Where desire lives, procrastination doesn’t

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adoption, dogs, postaday2015

Today my husband and I were surprised by our two kids when they came into our room to take Jack. They had decided amongst themselves that they were going to bring Jack with them to the Animal Shelter in their search of a dog. Jack was more than happy to go off with his big brother and big sister; his tail was wagging a mile a minute.

When they came back, they were so excited, they had fallen in love with a rescue dog. Her name is Louise, she was found with another female who was called Thelma, hence Louise, she is about 10 or 11 months old, she is a pit bull mix, quite undernourished and a gentle, loving soul. This is what our two were telling us, each one telling us one bit and the other filling in the rest and according to our two, Jack really liked her a lot. He was very friendly from the start and she also responded very well to him.

So the only thing left to do was for us to meet Louise as well. Our daughter filled out the paperwork that they gave her and then we three went back down to Westfield to meet Louise for the final approval.

Her eyes drew both of us in; her look was so soulful, deep with a need for love and such gentleness, it broke my heart. She is so quiet and calm, my immediate reaction was to feel maternal and want to keep her safe and to fatten her up, her ribs stick out so much, the poor thing.

So as it stands, Louise’s adoption is pending and come Monday the nice lady will call our daughter to let her know when the spade and chip procedures will be done; once that is done Louise will be ready to come to her new home.

When our two kids have a goal in mind, they move quickly in tandem. I would say that they make a formidable pair, my two.

Even positive rejection can be tough

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postaday2015, publishing, writing

Dear Laurie Nichols,

I am writing on behalf of Naomi Schneider, who wanted me to thank you for sending in your materials for A Progressive’s Thoughts.

Naomi has had a chance to review your proposal, and has asked me to inform you that (with much regret) we will not be able to take on your project for publication. Due to the limited number of available slots in your particular field, the Press must be extremely selective in its decision making process. Many excellent and interesting proposals such as yours are often turned away. This is in no way a judgment of your book’s quality, just its suitability for our list at this time.

We appreciate that you would consider us as a publishing partner and wish you the very best of luck with the book.

Sincerely,

Allison Wallace

Acquisitions

University of California Press

Ugghhhhhhhh! I know that this is only the seventh rejection letter that I have received. So far five of them have been as polite and encouraging as this one; however the other two, one was a form rejection letter by a literary agent and the other one was from Harvard, a polite rejection without any encouraging words.

What I have been doing in the meantime is look for more publishing avenues and I have two new websites that have asked me to join them because they have read my posts elsewhere.

I went to Google to see if I could find out how to decipher a rejection letter. I wanted to know if publishers in general wrote these types of letters to gently let everyone down or if I was correct in having hope from mine. What I found is that there is a big business in rejection; there are many websites waiting to help you get published. What I did learn is that there are many types of rejection letters and the shorter the letter, the less hopeful are the prospects. The key to this endeavor is to not give up.

On the fiction side of publishing, what I seriously need to do is divide my novel into chapters and send out a few samples and brace myself for a new round of rejection letters while I am still in the process of finishing the New York City chapters.

Work, work , work.

A serious family decision

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dogs, Jack, pets, postaday2015

We have been having a serious family discussion about the pros and cons of acquiring another dog. Everyone knows how loved Jack is, but Jack considers himself mine and our two kids want a dog of their own. They love Jack but they aren’t crazy about the fact that once I am home, he leaves them for Maman’s lap; instead of sleeping with them, he sleeps with me.

I have been keeping the discussion at discussion level because I told them that since we, the parents are often on the road and hotels can be accommodating of small dogs, that is partly why we chose a small dog, even though we did get Jack for Rex, who had been grieving the loss of our two other dogs for a long six months and it was getting to me at the end which is why I caved in getting Jack. This time, I told our kids that getting a dog would be fine, but Jack has to be involved in the process and the consideration. He was here first. They also need to keep in mind that if the dog is a big dog, hotels are much less accommodating and they will need to keep the dog as a priority over their social obligations and potential travel plans.

Way back before we had Rex, when we only had Marshall for seven years, my husband wanted a second dog and I kept saying no. I was fine with one dog and since I did all of the work, I felt that I had final say in the matter, but I don’t do well in holding firm after months and months of someone wearing me down so I put a few demands into the mix; it had to be a German Shepard puppy, pure bred and cheap which is precisely what my husband found when he took me to pick up Rex in 2001.

So I figured that since I never regretted for an instance when I caved in and said yes for Rex; the same thing with our beagle, when my sister asked me to babysit him and the adopt him, we never regretted that; so I am fairly sure that we won’t regret another dog if our kids find one to bring home.

Jack is the first dog that I had ever picked out. He is my baby.

George what were you thinking?

