A busy woman!

It's been awhile since I've posted anything here so please pardon me, I've been busy! (LOL)

A lot has happened, spring has sprung and we are hopping right into summer.

The day after my birthday (April 10th) I met up with a fellow writer (left) Jackie, in the fine town of Eureka Springs, Arkansas. We met at a convience store west of ES and from there we stopped at an overlook of the White river. Man, what a view! This picture of white river was taken during the opening of the flood gates and the redbud trees were in full color. It was pretty chilly, the wind was kicking up too, thank God it was sunny!

Jackie and I are in a writer's group together. Critique Circle has been my writer's home since January. I read one of her articles and that's how we got to know each other. CC hosts a number of things for members to do in addition to reading & critiquing (or crit) other writer's material. But, because of this I have learned quite a lot on editing and finding the flaws in my own material. You don't even have to be a writer, you can simply read the stories posted as well as enjoy the other amnemities. CC also has a map where members can use a virtual push pin to show where you are from. It's pretty cool too. There is a member who resides in Anartica, how cool is that?

Anyway, Jackie and I live fairly close so we decided to meet and have lunch in Eureka Springs at Pied Piper, a cool little Irish pub setting with excellent Corned Beef and Cabbage dishes and Ruben sandwiches that are piled high with meat and saurkraut and gooey swiss cheese, yuh-uum-uh-ummmmy! *stomach growls*

We talked about our families, the ups and downs of being a writer. We both agree it's a thing of passion to continue despite the pitfalls. We decided to go check out some of the shops in the area on Spring Street. Beautiful quilts and clothing to art pieces beckoned me, wishing I had just a little bit of money to get some of these wonderful things! I'm 100% sure I could spend a thousand G's in no time flat just from what I wanted! Then, I spot the bookstore. I just had to buy a couple books for my reference section, just had to. Out came the credit card, which gets scarcely used by the way, (been there, done that, no fun later when the payments come) and I became the proud owner of a bartender's drink book and another book on the usage of words. Of course, we both wanted to see our novels in this and other book stores, nationwide and across the globe, what writer wouldn't?

We wound our way back to the parking lot of Pied Piper where I drove her to her car parked at the convience store where we met. I thouroughly enjoyed our visit and hoped we could meet again another time. Jackie sent a message to me a couple of days ago that she and her family are moving to Kentucky sometime in June or July.

Unfortunately, I will be busy with work, it's that time of the year when a lot of vacations come around and so days off will be switched around again for a while. My husband's band LiveWyre (more on that later) is off and running, so things are going to be busy there too. I have to have my time to work on projects, the latest, a short story, Thunder Thief aka, The Man Who Stole the Thunder. I want to begin submitting it to magazines on the market. In July, there is another novel writer's month called JulWriMo, the goal is 50k, but you can already have a project in the works with this contest. Again, it's a contest for word count, I'm not sure how successful I will be, but as long as I get Savant moving along toward a finished draft, I'll be happy! I've had my head in research books for this one, I merely want to make sure I am an author who creates beliveable characters and plot. I think I can make some major progress now that I have most of the scenes worked out. Yeah, buddy!

I'm sooo glad the weekly, days on end, rains finally stopped. The last few months are history, floods, and freezing temps are no more, still have to keep an eye to the sky when it comes to the weather though, tornadoes seem to be nearly a year round thing anymore. Aside from nature's touchy temper, it's still an uplifiting expierence for me just to sit out on the porch or under a tree in the yard. A nice, light breeze ruffling the thick green leaves and rapidly sprouting grass. I may have a glass of wine in my hands, I may not, regardless, it relaxes me.

I love the birds chirpping in the bushes, the drone of a twin engine plane flying over which to me is kind of a lonely sound, something I've thought since I was a kid. The only things I wish didn't come with the warm weather are bugs and stinging things. My boss has already been stung by a yellow jacket at work, it nailed him four time on the back of his neck, apparently that was the least of his worries, last weekend (Mother's day) he was thrown off a horse and ended up with a stiff knee and a bruised ass. *Snicker, giggle* only you boss man, only you.