Tag Archives: McKinney High Class of 1986

What’s Coming Next?

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Any new book releases? Any new news? Both, of course!

Remember James and Sally from May I Have Your Attention Please? They were in for quite a shock on the first day of junior year of high school, when Sally returned from private school, had an early morning run-in with James, and the fabric of the whole universe was changed for them both. We followed them through a year of discovery, finding love and their place in the world.

At the same time, Kim and Carl were struggling to get past their challenging childhoods and letting themselves fall for each other fall hard in I Just Can’t Say I Love You. They took a chance on each other, leaving their lifetime homes and everything they knew behind them to venture out west. Along the way, they found themselves learning about what loyalty and happiness meant, and they learned who they could really trust with their hearts, and their lives.

And then there was Chris, in Absolutely and Totally Smitten. He was the ultimate rebel, king of the Bad Boy Posse. Suddenly, everything changed, and Chris found himself alone and confused. None of his old habits and skills could get him out of this one. But one thing he still had were his friends. And he a was amazed when one day, in college, one of those friends became something so much more to him. But was he in any place to open his heart again and let love in? Or would he only be facing a world of pain, maybe even one of his own design?

So what comes next for the friends of McKinney High Class of 1986?

Get ready to meet Stavros. He doesn’t go to McKinney High. He doesn’t even live in Eastboro. As a matter of fact, he doesn’t even meet anyone from Eastboro until years after high school. So what is he doing in this series? I’ll tell you what: Stavros is getting ready to overcome one of the worst traumas that can occur in childhood. He is able to try to live his life like normal, not knowing that normal just doesn’t apply to his life. And when everything finally blows up after graduation, Stavros is left in pieces, not knowing how to cope. He makes some decisions that lead him down a very dangerous and destructive path, one he will have to spend years trying to dig himself out of.

In the meantime, Darlene is struggling with her day-to-day life in Eastboro, making friends in elementary school, faking her way through social issues in junior high, and coming close to crashing when something horrible happens to her at junior prom. But Darlene must always keep the smile on her face. She must show the world that everything is just fine, especially her mother. And she must follow the path that her father set in motion for her life years earlier. Inside, she is dying, but somehow, she keeps going. It’s all good until she finally collapses in college, leading to suspicion from her mother. She still powers forward, getting through to graduation, and even into the working world. It’s not until she starts the path to graduate school that the one event that could make her break occurs and puts her out of commission. From that day on, Darlene must work to save herself, and to prove to herself that she is worthy of saving.

What happens when at last Stavros and Darlene meet? What can they possibly offer each other? Are they too broken to let love into their lives, or can love help them to continue in their own recovery journeys?

Coming in September: The Stories That Must Be Told. The story of loss, self-destruction, and final redemption. And overall, learning to let love into your heart, no matter how scary it might be. It might just be the best thing that ever happens to you.

In other writing new:

Coming this September: Don’t Say A Word is coming out in an audio format! I’m so excited to let you all know about this! I have had so many requests for audio versions of my books. This is the first try. I am very pleased to have found a wonderful, experienced narrator, making me feel a lot less nervous about the process. More to come on this venture soon!

COMING IN DECEMBER:

Book 2 of the Anomaly series, called Blinding Justice. Kaya and Graham are back, along with Grayson, Dr. Blake, and a whole new group of characters with various skills and abilities. I don’t want to give away too much right now, but just know this: Kaya is NOT the only person in the world who can do what she does…or other things. And we will be meeting some of them in this book. I can’t wait until you start to meet the gang. I love these characters like they were my own friends, which makes sense, since I’m actually currently writing book 13 of this series!

More to come as all of these releases get closer. If you have any questions, you can contact me. I’d be happy to tell you more about these series, and these dynamic characters!

Here again are the links to my Facebook page, Debby Meltzer Quick Author, TikTok, @dbmquick and Instagram, quickdebby_author. Please follow me on these pages. And please explore my page here at debbymeltzerquickauthor.com.

