Still up to my ears in revisions. Here are some autumn photos to enjoy.
I’m blessed to live in a scenic part of the US.
Day: November 15, 2015
How I Spent My Summer Vacation
I am on vacation from Day Job this week. That does not mean I am not working. I am. So far, I’ve written 20 pages every day since Sunday. That’s a lot of words. And in my local RWA chapter, every 20-page day is also a purple rose in our annual end-of-the-year rose ceremony. Twenty pages is about 5,000 words.
I’m also re-reading a favorite summer book — one I forgot to include on my summer reading list the other day. The Happy Summer Days by Sue Kaufman (perhaps best known for Diary of a Mad Housewife) is another book I tend to re-read each summer. I came across a quote in it that describes what’s been going on with the writing:
If only she’d come some other time instead of now, when she had stumbled onto one of those periods creative people dream about–mind all lost, world receded, only cramping muscles, a dryness of the mouth, reminding one that time has passed and passed and one has worked enough.
And that is how I’m spending my summer vacation.
Breaking News . . .
If you’re one of my newsletter subscribers, this isn’t news. But for followers who don’t receive my newsletter, I have a major announcement.
I sold another book, this time to Loose Id. Summer Fling is one of my contemporary baseball romances. It’s scheduled for a May 5 release. Check it out here.
I am beyond excited about this.
And here’s the cover, by talented artist Mina Carter. Isn’t it gorgeous?
Those Compton Sisters
My brother and his family frequently make comments about the Compton girls or the Compton sisters, referring to his three daughters.
Please. While they are lovely young women, they didn’t invent being the Compton sisters. That honor belongs to my sister and me.
But then I realized my father’s siblings were the original Compton sisters. I was lucky enough to get a photo of them together (with my sister and me) a few years ago. That’s Aunt Arlene on the left and Aunt Leona on the right.
Apologies to Uncle Roy’s daughters Denise & Erika, the only other Compton girls/sisters of our generation.
The next generation continues the Compton sisters tradition (in addition to my nieces): my cousin Bill’s daughters Jennifer & Jessica, my cousin Mike’s daughters Sarah & Nicole, and my cousin Gordon’s daughters Patience & Pearl. Also Kevin’s daughter Elaine, Pete’s daughter Rose, and Gerhart’s daughter Marisha.
Beyond that generation, I am clueless.
There are a lot of us “Compton Girls” around. We rock.
(Further apologies to anyone I missed.)
A New Drinking Game
Women, at least the ones I know, have a habit of saying “I’m sorry” in response to just about anything. It doesn’t matter if it has anything to do with us or not. It’s as if we take responsibility for all the annoying/bad/disastrous things happening to other people.
A male co-worker has mentioned this habit to me on several occasions. On my most recent writing retreat, on the last day, all four of us noticed we said the phrase a lot. Too much. I quipped, “Maybe we should all include deleting that phrase from our vocabularies on next year’s goals.” Another friend said, “No, let’s make it a drinking game!”
A drinking game! We’ll all be shnockered within an hour.
Do you have something you say out of habit so much that it’s lost all meaning?