May 15, 2013 Merritt Island, FL Before I forget, I want to mention that I will be performing tonight in Second Life at 4 pm SLT, which is the same as PST. Please come inworld to see and hear me read Soul Hill Lullabies, selections from Adventures and Confessions of a Fat Lady Who Sings, and a teaser from Ermengarde the Expansive. Speaking of which, I am soooo pleased with the illustrations for Ermengarde the Expansive. In the end, I think I will actually provide more of them than I originally planned. And THAT is exciting. Currently, there are eleven I plan to use and I have many that I chose not to put in. I envision five or six more before the final copy is done and ready to upload for publication. Here are a couple I am not using. They will give a sense of my envisioned final product.
May 13, 2013
"My Office," Merritt Island, FL
Last week, I completed the first draft of Adventures and Confessions. I am sure more of the story will come to mind and be added after the editing process begins in about 10 days. That gives me about 8 days to finish illustrations, edit and lay out Ermengarde the Expansive. Ya know, deadlines are good for my work. They motivate me in ways nothing else will. On the other hand, they suck, because they are, well, deadlines. This week, I will be performing in Second Life. I plan to do all of Soul Hill Lullabies, a couple of selections from Adventures and Confessions, and a teaser from Ermengarde the Expansive. Click the link above for more info on that. I have started a new FB author page. This is going to be an easier way to stay in touch with folks about my books and performances. Please go "like" it. Here is a link to my Amazon Author Page. Please get your copy of Soul Hill Lullabies today. May 9, 2013
Dateline: Merritt Island
First things First.
In case you missed me shouting it from the rooftops Soul Hill Lullabies is now available in paperback (5.99) or kindle (1.99) through Amazon.com. Order your copy today!
Also, there will be a book launch celebration for the releases SHL and Ermengarde the Expansive, June 9 at 1 pm. The whole world is invited. Watch this blog for details.
It seems that being awake at the buttcrack of dawn is my new (old) normal. I used to be an early riser. I was often at my desk in Columbus an hour or more before the sun rose. Since moving to Florida that has, most days, not been the case. For the the last couple of years, I've slept 'til mid morning and then regretted that the most productive time of my day had slipped away while I snoozed.
Just recently my biorhythms seem to have found their way back to normal. It started a couple months ago and felt, to be honest, awful. For the first few weeks after this shift toward waking at or before dawn, I fought it, often heading back to bed after a few minutes of wakefulness. That was a very bad choice indeed, because returning to bed after waking caused me to sleep way into the day and that really did amount to losing productive hours. After a couple weeks of that cycle I felt as sluglike as a human can feel without actually ceasing to accomplish anything at all. I decided the best course of action was to force myself to get up and stay up when my body clock told me morning had arrived.
I started that about a month back. At first it was a huge struggle and required caffeine. I can happily report that I am not struggling with it any more. I have found my way back to productivity and (to some degree) better health by doing what mom always told me when she got me up for a school bus that arrived before dawn, "Rise and shine, Sunshine, cuz you have to make an appearance before the sun does!"
I find many advantages to early rising. Most importantly, I am more productive in the hours before noon than the hours after it. One result of getting up when my body says I should is a whole lot of usable words written. Another is a cleaner house. There have also been benefits to my physical health because one of the things I do very, very early each day is food prep. Doing that before inertia sets in results in better meals for the whole day. So yay!
The only disadvantage to early rising is that many of the literary and social events I like to attend happen between
8 pm and midnight. Sometimes I require an afternoon nap in order to make it coherently into the night. That really is a sign I am older now.
One such late event was The Collective Word Open Mic Tuesday at Brick and Mortar. It was a great event, which featured a performance by poet, Moebius Machiavelli, who also showed and sold his art work. Moebius' book, Are There Zombies In Heaven?, can be found on Amazon. At the event, I performed three poems from Soul Hill Lullabies and Galumpf. The whole lineup of poets was good. I am really glad I went.
