April prepares her green traffic light and the world thinks Go. ~Christopher Morley, John Mistletoe

It was gorgeous here yesterday! And nice this morning. Thunderstorms expected later, but then the weekend should be STUPENDOUS. AND... I checked the long range forecast and they don't think it's going to freeze again!! I could tempt fate and put in some of my "soft" crops... I'm giving some serious thought to it. :::shivers with anticipation:::

I really love gardening. I love eating fresh veggies even more. There is NOTHING like the taste of a garden-ripe tomato warm from the summer garden. Mmmmm.....

I saw my first bat last night, too. It's amazing how loud they are with their chatter when they fly. The bugs are out (the male blackflies have appeared... yuck... meaning the females -- the ones who BITE -- will be out in a week or so) so I was pleased to see the bat. I'd like to put up bat houses in my back yard, but DH has a "thing" about bats.

The wildlife is active though. The deer have been back through, eating down all my tender spring plants. My bachelor buttons, asiatic lillies and tulips have been eaten down to the nubs. Part of this is my fault: I haven't put out the milorganite yet (that's on my list for tomorrow morning after the rains this afternoon). And the other morning, just as the sky was getting light and I had the dog outside, there was a wild turkey gobbling loudly out back. I have a love/hate relationship with our wildlife... I do love having them around, but wish they'd leave my plants alone.

How are you enjoying spring?

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You Are Iced Coffee

You are witty, flirty, and fun. People love to be around you and your energy. You need change in order to feel alive. You are very dynamic and interesting. There's so much you want to try. There's so much you want to experience. You are always expanding your mind in some cool way. You are open to and curious about the world.

Are You Iced Tea or Iced Coffee?

About 65% right. :-)

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Attacked!

Boldness is a mask for fear, however great. ~ John Dryden

First off: I'm getting ready to head out to Panera Bread in Bedford, NH to meet with at least one other author and anyone else who wants to stop by. So, if you're in that neck of the woods, come on over and say howdy!

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Yesterday was gorgeous -- warm and sunny. DD, Dakota and I went for a nice long walk through the neighborhood in the late morning. It was pleasant, people were out, there was a light breeze...

We turned one corner where there is a bit of grassy, undeveloped area and I saw a turkey. I pointed it out to DD and we smiled, and kept walking. And then, Dakota saw a small bird on the ground. She loves to stalk the birds and I let her -- it's fun to watch, she's on a leash so she won't get far and they are much faster than she is. So, as she started the stalk, I looked to ID the bird - it was small, white and gray and...FLUFFY??? WAIT!

I turned to DD and say, "It's a baby turkey!"

My DD, lover of all things great and small, decided to get a closer look and stepped forward. And then....

MAMA CHARGED!

We didn't even know she was there. She must have been hunkered down in the tall grass, but OHBOY did we know where she was now! Her wings were loose and dropped, tail feathers displayed, she gobbled and attacked and danced away. Charged and danced. Dakota was beside herself... she wanted that turkey and kept throwing herself to the end of the leash, which just made things worse.

I told DD that Mama Turkey was acting both aggressive and injured in order to draw us away. She kept one wing dropped and would let us get quite close. She'd fly a little if Dakota lunged, but always dropped back down and charged.

It was awesome. Amazing. We tried to ignore her and go away, but she wouldn't let us -- just kept crossing back and forth in front of us for a good 300 yards. Finally at that point she stopped and headed back to her babies.

What a good mama.

Afterward, DD told me she'd been scared to death! LOL...

Truthfully, it's a pretty incredible thing to have a wild turkey charge. You don't realize how big they are until they are that close.

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Writing Woes

"Read, read, read. Read everything—trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the most. Read! You'll absorb it. Then write. If it is good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out the window." - William Faulkner

Happy Monday!

I didn't make my writing challenge goal over the weekend (7500 words), but I did write (2000 on one story, 1000 on another), so that was something. Still, it was frustrating to struggle to write. I have the stories in my brain, but when I try to put them on paper, it's nearly impossible.

Speaking of stories, I've withdrawn my submission of "Return to Stiller Creek" from Resplendence Publishing. When I initially submitted, I received an auto-reply that indicated my submission was rec'd and that they respond in 6 - 12 weeks. I waited twelve weeks with no response, so I emailed them (per the instructions in the auto-reply). Waited 10 days with no response. So, yesterday, I emailed them a request to withdraw the story from consideration.

