Sloth Saturday

I'd like to claim that I was busy today, but instead I did my best impression of a sloth. No real reason why. I was tired, there were a couple of old movies on TCM and FMC that I wanted to see, and nothing seemed pressing on my To Do List. Still, someone with more willpower would have jumped up and, oh I don't know, maybe painted the house or wrote several chapters in his latest blockbuster or put the final polish on her screenplay.

But I was a sloth. So much so that this is the entire entry for today. Talk to you tomorrow.

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Busy Friday

A very busy day, although nothing out of the ordinary. Just housework and chores. I had hoped to have some very good news concerning my finances, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen now, so it’s not worth discussing.

Been reading Do the Work by Steven Pressfield. An amazing book that has made me uncomfortable as it directly addresses the reasons I don’t write or lose weight as I should. I recommend it, but don’t blame me if you end up throwing it across the room when its words convict you. It’s more than a guilt trip, though. It gives ways to overcome the “Resistance” that is keeping you from living your dream. I liked the book so much that I order The War of Art, his earlier book that DtW is based on. Oh, DtW is available free for the Kindle or the PC Kindle app on Amazon.com right now.

My friend Wendy is also reading DtW, and I’ll be interested to learn how she implements its principles in her life. I’ll try to let you know how it works in mine, too.

Well, it’s late. Going to close now. Hope things are going well for you.

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Ugh Thursday

Had one of those evenings where everything goes wrong, and when you try to fix things, you only make the situation worse, so finally you just back away and decide the only good move is to not make one. Be quiet, and not move. I remember doing that a lot as a child. I remember doing it more as a teenager until I learned how to cover myself by making everything a joke, a coping technique that I have used my entire life. Sometimes it doesn't work, of course, but most of the time it does. Not tonight, though.

Well, you can only apologize, and after that, it's up to the other person to either accept your apology or not. It's not like we can reverse time and undo the offending actions. I had a friend in college who had an expression for these situations: "They can get glad in the same panties they got mad in." I wonder where Penny is now. Been years since I thought of her.

Right now, I have Sunrise Earth playing on the TV. It's another of the ocean sunrises. I like the sound of the ocean, the crashing of the waves, the low thunder of the tides. It's helps me write when it's on in the background. I have several episodes recorded on the DVR. Someday I'm going to be able to afford the DVDs, but not any time soon, it doesn't look like.

How are you doing? Hey, y'all in Edmond, Oklahoma City, Utah, California, Ada, Muldrow, Sallisaw, Norman, Duncan, Ft. Smith, Van Buren, Ponca City, Glencoe, Lawton, Canada, what's happening in your lives? Comment! Let me know. I miss talking with you.

Well, it's late, and tomorrow is another day. Have a good night and a great tomorrow. Talk to you then.

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2 forward, 1 back

A busy day today, but it seemed like I was taking two steps forward and then one step back. Still, I got the car insurance switched to a new company, which will save me nearly half of what the former company was charging me for the same coverage. Amazing.

Then did some housework, made a few attempts at writing, worked on the family newsletter, attempted to come up with ideas for new covers for Murder by Dewey Decimal and Murder by the Acre. Hey, maybe you could help me with the last one. Have any ideas for covers for those two books? I'd sure appreciate the aid.

Floozy and Other Stories still isn't on Amazon.com yet. I'm getting angry about it. I was checking Lulu's forums, and apparently a lot of people are having that problem. The best answer Lulu can give is for us to have more patience. How nice of them.

Well, Floozy is committed to Lulu, but I have decided to look around for other publishers. There may be a better company out there that is more responsive and delivers what they promise. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

Time to go to bed. It's been a long day. I hope your day was good. I hope tomorrow will be better for all of us. Night!

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Shangri-La

This is music writing. It's like a timed writing, but you pick a few songs that play for the amount of time you're going for. I've always found it interesting how music influences the words. Music can create a mood that your words follow. I've often found it helpful when I'm blocked, particularly on poetry.