May 5, 2013 Dateline: Merritt Island
Please don't ask why I am awake at this unholy hour. I have no answer to offer, I can tell you that I am still awake an hour after waking because it was one of those times when I just knew I would not get back to sleep before dawn. It is way less frustrating to get up and make productive use of the time than to lay in bed waiting for sleep that doesn't come 'til five minutes before the alarm goes off. So here I am in the dark quiet, sipping my first cup of tea and getting the day's PR and some household chores out of the way. I have to admit to being a little on edge as I wait for the Amazon edition of Soul Hill Lullabies (developed via CreateSpace) to go live on Amazon.com. I submitted the final copy and cover late yesterday afternoon and I am told it can take up to 48 hours to be complete. The kindle version of Soul Hill Lullabies is available here for $1.99. There is a lot on today's agenda. Breakfast, the beach, church, some writing at Lazy Bean Cafe, a couple of readings inworld and a pork roast for dinner. Somewhere along the way there will be lunch and a bunch of piddling tasks that must be addressed. I am pretty excited to have learned enough of MS Word this week (thanks to Mike Myrick and a copy of Word 2013 For Dummies) to get the formatting done on SHL and the book uploaded in two formats. I still pretty much hate the complexity of all the programs involved in this process but have to admit the final products looked pretty darned good. Now I am considering an audio version of Soul Hill Lullabies. Poetry really is meant to be heard more than read. I will look into that possibility later this week. If you have thoughts on this process, drop me a note, please. May 3, 2O13 Dateline: Merritt Island I truly hate being my own agent, secretary and publisher. I can't even find words that adequately express how much I hate doing book layout and that is saying something when you consider I am a writer. Making artwork for covers, illustrations and event PR makes me consider chucking the whole career. Microsoft Word is evil; Open Office is evil; Paint and Photo Shop are evil; Google Docs is evil. I cannot say with certainty that whatever Macs have on them is evil, but I am betting it is and you cannot submit to most publishers using mac friendly software, so I will never know for sure. The point is there is NO manner of word processing, layout and art software that does not make my head ache. Seriously. I HATE THIS. Just ask my partner, who has witnessed more than one meltdown this week as I do final layout of Soul Hill Lullabies for Kindle. Someday when y'all buy all my books and make me rich, I am gonna hire myself an administrative assistant. My partner will surely thank you. Having said that, I feel much better and can now begin another day in the word mines.  April 28, 2013 Dateline: Cocoa, FL Rant Warning! In the words of that illustrious philosopher, Jo Dee Messina, My Give A Damn's Busted. It's not (just) because I've had only seven hours sleep in the previous two nights combined. It's not (just) because I haven't had a Pepsi in six months and I'm still Jonesing for it like Newt Gingrich for the presidency. It's not (just) because it is that time of the month when my patience runs a bit thin. I don't think we can blame the full moon and it is certainly not that I do not like my life. My life is super fine, thanks. It's that some people and some institutions have worn out their welcomes with my nerves. I am fed up to my ample behind with people who want, want, want more, more, more, never lifting a finger to fulfill their own desires, rarely saying thanks for what is done free of charge on their behalf. I have had it up to my bountiful belly with a religious institution that claims to be a voice for justice and inclusivity, for hospitality and openness, but charges visitors to attend some of it's rituals (and not just charging a pittance but more than $100 per person). And, no, the problem is not that I cannot afford to attend; I can. I just find it repugnant for a church to be so obviously for the rich while claiming to be advocates of the poor. I have had it up to my luscious bosom with people who think they know better than I how to manage my health and life. When they have to give up flour tortillas and hamburger buns in order to keep the pain in their arms and legs at bay, then maybe they can speak. I am neck deep in contempt for an institution that is always in the news fighting for the rights of the oppressed everywhere but which allows size discrimination in its own hiring and fails to include people of size in its published nondiscrimination policy. They will take my donations, but do nothing to protect me from bias. I am totally finished coddling people who can't commit to plans more than a week ahead of schedule. Don't get me started on the ones who put off making plans and then act surprised or hurt or angry when I go off and make my own plans not including them. Admittedly, in some cases, I have put the label, sap, on my very own forehead. Last night, I lay awake thinking about all these things. I woke up thinking how much I love most aspects of my life and that these things are simply inconsequential blips I will not allow to bring me down. Having made that decision, I began today the odious but ultimately freeing task of disentangling myself from people and institutions that take more from me than they give. End Rant. In other news, I finished a poem today and plan to read Shakespeare tonight. Yay me! April 25, 2013 Dateline: Cocoa, FL I come to you this last Thursday in April from the Lazy Bean Cafe in Cocoa, FL, my favorite place to write away from home. I am happy to report that the sun is shining and it is warm enough to feel luxurious but not so hot out as to make one sweat. I am enjoying a cup of tea. Black. I have been awake and working for many hours already. It has been a productive morning and I would like to assure that the next three hours are productive as well. I plan to work on another chapter of Adventures and Confessions of A Fat Lady Who Sings. There will also be a third or fifth pass at the newest poem, The Right Kind of Night For a Nightmare, which I would like to share at a public this weekend. Yesterday was a busy day. One thing accomplished was the fabulous midweek haiku throw-down in which so many folks participated. You can find those great poems here. I'm also very happy to share with you all the news that the cover for Ermengarde The Expansive, which will be re-released in June, is completed. I am not quite ready to share that cover, but here is one of the photos that got left on the cutting room floor, as it were.
