…said the person who has confessed that February has been “challenging.” One of my books on riding suggests that riders quit thinking and talking about problems with their riding or their horse, and start calling things “challenging.” It’s a mental trick. It really does work though it requires firmly making a sharp turn in which Read More…
Category: life beyond writing
Again, And Again, And Again
….creeps in this petty pace from day to day…(or something like that.) No, Horngard I has not yet fledged completely and was handed back to the nest by the helpful Agent who pointed out that just flapping wings wasn’t flying, and the primaries were only half as long as they should be. Metaphorically speaking. Horngard Read More…
Waiting: Not My Favorite Game
It’s been a difficult couple of weeks for several reasons, but especially because…I haven’t heard anything back from Agent. I’m working, of course: the wildlife management report (in the process of which I discovered that my old printer no longer prints text…just pictures. And not very well…with thin orange striped across them.) Then there’s the Read More…
On The Way
NewBook I is on the way again…I emailed it to my agent yesterday and he got it (confirmation email, yay!) so there’s that. I took the rest of the afternoon off for a walk outside and horse chores. Today I opened NewBook II’s file. You may recall that it is/was a little over 20K word, Read More…
Who Wants Small Government?
The GOP, especially its MAGA wing, will tell you government is too big, government “overreaches” by making and enforcing laws that restrict freedom (by their definition of freedom, which trust me, I WILL get to.) They want SMALL GOVERNMENT. LOCAL CONTROL. INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS. FREEDOM. That they also claim to be in favor of law & Read More…
If You Can’t Admit Failure….
….YOU CANNOT ACHIEVE SUCCESS. This is the lesson that Steve McCraw, head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, needs to learn. He made the statement that although the DPS “made some mistakes” the agency as a whole “did not fail” the parents of children killed at Robb Elementary school in Uvalde. “Did not fail” Read More…
And the Beat Goes On
The final buffing and polishing (final is an indefinite word since there’s always One More Tyop to find) is now done. So yesterday morning, bright and early, Book II poked its head up out of the debris left over from Book I and said “So let’s get started.” And I said “I need to clean Read More…
Of Purple Paint & Short Stories
Yesterday and today were spent, in part, with cans of Krylon ™ spray paint in the color designated by TX Parks & Wildlife as “NO HUNTING PURPLE”. The idea is that instead of posting “No Hunting” signs (where they inevitably get stolen, shot up, mysteriously blown away) , you simply paint the top of your Read More…
Closer and Closer…
Progress is still coming and the book is still GROWING. I didn’t ask it to grow past 150K, I swear. But it swore back that I need another chapter of this, and two more chapters of that, and by the way I’d left an entire Very Important POV dangling. So. Still growing. New Stuff is Read More…
New Beginning In
NewBook’s new beginning has now been approved by two different first-readers (and many thanks to both of them!!!) so Chapter 1 is now anchoring one end of the book and the Good Ending (which has no chapter number as yet because things are still fluid in the last third and I need *uninterrupted* working sessions Read More…