Today was not a busy day. I had such great plans and did some housework and a few chores, but all those writing plans got swallowed up by inertia. Well, there's always tomorrow. Tomorrow I will do better.

Do you ever tell yourself that? Aren't we all like Scarlett O'Hara who used to say after every setback, "Tomorrow is another day"? Or words to that effect. Amoral and ambitious as she was written, you still have to admire her spirit and stubbornness.

Spirit and stubbornness. That's often what we rely on keep going. Some people lean on God or alcohol or sex or who knows, but we lurch from valley to peak to plains to rivers and all the other points of our journeys. Listen, I don't know, but I think the next valley leads to Shangri-La. Let's go and find out. Come on. There's a whole world out there just waiting for us.

Talk to you tomorrow.

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Bad sleep

Slept badly last night. Not enough sleep, and what I got was restless and filled with nightmares. Made me exhausted today. I got a few things done -- washed dishes, folded laundry, a couple of timed writings, bills, and a few other things -- but definitely not as much as I wanted to. I couldn't sit down for long without trying to fall asleep.

Yet, at this time of night, for some perverse reason, I wake up. I've never been a morning person, but I've never been this bad. And did I mention the sun burns me, and I thirst for blood? I knew reading those Twilight books was a bad idea.

Anyway, that's it for tonight. May have really big news later this week. Good news, I hope. Keep your fingers crossed and your prayers winging upward. I'll be sure to do the same for you. Night!

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Hope your Easter was peaceful and blessed. I had a good one. This afternoon my roomie and I went to a friend's house for a delicious Easter dinner. Then I napped. I'd like to say I did more, but other than church, that was it.

In other news, Floozy and Other Stories was supposed to show up on Amazon last week. It did not. I have emailed Lulu.com about it and hope to hear from them on Monday. I'm planning on doing a bit of publicity when it's available on the online retailers. I'd like to get started and maybe drum up some sales. I'll let you know what they say.

Well, it's late, and I'm tired. Going to call it a night. Take care and see ya Monday.

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Watched the A-Team movie tonight. It was okay. I could have done with less killing and less bad language. Still, it had a few good moments. I wasn't a fan of the A-Team on TV, so maybe I would have liked it more if I had been.

Most did housework and chores today. It stayed wet all day, cloudy and chilly. No tornadoes here, though. Grateful for the rain. We sure needed it. Need some more. Hope we get it.

Anyway, I'm very tired. Can't seem to get enough rest. Thinking I might run on solar power. So good night, sweet readers. Talk to you on Easter.

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Frantic Friday

A busy day today. I got up at a run and stayed that way for most of the day. I vacuumed my house, washed the dishes, dusted the furniture, washed three loads of laundry, made out some bills, went to the post office and mailed the bills, worked on my budget, worked on the family newsletter, swept my front porch again (winds had covered it in leaves, dirt, and twigs) and generally did a lot of my 20 List, which has morphed into a 36 item list, but I'm going to keep calling it the 20 List.

It seems to me that the biggest threat to my productivity is my lack of focus. I'll start one task, see another one that needs to be done and start it, go back to the first task, but get distracted from it by a third task, and so on and so on. Eventually I get them all done, but sometimes a time-critical task suffers from this divided attention.

The 20 List helps with that. I look at the list, pick out a task, and do that activity until the task is finished. Then I cross it off the list and pick another task. Sounds simple, but it sure has helped my productivity.

This evening we are having really bad storms so I'm typing this on my laptop and have turned my desktop off and unplugged it in case of power surges. So far the Internet connection has stayed up. We're having high winds, rain, and hail, but no tornadoes, although a couple touched down a town near us. Power has flickered a couple of times, but so far so good.

We desperately needed the rain, but could do without winds and hail. Well, you take the good with the bad, and that's true in weather and life.

Tomorrow will be the local writers' club meeting at the library. I plan on attending. The group has been around for a while, but recently has been revitalized. I'm hoping it turns into an useful organization. I've enjoyed the presentations so far, and it's always nice to get with fellow aspiring writers and compare notes.

