Month: March 2015

How Will My Garden Grow?

The snow is finally melting. I saw tulips peeking up next to the edge of the snow crust. I still can’t see any crocus.

lawn March 01 lawn March 02

Part of that is because the landmarks in my back yard have changed since last spring. The pool is finally gone, the patio extension was in progress when the weather turned to . . . standard stuff for this part of the world, and I have a mud pit waiting for wallowing. . . under the snow.

Now that April is nearly upon us, I’m thinking about that space again.

One thing I know I want is herbs. Basil, parsley, chives, and cilantro at the minimum. TV Stevie would probably like a tomato plant. I think a container garden is the way to go. I don’t want just a low-maintenance space, I want a no-maintenance space. I want to take my laptop outside and write. I want to sip fruity ice tea and bask in the heat and light. (Yes, I ordered my Celestial Seasonings Cool Brew Iced Teas on Monday; they arrived on Wednesday. I am all set there!)

“Only to the timid is April the cruelest month.” ~Amanda Vail, Love Me Little.

I think April is filled with possibilities.

Writing Wednesday: Reviews

Authors live for reviews. Especially new authors. I check my Amazon and Goodread pages every day, looking for reviews. (And if you’ve read my books and haven’t left a review, why not?)

So imagine my delight when I opened my email a few weeks ago and learned Night Owl Reviews had reviewed my first book, Moonlight Serenade. The review is now up. You can read it here. If you don’t want to do that, here’s what the reviewer wrote:

The scenes and details are well written and capture the imagination and the intriguing events certainly arouse the reader’s curiosity. The author has created a fascinating setting full of intriguing and sexy characters with some interesting elements. I was completely caught up in the story from the very beginning and I am looking forward to visiting with the Toke Lobo and the Pack band again.

Doesn’t that just put a smile on this face.

mybookwasreviewedonnorsm

Slice of Life Sunday: The Madness without Me

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It’s NCAA Basketball Tournament time again. In years past, I would take the afternoons off from work; I would have a tuna sandwich bar party; I would watch men’s college basketball until I dropped.

That habit gradually changed. The tournament was no longer exclusively on broadcast TV (and Superman help you if you refuse to pay your local cable monopoly for the higher tier channels, and I’m cable-challenged anyway.) Last year, my team left the beloved conference (ruined by football), so that dampened my spirit. And this year, my “home team” isn’t in any post-season at all.

This year, all the madness of March means to me is . . . baseball is right around the corner!

I watched college basketball—it’s practically a law in Syracuse—but it was tiring. There was no space or time to breathe the way there was in baseball. Baseball was spiritual, like yoga.

I could really use some spirituality right about now.

 

WIP Wednesday: Staying in the Story

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Image credit: andrejad / 123RF Stock Photo

Image credit: andrejad / 123RF Stock Photo

Writing is hard work. When you’re trying to fit it around a Day Job and family, it’s easy to lose track of the story.

Here are some of my tricks for staying in the story.

  • My Day Job computer passwords are story related. Whether it’s the subject, the working title, or character names, every time I open a new program, I have to think about the story.
  • I create a sound track for every book I write. It’s on a CD in my car, it’s on my mp3 player. Listening to those particular songs remind me of story nuances.
  • I listen to RWA Conference Workshops on my mp3 player at Day Job. You’d be surprised how much a Chat with Nora Roberts can be inspiring.
  • Sticky notes. I have pads of little sticky notes and when something strikes me, I jot it down and stick it to the back of my cell phone (I don’t have a smart phone). When I get home, I transfer the note from my phone to my desk or open up the Scrivener file and type in the idea.

Do you have any favorite tricks for keeping in the story when you can’t be at your desk?

Those Compton Sisters

My brother and his family frequently make comments about the Compton girls or the Compton sisters, referring to his three daughters.

nieces

 

Please. While they are lovely young women, they didn’t invent being the Compton sisters. That honor belongs to my sister and me.

julieBut then I realized my father’s siblings were the original Compton sisters. I was lucky enough to get a photo of them together (with my sister and me) a few years ago. That’s Aunt Arlene on the left and Aunt Leona on the right.

COMPTON GIRLS 2

Apologies to Uncle Roy’s daughters Denise & Erika, the only other Compton girls/sisters of our generation.

The next generation continues the Compton sisters tradition (in addition to my nieces): my cousin Bill’s daughters Jennifer & Jessica, my cousin Mike’s daughters Sarah & Nicole, and my cousin Gordon’s daughters Patience & Pearl. Also Kevin’s daughter Elaine, Pete’s daughter Rose, and Gerhart’s daughter Marisha.

Beyond that generation, I am clueless.

There are a lot of us “Compton Girls” around. We rock.

(Further apologies to anyone I missed.)