sometimes

this submitting waiting querying stuff just pisses me off.

Writing quote for 1/31/06

There is so much about the process of writing that is mysterious to me, but this one thing I've found to be true: writing begets writing.

~~ Dorianne Laux

Quote for 1/31/06

The best way to know life is to love many things.

~~ Vincent Van Gogh

Quote for 1/30/06

I'd like mornings better if they started later.

~~ Author Unknown

Writing quote for 1/30/06

To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it's about, but the inner music the words make.

~~Truman Capote

New work schedule up

and I'm vewy vewy happy :)

I only work three days. Great 'cause I've got sooooooooo much else to do.

This week-- yes, ANOTHER contest deadline looking me dead in the face (will I ever learn to not proscrastinate?).

Two chapbooks to the Nerve Cowboy contest

bears bears bears-- possibly making one for a Steeler fan club to raffle off during the Super Bowl at a local pub. I made a one-of-a-kind bear commemorating the career of college basketball coach Lou Henson and it went for $600 at a sports auction. I probably won't make that much come Super Bowl Sunday, but I could make a dime or two.

Quote for 1/29/06

Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.

~~ Dr. Seuss

Writing quote for 1/29/06

The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible.

~~ Maugham William

I love animal fur

Acrylic, not the real kind (back OFF, Pamela!).

Went to the fabric store and got some this morning 'cause I'm making bears for some people for Valentine's.

I love the feel of it -- sensuous and soft.

And, today, on sale!!!!

What was really bugging me

My inability to ask others to adhere to my boundaries immediately, instead of retreating to whining and complaining.

Quote for 1/28/06

The windows of my soul I throw
Wide open to the sun.

~~ John Greenleaf Whittier, My Psalm

Writing quote for 1/28/06

I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions.

~~ James Michener

81 points is a great feat

but you're still a rapist.

Quote for 1/27/06

When you have compassion and surrender to your own heart, you are surrendering to the hidden power in your heart, God. You are surrendering to love, because God is Love, the cohesive force of the universe that connects us all. Surrender is not just a religious concept; it's a power tool for listening to the voice of your spirit and following its directions. When you surrender your head to your heart, you allow your heart to give you a wider, higher intelligence perspective. Remember the phrase, "The real teacher is within you." Very simply, that teacher is to be found in the common sense of your own heart.
~-Sara Paddison.

What was bugging me

Yesterday, I worked again, filling in when I never said I wanted to or would. I asked my boss to please not schedule me for anything outside the three waitressing shifts that I'm scheduled for. She asked if I didn't want to help out.

Uh, no.

I don't owe anyone outside of God and my children nothin'. Okay, I owe some people/friends money, but otherwise, nothing, nada, zilch.

Yesterday when I worked, I was told that I might have to stay an extra hour. Hmmm, maybe I have things I want and/or have to do. Can you ASK if I'd be willing to stay?

What bugs me most about working for others is the assumption that you'll be willing to give up your time if said organization *needs* you.

When I worked for Target, I used to joke that their slogan (caring about families) applied to all but their employees 'cause they acted as if you should be on call 24/7.

I don't mind working--I've always gotten stellar performance reviews--what I mind is feeling like slavery has been reinstituted.

Writing quote for 1/27/06

To write is to write is to write is to write is to write is to write is to write is to write.

~~ Gertrude Stein

What Oprah should do

Never ever ever pick a book whose author has the initials J. F.

Quote for 1/26/06

Each of us literally chooses, by his way of attending to things, what sort of universe he shall appear to himself to inhabit.
~~ William James.

Writing quote for 1/26/06

The act of putting pen to paper encourages pause for thought, this in turn makes us think more deeply about life, which helps us regain our equilibrium.

~~ Norbet Platt

Ignore me and my mood

You have yourself a grand day:)

A tad grumpy this morning

. . . just a tad.

It's sprinkling-- could become a nice rain but I can't enjoy it 'cause I have to go to work, filling in at a position that I never said I'd be willing to do :(

Writing quote for 1/25/06

It's all about letting the story take over.

~~ Robert Stone

Quote for 1/25/06

We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world.