It's really raining hard outside now. The hail is mostly pea size, although the weatherman on Channel 4 said there had been golf ball sized hail in other places near here. Hope we don't get any of that. Although now that I'm not working in insurance, I don't have to dread the day after bad weather the way I used to -- when a lot of claims would be filed.

Gonna close now. Talk to you tomorrow. Hope things are going well for you and yours.

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Shelving

Tonight I put up a shelf in my bedroom. Four more feet of book storage! I was able to move books around and get access to books that had been hidden by the books in front of them or on top of them. I think one more shelf will do make a huge difference in how my bookshelves look and are arranged.

I even found duplicate copies of books. Book that I had purchased and forgot that I did or couldn’t find when I needed them so I purchased another copy. Extras go into the book sale pile. In fact, I found about three feet or so of more books for the book sale. Most of them aren't not extras, but books I don't want any more.

It feels good to look at shelves that aren’t overburdened. I’m looking forward to when all the shelves look that good.

Of course, I have too many books. I don’t know a writer who doesn’t. We love books, we love having them around, and we re-read our favorites often. I have several that I read once a year because I enjoy living those lives again. My heroes are the authors who can write books people re-read again and again. My goal is to write that well.

My re-readable authors? Terry Pratchett, Stephen R. Donaldson (Covenant series only), Andre Norton (dated but oh so readable), Jim Butcher, Mercedes Lackey, Holly Lisle, Susanna Gregory, etc. I have a bunch, which explains my overflowing shelves.

Out of the blue, I just realized something. That’s what can happen with a timed writing. All sorts of things can bubble up. What I realized was this: I miss Christmas. Don’t know why that came up, but it did, and I’ve typed it for you to read and ponder.

Anyway, enough for tonight. Talk to you tomorrow.

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What I am

You can’t always start a timed writing with no subject and expect to find one. Although I do that often – as you can probably tell – and more often than not, a subject will appear. I’ve always depended on my creativity to come up with something more times than I should. It wasn’t until Murder by Dewey Decimal that I even thought about outlining and not until Murder by the Acre that I had one. MBTA required an outline because so much happened in the book and so many secondary plots had to be resolved by book’s end. You would have thought I learned my lesson.

But I didn’t.

So I started Murder by the Mile with no outline. Since I wrote the majority of it during National Novel Writing Month, there was a pleasing sense of spontaneity and chaos that helped me keep writing and make the 50,000 word goal by the end of November. But when I read it back over ... yikes. Plots sprang up, wandered off, appeared, and disappeared with the consistency and logic of the Cheshire Cat. As a result, I’ve had to lose nearly 15,000 words from the first draft. Sigh. And they’re not words that I can save and use in another book as the events they describe are now impossible with the current timeline.

Oh well. I’ve read many times about authors who had to toss more words than that before they found the story. Perhaps it’s one of those rites a writer has to go through. But as rites go, it’s sure not much fun. Perhaps instead of rites, I should call it one of the trials.

Another trial I face – this one self-inflicted – is my inability to identify myself as a writer. Of course, I’m currently unemployed (and need a job should you have one or know of one) but I decided a couple of months ago to tell people I was a writer when they asked what I do. Instead, I stammer and launch into this long story about my old job and how my boss passed away while their eyes glaze over. I listen to myself with embarrassment each time I do it, but I seem unable to stop.

Perhaps I should announce my vocation. Here goes:

I am a writer.

I am a writer.

I am a writer.

And I’ll be writing more to you tomorrow. Have a great night.

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First love

An interesting and somewhat frantic aspect of a timed writing is that you have to keep writing even if you’ve run out of things to say. Or let’s say you started a subject, but then found out you didn’t have as much to say about it as you thought you did. But you must keep typing because the clock is ticking, and the point of a time writing is to get words written as fast as you can even if the words don’t make much sense.

