Friday night tedium

Friday night and...I'm backing up files. Ah. I'm pretty sure I'm making a good run at the title of Truly Dull. (And that suddenly seems like a most excellent character name for a piece of humorous fiction.)

Back to my peppermint tea (no caffeine this late at night, horrors!) and moving files around.

raining, raining, raining

It's going to be a long day of rain, making the skies gray and cloudy. I'm already on my third cup of coffee. But caffeine can only last so long against the dreary sight outside my window. A perfect day for curling up with a book. I can imagine better weather between the pages of something fantastical. I do find I reach for a lot of comfort-fic these days.

keeping the windows shut

It is getting cold enough out at night that I'm no longer opening the windows for the fresh air. That air is so fresh it turns me into an icicle!

mid-August

The nights are actually starting to stay cool and it is noticeably getting darker earlier. Seems like summer is drifting to a close. I've seen Halloween stuff for sale in the stores (and may have bought a few decorations). Even if I didn't keep an eye on the calendar, the stores would let me know what holiday was coming up. Everyone's gardens are finally coming in -- there's a lot of zucchini showing up lately! I finally figured out how to make those zucchini noodles that were so popular a few years ago. They're really good. Now is the time to enjoy the noodles.

garlic!

Here's my garlic crop for the summer, drying out. It's my first year trying garlic, so I'm sort of stumbling forward with this, but it seems easy enough. I'll be planting again in the late autumn, and cooking with some of it in the meantime. Garlic is delicious and quite healthy. Although perhaps not the best on your breath for romantic encounters.

bees love my orgeano

I have a little (well, maybe not so little) clump of oregano in one corner and I don't use it very often for cooking, but it is supremely popular with the local bees. This past week it was flowering and I noticed at least two types of bees -- lots of bees, it was like a bee convention with free pollen milkshakes -- one type looked like a honeybee and I think the others were probably sweat bees.

There are definitely some local beekeepers, so I'm not surprised about the honeybees. But I was so glad to see the sweat bees. These are smaller and native/local, so that means someone isn't actively keeping a hive of them like with honeybees. Seeing them means they're doing well in the local area. I know with all the lawns and such that there are probably a lot of pesticides and herbicides around, but I try my best not to use those unless absolutely necessary (a paper wasp nest last year did get dosed, but that was it) so that the good insects have a chance to do their thing.

rec: The Poet X

The Poet X (Audiobook)
by Elizabeth Acevedo (Author/Narrator)

I had to wait about 4 months for this book to become available through my library, and it was worth the wait.

This book was fabulous -- and listening to the audio version was intense. The whole thing is told with the energy of slam poetry and it feels so true and real, and covers a lot of topics that don't often get touched on because they might be uncomfortable or unpopular. The only thing that seemed the tiniest bit off-pitch was the ending. After the harshness experienced in the previous chapters, even getting to the point that the characters got to at the end seemed like a minor miracle. But it offered a lot of hope and healing, so I'm glad that was where it went.

I don't know about the paper version of the book, because I listened to the audio version, which is what I really recommend because it is so much about hearing the poetry spoken.

Happy 4th

Got up early to water my garden (this year: garlic! Because everything else gets nibbled) and work on paying bills. Later there will be a cook-out BBQ thing. I hope everyone else is having a good holiday. Went to see the fireworks last night and was surprised to see a real brass band playing while the fireworks went off. That was really awesome. I was surprised to see so many people brought their dogs to the display because I know animals can be very sensitive to the loudness, but I didn't see any animals in distress (I watched one dog nap through the entire thing) so that was good.

starting my weekend at 4:30 on a Sunday

This was a weekend of cleaning.

It isn't that I need my place to be spotless before I can settle down and write, but I really need it to be in a mostly cleaned and picked-up state before i can focus. And my place had gotten pretty cluttered and disheveled, with many tasks needing to be done, and some of the underlying cleaning really needing attention. So this weekend, I tackled those projects. I finally put away my winter clothes! I had them washed and half folded, but not boxed away, and that project was just looming over me because it involves finding room to put away those boxes, which the space they were in previously always seems to vanish.