~~ Buddha

T-shirt slogans

Based on some things people have said to me recently, I've decided to get some t-shirts made. They will have the various slogans:

OLD ENOUGH TO BE YOUR MOM

I ONLY LICK ICE CREAM CONES THIS WAY

NO, YOUR TAXES DON'T TAKE CARE OF MY CHILDREN, THEIR FATHER DOES

I LIVE OFF MY TALENTS AND SKILLS NOT A SYSTEM

Quote for 1/24/06

There is guidance for each of us, and by lowly listening, we shall hear the right word. Certainly there is a right for you that needs no choice on your part. Place yourself in the middle of the stream of power and wisdom which flows into your life. Then, without effort, you are impelled to truth and to perfect contentment.

~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Writing quote for 1/24/06

Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go.
~~ E. L. Doctorow

Read

this

Writing quote for 1/23/06

Find a subject you care about and which you in your heart feel others should care about. It is this genuine caring, not your games with language, which will be the most compelling and seductive element in your style.

~~ Kurt Vonnegut

Quote for 1/23/06

When making a decision of minor importance, I have always found it advantageous to consider all the pros and cons. In vital matters, however, such as the choice of a mate or a profession, the decision should come from the unconscious, from somewhere within ourselves. In the important decisions of personal life, we should be governed, I think, by the deep inner needs of our nature.

~~ Sigmund Freud

I didn't need another stuffed teddy bear, but can I help it if they want to come home with me?

And collecting them at my age does not make me immature, you stinky head.

Sunday comics

I don't read them often, but I noticed that "Cathy" is gone.

Hallelujah!

I hated hated hated the whining about weight and men and her mother's attention.

"Zits" replaced it. Funny enough.

The comic I miss: "Mandrake."

Writing quote #2 for 1/22/06 (Kafka again, but a little different)

A book should serve as the ax for the frozen sea within us.

~~Franz Kafka

Writing quote for 1/22/06

A book must be an ice-axe to break the seas frozen inside our soul.
~~ Franz Kafka

Quote for 1/22/06 (which one did he really say?)

You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait, be quiet still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.
Franz Kafka

Quote for 1/22/06

It is not necessary that you leave the house. Remain at your table and listen. Do not even listen, only wait. Do not even wait, be wholly still and alone. The world will present itself to you for its unmasking, it can do no other, in ecstasy it will writhe at your feet.


~~Franz Kafka

Oh alright

I'll get up.

Not a kid around-- the house is so delightfully quiet.

But I do have things to do.

Like go to work for one.

Happiness is

Saturday morning and the laundry's already done and the house, clean.

I'm writing today.

Playing bookworm.

Doing nuthin' else :)

Quote for 1/21/06

Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely.

~~ Auguste Rodin

Writing quote for 1/21/06

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.

~~ William Wordsworth

Something to live by

If it's under your skin--it's yours.

What I didn't do yesterday

File my tax forms.

Don't owe anything-- I just want to know if I can buy some pieces of Shona sculpture this year.

20 days

These first 20 days of the year have been incredible! There have been some serendipitous and semi-miraculous events (one this very morning) that are moving me to where I want to be-- supporting me in having what I want and what I want to give to the world.

I'm amazed and yet, I'm not. I've been at this for awhile, because I decided there was never a good time to give up on myself, my dreams & desires.

It's about wrestling with the angels. It may take all night, but you keep on. The blessing is truly yours, but you earn it as you keep fighting for it.

Writing quote for 1/20/06

The good writer seems to be writing about himself, but has his eye always on that thread of the Universe which runs through himself and all things.

~ ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Quote for 1/20/06

Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.

~~ Newt Gingrich

96 dollars and 56 cents

What I made in tips last night for four hours of work.

I just waitress now. The restaurant is a buffet; all I have to do is take drink orders, refill drinks (the only catch: you have to remember what people are drinking--you can't give a woman water when she was drinking Sprite 'cause she won't like that) and clear dirty plates.

The job requires me to be open: I never know what I'm going to end up with. I've had a two-person table leave me $4, but an 8-person table leave me 6. Once I forgot about a couple sitting in the back, but I joked with them and made the situation okay, and they gave me $5.

There are some days I 'm working my ass off; most days I'm just working my ass.