I started this particular timed writing with no subject in mind. I could go over the day, of course, but it was a fairly ordinary day marked by resume mailing, housework, and yard work. I picked up sticks in our front yard for a couple of hours. We’ve had a lot of high winds – but not much rain – and the trees have shed branches like leaves in the fall. I filled an entire large garage can with sticks and still have more to pick up. Eventually my trees will be poles, and I won’t have to worry about doing that anymore. I spent a couple of hours outside and spent the rest in housework, resume mailing, and hurray, writing.

Yes, writing. It’s been a good thing for me lately. I can’t tell you how relieved I am to find I still have something to say. For several months now, my writing landscape has been barren, dry to the bone and beyond. I thought I might be finished. In fact, I was looking around at other ways to pass my time, maybe painting. I don’t have any skill at painting, but I’ve always wanted to spend some time finding out. My mother produced some wonderful pastels. I wish she had done more, but sickness and day-to-day life kept that from happening. My older sister used to paint, and she was quite good, but I don’t think she has painted for years now. If I had that talent, I would pursue it.

I even bought a couple of canvases a while back and started looking at paint supplies. I still might try a few paintings soon, but for now, my first love is calling me. We have books to produce.

Talk to you tomorrow.

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Theme scheme

I'm sitting here looking over the umpteenth draft of Murder by the Mile and thinking about its theme. I never have a theme in mind when I begin a book, but one always results by the end. In reading what has happened so far in MBTM, I think the theme has to do with decisions and the consequences of making them and not making them.

The characters are confronting decisions, some good and some bad, and using various ways of dealing their choices. I have characters who are:
- rushing headlong into life-changing decisions without considering the costs,
- attempting to not decide, even though not deciding is also a decision with costs,
- waiting on other people's decisions, which is dangerous because you can spend your whole life waiting on another person,
- and calmly making decisions for other people who will have to live with the consequences without having any input.

Curious how all these decisions have popped up in the book. Apparently my subconscious/muse/writingfiend is wrestling with that subject. Not that hard to see why as I have a habit of reviewing my bad decisions for the past 20 years and beating myself up over them. It's a habit I'm breaking. I'm tired of making a meal of regrets and sorrows.

I've made bad decisions, but I've made good ones, too. Why those good ones don't seem to have the staying power of the bad is a mystery to me. In the outdated but useful language of transactional analysis, I have an overactive "parent" in my subconscious. Whatever. The point is that I've done good things in the past and will in the future, too. We all will if we try.

And on that note, I'll close. See you tomorrow.

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Lazy Sunday

A lazy Sunday for me. Didn't do too much. Should have napped in the afternoon, but instead spent it playing World of Warcraft. I'm now a 78th level character and only a bit from being 79th. Then there's the long haul to 80. The game maxes at 85, but when I reach 80, I'll get to explore a new land and face new monsters. Whew. No, I mean whee!

I rarely play WoW, so all my friends who play have been 85 for a long time now. I can play for a couple of hours for a few days, and then I get bored. And frustrated. I will never be that committed to the game.

Some people are. They live and breathe WoW. Mostly young people, but I've met some older folks, too. Many times it is their complete social life, so it's vital to their emotional well-being. Yes, I know, it seems like they're freaks, but it's really no different from someone who has invested their time in football or basketball or poker or knitting or anything else that demands a lot from the participant. Yes, some people carry it too far, but that's true for anything we pursue to the exclusion of all else. Aristotle said, "Moderation in all things," and that's good advice.

I think as we get older, it's hard to wholly commit to anything. We grow wise enough to see the ups and downs of any pursuit, and thus we may commit, but not all the way. This is not a bad thing, but it can be if it keep us from doing anything. We have to have enough commitment to take the first step. From there all else will follow.

And now I think I will close on that. Hope your first steps are productive and helpful. Talk to you tomorrow.