And here is the link to my new book, Don’t Say a Word

Sometimes I Screw Up

I Just Can't Say I Love You, May I Have Your Attention Please, McKinney High Class of 1986, mental health, self-publishing, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Photo by Liza Summer on Pexels.com

ADHD is a much bigger part of my life than I give it credit for. I’ve most likely suffered from it since elementary school, or even before, but it went without formal diagnosis until I was in my 30s. That’s pretty common for women of a certain age. My age. We had no idea that we had something going on that was beyond our control. It was always explained as a character defect, and we believed it. At least I did. I thought I was lazy, because I couldn’t self-start. I spent a lot of time sitting on the couch, watching TV, because that took no planning, and no skill, really. Well, at least until they invented remote controls, and then even more complicated remote controls. And they you had 4 of them for the various devices attached to the TV, and if you hit the wrong button, you could never turn on the TV again, or you messed up the cable channels, and you couldn’t find your shows, or…

(Going off on tangents is a symptom of ADHD, BTW)

I made it into adulthood without absent mindedly falling through a manhole into the center of the earth. I still find that hard to believe. I think I’ve run into a few metal poles because I wasn’t paying attention. *Rubs forehead delicately* But I made it. Here I am! I still struggle. The struggle is very, very real. Only now I know that it’s not my fault. But now that I know it’s not my fault, it’s my responsibility to get over that fact and do what I can to make it better. To let go of the guilt and self-blame and do the work. I took a great class on ADHD at Kaiser Portland via telehealth during the COVID shutdowns. It was fantastic. The instructor didn’t tell me all the stuff I already knew. She told me stuff based on evidence. Not only about my affliction, but also about things that can be done to make it better. Exercise. Good food choices. Sleep. For some people, medication. There’s stuff you can do to your vagal nerve to stimulate it and decrease anxiety. You can practice mindfulness. You can make schedules, and post little reminder notes for yourself all over your house so you don’t forget to make that important phone call that you couldn’t make over the weekend because the place was closed. I personally email myself to my work email to tell myself to make the stupid phone call. Otherwise, I don’t think about it until I get home after work, see the empty prescription bottle on my table, and slap myself in the forehead in frustration. So yeah, lots of stuff you can try. You can also remind yourself that you’re not faulty because you forgot something. You can explain to others that you’re not faulty, while still taking responsibility for your actions. ADHD is not an excuse…it might explain why you did something, but then you have to come up with a plan so that you can show it won’t happen again. But the most important thing to remember is, you’re not faulty. You really aren’t.

Sometimes, I feel faulty. And that’s okay. It really is. Not in the moment. In the moment, it feels like crap and I’m full of nasty things to say about myself and what I did or didn’t do. No one can beat me up any better than I can beat myself up. And you know what happens when you beat yourself up for something that you just did? Your memory of all the other things you ever screwed up on in your whole life pops into your head, and you beat yourself up for those things, too. Man, I’m kind of a bitch! Never get on my bad side! I can be very mean. To myself.

But then, later, I remember. My brain works differently than those of many people in our society, the people who made the rules about how our brains should work. Then I just get mad at them. We’re not all alike. We all have our own ways. We need to celebrate the way we think, and how it makes us special. Without my special brain, I would never have written 20 books, and now be writing number 21. I wouldn’t be able to have the singular focus it takes to sit there on my couch with my computer, day after day, typing, creating stories, and bringing them to life. I’m not a planner, as I’ve said. It’s too hard for me to sit down and complete an outline, and then stick to said outline. So every time I sit down, I have no more idea of what will happen next in my stories than you do. It’s always a surprise. I love reading back what I wrote. “Oh!” I exclaim to myself. “That’s pretty good! I wrote that? What will I write next? I can’t wait to find out!”

But then I do stupid things. Like last month. I was planning my release of my third book, Absolutely and Totally Smitten, and in preparation for the release, I ordered 20 copies of the book, to sell at the launch event. Well, they never showed up. Grr. I was upset, because I really wanted to have them there. But my guests bought copies of my first 2 books, which was nice, so the day was a success. A week later, the books still hadn’t arrived on my doorstep. Curious, I went to the web site to see what was going on. And of course, what I found out was…I had filled in the order, but I had never hit the last button, the one to send the order in. Oh Lord. I should have known. I rolled my eyes at myself, pushed the button, and closed to the computer, laughing at my silly ADHD antics. Then I moved on with life.

