Camp NaNoWriMo

Dogged Perseverance in the Time of Covid-19

I mentioned last time I hoped to have happy publication news to share with you and I do! The fantastic Journal of Compressed Creative Arts accepted my piece “Ethan’s Machine” on Monday and earlier this month, my copies of the Smoldr Anthology arrived.

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Husband has been home. A lot. My normal days now need to be altered and with that has come cleaning and organizing. My closet is sorted. My massive paper pile is filed. I’ve made a master list of all the short fiction I’ve written and it now is printed out and color coded for easy reference. My office has rarely looks this neat.

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His “homeness” did accelerate the installation of the doors in front of the kitchen sink. Why yes, they are so shiny you can see the reflective of my pants in them.

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He and I kicked around ideas to protect the “babies” from this terrorist:

And came up with this protection for the cucumbers and cantaloupe I started early.

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See? They are right by her bed and still standing. 18 Mile Creek is visible through the window. More proof that we really do live “creekside.”

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In the interim of spring I chose to have some cheap bouquets that made life a little better.

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But now the snowdrops are out and daffodils will soon follow.

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And we’ve been admiring the extended unfurling of the amaryllis.

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERASo here it is, the end of the month, and I’m writing this post. I honestly do have intentions to compose them earlier, but this year, it’s only the threat of a deadline driving me to the keyboard. Speaking of deadlines, there are a few venues closing today. And then April, I will be off to a new world as I plod my way through the goal of writing a new novel during Camp NaNoWriMo. Wish me luck and know I love and miss most of you very much. I thank you all for reading and hope you’re able to stay healthy and strong.

Thanks for stopping by and for the read!

Pavlov’s got nothing on Samsung

So, I tend to be close-lipped on some things, a blabbermouth about others, right? I’m now confessing that we got rid of our landline–and our abusive relationship with AT&T–over a month ago. Of course, there’s still a little back and forth slapping going on with AT&T, but my blowup on Twitter did get me some satisfaction in that regard. Supposedly, the bill we shouldn’t have gotten in the first place–let alone with a late fee–has been taken care of, but I have a whole month to wait to see it in print.

Our semi-smart phone takes great pictures and since we got the case and touch screen stylus, I can type longer texts. The other good thing is that I can check my Gmail account without having to go upstairs, turn on the tower, and check a bunch of other pages like Duotrope, Twitter, and Facebook. The bad part is that now the semi-smart phone chirps whenever an email arrives. I’ve turned into a puppet for that sound. I tense up and feel the need to rush over and check what was sent. I’m learning–slowly–that most of my “mail” is actually Facebook group updates and not worthy of my immediate attention. Of course, as soon as I typed that, an actual important email did arrive…

I’m signed up for April’s Camp NaNoWriMo. Just before I fell asleep last night, I found the “key” that was missing from the-new-piece-that-I-still-don’t-have-a-name-for. Looking at it again this morning, I felt stupid for not seeing the answer before since it is so obvious. Regardless, I think I’ve got it and look forward to writing it soon.

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Besides the melting snow, I have pansies and impatiens sprouting as well as deer coming too close to the house. My list of people I owe letters to has been reduced. I finished reading Chuck Palahniuk’s Haunted and Gail Carson Levine’s Ella Enchanted. I’m a quarter of the way through Thom Jones’ The Pugilist at Rest and half-way through Paulo Coelho’s Brida, which gets me closer to catching up to my goal of reading a book a week…but the idea of reviewing them, well, that has fallen to the wayside for now.

 

 

 

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I truly love the problems I have.

Thank you for stopping by! One of you lucky readers should be on the lookout for a small care package that I sent out Tuesday as a random act of kindness. Will it be you? By the way, these are my creek side reflections; your experiences may vary.