winding down

Hey, excitement! I already have three posts this month. My unofficial goal is 4 posts a month, or roughly one a week. Anyway, here's an update on the craziness that has been May.


First off, I'm nine days behind in Story a Day in May. I've come to accept this. Maybe I'll have a crazy day where I write nine short stories (and I mean short) and actually get my 31 stories, maybe I won't. But I've had other obligations, like helping my cousin with her etsy shop. And for the past four days, I've gotten back on the horse (which was really hard after being off for more than a week) and written a story a day. They've been short, one only 160 characters long. But they were still stories.

In other news, I think I'm addicted to plaid shirts. I have eight now, and all I can think about is wanting more more more! Hate to be such a stereotype, but I love them so much! And they look good with my rainbow belt . . . anyway. I bought a long wool coat today, which is also plaid, that I plan on wearing at the convention I'm going to this weekend, along with a few of my scarves. I'll be some sort of knitty dyke-ish Doctor, offering people swedish fish instead of jelly babies.

I'm in a really odd mood right now. But a good mood. I've only had one real low this week, and that was following a crazy manic time, so it made sense and was fairly predictable. Anyway, I say my garden is to blame for my good mood. It's been crazy wet and cold all spring, so now that it's finally warming up I'm spending more and more time outside, and I love it. My garden currently consists only of a 4x4 box and a little bit of path right next to my back yard, but it's my green space, and it makes me happy. Plus I have tons of plans to expand, which will happen slowly as I earn the money for them.

I also had some lettuce out of my garden today. I don't think I'll ever be able to eat that sad store-bought wilty lettuce out of the back of the bag again. Freshly picked lettuce is amazing. The only way it would have been better would be if the hardboiled egg had been from my own chickens (my future backyard plans involve getting a chicken coop) and if the tomato had also been from my garden.

Okay, so back to my writing. I've stopped writing a poem a day, because it was becoming a chore, and I figured I'm doing enough other things this month. Plus, I plan on doing 50/90 later this year (starting July 4th, write 50 songs in 90 days), so I'm giving my poetic/songwriting muse a break. Also in writing news, I got a rejection from Cricket last week, which was exceedingly form and generic, and a rejection from Enchanted Conversation, which was exceedingly personalized and helpful. I hope I'll be able to polish some of the stories I've written this month and send them out in June, so I can get more rejections! And hopefully an acceptance, of course, but rejections at least mean I'm actively trying!

Actually, y'know, that's about all I have on the writing front. So finally, I've been keeping up on my photography goals. For 25 days, I took a (random) picture every day, before deciding I wanted to do a more specific daily grateful goal, where I take a picture every day of something I'm grateful for, and say why I'm grateful for it. It's really helped me to keep a positive outlook on life, looking around for something to be grateful for every day. On top of that goal, I'm also taking a self-portrait every day, inspired by the amazing Anna Gay (who has an ebook out now on her self-portraits).

And this is why I should update more often--so I avoid long word-heavy posts like this. Wish I had some time to draw some pictures. . . (edit: wait, duh--I can put in some of the photographs I've taken.) Anyway, thanks to anyone who actually read through all of this! I might have another more cohesive post after CONduit, which I have to go pack for, since it's tomorrow.

And since I've seen this on other blogs, and it seems a good way to stimulate reader interaction, do you have any daily goals that you're focusing on, feel proud of, or want to vent about?


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Listening to: Manic by Plumb. "There is a chemical in your brain/It's pouring sunshine and rage/You can never know what to expect/You're manic, manic". Oh yeah. Definitely been there.