Rainy days and Mondays always make me Smile!

Yeah, yeah, I know, wrong lyrics! ;-)

But it's true for me. When it's dreary outside I feel fully justified in hitting the den and writing for hours rather than work on the house or do bills or whatever!

Turn on a little smooth jazz guitar, queue up some Chet Atkins albums or some 'Beats Antiques' music and wrestle with my Muse over scenes in a story.

I can write on the couch with the boob tube yakking in the background, but I can concentrate and enjoy the flow more when I'm sitting in my comfy chair, surrounded by my books and miniature Star Trek figures at my desk.

My current challenge, self induced, is to get a short story published in Analog, Asimov, Science Fiction/Fantasy or some other magazine. I write lots of them. They come to me at the weirdest times of day and night.

I have a folder called 'ShortStoriesThatReallyNeedToBePublishedSomeTimeSoon'. Some of the stories are done or close to done, but a lot are just crazy ideas or outlines. When I get frustrated with my WIP I pop over to the SS folder and attack one of the unfinished stories.

Time to get busy, have a great week!

My Tree

I can look at my tree for hours and never see the same branch or leaf or gnarled knot.
My eyes travel forever, up and down the ridged bark, tracing the deep folds and the open wounds of missing limbs.

I can get lost in the leaves, often wondering if I'll ever return.

Gently waving branches are calling for me to climb up and converse about the Universe.
Rough, sharp bark scrapes at my knees and knuckles as I ascend to join the silent communion.
My hands smell of old thoughts and wisdom.
The wisdom that there is no such thing as wisdom.

Precariously perched on my favorite limb, worn smooth from my visits, I gaze out to the field of cotton behind my house.

My tree welcomes my young body, calmly waiting for me to lean back and start another day of drifting dreams.

I get lost in the leaves, not caring if I ever return.

Great day of writing, lousy weather day!

It was a cloudy, drizzly, wet and a cold today here in North Texas. OK. 'Cold' as in 63 degrees. Trust me that's cold for Texas. ;-)

I did NOT want to get out of my warm, cozy bed and take my laptop up to my favorite cafe, the Sukoon Cafe in Lewisville. I go there on Tuesday and sometimes Thursday mornings to enjoy a Matcha Teas Latte and bagels while I write. I sit on a high chair at the front window and enjoy a little people watching between paragraphs.

But I drug my lazy butt out of bed and moseyed up there, braving the weather. I also forgot my coat so I was actually cold. I was too stubborn to turn around and get it. Never said I was smart, just good looking.

My Muse must have been too cold to stand out in the drizzle because she stayed by my side the whole morning!

The words flowed, for almost 2 hours, on a difficult scene. It was one of those look up and wonder where the time went moments around 10 o'clock. It felt great. I reviewed the chapter and I'm really pleased with it so far! Lots to do and lots of editing to go, but the foundation is solid.

So.

Never give up on your writing. Never assume that you can't write because 'blah, blah, blah'. You can. You must. Lots of excuses will be looking over your shoulder, like vultures, hoping you will take the bait and skip a writing session.

Don't!

Just pull up your big boy/girl britches and write. Everyday if you possibly can.

You never know when you'll have one of those 'Oh My God That was fun!' sessions!

Go! Now! Write!