Tag Archives: Recreation

Are you a member of the SCA Society for creative Anachronism? Have you ever been to Pennsic War?

Are you a member of the SCA Society for creative Anachronism? Have you ever been to Pennsic War?

 

English: Society for Creative Anachronism part...

English: Society for Creative Anachronism participants (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If you’ve never heard of the Society for Creative Anachronism, it’s…. well, hard to explain. Lots of people come together for a medieval-fest and turn a building, or a huge area, back in time. Think Renaissance Faire on steroids. But in these events they won’t even let you in without proper garb.

And you don’t just get to watch. With training, you become part of the world.

I went to an event once over twenty years ago, and it was quite a treat. It had a big enough impact on me that I still think about it, and I’ve decided to feature a SCA event, the Pennsic War, in one of my novels.

 

Kingdom of Northshield court in the Society fo...

Kingdom of Northshield court in the Society for Creative Anachronism (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Here’s my problem. I’ve never been to Pennsic War. I am trying to imagine what Cooper’s Lake park in PA looks like when 10,000 (yes, that’s ten-thousand) people from around the world converge on that one campground, to watch and take part as the East Kingdom and the Middle Kingdom meet for a week of tournament and good times. Think Olympics, Medieval style.

Heavy combat, fencing, crossbows. Oh! I get tingles just thinking about it!

English: Melee fighting in the Society for Cre...

English: Melee fighting in the Society for Creative Anachronism (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Thing is, I can imagine what a campground of people in Medieval garb looks like, but anything I can come up with would just be a really good guess.

 

So I’m wondering. Have you been to Pennsic War? Or maybe another smaller war-like event?

Here are my questions.

  1. Does combat start on Friday, or is that just revelry like the opening ceremonies and the good stuff starts on Saturday?
  2. Do most people stay at the campground?
  3. Are there ever any non-SCA campers there? Are they freaked out?
  4. What is it like back at the campground? Do people stay garbed and “in character” for the whole week or two weeks?
  5. Do combatants get hurt?
  6. Fencing competition: Do girls fight girls and guys fight guys, or can a championship match be a guy and a girl? (Sorry that was a spoiler)
  7. From the event I went to, I imagine the rivalry feigned and in good fun. But is that still true? Any side-duels that might not exactly “follow the safety rules”?
  8. Anything you can give me would be helpful. I want this to be authentic, and do the event justice as the catalyst to send my heroine on her journey.

Oh! Do you have pictures? More pictures will be helpful.

And, as a side note, if any SCA member would like to read the SCA excerpt when I’m done to make sure I “got it” I would be eternally grateful.

Huzzah!

(Yeah, that was probably lame. I’m sure I spelled that wrong.)

Find out more about this cool organization here: http://www.sca.org/

JenniFer_EatonF

 

 

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Holiday Get Togethers are For Everyone in the Family

You might think I’m nuts, but when I invited my family to my house for Christmas dinner, I had them bring Everyone in the family. That included everyone’s four-footed children.

Twenty-six people and seven dogs over 50 pounds each (except for the puppies) Yes, chaos ensued for a bit. But those pups sure did appreciate it. they had a great time, and my Chloe was sad to see them all go.

The nice thing was that no one had to rush home to feed their dogs or let them out. My yard may never be the same, but who cares?

Here is a precious moment that came out of the event. This is my Chloe taking some time out away from the other dogs to play with her mother, Mitsy.

Chloe is the silver with the pink bows.  And Yes, dogs do remember their birth mothers.

How cute is this?

Write a Story With me #68 – Anmol “You have to understand!”

Write a Story with Me is a group endeavor just for the fun of it.  A different writer adds a new 250 words each week.  It is the ultimate Flash Fiction Challenge!

If you’d like to sign up, come on over.  There’s always room for more!

Here’s this week’s excerpt.  We hope you enjoy!

#68 Anmol (howanxious.wordpress.com)

While the confused father Yoran was trying to figure out his next course of action, his daughters were swooning over their newborn brother. Natalia was looking at them adoringly when Morath interrupted her thoughts, “I need to talk to you, Natalia.”

“The danger hasn’t yet gone. The war is going to aggravate soon.”

“I can understand. I am worried about Yoran. Will he be alright?” Natalia was genuinely concerned about her husband whom she immensely loved.