Well, yesterday, they finally arrived! Finally! I took to the box with a pair of scissors and wrestled with the packing tape. I finally got the tape off and readied myself for the reveal of…20 copies of the wrong book. Groan. Yes, in my haste, I had pushed the order button on the wrong book, my first book, titled May I Have Your Attention Please, a book that I already have a bunch of copies of. Well, okay, I’m pretty sure I could sell some more copies of it, so I won’t return them. I went on the website again today, found the order I had started for the correct book, and completed that order. AND HIT THE SEND BUTTON. And then I beat myself up. Just once. JUST ONCE I would like to find that it was a mistake at the publisher. Yes, this is not the first time I have completed a task without checking the details before hitting send. I mean, yeah, right????

So all that being said, does anyone want a signed copy of May I Have Your Attention Please? Because, I just so happen to have a few on hand!

$16 USD for the book, and $4 for shipping (US only). So $20 for a signed copy that someday, may be worth, well, less than $16! If you’re in Portland, hit me up, and I can bring it to you personally!

Let me know. I’ll send one to you. Real quick. If I don’t forget! Damn ADHD!

My books can be found here.

Have a great week, y’all!

“Absolutely and Totally Smitten” and Author Takeover!

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Book number 3 is making its big debut on Valentine’s Day! But first, you can get the eBook on Amazon on pre-sale.

Absolutely and Totally Smitten

It will be delivered to your device on February 14!

On February 17, I will be doing an author takeover on BTC Bookclub https://www.facebook.com/groups/575816683857603/?ref=share_group_link&exp=7ffb

I will have control most of the day. I will be having a small launch party that day, too, and I will do a reading. It’s book number 3, which is a lot like baby number 3, so I’m not gonna throw it a huge shower! Anyway, I’ll be posting hourly on the site, and doing a giveaway. It should be fun. I hope you can check it out and show your support. It would mean a lot!

It feels pretty great to have three books published now. My favorite book is #4, which will come out next. It’s probably a good idea to read the others first so all the relationships make sense, but you can pretty much pick up any of my books and get a coherent story even if you haven’t read any of the others. Just be aware, you might not pick up on some of the background nuance. As long as you go into it aware, it will be okay!

Here is the blurb for book 3, Absolutely and Totally Smitten

Can you climb back up after you’ve fallen from the top of the world?

Chris Mahoney was born destined for greatness. He is a natural leader and rules a posse of junior high bad boys. But in high school, things start to change for Chris. He discovers first love, and he starts to mend his bad boy ways. When circumstances beyond his control lead to heartbreak and loneliness, Chris must find a way to get through, and humble himself enough to ask for help. Soon, he and his friends are off to college, and new experiences. Growth and more heartache follow him into his adult years, until something unexpected occurs. He encounters an old acquaintance from high school, and slowly becomes intrigued with her charm. But can he open himself up to possibly being hurt yet again?

Absolutely and Totally Smitten is the third book in the series McKinney High Class of 1986. It follows your favorite teens through the journey from childhood into adulthood, and the exhilarating experience of getting to know your forever friends all over again as adults.

Give it a read! What do you have to lose???

Book 2 is Coming! Book 2 is Coming!

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It’s coming soon! My new book, book 2 in the series, “McKinney High Class of 1986, ” I Just Can’t Say I Love You! I’m so excited about this! Launching Book 1 was exciting and stressful. And launching Book 2 is, well, stressful and exciting! It definitely was less scary. I mean the whole process. I was so terrified to send my files to the distributors the first time, like something I did would break the whole system and steal all my money. I had to actually go to Best Buy last time to have them help me load one of my files due to the imbedded fonts. This time, everything went through almost much too easily. I’ve requested proofs to be sent to me and I just have to wait to make sure, but then I can order real copies, and start to sell them! To be honest, I love my first book, but I really feel that each of my books gets better and better than the last one. I’m writing number 11 right now. Maybe it will be a Pulitzer Prize winner! Haha.