So, now, I am tired but triumphant. And I probably won't do much more than noodle about with some stories, but the weight is lifted.

baking cookies

Baking some oatmeal raisin cookies tonight for a pot luck tomorrow. I go a little light on the cinnamon and heavier on the nutmeg. It's a nice excuse to indulge in some cookies, and I'm really glad that the temps outside aren't too awful. It's never fun to turn on the oven when it's warm! If it had been hot, I definitely would have chosen something like gelatin mold!

NineStar Press -- 40% off code

NineStar Press has a special for Pride Month! And I have a story there that is part of an anthology:
https://ninestarpress.com/p…/once-upon-a-rainbow-volume-two/

Once Upon a Rainbow, Vol. II

The True Love Curse by Tray Ellis – True Love would be wonderful, but the curse keeps getting in the way.

Definitely take advantage of this! (Even if it's not my story, there's so much good stuff there, you'll find something that floats your boat!)

new weekend, new energy

Last weekend I got skunked and ended up doing everything for everyone else and did not get any writing time at all. This weekend, there are still a substantial number of things on the To Do list but I have much better odds at finding time to do some writing. Now I have only to figure out which draft will spark the most energy for me.

Simmer, don't wait

I definitely had a very good stretch where I had a lot of short stories accepted for anthologies, but now time has passed and the anthologies are going to be retired. This is another of those.

Simmer, with Dreamspinner Press

https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/books/simmer-5594-b

My contribution was 'Operation Wild Thumb":


Zucchini and squash have sprouted at the home Heath shares with his divorced sister, Sara, and are growing in abundance. Never one to pass up the opportunity for a prank, Heath decides to leave the vegetables on his neighbors’ doorsteps. One neighbor catches him in the act, but luckily Alex seems as into the humor as he is into Heath. When the night comes to an end, there might be more on the burner than zucchini pancakes.

The thing I really loved about this anthology were the recipes that came with the stories! Each was associated in some way with the story that had been told. So, for mine, I have a zucchini pancake recipe -- which was a lot of fun developing. I made the pancakes several times, trying different variations of the recipe until I had something I thought worked really well. (My first try had everything way too soggy, and it wasn't as delicious as I wanted it to be.)

So, if you were waiting to grab this particular anthology, grab soon.

Purple Potatoes

Got these at the local Farmer's Market this weekend and turned them into delicious homemade chips. They don't taste different from other potatoes, but they're very pretty.

catching up on rest

It was a busy winter, and I finally hit a wall. I haven't done much of anything today except nap, but I think I needed to work off some sleep debt. I've definitely been working a lot lately. I'm eyeing later spring for a return to writing more regularly, and storing up ideas of things to work on. I keep having daydreams of opening the windows to let in the soft, warm, fresh air.

waiting for the weekend

Worknights just seem too short to get anything done. A few rounds of laundry, trying to balance the checkbook, and dirty dishes and there's not a lot of time left afterward to much of anything else. It always seems worse in the Spring, though. The long winter has dragged on, and we're all waiting to burst into life again, like flowers finally pushing upwards. I can feel that there's energy on the horizon. But it isn't quite there yet....

Love Wins, don't wait

My understanding is that the charity anthology Love Wins, won't be available for very much longer. If you were thinking of grabbing this excellent set of stories (with my humorous and romantic "Prevailing Zzz's" as part of it), then you should do so very soon, before it is no longer available!

Here's the link:

https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/books/love-wins-7898-b

loosing steam, watching tv

It's a busy week, so I've lost some steam with writing. But I have caught some of Patriot Act on Netflix. Funny, sharp, and smart. Anyone else watch it?
(I should clarify -- by 'some', I mean I have now watched all of the episodes.)

review: Hello, Universe

Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly

This book was captivating. Usually I listen to audiobooks while I'm doing something else. So, I finished the something else I was doing and didn't want to move on to the next thing where I'd have to stop listening, so I stayed put and found something to do with my fingers--untangling knots in the fringe of a blanket, for goodness sake--and kept right on listening. The characters in this book are interesting and varied, and even though you know the author is really the 'universe', the way everything resolves is satisfying. It is a story about friendship, and of children feeling isolated because of their own personal attributes, and still finding that friendship.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2709922707?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

Dreamspinner sale, 40%

Dreamspinner is doing another sale -- 40% off all e-books published prior to July 2018 -- this includes my work!