“He will be fine. What I am worried about is your own safety and that of the children. I suggest you take them to a safe place. I can have some one take you all there.”

“No… no…,” she voiced her opinion, “I can’t go. My husband is here. You have to understand.”

Morath ignored her plea and spoke in her authoritarian voice, “What about your girls and the young boy? I do not want them to be hurt.” Her eyes had gone red and Natalia shivered, looking at this powerful image. All the Fae around had gone white in the face as well.

“But after all, they are your children. You must decide what you want to do,” she continued, keeping her emotions in check and moved away from the frightened mother.

She was suspicious of Yoran. She was not sure, whether she should believe him or not. As a leader, she would have to do something that would surprise even him. It was time to incarnate the fighter in her.

Want to read more?  See below for past excerpts.

If you’d like to sign up, come on over.  There’s always room for more!

Parts One – Fifty Click Here

Part Fifty-One – Joe Owens

Part Fifty-Two – Shayla Kwiatkowski

Part Fifty-Three – Jennifer Eaton

Part Fifty-Four – Shan Jeniah Burton

Part Fifty-Five – Jenny Keller Ford

Part Fifty-Six – Susan Rocan

Part Fifty-Seven – Susan Roebuck

Part Fifty-Eight – Elin Gregory

Part Fifty-Nine – Nicky Wells

Part Sixty – Vanessa-Jane Chapman

Part Sixty-One – Ravena Guron

Part Sixty-Two – Julie Catherine

Part Sixty-Three – Kai Damian

Part Sixty-Four – Richard Leonard

Part Sixty-Five – Danielle Ackley McPhail

Part Sixty-Six – Joe Owens

Part Sixty-Seven – Shayla Kwiatkowski

Part Sixty-Eight – Anmol

Don’t forget to stop by next week to see what happens next.

Norah Jansen — TAG!  You are “It”

Write a Story With Me Contributors

shayla kwiatkowski gryphonboy Jennifer M. Eaton Vanessa Chapman
Siv Maria Sharon Manship shanjeniah Vikki (The View Outside)
Danielle Ackley-McPhail Richard Leonard susanroebuck Jenny Keller Ford
aparnauteur kaidamian Eileen Snyder Elin Gregory
Joe Owens anelephantcant mysocalledDutchlife Nicky Wells
norahdeayjansen Julie Catherine Ravena Guron
Anmol     jiltaroo 4amWriter mywithershins

1 swivel

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Reconnecting with Art – Manga Lessons #2 – The dreaded 3/4 face

After last week’s fairly successful attempt after a 12 year hiatus from drawing, My son and I sat down for another round this week.  He wanted to perfect his character from last week, so he continued with the first pose.

I moved on to a pose that was my nemesis when I drew realistic characters… the 3/4 face.  BBbbrrrrrrr.  Gives me the chills just thinking about it.

Not too shabby though.  This style is really easy to draw in.  (Okay, not completely easy, and my growling son would attest to… but certainly not hard if you have mastered how to make a pencil do what you command)

Manga 2

Anyway, here’s the 3/4 face pose (turned slightly to the side) Again, I’m pretty happy except for the stinking hair!

I will master you, Manga hair. Oh yes, I will!

JenniFer_EatonF

Rekindling your relationship with things you used to love

My oldest son recently has been asking questions about art.  He wants to learn to draw.  Hubby said “Ask your Mom.  She’s a great artist.”  So, I sat with him a few times and gave him pointers… not really expecting him to take anything seriously. (He jumps from thing to thing a lot these days.)

This weekend he asked if I would take him to the store to get some supplies.  Nothing fancy, just some pencils, a real drawing pad, and colored pencils.

He was a little overwhelmed with all the choices, but we decided on a few basic supplies, and I told him I’d see if I had any colored pencils in my old art supplies. He was really interested in learning to draw in the Manga style, so I picked him up an instructional book.

As we sifted through my supplies at home, I came across my old sketch books, and my paintings.

Dude’s eyes opened in awe.  “Wow, you drew these?  Why did you stop?”

Why did you stop?

Well, the truth was, I hadn’t picked up a pencil or a paintbrush since a few weeks before he was born (and he’s 12) I told him, “After I had kids I just had different priorities.”