But the struggle has been real. This whole indie scene has been a struggle. Nothing is easy about self-publishing, and the payoff, well, is not much of a payoff. I was aware that it would be slow going, but I had no idea how frustrating it would be, not being able to break through to the public. I know I have this great product, but I just can’t get it out there. I have sold a bit above 100 copies of my book. I have given away several more. I have sold a couple in bookstores, which is exciting, but there are soooo many books to compete with, including those that have become best sellers (I’m talking about you, Colleen Hoover). It doesn’t help that I have to work full time in a very stressful profession at the same time as trying to market my books. I can’t spend all day trying to push my books. So I do as much as I can on social media. I feel a bit like a telemarketer! Recently, I changed jobs, and I no longer have a commute where I can read, write, or go on social media. Sometimes, I would even market on the bus. That was fun. I would read my own book on the bus and when someone asked me what I was reading, I would tell them. And show them. And sometimes impress them. But now I have a five-block walk to work. I could try to sell to the pigeons along the way, but they like mystery books better as a group. What I need is a carrier pigeon to drop some books on the heads of random passersby.

I’m going to try to sell my new book on Kindle Unlimited. Have you tried it? I used standard Kindle for the first book. I’m not sure if it will be a different experience. I hope that doing this gives new people an opportunity to see my book who might otherwise not. I haven’t tried joining Kindle Unlimited yet. I prefer paperback books myself, although I do partake on the occasional eBook. What’s your preference? What do you like about each one? I like books because they don’t have backlighting. I like the way they feel in my hands. I like the way they smell. I like pages to turn manually. I like that they can be signed by the author. What I like about eBooks is that I can get them so quickly. If I have my Kindle in my bag, and I’m stuck somewhere, I can just order up a new book, and read it right away. Maybe some light reading or something I wouldn’t have ordered on-line and waited two days or more to receive. Right now, I’m rereading Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I read it last when I was about 14 years old. I referenced it in one of my manuscripts, so I thought it was about time for me to read it again. And it’s so worth it. Such a great book. I wish I had as good marketing as that book had! 🙂

This is the last cover reveal image I’ll show you. I still have three more days to complete on social media. Maybe you can extrapolate what it looks like from what I’m giving you here. What does it look like to you? Do you judge books by their cover? I do. I know it’s not always accurate, but I’ve read a lot about the science (well, social science, I guess) of book art. You develop your cover based on your genre. So what happens if your book covers more than one genre? I guess you go for the most prevalent one. In my case, I go toward the romantic imagery. It can be stunning, and it’s really hard to make a cover around a 1980s retro high school friend/families coming-of-age love story with social issues theme. So yeah, romance seems to sell. And there is romance in my books. Quite a bit. But for those of you who don’t love romance, there is more. There is a lot of family dynamics, and function and dysfunction. There is the connection between a group of friends who have been through so much together. There is the spanning of years in the series, and the overlap of storylines. There is the fact that every one of my books in the series has a scene that takes place at the McKinney High junior prom. And stuff happens at the prom. And not all of it is sex. Some of it might be, though, so, yeah. But other stuff, too.

Here’s the book blurb:

Kim and Carl became fast friends in kindergarten, but they were struck by the cooties plague in second grade. For years, it was the boys versus the girls, but Kim has missed her first school friend. Now they are juniors, and Kim has a plan. She has gotten Carl to agree to go to the Junior Prom with her, and she has some ideas about how the evening will end. Carl won’t know what hit him. But both of these teens have no idea that their childhood traumas will affect their ability to thrive in a romantic relationship. As Kim and Carl start down a road to love, they must learn to trust each other with their lives, and their hearts. Their journey takes them through high school and across the country, into a new life that neither of them could ever have expected.

I Just Can’t Say I Love You is the second book in the McKinney High School Class of 1986 series. Learn about Kim and Carl during their early years, and well into adulthood as they explore growing up with the help of their loyal high school friends.

(For those who read May I Have Your Attention Please, you may remember that Kim is one of Sally’s friends, and Carl is one of James’s posse friends)

“May I Have Your Attention Please” is available now on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and anywhere that eBooks are sold. Please check it out, and if you do read my book, please leave a review on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, or whatever other platform you are using. It would mean a whole lot!

I Just Can’t Say I Love You will be available on September 15, 2023, staring Carl and Kim and the usual cast of characters.

Here again are the links to my Facebook page, Debby Meltzer Quick Author, TikTok, @dbmquick and Instagram, quickdebby_author. Please follow me on these pages. And please explore my page here at debbymeltzerquickauthor.com.