It's running through Jan 27th. Go to their main page to see the announcement:
https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/

current project

I got 2k words down today, which was fabulous. I'm now up to about 7k words. I am not worrying about anything making sense yet, that's what editing is for!

doing it for myself

Just very glad it is Friday night. I'm making a casserole. This way, when I come home from work tomorrow, I'll have leftovers that I know will be ready to go. (I need some kind of doing it for myself hashtag that isn't crazy long. Is there one out there already?)

review: Love In Every Stitch

Definitely a book out of my normal comfort zone. Not my usual style of non-fiction.

Love in Every Stitch by Lee Gant

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2678443337

The downside of the audiobook is that there was apparently a pattern with the book for a knit hat. I'd have liked to have at least looked at the photo/pattern, and dreamed for a moment that I could do such a thing.

review: Lucky Broken Girl

I have a new resolve to get more reading done in 2019, and a lot of my reading will be audiobooks because that fits into my time management. Here's my most recent listening:

Lucky Broken Girl by Ruth Behar

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2674055221

30% off at Dreamspinner

From Jan 13-15 (so one more day!) Dreamspinner has a 30% off code, for all orders!

This means that my stuff would be included in this sale!

The code is available at the front page: https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/

I've got stories included in a few anthologies, but I also have two stand-alone books that I'm really proud of.

Go here to see everything: https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/books/tray-ellis-483-a

My longer book, Pyresnakes, an urban fantasy/fantasy adventure tale with romance is here:
https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/books/pyresnakes-by-tray-ellis-8608-b

And my sweet wedding-themed pink-colored romance, How Sweetly the Whippoorwill Sings, is here:
https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/books/how-sweetly-the-whippoorwill-sings-by-tray-ellis-4429-b

And there are so many wonderful stories there, that even if you aren't interested in my stuff, there are all sorts of different styles of writing, adventures, romances, dark and light, and everything in between. Happy reading!

ah, coffee

Through the engine-churning power of coffee, I got back in the swing of things this weekend and wrote nearly 3k words on a story -- it felt very good, and also quite rusty. I promised myself I'd go back and do stringent edits later, and that getting the words out for now was the best thing. Us writers, so critical, even from the get-go!

goals for today

Goals for today:
--time on the treadmill (too cold to go outside and not freeze all my alveoli, which would suck)
--more writing, I got some done yesterday and today I anticipate doing more
--make something healthy to eat

what to do on a Friday night?

So many options for a free Friday night. It is far too cold to go outside to do anything, so it'll be indoors.

Watch a movie and sip a drink?

Work on a quilt or a knitting project? (I have one fingerless glove done, and it is missing its mate.)

Check out social media and then see if I can find some more words for a new writing project?

Cuddle my dog, and maybe go to bed early?

Hit the gym? (Some Friday nights yes, this one no, since I'm still getting over those two rotten colds.)

I'm think cuddle the dog and maybe try to write after I procrastinate a bit.

I'm looking forward to a Saturday morning where I sleep in!

sick again, and audiobooks

I was *just* starting to feel better and was getting things done, with only a lingering cough and a little appetite depression, and then my back started aching and my temperature went up, and I got disgustingly nauseous. So, another virus on the heels of the previous one that I had just fought off. 2019, you and I are not getting along very well. I am on day 10 of 2019 and have not had a fully healthy day yet. This bodes not well.

So, back to soup and tea. I have now tried another four different varieties of chicken-something from various cans. And the saltine crackers in the house have been replenished.

Sitting up to watch tv was a bit much for a while, so in between heavy-duty napping, I listened to an audiobook. Which is great, because if you fall asleep, you can just rewind it. I adore audiobooks. I wish there were more books made into audiobooks.

I listened to Less, by Andrew Sean Greer.

