Category: Gratitude Blog

Like the swallows returning to Capistrano, each spring the robins become protective of their specific nesting grounds. We have one such red-breasted fellow in our yard who returns each year to find a rival firmly ensconced in his territory. And so he goes on the attack, launching himself over and over at the marauding fiend only to bash himself an invisible, never-yielding barrier that separates the two. For days or sometimes weeks he continues until the sun has moved higher in the sky, dissolving the reflection in the plate glass door.

Perhaps someday he will learn that each year the same faulty conclusion and aggression leaves him fighting with himself. Or perhaps someday he will win, but that victory will cost him his life. But for now, I am grateful for the allegory and the sure sign of Spring.

Today was filled with meetings that didn’t go as expected forcing me to flip the “on” switch more than I expected, followed by driving a high profile SUV for 180 miles in high gusting winds, then sitting in a traffic jam (because a truck had blown off the road) for 45 minutes. And it started off with me in a bad mood because I was questioning whether I was “wrong” for acting true to my nature – as had been suggested to me.

Fortunately, I headed to a bar when I arrived back in Columbus to celebrate a friend’s business anniversary. Two vodka martini’s and the company of friends snapped everything back into perspective. The meeting had gone well, resulting in an open dialogue filled with promising new ideas, even if it wasn’t the meeting I’d been prepared for. Unlike the unfortunate driver of the truck off the road, I made it home safely despite the high winds. And I should always be true to the self – that person that my friends love and support.

Some days, you just need a drink and some friends to remember what’s important. This was one of those days and I’m glad I had both.

I spent the weekend at Hanover College’s annual Geek-A-Thon. I really enjoy any place where I can talk to readers and about writing, but this was AWESOME. Not only did I do what I went there to do, I learned to play a new game called “Attraction” – kind of like marbles but with irregularly shaped magnets. I slept in a tent city set up in a small library. I hung out with Michael Williams, a brilliant author. I watched people run around after Woody Harrelson (he and Taylor, my pseudo child, hung out for awhile). And best of all, I got to catch up with one of my college roommates and her husband.

So, I had a great weekend, for which I am very grateful. But now I am tired and at home, which is good as well!

It’s 9:16 in the morning and this has been a fantastic day! I awoke to an email notifying me of acceptance of Foreseen onto a rather picky book site and another email inviting me to be a panelist and guest at a speculative fiction/movie convention this fall. By the time I made it downstairs, the sun had burned through the morning clouds, the birds were singing their hearts out, and my husband had received some good news from one of his clients. And on top of all that, my son is coming home later today to accompany me to this weekend’s Geek-A-Thon at Hanover College.

Everything this morning has been more than right. Maybe it won’t stay that way, but I sure am grateful for this moment.

Today, I am grateful for Wikipedia and in particular, the images found there. For today, I was writing a scene that occurs in the train station in Lille, Flandres, France. I’ve never been there to know if it’s old or new, light and airy or dank and dark. But then I found this:

Yes, Wikimedia makes writing easier.

I had a weird dream last night. A friend gave me a piece of rough brown paper, folded into about a 4×4 square. I opened the first fold and there were notes to me from each person in her family saying what I meant to them. I put the noted down and thanked them, nearly moved to tears by the heartfelt sentiment captured in the notes. Later on, I came back to the note and opened another fold to find another note written by different friends. They weren’t there and didn’t know the woman who’d handed me the note, but again, the sentiment was profound. This happened again and again, unfolding the note into a long strip of brown paper dotted with words of friendship.

All of the people who wrote the notes in the dreams are real people in my life. Some I see often, others not often enough. But the dream left me appreciating their friendship, support and love across the miles and years.

I’m getting ready to head out to have drinks with the girls – specifically my friends Theresa and Shaunacy. I have a lot to be thankful for today, but don’t need anything more. Drinks with the girls. That’s more than enough!

I am in a section in the novel I am writing in which the location of a certain object through history is important. I use actual events when possible because it gives the fiction more credibility, thereby enhancing the suspension of disbelief.  Typically that means sprinkling a couple of facts into the novel. But this time, I got a bonanza. I knew I was probably including some European and American witch trials, but it turns out, the actual trials perfectly line up with a whole string of other events – from the colonization of Brazil, to the Duke of Savoy’s attack of Geneva, to the Thirty Year’s War. It’s as if the fiction I am writing is the most plausible explanation of all these events.

History has made writing this section of my novel easy.

Ever get a song stuck in your head and can’t get it out?  I’ve got one today, but at least it’s fun. The singing letters from Bad Horse in Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog. It makes me smile every time it runs through my head.

Bad Horse
Bad Horse
Bad Horse
Bad Horse

He rides across the nation
The thoroughbred of sin
He got the application
You just sent in

It needs evaluation
So let the games begin
A heinous crime, a show of force
A murder would be nice, of course

Bad Horse
Bad Horse
Bad Horse
He’s bad

The Evil League of Evil
Is watching, so beware
The grade that you receive
Will be your last, we swear

So make the Bad Horse gleeful
Or he’ll make you his mare . . .

Get saddled up
There’s no recourse
It’s Hi-Ho Silver
Signed, Bad Horse

I took today off from writing and barely paid any attention to marketing or other business-type activities. Instead, I spent a good part of the day wandering through Menards, a local big-box hardware store, as my husband and I planned and priced this year’s home projects. Interior doors. Painting the garage and basement. Redoing two bathrooms. I enjoy planning projects and I love Menards!

This was a good day!