Be True to Your School

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Here is it, McKinney High. It stands in the heart of Eastboro, MA, a fictional town in Central Massachusetts. The school is completely fictional, I swear! This photo was generated by Artificial Intelligence. It’s not exactly what I was looking for, but it’s close. I would hate to have to climb those stairs every morning, especially on a Monday! I imagine the parking lot is on a higher level, so the kids with cars get the advantages over the kids who have to walk to school and then hike Mt. McKinney! Sally Bachman is one of the walkers. In May I Have Your Attention Please, Sally lives about one mile away from school, and complains to her mother about having to walk, after being driven to private school every day the previous year. Granted, private school was seven miles away! Thank goodness for James Newell, with his 1973 rust colored Vista Cruiser station wagon, even if the heating fan is busted. Sally will endure the cold in order to be able to ride to school. And spend extra time with James.

Here’s a short excerpt from James’s first day of junior year at McKinney:

James slogged through History and Biology before entering English class right before lunch period. He stopped short when he saw Sally Bachman sitting in the second to last row, in the center. He realized he had taken too long to get to class, and as the second bell rang, the only seat remaining was at the back of the room, directly behind Sally. He squeezed by the student-filled desks between them and exchanged smiles with her before he fell heavily into the chair-attached-to-desk contraption which would be his home for the next hour. Their teacher, Mrs. Clark, closed the door, and a small breeze passed through the classroom, causing the smell of strawberry to waft from Sally’s hair to his nose. He breathed in deeply, enjoying the scent,  before realizing what he was doing.

Poor James, having to slog through classes. But it seems like school’s about to be much more fun for our hero, as he gets to spend the whole year sitting right behind Sally Bachman and her strawberry scented hair. Let’s see how the first day went for Sally:

When lunch finally came around, Sally was starving, having thrown away most of her breakfast. She met up with Michelle in line in the cafeteria, and once they had their steaming hot square pizzas secured on their trays, they made their way to a table where three other girls were already sitting. She knew Kim Drake and Darlene Feinman from Randall, and was introduced to Traci Walsh, who had gone to Fremont Junior High. It was an easy group to talk to, and soon Sally was feeling at ease as she laughed and ate. She continued to feel conspicuous in her new surroundings, however, and at times felt people were looking at her. When she looked up and around, she realized her fears were unfounded. Everyone else was focused on their food and their friends, and they were not concerned about the new girl. She let herself relax and concentrate on the conversation.

It’s hard to be the new kid, especially in a giant school like McKinney High. But luckily, Sally had some friends she remembered from junior high, and they came to her rescue. But what if she was to figure out that someone actually was watching her? Maybe a boy she sat near in English class?

School is not always drudgery and stress, though. Sometimes you get a break. Remember how it felt when you went into class, and you saw the big cart with the TV on it, and the teacher said you were going to watch a film? Even if was a movie about mitochondria, it was still better than listening to the teacher drone on for an hour.

Ronald Reagan took his second oath of the Presidential office on Sunday, January 20th, The inauguration had not been in the public square due to record low temperatures in Washington DC, and the whole eastern half of the United States was experiencing unusually cold weather. Massachusetts, which usually had temperatures in the freezing range during the month of January, was also experiencing a deep and prolonged freeze, leaving students feeling chilled and unmotivated in school. On Monday, all of the History teachers in all of the grades at McKinney High showed their classes special educational videos about inaugurations and presidential celebrations. The students loved to watch movies in class. It meant the lights were turned out, and more mischief happened in the dark.

Mischief at school? No way! Everyone was a perfect angel at my school. Wasn’t it like that for you, too?”

“I was trying to say,” Chris went on, “that my cousin Vince might be able to hook you up with a new muffler. Your car sounds like a motor boat.”

“Vince Bishop?” Carl asked. “Uncle Frank’s son? I thought he moved to Framingham this summer.”

Chris shook his head. “No, Vince Farmer, Uncle Benny’s oldest son. He’s the one who was expelled from Murphy a few years ago for trashing a teacher’s car when he failed his class.”

OR:

Fourth period was English class. James had arrived first and was sitting at his desk. The bell was about to ring, so Sally came into the classroom hurriedly, and slipped into her seat breathing hard from exertion.  She could feel James’s breath on her neck, and then she felt his hands on her shoulders as he gave them a quick massage. Mrs. Clark  entered the room.

“Mr. Newell,” she  called out, “hands to yourself, please.”