Today's list of THINGS TO DO

is waaaaaaaaaaaaaay long. Off to do those many things.

Still it's gonna be a good day. Hope yours is too :)

Writing quote for 1/19/06

The writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true.

~~ John Steinbeck

Quote for 1/19/06

Nothing great has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe something inside them was superior to circumstances.

~~ Bruce Barton

No-brainer

The Vermont Teddy Bear Company is 12 minutes away from where I'll be living in Vermont.

A job with benefits and I'd be doing something I love.

Resume in the mail.

Preview

Can I tell you that the next issue of FRIGG is freakin fantastic?

I'm gonna have two stories in it and I'm ecstatic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love the presentation of my work in particular and all of the work in general.

I love Ellen Parker. She's DA BOMB.

Sean and associated ain't so bad either.

Writing quote for 1/18/06

Write from what you know into what you don't know.

~~ Grace Paley

Quote for 1/18/06

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.

~~Marcel Proust

Bummer

I got a letter yesterday from an editor notifying me that not enough "excellent work" was received for a planned anthology, so the project was dropped.

And I had two works that were gonna be in there:(

It hasn't been a good thing with me and anthologies (just lately 'cause I've have the pleasure of being in five to date). Last year, I got edged out at the end for three different ones--and one editor solicited work from me!

Edward Moore

is a sweetie.

I met him on an online writing workshop and he's been one of my nicest and constant supporters. He's a wonderful writer, in his own right -- he's just placed in the Berkeley Fiction Review Sudden Fiction contest with his work "The Cornbin."

Congrats! Congrats! to Mr. Moore.
Applause, applause!

I went to bed happy last night

Weather forecasts were calling for rain (I loooooooooove rain) or snow (I LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE snow!!!!!!!!)

but I woke up and it was dry and sunny and over 40 degrees.

Liars.

Writing quote for 1/17/06

A writer lives, at best, in a state of astonishment. Beneath any feeling he has of the good or evil of the world lies a deeper one of wonder at it all.

~~William Sansom

Quote for 1/17/06

If you judge people, you have no time to love them.
~~ Mother Teresa

Writing quote for 1/16/06

Now and again thousands of memories converge, harmonize, arrange themselves around a central idea in a coherent form, and I write a story.

~~Katherine Anne Porter

Quote for 1/16/06

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

~~Martin Luther King

Writing quote for 1/15/06

If you wish to be a writer, write.

~~Epictetus

Quote for 1/15/06

Carpe diem! Rejoice while you are alive; enjoy the day; live life to the fullest; make the most of what you have. It is later than you think.

~~Horace

In my box this morning

lots and lots of crap.

Haven't checked in for almost three days. Bulk mail over 150 messages--and not a damn thing I can use. Well, okay the offer for a f*** buddy caught my eye, but. . .

Negroes back to work

You were off too? But you're not black.

Oh. . .

it's about everyone having it the same.

3-day weekends

are never as long as you think they're gonna be.

In my box this morning

An acceptance. Yay! Yay! I'm trying to get this particular story into an anthology and I needed it published elsewhere first, so this makes me happy.

Look! Up in the sky!

The neighborhood dogs are barking and yelping. There's a ballon rally this weekend, but they're not enjoying it.

Dots of color against the cloud-filled sky. Sometimes the pilots are close enough, you can see them wave.

I used to be on a hot-air ballon crew. It was fun but like having a baby: you swear you're using every muscle in your body and getting nowhere, there's lots of grunting and heavy breathing, and a degree of complaining. End result, though, breathtaking.

I love flying!

Pre 9/11, I flew to New York. Something occurred on the flight so I asked the pilot about it when we landed. I shared my fascination with planes and flight and he let me sit in the cockpit and showed me the various instruments, explained what they were for. It was so cool, needless to say.

I once belonged to a group buying a Cessna. For your fee, you got use of the plane and discounted flight lessons. I was really interested, but quit the group eventually 'cause I knew the type of driver I was.

"I thought I had enough gas to get there," was always my excuse.

Writing quote for 1/14/06

When I'm writing, I know I'm doing the thing I was born to do.