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Seder

I went to a seder dinner tonight at a local church. It’s the first time I’ve been to one, and it was fascinating. Several of my friends attended also, so we had a lively table. I was impressed by the symbolism and the spirituality of the dinner. Some things I didn’t quite understand and will do a bit of research. If you ever get a chance to attend one, do. Or put on one yourself. (Apparently there are kits that tell you how to do this.) Worthwhile to attend and participate.

This is, of course, a timed writing. I had a friend – a blog reader if you can believe it in these days of declining readership – ask me what a timed writing is. It’s simply a period of time – say, five or ten minutes – where you write as fast as you can without editing and without restraint. You pour your words out. It’s a technique to avoid your internal editor, that little guy that stands at your shoulder telling you that your work is not good.

I used to do timed writings all the time, but I got out of the habit. But it’s like exercising. You must do sprints or warm-ups to get yourself ready for the race. Since my writing was suffering, I decided it was time to get back to the basics. Timed writings, writing prompts, reading books about writing and creativity, etc. These disciplines enabled me to write my first two books, and they will help me write my third and more.

So far, so good.

We had a lot of high winds the last couple of days and some rain. We still need a lot more rain. I think we’re down nearly 10 inches for the year so far. It’s going to be a hot, dry summer, I’m afraid. Crops in Oklahoma and other states have already been affected by the drought. This will make food prices go up, bad news when we’re already struggling with gasoline prices.

Wish I could afford an electric car. Wish there was an affordable electric car on the market. They all seem to be priced beyond what the ordinary consumer can pay. Perhaps the price will come down as the technology improves, but I doubt it. I think there are a lot of vested interests who don’t want to see the electric car succeed.

Anyway, that’s all my time. Hope you had a great evening and have a wonderful tomorrow. Talk to you then.

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Ten on hope

This is another ten minute timed writing.Yeah, you’d going to get tired of these, I bet. But they are working. My muse/subconscious/writingwizard is waking up from his cold winter sleep. Can’t say for sure when he will be fully awake, but he is definitely stirring. I feel ... I hesitate to say this ... hopeful.

It’s not popular or cool to be hopeful these days. Snide, sarcastic, dark, all those are in. I’ve certainly indulged in them myself. And now, I may be paying the cost for dining on darkness constantly.

Well, nothing in this world doesn’t say we can’t change. That we can’t get better. I remember going to a therapist years ago who basically believed that we couldn’t get better. We could only treat our particular illnesses with therapy and medication, and such aid would have to continue our entire lives. He himself saw a therapist and took meds to modify his moods.

This is not to say that people don’t have chronic problems, because they do. And sometimes we need therapy and/or meds for an extended period of time. I know I’ve battled depression most of my life. But that’s not the sum total of my life or even the majority of it. I’ve had some great times in my life. God willing, I will have more.

And I’m trying to do my part. Keep moving, keep believing, keep praying, keep trying, keep talking, keep laughing, keep crying, keep caring, keep writing. I’m keeping keeping on, as the old expression goes. What else can we do? Lay down and die? Well, I won’t do that. I’m too stubborn to that, too contrary to roll over and expire. Aren’t you?

I hope so.

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Ten on Thursday

This is a ten-minute timed writing. As I mentioned yesterday, I’m using timed writings to get my creative juices flowing again. If you ever get blocked, you’d be amazed how these open up your muse.

Today was a long but good day. My roomie was off work because he has to work Saturday, so we did housework, yard work, and ran errands,errands, and more errands. And in the late afternoon, it finally rained!

We also had high winds and tornadoes all around us, but nothing touched us. I am grateful. Other towns weren't so fortunate.

We went out to eat for lunch at a local Mexican restaurant where I had a guacamole salad and cheese dip, which were my low(er) carb choices. I ate just enough to be satisfied and no more. I drank water and unsweetened tea.

We had been filling our popup pool and getting it ready for the summer. It has been so dry that I wondered if we would have water rationing later on, so I thought it was wise to fill it now. This rain helped us, but we’re still over 10 inches behind in rainfall. Makes me wonder what the summer is going to be like.

