gardens

Stops, starts, strange changes, and such…

With the addition of Kim Chinquee to our novel critique group, both Gina and I decided to submit new work instead of continuing with the books we had been working on. The next time pages are due, I’ll be busy with travel and appointments so I’ve been working on my pages. I have a good start on this new book and I know where it ends, but to get there is going to be interesting. Coming out of the flash workshop adds to my delight since I can take my time and explain things instead of compressing every nuance. Thank God!

 
The library’s summer hours began, so I’m out of there until September and yesterday was my last day mentoring. It worked out beautifully as I was able to attend the concert where Isabella and her friend Amy played. I am going to miss them—and being mistaken for a substitute teacher. Yes, the double loss of free Wi-Fi spots is going to suck, but I’m playing with the idea that the loss will make me concentrate on the new book and revising the last one. Hey, it’s possible.

6.18.2015B

The water lily in my frog pond bloomed. Thank you, Christy! I see frogs on there all the time, so I’m thanking you on their behalf, too.

6.18.2015C

Otherwise, the garden is doing well. Peas are growing and soon I’ll need to thin out the squash plants.

6.18.2015A

Husband reworked the sides of the driveway bridge this weekend and we have a plan on how it will look when we’re done.

6.18.2015D

Eck! I don’t want to get into the ineptitude—let me correct that by saying the continued ineptitude—of certain Erie County departments and car dealerships, so I won’t. I’ll try to resolve those issues before I vetch about them here, but really, I am angry that people are more interested in making excuses than solving problems. I mean, if it’s your job to fix things—fix them. How hard is that to understand?

 
Whatever.

 

By the by, I hope everyone will join me in a toast to XO Man and his new bride. Cheers to them. I was thrilled we were invited to the ceremony, sad we couldn’t make it, but so happy for them both. Mazel Tov!

 

I’m having a fun time reading an advanced copy of “I Am Barbarella” by Beth Gilstrap. I have the privilege of interviewing her soon for The Tavern. I swear I love my job.

 

That is not the only thing I’m reading of course, but that one I’ll be posting about in the future—and I was on her site today—she gave me ideas on how to spruce up mine.

 

So, I guess that’s it for this post. Some things have wound down, others are ramping up—life. I guess that’s how it goes.

Thanks for stopping by to read my Creekside reflections. I trust your experiences will vary.

Working Theories

Well, aren’t I a bit chagrined to notice how late I am with this post? And surprised. I hadn’t noticed the date and I breezed over both reminders on both my calendars. So much for the “Writing things down so I don’t forget them” theory.

The garden is in and it’s now a race to kill the slimy slugs before they take out all of my pepper plants. They are gross, destructive and stupid. I don’t like having to kill things if I don’t have to, but all of these things have GOT to go!

Wednesday was hell, by the way. It might have put up a mental block on dealing with anything writing related. It was a brutal twelve hours of nothing but rejections. Totally wiped out the ‘happy’ I was having for my acceptance for “Educated Tina” in the summer issue of The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature. It’s such an honor to be included in a publication that has Dawn Corrigan’s work in it!

In other news, my mail carrier has been doing suspicious things lately. Not just to me, but to my neighbors, too. We either aren’t getting mail at all or we get mail for people who live two roads down. The day I got a credit card bill for someone on Snyder Road, I took it into the post office, handed it to the clerk and asked if my mail was there by any chance. “No,” she said, “They’re all back and no one had anything undeliverable.”

Great, I thought. Is someone else getting my rejections? I don’t know how much the lady’s credit card bill was, but it might have been a fair exchange. I’m trying to work that into a possible theory, but I don’t have enough information to work with.

And my son, daughter-in-law and grandson are coming to visit at the end of the month. I’m excited and have invited people to stop in to visit with him and his family. I don’t want to get my hopes up. I do that enough when I send out submissions, but I do hope everyone has a good time.

Right, so back to the writing challenge I’ve been keeping. I’m doing a modified version of Camp NaNo, I think. I’m putting in a minimum of 1667 words every day, but essays, flashes, and short stories instead of working on a novel. So far, so good, though a short story I started writing about a football player is on its third day and the ending still hasn’t shown up yet. I tabled it for something new today.

Anyway, the celebration of Husband’s & my 12 year anniversary is also going to be late, but it should be good. We’re going to see Shemekia Copeland at a tiny bar and grill. It’s so awesome already since we fell in love with her Turn the Heat Up  in the background. The title track is “our song.” To those familiar with the lyrics, it totally works. Husband and I get along great. The one part of the relationship that isn’t great is the most fun to work on. And now you have too much information. Congratulations!

Until next time!

*These are just my reflections. Your experience may vary.