~~ Anne Sexton

Quote for 1/14/06

Change and growth take place when a person has risked himself and dares to become involved with experimenting with his own life.

~~ Herbert Otto

mornings

sometimes they come so damn early.

Scanning the classifieds

I have been updating my resume. It's almost ready to send out to the Vermont college and newspapers I'd be willing to work for.

Though I'm not really interested in working for any of the places. Can we say "Back-up plan."

I've found that there's a Refugee Resettlement program in Vermont and I want to spend my time participating in that organization's activities. It's been working with Africans, most recently Africans from the Sudan, a place I'm very much concerned with and interested in.

I found a gift shop that carries artist bears! Need to take some pictures -- no, send a bear-- how could they say no to a cuddly, cute "gwen bear"?

There's also a huge quilt festival held there. Gives me hope. I love crafting-- if I can make that my source of income, I would be very very happy:)

Writing quote for 1/13/06

One writes to make a home for oneself, on paper, in time and in others' minds.
~~Alfred Kazin

Quote for 1/13/06

Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh and the greatness which does not bow before children.

~~ Kahlil Gibran

In my box this morning

a rejection (but send something else, it said)

and a solicitation

evens out, I guess

My greatest hope for Vermont

That I will be able to find a good pastrami sandwich.

the truth is the truth and a lie is a lie-- simple as that

Reading all about the craziness surrounding Frey's "recollections." WOW! I can't believe Oprah's statement.

Recovery requires the truth--not embellished truth and certainly not outright lies.

There are things that occurred in my childhood that I've brought up that my mother has said did not occur. Actually, she said, "I didn't do that." But she did. Now maybe she doesn't want to face up to the things she's done, but that doesn't mean that she didn't do them. If she's decided that it's safer for her to deny what's occurred, okay, but that doesn't make me a liar for acknowledging that they occurred.

Selective memory or denial as a protective defense, on her part, but that doesn't make me a liar.

There were things that I couldn't provide a witness for-- those incidents I never brought up 'cause there was no one to verify my take, and things that could be verified, I never changed the essential facts, 'cause otherwise, I'd look like umh, a, a . . . LIAR.

The nurse at the hospital named me or my sister when one of us was born. This was a story my mother used to tell. I forgot which one of us it was. But, in an attempt to "ump" the drama of my early life, I used to tell people that my mother didn't even care about me enough to name me. Tear-jerker, right?

What if, though, it was my sister that my mother allowed the nurse to name, and I know this, but I tell people that it was me, then I'm lying.

Telling an untruth.

Making something up.

Creating fiction.

The balancing act

Preparing for a compelling future while living in and loving the present while forgiving and letting go of the past.

Writing quote for 1/12/06

What would I do if I had only six months left to live? I'd type faster.
~~Isaac Asimov

Quote for 1/12/06

The dream was always running ahead of me. To catch up, to live for a moment in unison with it, that was the miracle.
~~Anais Nin

Quote for 1/11/06

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.
~~ Albert Einstein

Writing quote for 1/11/06

No one is asking, let alone demanding, that you write. The world is not waiting with bated breath for your article or book. Whether or not you get a single word on paper, the sun will rise, the earth will spin, the universe will expand. Writing is forever and always a choice -- your choice.
~~ Beth Mende Conny

My kids don't know Jack

which is why they keep turning the poster of Mr. Kerouac (which sits on the floor) towards the wall.

"He's scary," my daughter said. "His eyes follow you around the room."

There's a quotation at the bottom: "The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace things, but burn like fabulous roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars . . ."

"He's the one who's mad," my other daughter said. "His eyes are all dark and his hair isn't even combed."

I laughed as I set the framed poster back the way I originally had it, though I'll pass through the room at another time and find Jack again facing the wall.

I'll give them some time. Maybe one day, they'll understand that it's cool to be all "jacked" up.

Quote for 1/10/06

“To live in this world, you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go”
~~ Mary Oliver

Writing quote for 1/10/06

Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.
~Anton Chekhov

Smoking Gun says "A Million Pieces" is fiction, not fact

Under the headline "The Man Who Conned Oprah," the website says that an investigation questions some of Frey's recollections.