The swimming pool pump burned up last year, and the new one came in today. It had all the parts necessary and works fine. We need to vacuum the pool and then shock it. After that, all we need is some sun to warm up the water. Right now, the water is around 65 degrees. A bit cold that is.

Of course, we set up the pool after experiencing weeks of weirdly warm weather, and as soon as we do, the temps drop again. That’s okay. Soon it’ll be nice and warm. And maybe too dry.

Yesterday I wrote five minutes and wrote more than I am now with ten minutes. The words are coming slow tonight. Don’t know why. And the number of words isn’t important; the time is. Got to remember that as I pull myself out of this rut.

Anyway, got a minute or so left. Hope things are going well for you. I miss the comments on this blog. I miss my friends’ blogs. I think Facebook has a lot to answer for. It exchanges depth and discussion for shallow and silly games. I only play one game now on FB – Lexulous – and that’s because my friends do. If they didn’t, I’d stop.

That’s ten minutes, so I’m going to close now. Talk to you tomorrow!

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Five on Wednesday

This is a five-minute timed writing. I used to do these all the time to get the creative juices flowing. I haven’t done one in the past couple of years, though, so I decided it was time to do one again. I’m majorly blocked in my writing, so maybe a few of these fast paced exercises will free me up.

I’ve had a fairly productive day today so far. Housework, filing, working on the cover for Murder by the Mile as well as new covers for Murder by Dewey Decimal and Murder by the Acre. I can’t change the covers for MBDD and MBTA at the retailers (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc.), but I can make up new covers for my book signings, which is where I make the most money and have sold a fair amount. No pics of the covers yet because I’m just now sketching them, but maybe in a week or so.

The low carb diet is helping my blood sugar. It’s amazing how high a little sweet will push up my test results. I’m hoping as I lose weight and go further, I’ll be able to cheat a bit every now and then. But if not, well, there are plenty of people in this world who only have sweet treats rarely if ever. It’s not that terrible a thing.

For a friend’s birthday, I sent a few cards I had made myself along with a couple of other things that I had personalized. Not as much money to spend as in the past – in fact, the money here is very, very, very tight – but still I thought it was a nice presentation with things to read and do.

One thing I spent a lot of time on was to create a card that listed world events that happened on my friend’s birthday. This turned out to take a lot more time than I expected it to. With the use of Wikipedia, the New York Times, the LA Times, and the London Times, I put one together. I thought it turned out nice, but it was a lot of work. I need to allot more time to make a card like that than I really had on this one. (I was trying to get it in the mail, so my friend would get it before her birthday.)

And that’s five minutes, and enough rambling for today. Now to correct my mistakes and post this. Hope you’re doing well. Talk to you tomorrow.

Exhausted

For some annoying and unknown reason, my get up and go was gone all day today. If I sat down more than a few minutes, I wanted to go asleep. I didn't sleep well last night and not long, but still, I shouldn't have been as tired as I was. I think it has something to do with my body adapting to this low carb diet.

Well, it will get better. My blood sugar is showing a great improvement, and for that, I'm willing to be a bit tired.

Not a productive day, but I did a few things on my 20 List, so I didn't fall back any. I'm counting that as a victory.

Got to go to bed now. I'm beat. Hope you have a great night and wonderful tomorrow. Talk to you then.

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Busy, busy, busy day.

Today was busy! Let's see ... I
- vaccumed the house,
- dusted the living room,
- shopped for groceries,
- did three loads of laundry,
- steam cleaned the kitchen floor,
- reinstalled my computer's sound card (a driver went bad),
- cleaned the kitchen and washed the dishes,
- watered the flowers,
- grilled steaks for dinner,
- worked on the family newsletter,
- confirmed the new auto insurance and checked on changing homeowner's insurance,
- talked to a few friends on the telephone,
- swept the garage and the front porch,
- arranged an appointment on Thursday,
- kept my low carb diet going,
- watched Chuck and Castle, then the news and the first part of the Tonight Show,
- and now I'm posting here.

