Of holidays, time management, wonderful news and faith

Happy Easter, Happy Passover, Happy Sunday to everyone! I hope that everyone is having a wonderful day!

People around the world celebrate different holidays, according to their beliefs. Even those who share a holiday, such as Easter, have their own ideas of how to celebrate the occasion, and what it means to them. I was not raised in a home where we went to church, so I got none of the religious connotations until I grew older and learned about them. For us, it was the Easter Bunny and candy. Even with that aspect, things have gotten out of hand to the point where children now expect actual gifts. Not quite how it was meant to go, I think.

For most Christians, Easter is about the rising of Jesus Christ. Passover celebrates the deliverance of the Jewish people from Egyptian enslavement. You

would think there's a point of commonality between these two religions, considering Jesus was Jewish. I think too many Christians ignore that fact. Does it make them uncomfortable? I don't know. People have more in common than they have differences. It would be nice if they remembered that.

In my book Revelations, I touch upon the rising, but not in a traditional way. In my version, Jesus and Mary and the Apostles are reincarnated, time after time, throughout the years, by the will of God. It seemed logical to me that there be no big hoopla, no grand announcement, but something far more subtle, in order to gauge what lessons Man had learned from the prior visit.

Random thought - Christ is referred to as the lamb of God, and some people eat lamb for Easter. Seems... barbaric? But then there is also the Communion, which while symbolic also has overtones of cannibalism in eating the body and drinking the blood of Christ. Not literally, of course.





Time management. People are always complaining about not having time to do the things they want or have to do. But I discovered something quite accidentally while waiting for something to microwave in my kitchen. I dislike standing around doing nothing, waiting, so while whatever it was cooked, I busied myself, although at first I thought what can you do in two minutes? The answer is - quite a bit. I found out you can unload or load your dishwasher, you can wash your dishes - or at least some of them. Two minutes is longer than you think and it beats standing there doing nothing. So now, whenever I microwave, I get something else done while I wait. Which led me to the conclusion that time is really fluid, and you can make it of what you will. You can stand around and say you have no time, or you can utilize it and have what you need. No, it doesn't give you more  hours in a day, just a different way to approach the 24 you have. Second conclusion - you will find time for the things you really want to, if you try. You may not always succeed, but know that perhaps the things that got left by the wayside were things you didn't really care about doing anyway.

Now on to my wonderful news. I have a new publisher, and I will be giving more details as I get them, such

as publication dates, but for now I'd like to announce that I have signed two contracts with eXtasy Books - one for Dallas in Wonderland, and one for Trapped in Time, which you may recall each started out as flash fiction stories on my blog.

So now I have two new publishers for this year - eXtasy, and Torquere, who are publishing A Special Christmas in December. I'll keep you apprised of publishing dates as I learn them, and hopefully of other new publishers.

Second bit of writing news - if you'll recall, I posted a story about a guy named Lionel who came home from touring with a band called Midlife Crisis to a horrifying discover. I have decided to keep writing the story, but I won't be posting it on Wednesdays. I'll post it on random days, depending on when I get each part written, and I'll make a page so that anyone who wants can read it in one place. I'd love to hear thoughts on that, ideas, suggestions.

I'll talk about what I'm watching another time. Let's focus on Easter movies right now, or at least those that deal with Jesus. I've reviewed a few on this blog, and one of the best I've seen is Jesus of Nazareth with Robert Powell, who gives a very dramatic, very wonderful performance. King of Kings with Jeffrey Hunter is another I'd recommend, as well as Jesus, starring Jeremy Sisto, of Law and Order and Six Feet Under fame. I honestly don't recommend Mel Gibson's movie, because it focuses so much on Jesus' pain and suffering. What is the point of that? Why not celebrate his life and teaching? In light of the fact that I learned that Mr. Gibson is anti-semitic, perhaps that is my answer. I don't know. I've been told I need to see The Last Temptation of Christ, by Martin Scorsese, and I intend to check it out.

Many people celebrate the holiday with a ham or a lamb, but we're doing something different - we bought a 20 pound turkey. That should feed us for a few days! It's just Sarah and I today. Chris went back to school yesterday. And since she has school work to do, and I have editing and writing, I'm sure it will be a quiet day.

In our family, we have a tradition that we made ourselves, going back to when the kids were little. We name our turkeys. We take turns picking the name of each bird. Oddly, I think they always end up with male names, although most turkeys you buy at the store are hens, not toms. We've had birds named after characters in various fandoms over the years, from Harry Potter to Lord of the Rings. Last time was Sarah's turn, and it was MASH - she named him Frank Birds, a play, of course, on Major Frank Burns. Today is my turn, and as I am in quite a Game of Thrones state of mind, he is called Tyrion Lannister. I've begun watching the first season, and I'm about halfway through reading the second book, but more of that later.






Well, enough for now, things to do and all that. A turkey to stuff and roast. I wish everyone a great day, no matter what you are celebrating - whether a holiday, or just life itself.

Until next time, take care!

♥ Julie