Wildlife Scores Again

When you have done your best for a flower, and it fails, you have some reason to be aggrieved. ~Frank Swinnerton

DD went outside to harvest pea pods yesterday and came in sobbing like her dog had been run over. Turned out, once I calmed her down enough to talk, that deer had eaten her yellow heritage tomato plants down to the ground. I decided to go see if she was exaggerating.

She wasn't.

And not only had they eaten her two plants, but the topped ALL our tomatoes -- took off a good 12 - 18" off every single plant (except my heritage plants which were significantly smaller than my DD's and apparently beneath notice). They also helped themselves to our green beans and about half the baby apples on our tree.

To top it off, they also grazed in my front yard, and ate the tops (ergo the buds and flowers) off of my snapdragons, liatris and columbine (this is supposedly deer resistant, but apparently MY deer didn't read the memo as they ate it nearly to the ground).

Normally I use a fertilizer called Milorganite to keep deer away. I sprinkle it everywhere and it STINKS. It's actually made from human waste and I've found it works better than anything else including various predator urines... or it would if it hadn't been raining constantly. See... we've had rain again for two solid days (and you remember the 23 days of rain in June, right), so everything I put down is washed away. And short of living outside to shoo them off, there really is little else I can do. I can't put a twelve foot fence all the way around my property.

AND... I've discovered it's not voles but chipmunks that are digging up all the bulbs in my gardens.

It's discouraging, to say the least. We won't talk about how the squirrels are able to eat on my squirrel resistant feeder... no, we won't do that.

I spent time yesterday considering a plan of attack. If the blasted rain would stop, milorganite in the veggie garden would work, but to be honest, I don't think DD's tomatoes will bounce back in time to produce fruit, and that breaks my heart.

I've researched various deer resistant flowers and bulbs, and will be completely redoing the garden in the front. Again. It's the garden the voles decimated last year. And, actually, I'll be paring down what gardens I have and planting grass, which breaks my heart.

But short of killing every living creature in my yard (who would only be replaced by more anyway -- even if I belived that was an option) there's really not much else I can do.

*sigh*

There is something to be said about city living. At least you don't have to battle the wildlife.

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Going To The Garden To Eat Worms....

“A rejection is nothing more than a necessary step in the pursuit of success.” - Bo Bennett

My darlin' dog made it until 3 a.m. before she had to go out so, despite that early hour, I am grateful. I had visions of getting up every hour all night. I might still be a bit blurry-eyed, but not as bad as it might have been.

So... I got my first rejection from The Wild Rose Press yesterday on a shortish story I'd submitted. It was from an editor I've worked with before and whose opinion I value, which is probably why it really hit me hard.

One thing about TWRP -- they try to issue constructive crits with their rejection. You won't just get a "it's not right for me" letter. Typically, they'll at least tell you precisely what didn't work, and many times, they will actually edit a few pages of your story or book to show you exactly what they mean. I think that's one thing that sets them aside from so many other publishers.

Still, ouch. Even this morning, I'm still bleeding a bit. Because, of course, I got all the information on why the story didn't work for her...and there was a lot! Too much passive voice, not enough emotion, an unsympathetic hero... and that was just the beginning. There was plenty more where that came from.

Wow.

Oddly, I really like this story. I don't think my hero is unsympathetic. The other stuff? I'll have to go look. In any case, it was pretty demoralizing. And what else should I do with something that makes me look (and feel) really awful? Well... share it with all of YOU, of course. Misery loves company.

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Going to go write, now. I suspect I'm writing about another unsympathetic hero, but c'est la vie. He is who he is, and we'll see how it goes. If I change him, the story changes dramatically. And, the only other men in the story are either out to kill the heroine or related to her by blood. Not a lot of romantic choices for her, there!

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OH! I almost forgot!! We're giving away stuff, again at LASR: a free autographed book, a free eBook and, on our reviews blog, ANOTHER free eBook here and here (and not your usual romantic fare, either). Go forth and enter!

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Your Pilgrim Name Is

Desire Moore

What's Your Pilgrim Name?

Yes... yes I do. Don't we all?

Discouraged

For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, or a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. - Fr. Alfred D'Souza

Not much to say. I'm very, very frustrated with my NaNo book -- it's rather dull and I'm not feeling inspired by it. Have to admit to thinking about changing over to my paranormal and wonder if I can play catch up since I'm only a week in ... you'll know when I know.

Ben is my hero from my NaNo novel last year. I love him, but didn't love my heroine and--although I finished the book, it didn't work for me. So, I took him from that story and gave him a whole new start and it's still not working.

Frustrating.

*sigh*

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Check out the LASR Romance Review Blog -- we're giving away two books over there this week. Just read the reviews and find the two with contest entries at the end!

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What Your Face Says

At first glance, people see you as strong willed and stubborn. Overall, your true self is passionate and physical. With friends, you seem dramatic, lively, and quick to react. In love, you seem mysterious and interesting. In stressful situations, you seem sad and helpless.

What Do People Think Of Your Face?

Except... I don't know if I've ever seemed helpless. The rest? Okay...