I'm tired, but it's a good tired.

I hope you had a good, productive day. Talk to you tomorrow.

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Quiet Sunday

A quiet day today. Not much to tell you. Church, TV, nap, a couple of meals, computer time, and that was my day. A good day. Peaceful. I could do with a few more Sundays like this. Sometimes I need the silence, the quiet. Don't you?

Talk to you tomorrow.

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My recent Facebook & Twitter quips

Supposedly, writing is like opening a vein. I wish it was that easy.

The doctor wants me on a low carb diet. I want him beaten with a 2x4 in an alley. Seems fair to me.

I wish this low carb diet wasn't working, then I could give it up. But it is. Apparently the universe wants me thinner, dang it.

Do you ever feel like if someone plays one more sappy gooey romantic song that you're going to pluck their eyes out? Just checking.

I try to find good henchmen, but sometimes you have to go with what you can find. This also explains most of the Republican and Democratic candidates.
 
You know how sometimes a person is right and they say they told you they were right and then you want to pop them in the mouth? I might.

Does anyone actually keep gloves in the glove compartment? Or babies in the baby oil?  

Talk to you tomorrow!
 
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Consequences

This has been a week of consequences for me. After falling at the post office, I've ached all week. I really did a number on my body. My right knee swelled, and my shoulders, neck, and right arm have let me know they didn't appreciate the fall. And let's be honest, I'm not as young as I used to be. I don't spring back as quickly from damage -- physical or emotional -- as I once did. There are always consequences from our actions and accidents.

Right now, I'm suffering the consequences of my fall and from my actions. Particularly in the area of employment. I made some mistakes -- oh, I had my reasons for those mistakes, but even while I was making them, I knew I was only delaying the inevitable. When my boss passed away, I knew my job would eventually end. I should have started looking for a new job then. Instead, I allowed myself to sink into inaction and passiveness. I didn't take action. I deluded myself. And now I'm paying the price.

I'd like to say I'm paying the price without complaint, but that's not true. Hard not to complain when I watch my options disappear -- not that I have that many options to begin with. However, it's not good to wallow in your mistakes. I made them, can't go back and unmake them, can only go forward from this point.

So I go forward.

How are you doing? Are you making progress? Heading for your dreams? Having a tough time? Remember this: We're only beaten when we stop trying.

Talk to you tomorrow!

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Conference

"So what you're saying ... we're beat." The Scholar pushed his glasses back up his thin nose and looked up from the reports he had been studying.

"No," Dragone said. "I'm saying I can do nothing at the present to help his situation."

"Then we're beat," Argus said. "To change any situation requires action. If you can do nothing, then the situation will remain unchanged." He paused. "The situation is survivable."

The Scholar looked at him. "Yes, it's not life-threatening in any traditional sense. But whether or not he will continue to survive under what he's carrying now ..." He spread his hands. "Anyone's guess."

"Unacceptable," General Havoc said curtly. "We must act. And we must act soon." His lip curled in disdain. "Apparently you have already given up."

"No," Dragone said. "I simply cannot see what to do that will be beneficial. We could take many actions, but the foreseeable consequences of those actions are grave. It's all well and good for you to tell us that we must act, but I notice you haven't offered a plan."

Havoc frowned at Dragone, but didn't reply.

"Maybe there isn't one," Argus said.

"That's not helpful," Havoc snapped.

"No, wait, hear me out," Argus said. "Perhaps the problem is that we keep attempting to find an action with a favorable outcome. It may be that we can't see that favorable outcome until we take action." He looked at the Scholar. "At our present vantage point, we can't see anything but disaster, but maybe farther up the mountain, we would see something different."

"Damn the torpedoes and all that," the Scholar said wryly.

"Well, maybe," Argus said. "I do know that staying here is unacceptable. And we all know the situation is only going to worsen. There is no stable status quo. We must act now while we still can."

"Even if those actions worsen the situation?" Dragone said.