Tags

fantasy, postaday2015, Strange Magic

My husband and I really needed a good fantasy movie today; something in the vein of Willow or Princess Bride, so when my husband was looking at Cinemark’s website, he said “George Lucas’s new movie is out why don’t we see what George’s imagination has in store for us”. Wonderful, we sat in the dark waiting to be taken for a new journey into the fantasy realm that George weaves so well. The previews were entertaining, now of course they were geared for G and PG audiences, but I laughed out loud at the previews for the Minions movie and also for this animated movie about parents and their child, but the real action was playing out in the cast of characters that worked in the control room of each of their minds; the idea was quirky and different and at the end of the preview you see a huge title “It Is An Emotional Movie”, pretty cool.

So after these good nuggets of feel good, I was more than ready to enter George’s fantasy land, but instead of a realm that had nuance, depth and a strong back story, we got a solid half hour of fairies flying around a beautiful meadow singing pop love songs, an evil cricket who wants to banish love from the entire realm, a cheating prince, a wishy washy king and a princess who won’t stop singing sad heart broken love songs. It was too much to bear, even if the movie was geared for tween girls, it had to be better than that. I was a tween once and I would have walked out. Oh yes we walked out after 40 minutes; we couldn’t take anymore of, as I put it, Grease 2 set to bubble pop music in cartoon form.

George what happened? I was so disappointed, if the Minions movie would have been playing at the same time, I would have run inside to get my smile back. I love those minions, they are awesome and I want one!

You know me, I never do not like a movie. I actually could not sit and watch this. When we got home I made breaded chicken cutlets with lemon, mashed potatoes and sautéed corn; that made me feel better and then I sat through 3 episodes of Cougar Town and then 2 episodes of Parks and Recreations, I feel better. My husband and I just needed a flight of fancy, not teenage singing lovey dovey songs in cartoon. The coming attractions of Strange Magic was a bait and switch because we were sold a movie without love songs, an action adventure set in a fantasy realm, good versus evil, not sappy love songs every two minutes.

Hooray we dodged a blizzard!

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blizzard, plants, postaday2015

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Predictions are a tricky business and I feel almost sorry for the weather people who called this storm system a historic event and are now being laughed at for being hysterical worry warts. I am very happy to not have to shovel my way down another driveway because I had already done my fill on Saturday. The only blizzardy thing that did happen to us occurred late last night when the winds blew in one of the windows in the downstairs library and my husband woke up to find an inch of snow on the floor; actually thank goodness that we didn’t get the two feet that they were predicting because quite a bit of stuff could have gotten ruined. The only thing that needed to be done was to put the window back into place and my husband made a fire in the stove right in the library which dried up the room pretty quickly so we did assuredly luck out with this storm

Another happy note besides not having tons of snow to move is that two of my hibiscus plants are continuing to bless me with flower buds. They aren’t minding their winter sojourn in the dining room too much this year and they are making me smile today.

Daily prompt: Free association

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Home, postaday2015, rain, soil, word association

Write down the first words that comes to mind when we say . . .

. . . home.

. . . soil.

. . . rain.

Use those words in the title of your post.

Already I am not following directions; my title is free association, just what the daily prompt said it was all about. I do that sometimes, not often, but it does happen when I rapidly scan, because scanning isn’t really reading and I get ahead of myself and then I don’t follow directions.

Anyway I got off track. When I think of home, the words family, safe, comfort, mine, love, refuge come to my mind. The saying that home is where the heart is may be true, but having a physical structure that keeps you warm and safe with your loved ones is a very special place indeed.

When I think of soil; I think of wealth, clean, nurturing, chemistry, nutrients, growth, worms, even the term black gold comes to mind. I love soil and I firmly believe that healthy soil means a healthy planet. When you nurture your soil, you nurture life and nature.

Rain makes me think of words such as clean, thirst, melting, cool, cold and acid rain. I remember during the 1980’s there was an outcry in environmental circles over acid rain and we don’t hear about that anymore. The reason why I think of melting when the word rain comes into my head is because rain shouldn’t dissuade me from walking, it isn’t as if I am the wicked witch of the West and I’ll melt from being rained on, so when it rains I tell myself it is only water, I won’t melt; though the thought of acid rain does cross my mind every now and then. I wonder why we don’t speak of acid rain anymore.

If I was going to rename this post and I took the first words from my word association, the title would be family wealth clean, if I arranged the words properly then it would be clean family wealth, I like it.

An interesting perspective from author Anne Bauer

Tags

postaday2015, publication, writing

http://www.salon.com/2015/01/25/sponsored_by_my_husband_why_its_a_problem_that_writers_never_talk_about_where_their_money_comes_from/

This morning while I was eating one of my favorite things to eat for breakfast, a huge bowl of Cinnamon Oat Squares, I was perusing Facebook which actually supplies me with as much news as the Huffington Post does since I follow so many progressive publications on Facebook.

