The Good, Bad & Ugly @ the Holidays

With the holidays coming up, it can be an exciting time coming up, but also stressful.  There are travel arrangements, what you're cooking, if you're hosting or bringing stuff, and gifts to possibly bring with you.

Often, we are happy and excited to see people we don't normally get to see unless it's a family or other type of gathering.  Other times, it's stressful because there is that one (or more) person(s) that you really do not care to deal with for whatever your good reason is.  If you're lucky, you're in town and can create an escape plan.  Other times we are stuck for a few days out of town or sharing a space with those who cause stress.

In case you need to create that buffer because you can't exactly leave, I suggest that you have a tablet or laptop to bring with that can go online so you can read my good friend Soldwolf's novel in the making, called Meeting the Parents (ch 1) - a Military Science Fiction story in the making.  The futuristic setting is a United Earth, with intergalactic allies and foes, cultural nuances and keeping peace among the planets.  The action is solid, relationships forged and established, and the characters endearing.  Aside from the daily paper, this can be your Morning Revelations (ch 7) and get to know what happens Later That Day (ch 9) in one sitting.  If you're missing your Grandmother (ch 11), maybe you can connect with this one, who has a big enough heart to accept her granddaughter's new guy right off the bat. 

Sometimes it's nice to be able to have family Meetings & Arrivals (ch 31) but then again, it's a stress reliever to make your Goodbyes & Travels (ch 21)

Maybe you're more interested in what happens strategically, at SSQH (ch 14) or more action pact like Takedowns (ch 41).  If you're more into detective work, you'll like Explorations & Discoveries (ch 44) or executive moves like Discoveries & Decisions (ch 45).

For those of you with toxic people in your lives where you've had to walk away, and miss the hustle and bustle, I feel you.  Maybe reading this will help take up some of that time to feel less lonely.  As for me, I'm taking strays for the big dinners and growing my chosen family.  Enjoy the read, the more clicks that happen, the better chance he has of being found by publishers to get a real book deal!