"Indeed," the Scholar said. "But there is also the possibility that such actions may improve his situation." He rose. "We act. And may God be with us."

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Falling

I forgot to mention that I fell down three steps at the local post office yesterday. Didn't break anything. In fact, I didn't think I had taken much damage, but today I woke up with my shoulder, neck, and right arm sore. So much so that it's painful to move around much.

When I fell, I caught myself with my right hand to keep me from planting my face into the sidewalk. I guess I injured myself then.

A nice young lady helped me pick up my belongings. I was carrying my checkbook and wallet in one hand and a large envelope containing stamps in the other. Fortunately I didn't lose anything.

Otherwise, not much news. Continued to work on my 20 List on the things I could do without moving too much. Most housework and chores were not possible today so I worked on filing, writing, and generally non-active things like that.

How was your day? Anything interesting? Share!

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New avenues

My first two murder mysteries (Murder by Dewey Decimal and Murder by the Acre) and my poetry chapbook (EndlesS) will available at the iStore in the next month or so. Very cool.

And Floozy and Other Stories will be coming out on the Amazon.com and the other online retailers this month. New publishing avenues are all over the place. I'm hoping this will increase the visibility of my books and, of course, generate more sales.

Unfortunately, Floozy is not a good candidate for the ePub format because of the many illustrations I used in it. Sigh. Going to have to figure out a way to do that. I hope I won't have to strip the illustrations out of it.

I got 10 of my 20 List done today. Overall, a productive day. Hope tomorrow will be also. Talk to you then.

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Half

By following this low carb diet, I have dropped by blood sugar by nearly half. It's running below 150. Admittedly, that's higher than healthy (I'd like to be below 100), but that will come. Unfortunately, until my body adapts, I feel pretty crappy. Tired and restless and generally unwell. That will pass. And hey, I'm losing weight, too. The more weight I lose, the better my life will be.

Otherwise, this last week was not outstanding. I've kept up with the housework and chores and continued to search for a new job. The writing has suffered from neglect. Can't seem to get my brain wrapped about words right now.

I've continued to declutter. That has worked out surprisingly well. I have bunches of stuff -- clothes, electronics, movies, CDs, etc. -- that I haven't used in 10 years. Too long to hold on. My garage sale/thrift store grows larger each day.

The diet is going well. I've cheated a little, but so little that I'm surprised. I didn't know I had the discipline in me. I get the snack urge a lot, but I'm not really hungry, I've learned. I'm an emotional eater. (I miss sugar, bread, pasta ... sigh ...)

Anyway, that's my report for last week. Better news this week I hope.

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Me at the fair

Here I am at the fair with a friend! Well, actually I never got her name. She was selling the CDs during the Rogues (a modern folk bagpipe group) performance at the Medieval Fair in Norman.

I had a great time at the fair. The walking was fine. Unfortunately, the heat made me sick, and I had a bad spell midway through the day. But otherwise, it was awesome, and I so enjoyed seeing my friends. A good day, and I'm looking forward to next year!

If you've never been, the Fair runs through tomorrow. It's worth the trip.

Today, I worked on my 20 List, of course, but it was a lazy day as I recovered from my sunburn. Yes, I got fried, despite the sunblock lotion. It was worth it.

Anyway, talk to you tomorrow.

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Off to the fair!

Thought I'd post a quick note before we leave since I might be too tired tonight to post then. We're off to the Medieval Fair in Norman today. Should get there around 12:20 or 1:00, which is when my friends and my roomie's son and family will arrive. Looking forward. Packed water, sunblock, hat, meds, etc. It's like a safari!

I actually have a pith helmet I could wear, but I've been told it makes me look a bit dorky. Well, if we were exploring the jungle, I'd be set.

Anyway, have a great day. Talk to you later. Or probably tomorrow.

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Buy Murder by the Acre at BooksAMillion.com
Buy Murder by the Acre in soft cover at Lulu.com
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Buy Floozy, MBTA & MBDD items and more at Oakleaf Harbor