giving, and eating

It was tough to choose because there are so many worthwhile organizations, but I made my choices for #GivingTuesday. I like that PayPal does a thing where you can use their service and you get receipts and there aren't fees, etc. I have also made tomato soup and a nice veggie lentil curry today, which means I will have healthy lunches the rest of the week. Day off for the win! I successfully procrastinated on writing by finding a lot of things to occupy my time. Not as awesome, but I did some pre-plotting in my head, so that was still a step in the right direction.

home today, and Giving Tuesday

I'm home today for various reasons, and I'm trying to catch up on a few writerly things since I don't usually have a whole work day to do these things (it feels like SO MUCH time, but I know at the end of the day it'll have gone by fast), and figure out where/how much to make donations for Giving Tuesday. Like most people, I have limited amounts to give, so I want to donate to charities that strike a chord with me. I donated earlier in the year, through other programs, but I always save a little for Giving Tuesday so I can be in on the fun.

tea wisdom

On the very tail end of my headcold (the cough always takes the longest to vanish...) I got this nugget of wisdom on the teabag tag. I'm always a little leery of these sorts of condensed phrases and encouragements because they can feel so temporary, so much like a quick fix rather than a deep dive, but I liked this one. It's more of a reminder that as we age, we become more ourselves.

still a headcold

For such a minor headcold, this one is hanging on like a champ!

I got my flu shot in October, but this is definitely not the flu. It is a small-time virus/bacteria that has set up residence. I'm to the point where my nose hurts from all the tissues. Not sick enough to stay home from my many duties this week, but it won't make it pleasant.

I did enjoy several really lovely soups this weekend, though: chicken and vegetable with orzo, creamy tomato, and Manhattan clam chowder (that's the red version). I tried making some sourdough rolls to go with the soups, but I am not very good at making bread and they came out a bit dense. They smelled divine while baking, though, so that's something, and that's with my nose only being at half efficiency.

headcold

I've caught a headcold from someone, somewhere. I'm all stuffed up! I'd hoped to get back to doing some writing this weekend, since it is a nice long one, but it looks like I'm going to be sipping tea, slurping soup, and napping. On the plus side, guilt-free curling up on the couch with a book until my eyes droop closed, since getting up to do things just takes way more effort than I want to exert.

stripes!

Chopping some veggies - very pretty colors -- the turnip has stripes!

Tales to Terrify: Devouring Delios

Goodness, I've been gone for awhile now. I had some non-author type stuff to get organized off-line, and didn't think it would take me this long to get back, but it did. Life sneaks up on us that way sometimes.

Which is why I didn't get to announce when one of my short stories, "Devouring Delios", became available in audio as a podcast through Tales to Terrify -- but, it is a horror story, so it's almost better to announce it now, near Halloween. We're all looking for creepy stories to entertain us at this time of year.

In "Devouring Delios", I take on a tale of summer camp, and what might be going on behind the scenes. There are monsters that lurk among us.

The artist, Alex Ford, who does the voicework for my story is absolutely incredible, too, so well worth the listen just to see how fantastically she does with the various voices. I was absolutely blown away by how excellent it turned out.

And Tales to Terrify also did a fantastic job putting together two stories with similar themes and metaphors into a single podcast. Listening to the two stories side-by-side really gives you food for thought.

Here's the link, and mine is the second story in the podcast, so it begins later -- the introduction to "Devouring Delios" is at 19:15:

http://talestoterrify.com/tales-to-terrify-338-elias-perry-tray-ellis/