In other news, it was yesterday confirmed that I will be reading from Soul Hill Lullabies and Ermengarde The Expansive on Friday, June 28 at 6pm at The Oswayo Valley Memorial Library in Shinglehouse, Pennsylvania. I am particularly gladdened that I will be reading about my grandparents in the town where they were married. If you are in the Alleghenies, I hope you will consider joining us for that event. April 22, 2013
Dateline: Cocoa, FL
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| The hat and shades were not strictly called for as I was inside and it was raining. What can I say? Sometimes a girl just likes going incognito.
OK so I am planted on a chair in my current favorite place to write, The Lazy Bean Cafe in Old Cocoa Village. I have a long list of things I want to accomplish today. Hopefully, I will get at least two thirds of those completed before time to go home, about 3 hours from now. First up is this blog. Check! Yay me.
Blog maintenance will be followed by some work on hoot/tweets. I am finding that cunning use of social media takes a lot of planning and time. My goal today is to plan a month's worth of tweets, FaceBook updates, LinkedIn notices, notices to be sent out in Second Life. My guess is I will not complete this task today, because I only plan to give it an hour. It looks to me like a three hour job. At least today will be a significant start on it.
Next up on today's roster will be a few minutes spent retweeting friends' yummy tweets. Luckily, that is a relatively quick and easy task. It will be followed by actual writing. Yesterday, I edited one chapter of Adventures and Confessions of a Fat Lady Who Sings and started editing a second. I discovered when editing the second that the first draft had not been completed. I would have sworn I wrote that whole chapter a month or so ago, but, alas, I had only begun it. I guess I thought about what would make up the bulk of that chapter but never actually wrote it. Yesterday I wrote about 1000 words of that and will write another 700 or so today.
In other plans, there will be lunch at some point midst the work and there will be household chores at some point after returning to the household. Doesn't all that sound exciting? Well, you asked, didn't you?
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April 20, 2013
Dateline: Cocoa, FL
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| A View from Alma Hill, NY
On Earth Day, I am thinking of Alma Hill. My people come from The Hill and the towns surrounding it. I have spent much of the last week planning a trip back home. It may seem a little odd that I think of Alma Hill, New York as my home; I have never lived there.
In my life time I have lived a couple dozen places, none of them on The Hill. Having relocated so many times though, there is no place I actually resided that I think of as my own. It is Alma Hill, where my grandfather and grandmother grew up, in whose shadow both my parents were born, that I consider home.
My mom was a Thurber of Bolivar, a town at the foot of Alma Hill. My dad grew up just outside of town. In late June, I will take my own daughter there for her first visit. She will see many places considered significant in Mesler and Thurber history. It will surprise me some if she gets it.
Susie never knew our folks who lived there and never heard their stories. I doubt she will feel the pull of that land as I do, a pull that brings tears to my eyes even as I write this blog. Though Alma and the Alleghenies have lived mostly in my mind, mountains only visited every decade or so, they have shaped me. I belong to those hills just the same as if I had been born there. I want to give my daughter that same sense of rootedness.
This summer she will meet her great aunts and uncles, one of whom convinced my three year old self dry panties are preferable to wet diapers and another who took me to demolition derby when I was six. She will stand atop Alma Hill and look toward the horizon. She will see the house her great grandfather built and the one in which her maternal grandmother was born. She'll see the school where one great grandmother cooked and the one where her great, great Aunt taught. She'll see the tombstones of not just Meslers and Thurbers, but Gimlins and Newtons, Peters and all the rest who contribute to my DNA and, in turn, her own.