I came across this article from Salon written by Anne Bauer with a provocative headline “Sponsored by my husband” it was a good read and provided another layer into the morass that is the publishing world of rejection and acceptance. I was especially interested in the second illustration of how important it is to be connected and the old saying “it is not what you know, but who you know”.

I can see how important connections are especially when you are waiting on those literary agents; the publishing houses are fairly prompt in their response time, but the literary agents are so long in getting back to you. In their defense I suppose when you don’t have a face to put with an “anonymous” manuscript, it must be pretty easy to be harsh and hasty or take your sweet time getting back to the hopeful writer; when you are asked by someone in your circle to evaluate a potential writing talent; the objectivity is already tainted, you are exposed to your preconceived notions of the person asking you for the favor, plus you know that you are on the clock.

I thought that I would share this little nugget with the rest of you because it does give me hope and another perspective of the publishing world and I thought that it would provide you, my friends with some as well.

Our small Nor’easter

Tags

postaday2015, shovel, snow

Isn’t the snow so pretty? I spent about two hours shoveling outside and it was a pretty good workout. The snow was perfectly light and fluffy, very easy on the back, I was mindful the entire time; bending at the knees and using my core muscles. I spent the entire time in deep thought, most of which I have forgotten except for why I was shoveling in the first place even though I have the worst cold in the world. My thoughts were going every which way, at least I was sweating out my cold which led me to think of my father who swore by a good old fashioned hot grog full of armagnac, enough to kill any cold dead, really dead, which got me back to why did I feel the crazy need to shovel when I should be in bed, because I have been feeling fat lately which led me to thinking I always feel fat, no matter what I look like, which led me to the fact that at 134 lbs I am not fat, but I am heavier than normal and with being menopausal, it is harder losing weight which stinks, which led me to thinking that with all of the healthy things that I eat, I should feel really good about myself and I don’t, which is why being in recovery for an eating disorder is still a lot of work mentally and emotionally. Why am I so vain???!!!!!

Well an eating disorder is not about vanity per se, it is much bigger than that; it is really about self-worth, control or loss of control, dealing with change that is bigger than you and a ton of other things that exist very deep within your psyche. No matter how faithfully I tend to my regimen of writing, reading, cooking, tending to my plants and my family, I am still plagued by these demons. I have read that my age group of 40’s to 50’s has a tendency to fall back into the eating disorder rut due to an upheaval of those crazy hormones. I suppose that this is a ride that I am going to have to weather and as long as I remain mindful, I will be fine”ish”.

Daily prompt: Fireside chat

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fireside chat, postaday2015, tea party

What person whom you don’t know very well in real life — it could be a blogger whose writing you enjoy, a friend you just recently made, etc. — would you like to have over for a long chat in which they tell you their life story?

A fireside chat would be such a lovely thing to do. In preparation for the meeting I would make almond financiers, the little muffins that my family loves so much and I would also make a batch of breton butter cookies and I would serve these with a big pot of tea, I would have an assortment of teas to choose from; Earl Grey, Chamomile, Darjeeling and English Breakfast along with cream and sugar for those who desire it.

Instead of just one person, I’ll be greedy and invite many of my new friends from here at WordPress to this lovely fireside chat; it would be such a varied and eclectic crowd, there would be a real serious international vibe because they would be from all around the world; from Scotland to Manchester to Australia to the United States and everywhere in between, I don’t think that there would be a subject that wouldn’t be touched; we would talk about life goals, hobbies, writing goals of course, food and anything else under the sun.

Yogurt, one of my favorite foods

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choices, postaday2015, yogurt

Yaourt or yogurt in English is truly one of my favorite things to eat. I know that Greek yogurt is all the rage and I have eaten more than my fair share, but I have found a new favorite yogurt and it is from Iceland of all places.

I found it at Whole Foods and what I love about the yogurt is that it is very high in protein and much lower in sugar than all of the other yogurts on the market; not only does it taste great but it is very thick and creamy, so thick that my spoon stands up by itself.

My absolute favorite, favorite of all time is in France, it is called La Laitiere, my tantine Cecile used to buy it all the time, not the plain one, but the vanilla one and it tasted amazing with an underlying hint of tartness that cut through the sweetness so that you had a more complex flavor profile and more of your tastebuds were happily engaged, making for a deeply satisfying eating experience.

Whenever I was in France at the supermarket, I would spend a lengthy time perusing the yaourt aisle, we don’t have half of the choices here as they have over in France. It isn’t only about the range of fruit, but the yogurt styles, they have flans, rice pudding, fromage blanc and more. I am so nostalgic for a French market every once and a while.