Lydia Schoch

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How has this year passed by so quickly? It seems like 2021 just began.

Here are some of the things that spark my creativity.

Quiet Time Alone. That is to say, I must be alone and in a quiet environment. Just one of these two things is nice and can go some of the way to refilling my introverted needs, but I need both for my creative juices to really start flowing.

No Pressure. The more freedom I give myself to write whatever I want, the more I can get written.

Amusing News Stories. Truth is stranger than fiction sometimes. Why not use it as the basis of a new story?

Kernels of Truth. A lot of what I write is inspired by true events. Someone who has known me for years might pick out a scene, a setting, or a snippet of  a conversation from something that actually happened, but all of the scenes before and after it will be pure fiction.

Justice. Real life isn’t always a fair or just place by any means, so I find comfort in generally making things turn out all right in the end in the worlds I create. What makes this interesting is that some of the books I read do not follow this same pattern at all! I think there’s plenty of room for all sorts of tales in our world.

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Butter tarts.

Canada celebrates Thanksgiving about six weeks before the United States does, but the types of food typically served at both of these Thanksgivings are pretty similar with one exception which I will take note of in my next paragraph.

Some Canadian families serve butter tarts for or as part of their dessert at Thanksgiving. I can’t eat them due to my milk allergy, but I keep hoping one of our local vegan bakeries will make a version of them I can try someday. They do look good.

I always enjoy eating pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes with gravy, dinner rolls, ham, fresh salads, and roasted vegetables. (My family would switch between serving ham and turkey depending on which one was on sale before Thanksgiving, so they’re both Thanksgiving foods to me).

I have neutral feelings about sweet potato casserole (generally too sweet for my tastes), canned cranberry sauce (sometimes too sour) and roasted turkey (often too dry). These are foods I’ll take a small, polite serving of but generally skip over when it’s time for another round of food.

I dislike fresh cranberry sauce because of how sour it is, so this is something I quietly leave for others to enjoy.

My grandparents tend to serve apple or other types of fruit pie at Thanksgiving as well. This seems to be a fairly common thing in the Midwest, although I don’t know if the same can be said for other parts of the United States. Maybe one of my fellow Americans can say?

Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever tasted a pie I disliked, fruit-filled or otherwise. They’re all delicious to me!

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Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

Ebooks are my first choice because they enable me to carry hundreds of books around with me wherever I go. It’s easy to bookmark where I stopped reading, and I never have to worry about having an allergic reaction to them.

With that being said, I did begin to learn to enjoy audiobooks last year. It’s nice to listen to a story unfold while you’re doing chores or taking a walk, especially if it’s something I’ve read many times before.

Sometimes I get distracted while using audiobooks, so my preference is to save them for rereads of old favourites. This way it doesn’t matter if I accidentally tune out for 10 minutes. I’ll still know what happened and what will happen next.

Paper books often cause uncomfortable allergic reactions for me if they have any mold, mildew, or dust in them at all. The older a book is, the harder it becomes to completely avoid these things in them. My immune system is pretty sensitive to the slightest whiff of this stuff. If only I could somehow monetize that superpower!

I tend not to read paper books for this reason unless I’m travelling somewhere that doesn’t have reliable internet or electricity. With that being said, they’re an awesome choice if you’re going camping in the middle of nowhere or if the power goes out.