Here's the review at GoodReads:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2667691493

soup, and story #3

I changed from tea to hot chocolate, and had some soup for dinner. I am feeling much better now that I've had a full day to actually rest (not try to go to work and gut my way through the day) and suspect that tomorrow I'll be back to running errands and doing laundry, even if not quite at the same rate as usual.

But after my afternoon nap, I read my third story for the day from the Once Upon a Rainbow Vol. 2 anthology, "Deathless" by Emmalynn Spark.

This story was quite engrossing. While all the stories in the anthology are fairy tales of a sort, this one had a lyrical-ness to its framework that was so pleasant to slide into and ride like a wave as the story unfolded around me. The Prince goes to slay the evil wizard, because that's how the story goes, but does it really? A little bit of meta toward the end of the story while within the story was just a perfect touch, and the story ended exactly as it should have. All the fairytale elements of this were build solidly and deftly, and the touches of humor were light. I think I'd call this something Bluebeard-esque but really that's just the barest of bones to start "Deathless" by, because the rest of the story feels a bit more like Howl's Moving Castle in some elements. A lovely romance.

And now I guess I'll be off to bed for a full night's sleep.

tea #3, porridge, and more reading

After a lengthy mid-morning nap, cup of tea #3, and some porridge, I read the next story in Once Upon a Rainbow, Vol. 2, "Snow Fox" by Sara Codair.

This is a wry, snarky, cutting twist on Snow White. It has a modern day setting with magic and enchantments mixed with social media and social media grudges. The whole thing is a bit tongue-in-cheek except that the dark commentary about vanity is spot-on. How is it that I did seem to forget that the Queen was out to murder Snow White for the sheer fact that she was prettier? Because it happens so early on, and the rest of the story is about the comeback. But in "Snow Fox", the point is made more than once so it is kept front and center while the romance aspect plays out. Well done, I'll enjoy returning to this story again.

Now for a mid-afternoon nap.


Link for the anthology: https://ninestarpress.com/product/once-upon-a-rainbow-volume-two/

cup of tea #2, and Once Upon a Rainbow #2

So while sipping on cup of tea #2, I decided a short story rather than a long novel would be about the right length before I contemplate an early morning nap. I hadn't finished reading all the stories in the anthology of Once Upon a Rainbow Vol. 2 (my story "The True Love Curse" is also in the anthology) so I opened it up and read the first story "Coming Home" by Jennifer Cosgrove.

It's a sweet take on a Cinderella-esque story, but with a Prince. I liked his best friend, Molly, and I really liked his love interest, Chris. There's an interesting plot that perks up about halfway through that keeps your attention and plays along very nicely with the characters getting to know each other better. And there are lots of parties and coffee shops. This story definitely keeps the theme of the evil step-mother intact. (And as the first story in the anthology I think it bookends really well with my story coming at the end where I play against that trope and make the step-mother one of the heroes of the story, with a truly good heart.)

If you've got the anthology at hand, it might be fun to read both stories and then think deep thoughts about how our society deals with step-parents in literature, and then how the majority of them are way better than given credit for. If you don't have the anthology at hand, then find it here: https://ninestarpress.com/product/once-upon-a-rainbow-volume-two/

Now off to nap, and read more later....

Day five: soup and tea

I've still got my cold/virus hanging on. I am getting better. Sleeping through most of the night last night was quite nice, but I'm up now -- still tired, but I just can't sleep anymore. I'm already on Cup of Tea #1. Soups I've enjoyed over the past few days (some soups more than once): tomato, cream of mushroom, vegetable and wild rice, shrimp and lime ramen, Manhattan clam chowder, and some zesty tomato. Also, crackers soaked in soup are nice. Thank goodness that soup comes premade in a can and can be easily reconstituted and microwaved because I am not up to cooking myself healthy, hearty soups to get rid of this cold. In the future, I am going to consider making soup to freeze so that I will have something homemade and ready to go in the freezer. But for now, I'm really grateful for commercially available soups.

I don't know if I'm up to writing today, but I think I will do some reading while snuggled into my couch and covered by lots of blankets.