Hunt for truly green holiday cards month: I think most writers can relate to my love affair with al kinds of paper. I have a stack of full sized notebooks, little ones with magnetic closures (some with a place for a pen) to carry in my bag and lovely notepads and cards for all occasions. BP (before pandemic,) I even asked to see the variety of stamps to choose from at the post office. Other than the stamps and those little pads I’ve stopped buying, all of that paper is now 100% post consumer waste, Yes, it costs a bit more, but it’s worth it. We need to buy products made from post-consumer waste to complete the cycle. If there isn’t a market for those goods, all of the recycling we do will likely end up in landfills anyway.
For decades, November began a frustrating hunt for holiday cards made from even a decent percentage of recycled paper. I always left a certain big box book store upset that several tables piled high with cards only yielded two that indicated any type of environmental consciousness. How many trees are sacrificed each year for our holiday card habit?
Last year I discovered the holy grail, PaperCulture.com. They not only sell good quality cards made from 100% post consumer waste, but have done the dedicated work of becoming a carbon neutral company. They even plant a tree with every order. They offer all of the same holiday photo cards, printing, addressing and mailing services as those other companies who have made little or no effort to be environmentally kind.
This is not an affiliate link. I hope to include environmentally and socially conscious affiliate links in the future, along with information I’m learning on my journey to making this site fully accessible to people of all abilities.
National Novel Writing Month!
Known as NaNoWriMo to writers who gear up and immerse themselves in this adventure every year, the idea is to write 50,000 words of a “shitty first draft” of a novel in one month. Today is November 13 and, barring flood or an invasion of locusts (we already have a pandemic,) I’ll surpass 30,000 words tonight. That’s 3/5 of the way to the finish line and not even half way through the month.
This is my second year doing it and it’s been more fun this year. I’m working on a modern day cozy mystery with an historical element.
If you’re interested, see my post from last year and you can also check it out at https://nanowrimo.org/
What about you? Have you ever participated in NaNoWriMo? Did you have fun? Finish? Pantser or Outliner? I’d love to hear from you in the comments.
I’ll leave you with a couple of fun distractions for these stressful times
A bit of word fun: Find out which words were first used in print during your birth year on the Miriam Webster site: https://www.merriam-webster.com/time-traveler/2020. Highlights of my birth year? La dolce vita, post Aparteid (only a dream at the time,) and chocoholic. Lowlights? lip sync, eating disorder and deet (toxic weed killer for those born after it was banned) The nostalgic: reel-to-reel (large tape recorder and player,) unitard and wazoo. Here’s your clue to my decade: Affirmative Action, Anti-harassment and mindaltering. The most fun ones: nonword, no holds barred and telenovela.
Finally, if, like me, you’re tired of the view out your window during this pandemic, you can swap it for ones people all over the world have uploaded to Window Swap. https://www.window-swap.com/
If you try any of these sites, I’ve love to hear your reactions in the comments!