From an Associated Press news article: Frey (who just signed a two-book deal with Riverhead Books, a Penguin imprint) "was interviewed by The Smoking Gun and “did, for the first time, admit that he had embellished central details of his criminal career and purported incarceration for ‘obvious dramatic reasons’ in the nonfiction work,” according to the publication.

He also admitted to taking steps, around the time ‘A Million Little Pieces’ was published in hardcover in 2003, to legally expunge court records related to the seemingly most egregious criminal activity of his lifetime.”

Smoking Gun article

addendum

I also needed to thank the guy in the previous post. It was because of him, I took a look at myself and set about changing how I treated men.

Our last fight, I said something that hurt / disappointed/ angered him and I saw it in his face that I'd lost him--completely. My heart was devastated and I had only Gwendolyn Joyce Mintz to blame.

I know, now, that it's better to JUST BEHAVE, rather than have to keep apologizing and asking for forgiveness.

I walked out of the UPS store and almost ran into a guy I used to have a relationship with. He was helping someone jump a car battery and he had just straightened up from leaning into the car.

I was about to say his name, but recalled that we just didn't have a relationship-- we had a sometimes very stormy relationship. When it was nice between us, it was nice, but when it wasn't . . .

let's just say DRAMA.

He didn't notice me or at least he didn't stop me as I quickly walked away.

I saw him again a week later. But I was inside a business, looking out the window and he was going across a parking lot.

I saw him yesterday in the grocery store. My first thought was to keep walking past (he was looking at something in the aisle) but I was suddenly seeing him after not for about eight years. There was a reason: there was something I needed to tell him.

"I'm sorry," I said. "For the bad things I did."

He shook his head. "You don't have to--"

"Oh, yes, I do," I told him. "This is the third time I've seen you recently and Life is trying to help me do something and that's apologize for the unkind way I treated you."

(No need to drag up past s**t, but one of the annoying things I did: I HAD TO DISCUSS our relationship ten minutes before the television show that he'd spent the last 50 minutes watching was going to end. Needless to say, he doesn't know the outcome.)

He nodded his head slowly. "I probably need to make some apologies of my own," he said. "I didn't treat you very well."

[No, you didn't, I wanted to tell him, but decided that I really shouldn't go there;-)]

"It doesn't matter. I just want to clear this."

He smiled. Yes, that smile that used to make my heart melt.

I smiled in return.

It was nice to be in his company again, if only to set myself free.

I bought some new heels this weekend (in keeping with my resolution) . New shoes meant I needed new pantyhose, but I got all caught up in the idea of seamed stockings.

I've never had a pair. Or a garter.




I do now.

Quote for 1/9/06

There are as many nights as days, and the one is just as long as the other in the year's course. Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word 'happy' would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.

~~Carl Jung

Writing quote for 1/9/06

Deliver me from writers who say the way they live doesn't matter. I'm not sure a bad person can write a good book. If art doesn't make us better, then what on earth is it for.

~~Alice Walker

Quote for 1/8/06

The personal life deeply lived always expands into truths beyond itself.
~Anais Nin

Writing quote for 1/8/06

(I know I'm a day late, but I like consistency)


You don't write because you want to say something- you write because you've got something to say.
~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

Day 7

So are you still keeping your resolutions? Hey-- did you even make resolutions???

I've been good for a whole week. Exercising to the hilt 'cause one of my resolutions is to wear much shorter skirts and much higher heels.

gonna start saving my pennies

A Spaceport is being built in New Mexico, 45 miles from the city where I live. Sir Richard Branson (the Virgin mogul, entrepreneur and multi-millionaire guy)will have his American company called Virgin Galactic based there.

Using the "SpaceShipOne system," his company will take tourists into space.

And it'll be cheaper than what the Russians charge-- only $200,000 a seat!

no mo' joe

I was thinking I'd send some things to Story House Coffee, but it's been sold!

Notice is here

I did have two poems published on their coffee cans -- payment was $$, bags of coffee (which I gave away) and funky plastic toys.

The friends I gave the coffee to were constantly asking when I'd sell something else to Story House,(evidently the coffee was really good), but I didn't have an answer ('cause acceptance was out of my hands).

Now I can say, "Never."