He said to me, “But we’re all older now.  You should start drawing again.”

So, I figured, why not?

I sat down with a sketch pad, opened up the book on how to draw Manga, and just followed the directions.

To be honest, after not drawing for 12 years I was a little skeptical what I’d be able to do, but I was pretty happy with what popped out of my pencil within 15 minutes or so.

Manga photo 1

I have to admit, it felt really good having a pencil in my hand again.  Yeah, I made a few mistakes and had to erase a little, but I was dern pleased that it didn’t totally stink after being out of practice for so long.

My son asked if I’d take a night a week to draw with him.  I figure, why not?  I need to work on my Manga hair, anyway. Maybe the next one won’t have split ends.  🙂

A review of Sweet Blood of Mine by @John_Corwin

Jump aboard!  It’s going to be a bumpy ride!  I really enjoyed this story from so many angles it’s not funny.

This is a story about an overweight geeky teen boy who suddenly becomes a soul-sucking incubus. (Don’t blame him.  It’s hereditary.)

The only problem is… no one told him anything about it, and he has no idea what’s going on.

I loved the world-building in this novel, and the voice is AWESOME. The main character seems real, and deals with his “changes” in a realistic way.

The only thing I can fault in Sweet Blood of Mine is the beginning, which is a bit long and drawn out.  I was so interested in the character’s voice though, that I kept reading.  The writing is fluid, and very well done.  And, in the end, I’m glad I kept reading because I ended up just LOVING this story, and cheering the main characters on as these two teenagers set off to on an adventure to save the boy’s father from the nasty supernatural bad-guys.

I’m going to dock one star for the overly-long beginning, but once you get past that, and his abilities flare up, this is an action packed roller-coaster ride of fun.

Oh yeah – here’s a warning.  This book is free right now, and this is a classic case of free done well…  There is an excerpt of the next book in the last few pages. And guess what I did?  Yep – I clicked that Buy it Now button.

This is a perfect example to me of how giving away a free book can work.   This book was so good that I didn’t hesitate to pick up the next one.  Be warned – there’s a whole series of these suckers, but at $2.99 a download, I’m good with that. If you like to romp around in the YA world (just inching toward new adult) I would HIGHLY recommend this.

Write a Story with Me Part 30 – To Janelle’s Horror “What?” – With Richard Leonard

Surprise!  I’m changing the day for “Write a Story with Me” from Tuesdays to Mondays.  Why?  Well, ’cause I can!  Here we go!

It’s been nearly a month since we saw Marci’s poor mom go into labor all alone!  Richard Leonard throws it back to  the birth string this week.  Will Janelle get help in time?  Take it away, Richard!

30 – Richard Leonard

Janelle was already out the bedroom door before realising the old woman was still fumbling for her walking stick. She watched helplessly as Morana shuffled unsteadily across the short distance from the bed to the other side of the night-stand where her walking stick rested, using the night-stand for support. Janelle’s mood fell as she realised how frail the old lady now was. Her magic could only do so much.

“I’m sorry, Morana. I wasn’t aware you cannot -”

“I can do this, Young Fairy. I must do this”, Morana said.

Janelle, said nothing, guilt building within her. To drag this weak old dear out into the cold night to help a woman giving birth seemed to be a cruel irony. Patience, Janelle, patience. At the same time she needed to hurry. The longer Natalia was without proper assistance the more dangerous the situation becomes.

Morana finally had the support of her stick and began a steady rhythm of shuffling towards the door and out of the house. Janelle, to ease her impatience and peace of mind,  would fly up and down the street and patrol the area while Morana hobbled slowly towards Natalia’s residence. At the end of every run she would check on Natalia through the window, carefully ensuring she was still in a stable condition, sometimes offering reassurance that help was on its way.

On the way back she would arrive with relief to find that Morana had made significant progress walking up the street. This continued for several shortening laps until, to Janelle’s horror,

Oh!  The mid sentance stop!  What a way to leave it.  Someone’s quaking in their booth figuring out what Janelle saw!

Write a Story with Me is a group endeavor just for the fun of it.  A different writer adds a new 250 words each week.  It is the ultimate Flash Fiction Challenge!

If you’d like to sign up, come on over.  There’s always room for more!

