As I write this, it is early morning, the sun is shining, and I am steeped in the most wonderful kind of quiet, broken only by the occasional ‘meow’, chirping bird, or dog snore. It’s heaven!
Beyond the back fence, a couple of renegade daffodils have sprung up out of the weeds, and the big dinner-plate dalhias have broken ground, too. There are sprouts on the rosebushes and my beloved peonies will be coming on soon. Glory be. Considering that we got a skiff of snow yesterday and a pretty good flurry the day before, this is big news in Lindaland.
I worked on my outline yesterday, fleshing it out, going chapter by chapter, and I’ve got to say, it was an amazing experience. It flowed. I’ve learned (am learning) this trick called free-writing, from a book by Mark Levy, called, “Accidental Genius.” That led to another book, as books often do, called “Writing With Power”. This is an old standard, but I don’t think I’ve ever read it. And just because I’ve been doing this for many years, and have grabbed a few brass rings along the way, well, that doesn’t mean I don’t have a LOT to learn.
Some early Mercury retrograde stuff going on around here–the last few books I ordered from Amazon went to my stepmother’s address in Grand Coulee. (Sorry about that, Edith. I sent you a newsy letter and postage money.) Zounds. I’ve tried to ignore it when Mercury goes into retrograde, but the snafus, usually minor, still happen. I am, as far as I know, still a card-carrying Gemini, though with the discovery of all those “new” planets out there, the whole thing might have to be revamped. I might be some sign I’ve never even heard of. 🙂 In any case, Mercury is Gemini’s ruling planet and, like it or not, like the full moon, I feel it. Even when I’d rather pretend it wasn’t happening.
On the art front, I bought myself a lightbox to celebrate finishing “A Lawman’s Christmas”–it’s very cool. Much flatter and more streamlined than the usual lightbox. If you’re curious, they make it very easy to trace an image. Combine that with all the socko photo-to-sketch apps available these days and the sky’s the limit.
I’m enjoying the News diet these days. It’s easy to follow. You just don’t tune in to hear the talking heads going on and on about how, to quote the Charlie Brown characters in a cartoon I once saw, where the Peanuts kids are about to go over a waterfall in a rubber boat, “We’re all gonna die!” (Mom, if you have that cartoon in your archives, I’d love a copy.)
Of course we’re all gonna die, but probably not in the next five minutes.
And that’s my humble version of the news, from right here at my kitchen table.