Alma Hill is much on my mind as a I plan this trip and as I prepare for digital publication of Soul Hill Lullabies, my own book about Alma Hill. Alma means soul, and, in many ways, Alma is my soul. Appropriate thoughts these are for Earth Day.
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April 19, 2013
Dateline: Merritt Island
It is after 5 pm and I have written not a word today until now. Well, that is not exactly true; I have written amounts on multiple checks to pay bills, I have written down notes whilst discussing said bills with officious persons over the phone, I have written events in my calendar (planning our summer vacation), written queries to various places I might perform public readings of Soul Hill Lullabies to be published in May, and exchanged information via email with folks who will be with me on mucho magical October Moms vacation in the fall. So technically, I have written today, but I have a hard time convincing myself any of that actually counts. Grrrrrrrr.......
Some days are like that.
For the last few weeks, I have been working hard to increase my visibility on the net and am seeing some success. I am getting more hits on this blog than I ever have previously and am getting some attention via Twitter and Facebook. The blog traffic is especially encouraging. In the last month, I have received one fifth of the hits this blog has received in its entire lifespan, almost two years. It is a good increase, but not enough, so I will keep taking the advice of those who know more about e publishing than I. You can help by sharing links to my blog when you see them in Facebook and retweeting them on Twitter.
You may recall that we started a new recurring event this week in UUtopia, Second Life. This is a Shakespeare Reading Circle. This week we read the first two acts of All's Well That Ends Well. It was GREAT!!!!!!! So great, in fact, that we decided to hold it twice a month instead of the once I originally planned. It was a lot of fun, so I hope you will consider joining us inworld on April 28 at 6 pm PST for the last half of AWTEW.
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Shakespeare Reading Circle 4/17/13
April 16, 2013
Dateline:Merritt Island
Yesterday was a productive day. I really like being able to say that. Part of the productivity was accomplished in a frantic dash when it was suggested that I should create and lead a memorial service for those affected by yesterday's tragedy in Boston. I was honored to be trusted with so important a task. I am debating weather or not to post the text for that ritual on this blog. As a liturgist, I am pleased with it and would like to share. As a citizen not directly affected by what happened in Boston, I don't want to make hay of tragedy. I will leave the possibility of sharing that ritual script for another time.
Last night's reading from Adventures and Confessions of a Fat Lady Who Sings was well received. I was pleased with my own performance and am, for the most part, pleased with the writing and editing I've done so far on that work. I did not take a headcount, but I think there were about 20 gathered to hear excerpts from my memoir.
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| Me, in my Freda Frostbite avatar, arriving at Seanchai Library for last night's performance. |
Much of today will be spent prepping the homestead for a gathering of Brevard County Stitchers, better known as gal pals who stitch and bitch. I plan to work some on Adventures and Confessions. There will also be some editing on the new poem, A Night for a Nightmare.
April 14, 2013
Dateline: Merritt Island, FL
So I got up this morning revved and raring to go in spite of feeling a little ick. The ick seemed like it was passing and I really have a lot I want to get done. I hopped out of bed and set to work. I made breakfast, put some stuff in the crock-pot we will refer to later as stew, led an inworld meditation, ate the breakfast and then fell promptly to sleep. I slept for three hours. Wow!
Now a big hunk of the day is gone and we hear thunder in the distance. Maybe I can get some work done even with having slept through prime working hours since I won't be going anywhere in the great big nasty that is headed our way. My plan is to alternate writing spurts with cleaning spurts. I will also try to get into Second Life for readings at Book Island and Bookstacks. Might even do a little inworld labor for the next exhibit in the sculpture garden, which will open in early June. (No, I am not a virtual sculptor; I am an inworld museum curator.)
So that is my master plan for what remains of the day. I hope yours is productive too!
April 12, 2013
Dateline: Lakeland, FL
From my perspective, airplanes can be categorized by three characteristics.
- First, they can be big or small.
- Secondly, they are either open cockpit or closed.
- Finally, all airplanes are yellow or some other color.
