Author Archives: Debbie

Growing a Novel

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It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.  ~Edmund Hillary, explorer, mountaineer, and one of two climbers confirmed to reach the top of Mount Everest first

The

path lies

straight ahead.

Put one word down

and then another

until you reach the end,

confident along the way

that you’ve written the best story

you can under the circumstances.

And won’t it feel great to finally finish?

 

Staring at a screen, forsaking playtime.

Growing a novel isn’t easy.

Maybe that’s why others don’t try.

Stop complaining and fretting!

Tackle the task at hand.

Watch the word count grow

as you write scenes

and chapters

someone

loves.

Note: This poetic form is called Double Etheree.

Pandemic Puppies??

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Money will buy you a pretty good dog, but it won’t buy the wag of his tail. ~Henry Wheeler Shaw, American humorist

As those of you who regularly read my posts know, my soul-dog Dallas went to the Rainbow Bridge as March 2020 ushered in the COVID pandemic.

At first, I didn’t want a new pup. Didn’t want to look at puppy pictures, didn’t want to reach out to ask breeders questions.

I was grieving, and I knew I needed time to do that properly.

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Hot Stuff

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You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive. ~Author Unknown

Think you’re hot stuff, don’cha?

Zipping around in your souped-up car

Shimmering silver body, slightly elevated rear

Muffler announcing your presence better

Than trumpets proclaiming royalty’s arrival.

Think you’re hot stuff, don’cha?

Baseball cap turned backwards on your head

Heavy metal music pounding its rhythmic beats

With wailing vocals sufficiently intense

To pry the dead right out of their graves.

Think you’re hot stuff, don’cha?

Pulling to within inches of my rear bumper

As if you’re eager to hop in my back seat

And join me for a little spin around town.

Refusing to move over to another lane

Even when I deliberately slow to a crawl.

Think you’re hot stuff, don’cha?

Forcing me to change lanes

Forcing me to lose my temper

While you swoop around me

As if I’m in a car park or some driveway

Woolgathering or taking a siesta.

Think you’re hot stuff, don’cha?

Approaching that traffic light beside me

Then flipping me the universal sign

Of disdain. Of anger. Of disrespect.

Then zooming off in a cloud of exhaust.

I can be as crude as you, fella

But I choose not to

Not because of you

But because of me.

Still think you’re hot stuff, don’cha?

Note: Details changed to protect the guilty.

Hang in There

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To give vent now and then to his feelings, whether of pleasure or discontent, is a great ease to a man’s heart. ~Francesco Guicciardini, Italian historian and statesman

Emotions swirling

Like clouds skudding o’er the sky

Best to say nothing

Wordless Wednesday

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People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us. ~Iris Murdoch, Irish and British novelist and philosopher

Sunday’s Gem — Obsidian

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Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better. ~Albert Einstein, German-born theoretical physicist

Feeling under stress? Suffering from pain or a wounded spirit?

Then get yourself some Obsidian!

Tumbled black Obsidian stones, approximately 1″ in size, $2 each. Available at https://www.el9shop.com/product/black-obsidian-tumbled-stone/

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Conquering Fear

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A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault. ~John Henry Newman, English theologian and poet

Because of the pandemic, I haven’t had a flute lesson in months, and I’ve missed it.

It’s bad enough practicing the same pieces assigned to me back in early March; but knowing that I might have slipped into bad form/habits without somebody to supervise me is worrisome.

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Wolf in Sheep’s Skin

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Trust your hunches. They’re usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level. ~ Joyce Brothers, American psychologist

Waiting for the other shoe to drop perhaps?

You

pretend

to be so

solicitous.

Offering umpteen

suggestions and gimmicks

designed to show me that you

aren’t the Mean Girl I fear you are,

that you have my best interests at heart

and there’s no way you’d ever bring me harm.

 

Why, then, do I lie awake pondering?

Why, then, are my dreams tormenting me?

Why do I wake up shivering,

my heart pounding, out of breath?

Wait, now I remember —

I’ve been here before.

Intuition

is at hand,

warning

me.

Note: This is a Double Etheree.

Ten Things I’ve Learned Since My Third Decade

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I don’t think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday. ~Abraham Lincoln, 16th U.S. President

By the time a person is thirty, he or she should have learned a few life lessons.

Some, we gain the hard way, by experiencing the consequences of not living as we should. Others, we glean from the folly of friends or family.

Here are ten lessons I wish my thirty-year-old self had embraced:

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Time for a Change?

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Life is change. ~Heraclitus of Ephesus, Greek philosopher

Just a random photo of my Roma tomato plant because I’m blown away at the size of the fruit this year!

I’m back!!

My son Domer was home last week (the first time we’ve gotten together since Christmas!)

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