingle Belles. They also premiered their rookies dividing them into team Candy Corns versus team CandyCanes. I came out to represent team Christmas this year, so Seth decided to root for team Halloween.

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    The rookie game was up first. The Candy Canes came out strong scoring in the first couple of jams, but soon enough the Candy Corns had tied things back up. In the second half the Candy Canes came back and they would win! Score one bout for Christmas.

    During the time between the rookie bout and the main event there was a show put on by a local break dance school. The kids appeared to be between the ages of 5 and 13. They were adorable and some of them were so talented!

    The final bout was much more fast paced. Once again the Jingle Belles came out strong at first, but then the Ghouls got a good run and took over the lead. It was a good back and forth battle for a while, but in the end the Jingle Belles came out on top.

    Team Christmas wins for this year!

  • My Favorite Things – Holiday Books

    I have certain books that I read/ listen to on audiobook every year around the holidays. It just doesn’t feel like Christmas/ Yule without them.

    Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris – This book includes the famous Santaland Diaries and is a must read if you haven’t. I highly recommend getting the audiobook because David reads most of the stories himself and is joined by his sister Amy as well. Sure to make you laugh.71t0yJrW7UL

    Hogfather by Terry Pratchett – Pratchett’s wonderful tale about the discworld equivalent of Santa and what happens when someone puts out a hit on him. Death steps in and then it starts to get fun. Death’s granddaughter Susan proves herself to be a badass in her own right. Has a wonderful albeit cynical quote about the importance of belief.

    Hogfather-2

    The Life and Adventure of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum – The author of the Wizard of Oz penned this charming and strange origin story for Santa complete with woodland fairies. Baum tries to answer some of the important Santa questions. Good to read aloud with children.

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    The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore – The unusual town of Pine Cove is celebrating Christmas. An angel comes and grants them a Christmas “Miracle” that leads to a zombie uprising. Oops.

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    T’was the Night Before Christmas or A Visit from St. Nicholas by Clement Clarke Moore – A Christmas classic. I have had it memorized since I was little, and I love to read/ recite it every year. It is still fun to do. My favorite line is “The moon on the breast of the newfallen snow gave a lustre of midday to objects below.” I love good rhymes.

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    Do you have a favorite holiday book? Have you read any of these?

  • Welcome December…Blogmas Day 1 on Day 2

    It is officially the holiday season!! I have been making little purchases here and there for a month, but now it is here and the decorations can finally go up now that Santa has paraded into Herald Square in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. Here is a small collection of things that I purchased before I consider it acceptable to do so, lol.

    I realized coming into Thanksgiving that I have 39 pairs of holiday socks. How? Why? So this year I decided to do 35 days of holiday socks beginning the day before Thanksgiving and going through the end of the year. So far I have worn brown stripey reindeer socks, snowflake socks, rampaging holiday dinosaur socks, Santa riding a unicorn socks, Argyle with a fleece cuff and holiday sloths.

    The day after Thanksgiving Seth and I headed down to my hometown Newark (30 miles east of Columbus) for the lighting of the courthouse. Newark has a beautiful historic courthouse, and they go all out when they light it. Santa and Mrs. Claus are given a ride to the courthouse square on a firetruck, and then they lead everyone in carols for a bit. When the time is right they ask the children to make as much noise as possible to light the courthouse. It almost always takes three tries somehow. Now for the before and after.

  • Giving Thanks or 30 Days of Gratitude in One Go

    1. Cinnamon…always Cinnamon

    2. Laptops and my $4 led keyboard light from Five Below

    3. All of them…I love color. More color please!

    4. Butternut Squash…It’s like pumpkin potato and can be sweet or savory.

    5. Podcasts and Audio Books.

    6. Big spooky trees, clearings full of moss and acorns.

    7. The memory of baking up a storm with my Grandmother. The memory of making silly ridiculous gingerbread men with my mom and sister. The memory of marrying my amazing husband.

    8. Anything and Everything by Terry Pratchett.

    9. My home and the Ohio Renaissance Festival my home away from home.

    10. The sting of mint.

    11. Christmas…and Thanksgiving for the parade!!

    12. The feeling of the inside of a new sweatshirt.

    13. Creativity, musicality and imagination.

    14. The white of a blank page.

    15. Autumn 🧡

    16. The strength of my legs, the youthfulness of my hands, the beauty of my hair

    17. All knowledge is worth having. I hope I never stop learning.

    18. The pieces my family and friends have made for me.

    19. The feeling when my husband grabs my hand to hold it just cuz.

    20. My husband, my mom, my sisters, my family, my friend, the lady gang, the wenches!

    21. Start Wearing Purple by Gogol Bordello

    22. All the classic fairy tales, especially the dark German ones.

    23. Christmas day tacos and margaritas.

    24. Working full time, school full time and doing NaNoWriMo.

    25. Spending time with Family and Beginning Yule/Christmas Celebrations

    26. Writing!

    27. My phone…there is a whole world on there.

    28. I was acknowledged at work for helping with an issue.

    29. My Seth.

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    30. Singing, though I do not do it much anymore. Writing. Art. Dancing.

