Month: March 2024

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What I’m Reading

Hello all-

Right now, I’m reading a book for continuing education. It’s not for college credit, but it’s for a Storytelling Certificate issued by the Midcontinent Public Library, Woodneath branch. It’s an amazing free program offered by The Story Center.

For the certificate, I have to complete several tasks. One of them is to read a book from a list about the craft of writing,, and write a 500-word review of it. I asked the head of the Story Center, and I’m reading the book, Simple and Direct by Jacques Barzan.

It is helpful for me, but it’s a bit dry for me. I am going slowly, one chapter at a time. It is as it says, how to write using simple and direct language. Would I recommend it? YES!!

 

now back to my scheduled duties!
until next time
me

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All Around Me

Hello all-

I know I’m posting twice in one week.

Last night, we had a round of severe weather. Today is another unseasonably warm day here in the Flint Hills. This warm weather often leads to unstable weather and severe storms.

Tornadoes are a part of life. I’ve spent many hours sheltered in various places to wait out the storm. Last night, I was fortunate and only had to watch the radar.

A cluster of thunderstorms moved across Kansas, dropping rain. The unstable air mass was conducive to spawning severe weather.

I knew something was brewing because the air became still and heavy. It’s Kansas and when there is NO WIND or any air moving of any kind, that means something is going to happen weatherwise. Last evening was no exception.

My warm, gentle east breeze stopped. Lex, our couch potato dog, started to get anxious. He was whining, grumbling, wanting outside only to go back in again immediately. In preparation for the severe weather, I closed most of my windows, turned on the local weather, and made sure the animals inside and out, had their water bowls and tanks FULL. (If we lose electricity, we lose our water pump.)

A large thunderstorm developed to the west and north of me, growing into a bank of ominous clouds. This swirling mass of energy dumped some wind-tossed rain over my farm. The unstable energy held together enough to give me winds, pea-sized hail, and rain all while the sun tried to shine through from the west.

The storms moved off to the north and east of me. Throughout the evening, the storms damaged trees and buildings, dumped rain, and flung hail. Thankfully, no one was severely injured.

We had a smattering of hail on the ground. There was no tornado in my area, so I captured a few moments of the storm on video. For the rest of the evening, I kept the local TV station on, and one eye on the map and crawl on the corner of the screen.

I know I will spend many more evenings like this in the coming spring and summer. Having lived all of my life here in Kansas, it’s all I know. I’m thankful this series of storms was not as nasty as it could have been.

until next time.

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Always Busy

Hello all-

So often in my life people comment, “You’re always busy”. I guess I am. I don’t have a full-time job, I don’t turn down work if it’s offered, I have a small indie publishing imprint, and I’m trying to build my brand as an author. My mornings start with getting up and changing the “baby”. (She is my cat with Manx syndrome and is a perfectly normal yellow cat- except her back legs don’t work.)

Farm chores come next. Barn cats to feed, chickens to care for, and Dad’s two elderly horses he left to me need to be tended. Back inside, I feed the baby and her adopted siblings, including a wonderful fluffy Great Pyrenees, and fix my breakfast. While we are eating, I check my emails and messages. If anything needs tending to, I do it. After that, I work on editing other people’s books, editing mine, or getting in some household chores. Job hunting falls in with the computer time. During the week, I shoehorn in time for taking an online dance class, hosting a writer’s meeting, and taking online classes.

around 1 p.m., I fix lunch. My husband gets up (he works nights) and we eat together. He puts the dishes in the dishwasher and the leftovers in the fridge, while I either wash the pans or go back to work.

Right now, I am seriously behind on MY work. I have at least three blog posts, getting the large print versions of at least 7 books up at two places, getting ready for two dance performances, finishing up the stuff needed for the website, and finishing two book covers.

I feel like I don’t get much accomplished in the way of housecleaning, but there are only so many hours in a day. Most people think I work TOO hard. I think I’m not getting enough done. Until my body reminds me I do have a mild but chronic condition (or two).

This week so far, I have managed to get the book Red River Crossing Part 2 up for a young author, Ron Richardson. My kitchen is tidy. My laundry is caught up. I hosted a writer’s meeting yesterday, helped a friend repair her basement window covering, and loaded and unloaded a few chunks of stumps for firewood.

I finished my online work for my client. I think it’s time for me to open the windows, take a short walk and let the chickens out to play, gather the mail, and maybe take a few minutes for me. After all, I did get one blog post done.

until next time-
angel