What’s What
I’ve spent the last couple of hours reading through the backlog in the “must-read” folder in my Feedly, nuking any non-“must” posts that were more than a week old, and knocking the total unread-posts count down into double digits. After I finish putting this post together, I hope to get some book-reading time in before we decide what we’re doing for dinner.
Speaking of dinner, I didn’t cook on Thanksgiving Day. My stepkids were with their mom this year, so Paul and I dined out, accompanied by my dad. We spent the afternoon before dinner watching one of our favorite classic films, Casablanca.
On Friday morning, I joined Paul on his motorcycle for a ride to the coast and back. It was only the second time I’ve ever gone out with him, and it was an absolutely perfect day for it. It was also a perfect day to avoid any and all stores, and we did that too. I didn’t even buy anything online.
On Sunday (today, if that’s when you’re reading this), my sister and are going to a matinee of Mockingjay: Part 1. After I get home, I’m thinking about making some baked chicken for dinner, if everyone’s up for that. Perhaps I’ll do some more reading then too, or some more writing. I’m supposed to submit a guest post for Becca’s Holiday Extravaganza at I’m Lost In Books by the end of this week, and I still have to compose my Book Talk on The Magicians.
I have just three weeks and two days of work left in 2014–I’m taking off the entire week of Christmas and through the Monday after. December tends to run light on big meetings and special projects at the office, so I may be able to build up a little blog momentum in between the normal. Or I may not. There are so many other things to do this month, and so my main “to-do” for the next few weeks is NOT to give myself too much grief over what doesn’t get done.
What Caught My Eye This Week
Given the aforementioned feed-reader backlog, I have only a few links to give you this week:
“Pre-internet days, it was easier to answer that question. The Christmas letter was a way of staying connected with distant friends and family, a once-a-year round-up of personal news. These days, we drip-feed information about our lives all year long, via Facebook, Twitter, texts, blogs. We also edit as we go, choosing the best photo, the best anecdote. Very few of us post photos of ourselves on Facebook looking less than our best.”
—“In Defense of Christmas Letters” by Monica McInerney at She Reads
A Christmas letter is definitely one of the things that won’t get done around here. And if it did, it would probably look more like a blog post anyway.
“The words you choose to describe your post in social media need to answer the question: Why should we care? If it’s news, get to the who, what, why, where, and how. If it’s fun, write copy to entertain. If you want to persuade, assert your thesis so they can click to find out why you believe that way.”
—“How to Write a Headline or Teaser That’s Impossible to Ignore” by Rita Arens at BlogHer
Other things that are difficult to ignore, especially during the holidays: bad manners.
“(A)ll this focus on manners and playing the game of etiquette and controlling situations with rules can build up a false expectation of perfection. But that’s not the goal. Manners isn’t about achieving perfection; manners is about achieving a mindset. That mindset is focused on doing no harm; it’s focused on goodness and kindness; it’s about focusing outward.”
—“Etiquette Books to Save the (Holi)Day” by Dana Staves at Book Riot
The Weekly Winchester
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| All your chair are belong to me. |
I’m especially thankful to have this little guy in our family this year (even though, honestly, sometimes he’s just one more distraction from reading)!