Everyone turned to look at them, and Sally sank slightly in her seat. It was no secret amongst the students at McKinney High that she and James were a couple. She was used to the looks when they walked through the halls holding hands. But she still felt uncomfortable with the attention.

Or even:

“Where are Kim and Darlene?” Sally asked, secretly glad Kim wasn’t there to ask her any awkward questions.

Michelle swallowed her bite of burger and washed it down with some milk. “Darlene’s out sick, and Kim has lunch detention for smoking outside on school property.”

“She needs to learn how to not get caught!” Rhonda stated, shaking her head, then scooping up a spoonful of chocolate pudding. 

I clearly remember being in the girl’s room in junior high when the girls who were smoking in there got busted! But more often they didn’t get caught, and they smoked in the strangest places and situations.

When you’re a teen, most of your life happens in school. There are academic classes, electives, gym and music classes, shop, lunch, extracurricular activities, times in the hallway between classes, standing at your locker, confiding in your best friends. Then there are the extras: the after school clubs, committees, and sports, and the social events, such as homecoming, prom, and other dances.

Michelle and Darlene talked Sally into volunteering for the homecoming decorating committee with them. They were on it the previous year, which is where they had met Traci. They had fun, and thought Sally would enjoy it too. It would give her a chance to make some new friends at the same time.  

And:

Sally quickly found Michelle and Carl, and together they all watched people dancing and listened to music as they chatted.  Soon, their other friends filed in, and in no time, the gym was full of noise and dancing bodies. Sally and Michelle tugged their dates out to the dance floor, and they all moved awkwardly to the music, enjoying the feeling of letting loose. The place was too crowded for anyone to observe and judge their dancing, and they took full advantage of it. 

And we mustn’t forget the most special day of all, junior prom:

When the first notes of “Purple Rain” came on, everyone got up to dance. It was slow even for a slow song, and James held Sally tight, only pulling away to kiss her. She rested her head contentedly on his chest. As soon as the song ended, the DJ put on Madonna’s “Crazy for You.” James knew Sally loved the song. He continued to move her around the floor, dodging other couples, as they clasped their arms around each other. Their friends were also dancing in couples around them. Kim had her head resting on Carl’s chest, and Carl was smiling his biggest, cheesiest smile. James felt it was the perfect prom moment. 

So there are a few glimpses into the school lives of the main characters of May I Have Your Attention Please and their friends. McKinney High is a huge part of what goes on in my series, McKinney High Class of 1986, obviously. I imagine the members of this class looking back fondly on their classmates, their teachers, and the events at McKinney, and the music and other culture they experienced back in the mid 1980s at their huge fictional school!

I hope you decide to read the series, and you start to fall in love with the characters and their stories as much as I have. And here’s a little clue for you all. There are six books in the series. And guess what? There is more than just one high school in Eastboro, MA. There is also Murphy High. So you can guess, all the characters you love, and ones you haven’t even met yet, will show up again after book six, in a new series, yet to be named. Stay tuned!

“May I Have Your Attention Please” is available now on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and anywhere that eBooks are sold. Please check it out, and if you do read my book, please leave a review on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, or whatever other platform you are using. It would mean a whole lot!

I Just Can’t Say I Love You will be available on September 15, 2023, staring Carl and Kim and the usual cast of characters.

Here again are the links to my Facebook page, Debby Meltzer Quick Author, TikTok, @dbmquick and Instagram, quickdebby_author. Please follow me on these pages. And please explore my page here at debbymeltzerquickauthor.com.

Writing About the Holidays

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Photo by Yaroslav Shuraev on Pexels.com

Wow. It was really hard to find a picture that represents the Winter holidays. Everything is pretty much Christmas related. And the one I finally did choose basically looks like someone was trying to make an effort to include Chanukah in their Christmas celebration so someone wouldn’t feel left out. Here’s a little secret. Jewish people, as a rule, don’t feel left out of Christmas. We feel left out that our holidays and beautiful traditions are not openly observed in public. That’s not really the same thing. People seem to understand these days that Chanukah is not the “Jewish Christmas,” so that’s a start. It is a completely different animal, and if you want to learn about the history of the holiday, please feel free to peruse Wikipedia.