My partner, the man I love above all others, the person with whom I intend to spend the remainder of my life, he who shall not be tagged in Facebook, is a mechanical engineer who has spent his entire career making stuff fly. It would not be an overstatement to say he loves planes like I love yarn and good poems and strawberry ice cream. That is to say he really, really loves airplanes. And I really, really love him so yesterday and today are all about planes! Yay!
Yesterday we visited Fantasy of Flight in beautiful downtown Orlampa. For the uninitiated Orlampa is the middle of nowhere about halfway between Orlando and Tampa. It did not used to be a place but the very eccentric and wealthy dude who owns Fantasy of Flight decided he wanted to create Orlampa and so he did.
At the museum, we walked through a diorama of aeronautic war porn. Thankfully, that was brief and only the beginning of our time at FOF.
We also saw airplanes of all sizes and varieties from the dawn of flight to the present. This included what I am told is a very rare amphibian plane, The 1930 Sikorsky S39, which I have to admit is pretty cool looking... for something that is not crafted from yarn, I mean.
We also visited a warehouse full of broken plane parts which is part of the fun stuff at Fantasy of Flight. There, I was impressed by the rusting hulks of two WW2 blimp gondolas. Not kidding one bit. They really were quite a sight. Unfortunately, neither of us took a photo of those.
We wrapped up our time at Fantasy of Flight by attending the very end of the Splash-In. That, we attended last year and I enjoyed it. I can't entirely explain why but planes that can go in water are way more interesting to me than planes that cannot. So I guess that means there is a fourth way to categorize airplanes.
- Planes are either sea-worthy or they are not.
See, honey? My aeronautic understanding is broadening by the minute! Maybe if we stay together another three or four decades, I will remember that not all sea planes are hydroplanes.
April 10, 2013
Dateline: Tarpon Springs, FL
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| Sea Plane Lands at Lake Agnes during the Splash-in, 2012 |
Lakeland, here we come! We are headed soon to Lakeland, Fl where we will attend Sun 'n Fun, an international fly-in and expo. There will be hundreds of airplanes on display; courses on how to build, care for, register, compete in airplanes; daily airshows; displays of many flying vehicles that are not quite airplanes; thousands of people gathered in what is a small town with limited hotel space for an annual event that for many is like a family reunion.
Last year was the first time I attended Sun 'n Fun. My favorite part was the splash-in on Lake Agnes at Fantasy of Flight. I should explain for the uninitiated that a splash-in is an event where hydroplanes show what they can do on and above the water. Fantasy of Flight is a museum of flying. The museum is open year round but the day of the splash-in it will be jammed with folks who think there is nothing more interesting than learning more about planes and flight history. Of course, that's when I'll be there!
So part of today will be spent in the car getting to our hotel in Lakeland. At some point we will stop at a Starbucks or Panera and I will do some actual work. I will probably work on another segment of Adventures and Confessions of a Fat Lady Who Sings. Yesterday, I completed the section at least temporarily called "Fat Medicine." I really had no idea how much I had to say on that topic til I was writing and the words kept coming and coming and coming. It is possible that when editing time rolls around, I will decide this was really three or four chapters.
Late today, due to some very poor planning on my part, I will need to hole up in our hotel room to host a number of events in Second Life. If you are so inclined, please join me in UUtopia for performances by Fyrm Fouroux at 12 noon PST, Lindimoo at 1 PST, Ringo Robonaught at 5 pm PST, Shannon Oherlihy at 6, and Jerry Angel at 7 PST! You can find more information on the location for these events here.
April 6, 2013
Dateline: New Port Richey, FL
With the support and encouragement of friends, I have decided to get really serious about self-publishing my writing. There was a time, back before arthritis and brain fog came into my life, when I had the energy and patience to send my work off to magazines and publishing houses and wait for responses that might or might not come and publications that might or might not happen.
Of course back then self-publication was the disinherited child of real publishing. This was not always the case. many, many writers of old published themselves. Dickens did it. So did Poe. So did Hardy. But somewhere in the 20th century writers who self-published came to be thought of as less talented and more desperate than those who had agents and book deals with the huge houses. That is not true anymore.
Thanks to the internet, self-publication has seen a resurgence. Big markets like Amazon and Smashwords are making it easier than ever to see your words in print. Of course this does mean there is a lot more dreck out there to be weeded by discerning readers. As a reader I find that to be a small price for finding work that might never have seen the light of day had authors not had access to Kindle publishing or some other easy way to self-publish online.