Part One – Jennifer M. Eaton

Part Two – J. Keller Ford

Part Three – Susan Roebuck

Part Four – Elin Gregory

Part Five – Eileen Snyder

Part Six – Mikaela Wire

Part Seven — Vanessa Chapman

Part Eight — Ravena Guron

Part Nine – Vikki Thompson

Part Ten — Susan Rocan mywithershins

Part Eleven — Kate Johnston  AKA 4AMWriter

Part Twelve — Julie Catherine

Part Thirteen — Kai Damian

Part Fourteen — Richard Leonard

Part Fifteen — Sharon Manship

Part Sixteen – Shannon Blue Christensen

Part Seventeen — Bryn Jones

Part Eighteen — Jennifer M. Eaton

Part Nineteen — Shannon Burton

Part Twenty — J.Keller Ford

Part Twenty-One — Susan Roebuck

Part Twenty-Two — Elin Gregory

Part Twenty-Three — Aparnauteur

Part Twenty-Four — Vanessa Chapman

Part Twenty-Five — Ravena Guron

Part Twenty Six — Susan Rocan

Part Twenty Seven — Kate Johnson AKA 4AMWriter

Part Twenty Eight – Julie Catherine

Part Twenty Nine — Kai Damian

Part Thirty — Richard Leonard

Don’t forget to stop by next week to see what happens next.

 Sharon Manship — TAG!  You are “It”

Shameless Promotion! Pet Photo Contest! You Gotta Vote

My Little Girl is a finalist in the Still Moments Magazine’s Pet Photo Contest.

Hop on over and vote for your favorite of five.

I’m not gonna tell you which is mine, because that would be cheating.  Vote for who you think is the cutest!

http://stillmomentsezine.blogspot.com/2013/01/pet-phot-contest.html

JenniFer_EatonF

Do I read what I write? Umm… Huh? Do I have to answer that?

Are ya looking for Romancing Your E-Reader?  25 Ebooks Up for grabs!  Click Here to Enter!

ChristmasFiligree

Yep, I’m still hopping around in cyber-mayhem promoting “For the Love of Christmas” and

  “Make Believe”.  Today I am guest-posting on Jenny Keller Ford’s site, so please hop on over so I don’t get lonely.  I’m talking about breaking the rules a little.  Shhhh! Don’t tell anyone.

Come on over!

I love to see familiar faces!

ChristmasFiligree

Make BelieveFor The Love Of Christmas CoverWhy all the hullabaloo? Well, it’s to promote my two new releases “Make Believe” and “For the Love of Christmas”

That’s why!

And don’t forget to click on “Enter to Win” for a chance to win your choice of the two titles! Yay!

Oh, I almost forgot… A few random commentors along the tour path will win their choice of anthologies, too. So be sure to hop on over and say “Hi”

ChristmasFiligree

Hop on over and send me some love!

Jenny Keller Ford‘s blog- Why I don’t read what I write.

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Visit my Anthology buddies!  They are celebrating too!

Jenny Keller Ford

J.A. Belfield

Kelly Said

Lynda R. Young

Terri Rochenski

JenniFer_EatonF

What gives you the greatest pleasure in writing?

Today I took on a lot of great questions, but I think my favorite is “What gives you the greatest pleasure in writing?” I had to give a concise answer, but I think I’m going to come back to this in greater detail someday.

To see my answer, hop on over to Jenny Keller Ford‘s site.

How about you? What gives you the greatest pleasure in writing?

Thanks so much, Jenny Keller Ford for hosting me today!

ChristmasFiligree

Make BelieveFor The Love Of Christmas CoverWhy all the hullabaloo? Well, it’s to promote my two new releases “Make Believe” and “For the Love of Christmas”

That’s why!

And don’t forget to click on “Enter to Win” for a chance to win your choice of the two titles! Yay!

Oh, I almost forgot… A few random commentors along the tour path will win their choice of anthologies, too. So be sure to hop on over and say “Hi”

ChristmasFiligree

Hop on over and send me some love!

ChristmasFiligree

Visit my Anthology buddies!  They are celebrating too!

Jenny Keller Ford

J.A. Belfield

Kelly Said

Lynda R. Young

Terri Rochenski

JenniFer_EatonF