HEARTICLES: Articles with Heart

An Exclusive Interview with Kris Kringle by Kemberlee Shortland copyright December 2010 I caught up with Kris Kringle over the summer and had the chance to chat with him about his life as Father Christmas and the goings-on at the North Pole. Grab a mug of eggnog and take a moment to learn a few secrets about auld St. Nick! The truth might amaze you . . . or shock you! Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to chat with us, Kris. We understand how busy you must be this time of year. {Santa laughs} What can you tell us a bit about yourself, your family, and your job? {thinking, eyes rolling toward ceiling briefly} I was born in Patara of Lycia, now Turkey, sometime in the middle of the 3rd century {winks}. When you're my age, the exact date doesn't seem to matter. Ho, ho, ho! {belly jiggles like a bowl of jelly} I was raised in a monastery in Myra when my folks passed away. When I was 30 I became the Bishop of Lycia. Of course, back then I was called Nicholas. I'...

When we think about the holidays, it's usually the time around Christmas. But really, and especially in America, it's the last three months of the year. Halloween begins with kids wanting the perfect costume for school events, and maybe a different costume for trick or treating with their friends. And while we might have a short lull before Thanksgiving, we're still consciously thinking about all the dishes needing preparation before the big day. Never mind the decorating! Come Black Friday — that day after Thanksgiving Day when we all realize there's just four weeks until Christmas — utter panic sets in. We have to shop for gifts, post holiday cards, put up decorations, make sure the dinner invites have been sent, and we can't forget to order The Bird, shop for food, then start cooking. There's no time to sit on our laurels, as the after-Christmas sales start on the 26th. Then comes New Years Eve and Day — another day of too much food and drink, and if you like...

{please note, this article is aimed at writer's not participating in this month's NaNoWriMo} "OMG! I haven't written anything — anything — in a month! Where has the time gone? What's wrong with me? I'll never get this book published if I can't hunker down and write!" Have you said this? I bet you have, at least to some degree. But let's look back over your last month, or number of weeks, since you've written. Have you been concentrating on submissions of a previous story? If you're previously published, are you submitting to reviewers or doing guest blog spots to promote your latest book? Are you a member of a critique group or have a partner you critique with? Do you write a blog? Have you got buried yourself in research? There are a number of reasons why you're not working on your story, but that doesn't mean you're not writing. If you're submitting to agents and publishers, that's important if you want your story pub...

I was recently asked what age I thought was too young for reading romance novels. My first inclination was to say at least 16. But then I got to thinking, what was the first romance novel I read and how old was I? I started reading romance when I was 13 but really, it was probably earlier. I distinctly remember buying my first romance novel and knowing it was romance. That was in 1981 when I was 16; the book was Highland Velvet by Jude Deveraux. I was an early reader though and thought romances were adventure stories. I can't remember titles or authors prior to Deveraux, but I do remember being captivated by tales set on the high seas, wagons crossing the prairie, or epics taking place in far off places. I was a young woman on the brink of adulthood and where I'd previously ignored the intimate scenes of the characters, I was now intrigued by them. The question of how old a girl should be before being allowed to read romances has long been asked. Friends who started readi...

So, you have a blog and you're wondering why you also need a website. The biggest difference between a blog and a website is that blogs are generally about current, up-to-date information. The most current of that information always comes up immediately when visitors log in. Websites are generally more static, offering semi-permanent landing points for visitors who want to learn more about you and your work. Traditionally, the homepage is the only page that frequently changes. And for people like me who have a blog and a website, it's easy to use the blog as the homepage to the website, then use the website itself for the semi-static information. More about this later. First off, here are the top ten reasons why you need a website — 1) Compartmentalization - By setting up dedicated areas for specific things, visitors to your site can click into that section and find everything they're looking for in that topic in the one place, such as all of your books or to learn more ab...

Blogging is the 'in' thing at the moment. Everyone seems to be doing it. But why? What makes it so popular? Before we can go into the reasons why one should blog, let's look at what a blog is. The word blog is the combination of the words web and log. A web log is essentially an online diary. The forerunner of the blog was the online journal or online diary. Claudio Pinhanez's "Open Diary" is thought to be the first web page in an online diary format. He published his diary at the MIT Media Lab at Cambridge, Massachusetts's website from 14 November 1994 to sometime in 1996. In 1994, "Carolyn's Diary" was published by Carolyn Burke. In subsequent years, several other online diaries were started, and by 1998, the word blog first appeared on the scene. Since that time, the word blog has been entered into most English dictionaries and has also become part of our everyday language — "Are you going to blog today?" or "Are you working...

I'm sure I'm not the only one whose editor has said, "This is telling. SHOW your reader . . . ". Here's an example — Telling: Mary showered before dressing. Showing: Mary stepped from the steaming shower and wrapped herself in a thick white terrycloth towel. Her hair was bound to keep it dry, but now she let it down. She watched the coppery curls fall about her bare shoulders in the foggy mirror, her reflection an apparition in the haze. In the showing example, the reader is in the bathroom with Mary. While her actual features are blurred in the foggy mirror, we know she has coppery hair and it's long enough that if falls about her shoulders. Here's another one — Telling: John played the guitar. Showing: The sound was as gentle as a pleasured woman’s moan yet seemed almost too big for the tiny room. John closed his eyes, enjoying the erotic sensation of the hum of the cords reverberating through his belly. He let his fingers slide over th...

Writer's Block - n. Psychological inability to begin or continue work on a piece of writing. Imagine this scenario — You're at your desk. You've been in a writing frenzy; the words are pouring out of you like water. Suddenly you're sweating, struggling to find the right words, then story comes to a blinding halt. You sit back and think about it for a while. What happens next? You check your email to see if anyone wants to talk to you, because obviously, your characters don't want to. You check Facebook. Check your crops at Farmville. You might even make a few phone calls. They're just little things, right? Back at your story, you reread the last page or two to catch up. You're ready to write again, but when you come to the last thing you wrote two hours ago you suffer the same problem. What happens next? You've gotta think about it for a while, so you get up and vacuum the floor. Back at your desk, you look at the screen before you. The cursor is blinki...