Another little secret: Do you know why there are so many different spellings of Chanukah? Well, I’m not really the expert on everything, even if I would like you to believe that I am. But here are a couple of facts. First off, many Jewish children go to Hebrew school starting at a very young age. They are taught the pronunciation of all the letters and sounds. One of the sounds is the CH- sound. In English, this would sound like the CH in cherry, chat, chop, or chill. But in Hebrew, it is totally different. It sounds like the horrible noise people make when they are trying to hawk a loogie (I looked this up to make sure I got it right). Sorry to be so gross, but it’s true. It comes from deep in your throat. Most people who don’t speak Hebrew or other languages from that part of the world just can’t make that sound. It comes out like an “H.” So that is why there are CH spelling, and H spellings. And also, it is a Hebrew word, transliterated into English letters, so you can just spell it any way you want, as long as it sounds the same. Now you have some trivia to share at your next office holiday party.

Holidays are important to most people, and the December holidays are an institution in the United States (many other countries as well, but I don’t live in them). Shops close down, work is closed, the government comes to a halt, and even the mall isn’t even open (Walmart might be, I don’t know). Large amounts of food are consumed, and families and friends gather to celebrate and inevitably to reopen the wounds of all of their childhood slights and traumas. Some people look forward to the holidays, and others dread them. I love holidays, but I just don’t love other people trying to push their traditions on me. That doesn’t mean that I don’t like to celebrate with people who have different backgrounds than I do. On the contrary, for as long as I can remember, I have been part of my friends’ Christmas celebrations, and they have been welcome to light candles and eat latkes with me on Chanukah. So that’s why holidays take a very important role in my book series, “McKinney High Class of 1986.”

I have kept most of my stories non-denominational, but there are mentions of Sally in “May I Have Your Attention Please” celebrating Shabbat on Friday nights by lighting the candles with her mother. And she gets a lot out of these familiar interactions. All of the books mention yearly holidays, such as Valentine’s Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and New Year’s, and of course, there is much ado over Christmas in every story. Schools are closed, the snow has fallen, and the characters are preparing for two weeks of non-stop family fun. But since this has not been my experience every year (Chanukah goes by a lunar calendar so it spans a different 8-week period every year) I thought it would be a good experience to educate my readers about my holiday. I keep it kind of simple and fun. It’s always fun to be with your new love over the holidays and spend time getting to know their family. So that is the context of my winter holiday scenes. James learns about Sally’s family traditions, and in turn, she spends time with his family, learning about their experiences.

Not all of my characters have the best holiday seasons. Sometimes, it’s their first time away from home, and they miss their family and friends. Sometimes, they expect someone to be there with them, and they just don’t show up. Sometimes, they are experiencing a significant personal issue, and they don’t feel that they are ready to share it with their family just yet. Sometimes, the holidays were no big deal in their family growing up. And sometimes, they suspect that it might be the last Christmas they are able to spend with someone they love. No one character experiences the holidays in the exact same way as their friends. I think this is important, because this is like true life. Everything is not always ribbons, bows, and happiness. Sometimes, things are hard, and you find a (figurative) lump of coal in your stocking. Hopefully, everything gets better over time, but forced cheerfulness does not make all of the problems go away.

We are all inundated with Christmas movies this time of year. “White Christmas,” “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “The Santa Clause, I, II, and III,” and “Elf” (my favorite). Then there are Lifetime and Hallmark movies about coming home for Christmas and meeting your true love after they first try to take over your ranch to build a racetrack or something. These movies are Hollywood’s way of telling the masses how they should feel during the holidays. If you start out as a Grinch, the true meaning of Christmas will make your heart grow several sizes. If you just believe, you will get your heart’s desire. Everything that hurts will be remedied, and everyone will have a Merry Christmas. I think people like these movies because they aspire to have a holiday season just like they have seen in the movies their whole lives. And that’s fine. I hope they do have a holiday just like that. But I also think it’s important to know that not everyone is in the same situation for one reason or another. And if we want our friends, family, and strangers to be okay, we have to remember that we need to be there for them on the other 364 days of the year as well as on Christmas day. Not everything is fixed by a mug of eggnog.

So let’s continue to share our experiences with the people we love or the people we would like to love and teach them about what is special or troubling to us, about our holidays, and about our lives. Let’s make them part of all of our traditions, and value theirs as well. And let’s make space for everyone over the holidays. Even people who say things like “Bah humbug!”

May the rest of your year be exactly as you would want it to be.