Clearly they publish authors, so I imagine they respond to some people. I'm not certain why I was unable to get a response from anyone. It was disappointing, to say the least. My first truly negative experience with a publishing house.

I'm shelving Stiller Creek for now until I decide what I want to do. Should I make the revisions requested by the editor at Samhain, even though I disagree strongly with one of the suggestions? Should I let the desire to see it in print slip away and submit it to The Wild Rose Press? Or should I see if I can add an additional 10k words so that it meets the print guidelines for them? Should I look for a completely different publisher? I'm not sure what the right answer is, so will mull it over for a bit.

Today, with any luck, I'm going to till my veggie garden and put in the cold weather crops. Tuesday will be our last truly warm day, and then we'll be going back to the usual temps for spring in NH. The planting guidelines here are -- no planting "soft" crops (annuals, tomatoes, peppers, etc) until Memorial Day. Last year our last frost was about 3 weeks prior to that, but the one time I disregarded that "rule" and planted the Friday prior to Memorial Day, it SNOWED the next day. So, now I listen.

My wild turkey has found a friend, and brought her to visit the other day. I haven't seen them in two days, though, and hope they are okay. Maybe she's laying eggs? I'd love to see a little flock of babies in a couple months.

How was your weekend?

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You Are Vitamin C

You are responsible and good at taking care of yourself. Your health comes first. As far as you're concerned, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It's likely you eat well, exercise frequently, and avoid stress. And because of this, you're quite healthy and free from illness.

What Vitamin Are You?

Um... not really.

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Writing and Turkeys and Birthdays, oh my!

Because time itself is like a spiral, something special happens on your birthday each year: The same energy that God invested in you at birth is present once again. ~Menachem Mendel Schneerson

So... those of you who follow me on Twitter or Facebook know that I actually managed to write some words on Tuesday. Not very many, but I think they were good words. AND, they helped my solidify my H/H's first (and last) kiss from high school. You know, the one they NEVER TALK ABOUT. Yeah, that one. My poor hero, Zach, is obsessing about it on his drive to my heroine's place.

It felt amazingly good to write. I forget, sometimes, when I'm so busy I can't breathe how much I crave the action of putting words to paper (or letters to laptop screen). It's as though the tension builds in my brain and I have to let some out or run the risk of having my poor head explode.

It was only a few hundred words, but it helped. I need to do that again. I can't figure out how Zach is going to get Syndey to cooperate, so am stuck in that scene right now, but I think I'm going to hop ahead to the scene where Cori, Cori's mother, Syndey and Michah's mother are discussing the upcoming wedding (this story takes place just over a year since "Kitchen Matches"). I'm also considering the bachelor party. Hmmm.... dunno. But this story is going to be one I write out of order, that much is clear. To be honest, I don't care how it's written, so long as it IS written.

How about you? Do you write your stories in order? Or do you write miscellaneous scenes and them sew them together like a patchwork quilt?

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The wild turkey has visited my feeders every day this week. On Tuesday it stayed for nearly three hours! I think I'm going to buy it some cracked corn today. I'm a little afraid to get too attached: there are two turkey hunting seasons in NH and one of them starts soon.

Still, I think I need a name. I noticed that it has a "beard", and I've researched it and discovered that females don't -- not even little ones. I think he's a young tom, still finding his way in the world. Aside from the name, Tom, anyone have ideas?

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Today, DD and I are celebrating her birthday. It's a day early, but tomorrow she is going fishing with her dad. We're going to run a few errands and walk the dog first thing so Dd is tired enough not to mind being crated for several hours. Then it's off to the mall.

She doesn't know it, but she's getting her ears pierced. I'd planned on waiting until she was 14 (like I had to wait!), but I really think she's ready and I know she'll remember it forever.

We're also going to Toys-R-Us to get her a bow and arrow set. She's been asking for one forever, and they sent her an ad book with a small set in there. We'll probably hit up AC Moore for some art supplies as well.

We'll browse (she loves to browse... that's my girl) and putter and then it's off to lunch at the Olive Garden.

I'd intended on taking her to a movie, too, but with the dog we can't do the mall and the movie, so we're going to Blockbuster and renting "Bedtime Stories". We'll pop some popcorn and watch it at home. The next best thing for her last day of being nine years-old.

What about you? Do you have any plans today?

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