Writing quote for 1/7/06

Fiction's about what it is to be a human being.
David Foster Wallace

Quote for 1/7/06

When one begins to live by habit and by quotation, one has begun to stop living.
James A. Baldwin

Rascal Flatts is playing. Such a beautiful song. The lyrics are poignant.

from "Bless the Broken Road"

Every long lost dream lead me to where you are
Others who broke my heart they were like northern stars
Pointing me on my way into your loving arms
This much I know is true
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you

Writing quote for 1/6/06

"We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection."
--Anais Nin

quote for 1/6/06

"Your future depends on many things, but mostly on you."
--Frank Tyger

Quote for 1/5/06

"Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul; the blueprints of your ultimate achievements." Napoleon Hill

Writing quote for 1/5/06

"We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master."

-Ernest Hemingway

Great op-ed about the state of "black literature"

Read this

Just chillin'

Nothing going on in my life right now. Nada.

I'm cleaning house.
All day.

Today's quote 1/4/06

And think not you can guide the course of love. For love, if it finds you worthy, shall guide your course.

- Kahil Gibran

Another DailyOM you HAVE to read

Go here

Is that all?

The estimate I've received from the first moving company I've checked with is $8,835.

Okay, then . . .

Quote for 1/3/06

The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it. -- Anonymous

Not surprised

Maurice Clarett arrested.

He's a petty individual. Dishonest. Selfish.

He may have been a "winner" on the field, but he is a "loser" in Life. Just my 2 cents.

Quote for today

A well-written life is almost as rare as a well-spent one.

-- Thomas Carlyle

Let's get this over with

My first rejection of the year.

I'm cleaning the house top to bottom (toothbrush-for-the-corners kind of cleaning) so I can do a sage cleansing later this week.

I started with the living room. Some observations:

If you are a mother trying to get children on a school break to help deep clean, you are a mother destined to clean alone. (You can, however, garner help by suggesting that anyone assisting you might get something when you go to the store for groceries for the now-clean refrigerator. In order to have this work solely to your advantage, emphasize one word; remind said child in store that you said "might." Provide a defintion-- it is a derivative of the word "may" which expresses possibility, not certainty.)

Inhaling undiluted ammonia is very bad.

If you tell your children to exit and enter through the back door because you're on a stool cleaning the wall around the front one, they will find a reason why they must exit and enter through the front.

If you tell your son to exit and enter through the back door because you're on your knees scrubbing the floor around the front one (with now-diluted ammonia), he will find a reason why he must exit and enter through the front. He will bring in dirt, grass and pieces of dry leaves. He will not understand all the fuss-- you're cleaning the floor anyway.

If you try to clean the outside windows and there is the slightest breeze, that glass cleaner will get in your eyes. And no, it doesn't help contacts much.

The feeling of accomplishment and the feeling of clean can too be a worthy simultaneous pleasure.

24 hours

I used almost all of them yesterday.

I cleaned; did sit-ups, crunches and butt tucks; I read (the Bible and some poetry); I prayed; I sent a message out to the love of my life; I organized; I shopped; I took stuff to Goodwill; I wrote.

I may become a slacker throughout the year, but at least I can say I started off really good;-)

Message in a book

Last night, after 10, a book started calling me. I live just down from Hastings and it's happened before, I get this sudden "need" to go there and get a book.

So I went. I combed shelves, taking books down and flipping through to see if any were "the one." A title caught my eye so I took a certain book from the shelf and opened it to a page which said:

"Change your Environment

A different environment may expose you to new ways of living, thinking, behaving, feeling, working. . . "

The book is called "Pursuit of Passionate Purpose"-- it's about claiming a path and walking it.

(Life is working overtime on me here-- but I think I get it: I'm supposed to MOVE!)

"Ouch"

Winnow Press offers several contests-- I submitted a work for their current chapbook one-- but for their First Fiction Prize, they were unable to find a winner. In Poets and Writers, the editors said “We will continue to refund entry fees for contests if a winner is not chosen. However, we have serious doubts that we will continue the First Fiction Award. This last crop of manuscripts was so disappointing [that it] took the wind out of our small-press sails.”

Ouch, ouch and ouch.