As a writer, I see it as a very reasonable way to see my work in print and in the hands of readers all over the world. I am too old and too tired to wait around for Random House or Doubleday to answer my queries. I have decided to self-publish seven books in the next twelve months. Most of the material for these books is already written. In two cases, I need to complete the writing in order to prepare manuscripts for publication.
Today I set some publication goals for myself. I share these goals with you in the same way a dieter sets weight loss goals with a diet buddy. Nothing is carved in stone, but committing in advance to reaching specific goals is one step toward actually getting the work done. Here are my publication plans for the next year.
May 24, 2013 Soul Hill Lullabies, a poem cycle
June 7, 2013 Ermengarde The Expansive, empowerment tale
August 23, 2013 Adventures and Confessions of a Fat Lady Who Sings, memoir
October 18, 2013 Goose Bumps in The Night, scary stories and poems for adults
December 13, 2013 Winter Songs, poems and stories
February 7, 2014 Frauenliebe und Leben, a love story in verse
April 25,2014 The Ballad of Donny Granger, Book 1, a novel
April 4. 2013
Dateline: Merritt Island
A rainy day in central Florida. I can live with this sort of gentle rain that gives the ground a much needed drink without flooding anything. This is what I think of when I think the phrase, April showers. The air is pleasantly moist and cool, not the hot wet blanket it will be in six weeks. I can live with this.
I did a little writing this morning. Started a chapter on fat medicine for Adventures and Confessions. I can already tell this segment will require major edits. I am getting way too tangled up in facts and stats when this is not intended to me a medical book but a personal statement about how a big person can and should stay healthy and how the healthcare and food industries makes that nigh on impossible. The goal right now is just to write, no editing or self-censorship allowed. I just need to get it all on the page before the thoughts and drive dry up.
April 3, 2013
Dateline: Merritt Island
Wednesdays are my day to take care of business in Second Life. I am "inworld" a lot on Wednesdays for performances in an arts venue I co-own with Heximer Thane (who happens to be my first life partner too) and Darcy Cedarbridge, The Daniel Chester French Sculpture Garden, Art Gallery, and concert hall. Tonight, we are hosting a performance by one of SL's finest storytellers, Caledonia Skytower. I am really looking forward to that.
I did very little writing today but tat's okay, I had a great time shopping with my daughter! Yay! Will hit the pages early tomorrow morning.
April 2, 2013
Dateline: Merritt Island
Up at the butt crack of dawn to get a little work done before heading to Lake Mary, Blue Springs and Deland with my daughter, she of Spilling Ink fame, who is here for a short spring break. Yesterday we went to the Brevard Zoo, which is really very nice. Best part was feeding the giraffes, though the rhinos are for sure my favorite critters there.
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| That's me with Rafiki at The Brevard Zoo. |
I have decided to republish two earlier works, Soul Hill Lullabies and Ermengarde the Expansive via Amazon Kindle. Those will be available later this spring. They will be followed by new works, Adventures and Confessions of a Fat Lady Who Sings and The Ballad of Donny Granger. I very likely will publish Ballad as a serial.
I am really pleased with A and C progress. Twelve chapters are completed as of yesterday, though all need some touching up. I am resisting the urge to edit anything til the book is complete. Luckily, the chapters are pouring out on demand and ideas for future chapters are pouring out with ease.
March 31, 2013
Dateline: Merritt Island
Flower communion today! I really love these celebrations of spring! I am also loving that another segment of Adventures and Confessions of a Fat Lady Who Sings is completed! It is one of the juicier sections too. Those are the hardest t right without repetitive vocabulary. I think these sections are completed now, though it is still possible that I will add another if another aspect of sexual truths for fat people comes to mind. Next up is a chapter on shopping for groceries and eating in public. It's sad that a person even needs to think of that as an act of personal liberation, but, for most big folk it is just that.
My daughter arrived last night from Ohio. She is in Florida for just a few days so we are going to make the most of them. That may mean I don't get a whole lot of writing done but, since I seem to be creatively fertile right now, I plan to write every day even if it means stopping at Starbucks to work on my computer and even if it means I only write a few lines.