  • Written Word Wednesday: The Evening of Writing Uncontrollably

    Written Word Wednesday: The Evening of Writing Uncontrollably

    The Evening of Writing Uncontrolably was this past Saturday at the Wagnalls Memorial Library in Lithopolis, Ohio. My little sister, Traci,  came along to write with me, and we were joined by my friends Jill, Angie and Melissa. Traci and I got there and settled in a nice little nook in the fiction section between Janet Evanovich and Diana Gabaldon. Above us to the right was a bust of Shakespeare. It seemed like the perfect place to write. We settled in and got ourselves all spread out and happy.

    Jill came in a bit later, and was laughing because we had chosen the exact place she always uses when she goes to the library to write, which is often. I thought it must speak highly of the space. She went to get a snack and wander a bit, but eventually came back to settle in with us. Angie and Melissa came in after an hour or so, and joined us in our nook.

    I managed to write 2,866 words in the 5 hours we were there. That was with many drink, snack and bathroom breaks. And breaks to take photos in the beautiful library. We left at midnight, though we could have stayed until 2am. There is a strange naughty feeling being in a library after hours that I cannot explain though we all were feeling it. I felt like the night was successful, and fun, and I am so glad I went.

    I am probably (definitely) not going to win NaNoWriMo this year, but I have learned a lot about myself and my writing style. I am excited to try it again another time, maybe when I am not actively taking classes at the same time. I am glad that I tried though, and glad that I have worked on developing a short story into an actual novel, and one I will continue to work on. That makes the month a pretty big success to me.

     

  • WWW -Week 3 of NaNoWriMo, Writing for School and Blind Date with a Book Brunch

    This was another work heavy week for school, and I had to write quite a bit for various prompts, which means I wrote almost not at all for NaNoWriMo. This weekend is the Evening of Writing Uncontrollably at the Wagnalls Memorial Library in Lithopolis, Ohio. I am super excited about it and hope I can make up some loss of words that night writing with friends. I did write a story I am really proud of for school this week, so that feels good.

    This past Saturday the Columbus Ohio branch of Geek Girl Brunch had our Blind Date with a Book event. We wrap the book and describe it in three statements. Then we trade books. My description was: Female Protagonist, Practical Magic and Snacking in Closets. Any guesses on what the book is? I will reveal later this week. The book I chose was labeled: True Crime, Historical, Non-Fiction. It was The Devil in the White City, a book about the Chicago World’s Faire and H.H. Holmes. I am very excited to get into it soon.

  • Written Word Wednesday – NaNoWriMo, Falling Behind and Starting Again

    Written Word Wednesday – NaNoWriMo, Falling Behind and Starting Again

    Well…I have broken 10,000 words for NaNoWriMo and then I fell off from writing for a couple of days. There are a lot of reasons: helping my mother move, doing homework for my MFA program, and probably the biggest reason is that I think I want my book to go in a different direction, and it will change a lot. At first I was considering going back to rewrite, but instead I think I am going to push forward with the new idea knowing that the first days may no longer fit.I am taking two courses right now, one is Studying the Craft which focuses on reading books as a writer (probably using Fahrenheit 451 and The Giver which was a suggested pairing and one I really liked) and Story and Concept during which I will write a short story using techniques I will learn in the class. These classes are challenging, so I will not beat myself up if I cannot finish NaNoWriMo in order to apply myself fully to my classes.Priorities! I am still going to work on my novel but I am not going to be in a hurry to finish it just now.I began Starless Sea, and it is entrancing even just a few pages in. I hope I have time to sit and read it this week sometime. We shall see. I found out Erin Morgenstern will be coming for a book tour to a location about 3 hours away, and I am considering going. I get very starstruck, though, and I am afraid I might get weirdly emotional at her. It is a strange issue.

    Samhain helping me write.

  • Written Word Wednesday -NaNoWriMo Week 1

    I have lived through five full days of NaNoWriMo! Woo-hoo! 8,693 words written, absolutely no fits had, zero editing, and having a pretty great time. I have been encouraged by family, fellow writers and several text messages from my brother in law who is living vicariously through me. I have no idea if what I am writing will amount to an actual novel, but I am having fun doing it.

    In other writing news my pre-ordered copy of The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern arrived in the mail yesterday. I have been looking forward to it all year. I love the Night Circus, and reread/ relisten to the audio book every couple of months. I haven’t started reading it yet, but maybe later tonight with luck. Or maybe after November is over.

    I hope November is treating you well.