March 30, 2013
Dateline: Merritt Island
It has been a very productive week! I have two new poems, one of which is posted here, and a new segment of Adventures and Confessions completed. This week also included two readings and a sermon delivery. All three went well. I was particularly gratified by response to my performance of selections from Adventures and Confessions of a Fat Lady Who Sings at Second Life's annual Storyfest. I really was not sure how that work would be received. I did not share the rougher or juicier sections as this was a G-rated event. LOL!
Of course, there was class work, which is interesting but incredibly slow going and I am starting to question my own sanity in signing on for more years spent as a student. Yes, education has value in and of itself, but it sure would be nice to have some sense this education might lead to something. Realistically, it does not look to me like it will. For that reason, reevaluation needs to take place.
Tomorrow, I will be preaching and leading the service for The Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Cocoa. We will have a flower communion after the sermon, which is called Facing Environmental Change. This is the second in a sermon series on change and transformation. The service starts at 11 am and the church is located at 1261 Range Rd. in Cocoa. Please join us.
March 27, 2013
Dateline: Merritt Island
My new class started Monday. It is on Economic psychology and, although I find the lectures fascinating, am somewhat overwhelmed by the work load. That is partly because I seem to have entered a period of creative fertility. Such times don;t last forever so I am writing a lot while the impetus exists and doing just enough classwork to not be a complete slacker.
There will be two open mics today in UUtopia in Second Life, one at 1pm and the other at 7pm PST. If you are so inclined, please pop inworld and join us. Performing artists of all kinds are encouraged to participate.
March 22, 2013
Dateline: Merritt Island
What a gorgeous day in central Florida! I woke up to sun streaming in the window and ducks crying in the canal outside. A poem came to me in the shower and stayed in my mind long enough to make it in skeleton form to paper. Had breakfast out and now have plans to spend an afternoon on the coast in the sun! Does it get any better than this? I don't think so!
This Sunday,March 24, I will be performing parts of Adventures and Confessions of a Fat Lady Who Sings in Second Life's StoryFest 2013! Please follow the link for more information.
March 16, 2O13
Dateline: Merritt Island
Next Sunday, I will be performing at Second Life's Story Fest. I have read at this event before and am always glad to do it. But this time I am worried. I have decided to read from recent work that is, at this time, lacking purpose or structure. I have written a series of what might be called essays or memoir all of which take as their theme something related to living life as a fat woman or girl. They are at times funny, sometimes educational, often emotional. I have absolutely NO idea what I will do with these pieces once I have a bunch of them written. For now, they are part of a folder I call Adventures of a Fat Lady Who Sings.
Anyway, I decided some time ago that I would read from these short pieces at Storyfest. Now, I am wondering what on earth possessed me. Sometime between now and next Sunday I need to decide which pieces I will perform and edit them. At the moment this seems like a monumental task.
For more information on Storyfests in Second Life, visit Storyfests SL. All times posted there are in Second Life Time, which is the same as Pacific Time.
March 9, 2013
Dateline: Merritt Island
I wrote today after taking tests in both my classes. Now I am emotionally drawn and exhausted. I'm sure the time change did not help one bit with the exhaustion.
The writing was rough because it took off in a direction I'd not anticipated. I started out with a plan but the story had ideas of its own and I ended up writing in very general terms about the first great love of my life, a man who was my best friend even after he hurt me deeply and who died all too young. Now I am sort of a wreck.
This too shall pass and is, I suspect, a very good sign. One has to have openly flowing emotional veins to write well and mine have been stopped up tight for several months. Today's writing needs a LOT of detail added but the feeling is definitely there. I take this as a sign that creative fertility is returning.
February 25, 2013
Dateline:Merritt Island
I am experiencing a dry spell where writing is concerned. It is greatly troubling me, though I know this too shall pass. The advice given countless professional authors is to keep showing up at the page, keep writing no matter how bad it is. My problem is not the quality of writing but the complete dearth of it. I have written a couple of sermons recently but nothing that constitutes poetry or progress on a major work. I am frustrated with myself because I am not showing up at the page.
I am however reading LOTS. Throughout my life it has been true that if I am reading, I am not writing and, when I am writing, I am not reading. I know other authors who both read and write copiously and concurrently. That has never been me. I seem only to be able to have one story in my head at a time, one of my own creation or someone else's. It is not that I make a conscious choice to read instead of writing; I just acknowledge that, for me, the two don't coexist.
I am also getting other creative work done, so maybe this is okay. I am troubled though when I feel like a poetic sloth.
February 4, 2013
Dateline: Merritt Island
With my partner, Mike, I attended The Dark Sky Festival in Harmony, FL on Saturday. It turned out to be a lovely event. The town of Harmony is an unincorporated master-planned community, sort of near Kissimmee and St. Cloud. Its claim to fame and the reason for its name is that this town intends to have as little negative impact on the land as possible; the town plans to be "in harmony" with nature in so much as that is even possible. There is a great deal of green space, an effort not to trample wildlife habitats and wetlands willy nilly, an initiative to reuse and recycle; There are bike lanes and jogging lanes along the streets and I noticed crossings marked for small electric vehicles like golf carts as well as charging stations for said electric vehicles. The town also is unique in that it makes a serious effort not to contribute to light pollution.
This idea of keeping the skies dark at night is the basis for the Dark Sky Festival. There were a couple dozen telescopes set up in the town square for people to look at the stars. There were the usual fair food vendors (which we avoided by eating at Graze, a marvelous restaurant on the square) a few vendors of festival related stuff and some booths passing out information on various topics related to the mission of the festival and the community. There were also live educational performances on the festival's two stages, mostly on astronomy and ecology topics, and a couple of booths that sold eco-sciency and astronomical art.
It really was a pleasant place to be. All it lacked was some poetry being read about the stars and the earth. Seems like the festival directors might consider hosting an hour of themed spoken word performances. Maybe I will send them a note suggesting this.
It also occurred to me that someone should set a mystery story in the town of Harmony. Seriously. If you are a mystery writer, feel free to steal that idea.
January 28, 2013
Dateline:Merritt Island
There are simply NOT enough hours in every day to do the things I want and need to do.Anyone else have trouble getting their work done, their writing work I mean, because there are so many other things that seem to be equally high priorities? For me it's little things like sleep and exercise and preparing decent food that seem to be eating away at time I would like to spend writing and singing and playing with friends.
Seriously, people, how do you manage to get it all in?
January 18, 2013
Dateline: Merritt Island, FL
In the last couple weeks, I have written quite a lot, including two sermons, a new meditation, a couple of chapters of the as yet unrevealed project, and a poem. Yay! I have also started classes and am doing pretty well I think in spite of my attention being divided between class work and singing and writing and time at the gym and a fair amount of fun. And, oh yeah, I have a cold. It s not an awful cold, not one that will completely ground me, but it may interfere with some singing I plan to do.
The new poem is a sexy one, another one with a Goddess as its heroine. There have been quite o few of those in the last year. Maybe there is a cycle in there somewhere.
January 10, 2013
Dateline: Merritt Island, FL
Here we are almost two weeks into the 2013 and I am only now getting around to making my first diary entry of the New Year. I really have been swamped so far this year, swamped in good ways though.
I have started taking college coursework for the first time in more than two decades, some live and in person, some online. I have also begun singing with one local chorus and will start another this weekend. I am thrilled to be singing again with choirs. Man, I have missed that!
Another activity I have missed since moving to Florida is needle crafting with friends. Having looked high and low for a Stitch and Bitch that would suit my schedule and interests and finding none, I started one and we met for the first time a few days ago. I thoroughly enjoyed the gathering. I hope it continues to grow strong!
As for writing, I have written a sermon this week and am working on a project that has been waiting to be written for most of my life. I am not ready to discuss its content, but its getting a great deal of my attention. I am pleased with it.
Too bad I cannot say as much for tonight's sermon. About the best I can say for it is it is finished. Sometimes done is good enough. On many occasions when I have not been pleased with my work, others have been, so maybe this is one of those times.
Soon, I will be working on a new meditation which I will use with the UU fellowship I attend in Cocoa and with meditation groups in SL. A friend suggested I write one with transformation as a theme. I like that idea, thus it shall be.
The Ballad of Donny Granger is languishing for lack of attention. I would like to return to it but find my attentions way too scattered. I am going with the flow and hoping it leads me back to Donny.
I have also not written a poem in a couple months. I really would like to rectify that situation very soon. Maybe something for MLK Day as I will be participating in a celebration of his life and words that day. Hmmmm...
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