Weekend Coffee Share. Summer Days and Ways

 No coffee needed for Bixby!

Welcome to my Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Allison at http://eclecticali.wordpress.com

Summer is in full swing, and I’m adjusting to sleeping in, more time with the dog, and a lot less stress! On the topic of stress, I’ve been making an effort to have at least two days weekly where I only drink half a cup of coffee. Let me be honest, yesterday was the second day this week, and my ability to focus was really lacking. I was working on a few of my goals as an author, but I was pretty distracted and quite slow to gain traction.  I did make it to yoga, though, and, wow! That is always good for my mood and relaxation.

I’ve been attending yoga twice weekly since summer’s start and going to Stretchzone in addition to more frequent walks. Stretchzone is a place where you do assisted stretch with a person who is usually licensed in Sports Medicine or physical therapy. I really like it, and I’m trying it because having butt in chair to write or laying around reading ( both of which I’ve been doing) can bother my lower back and sciatica.

Seen on Thursday’s walk. Colorful Shrooms!

So what am I up to as an author? Why am I sitting in that chair? I’ve got Detours in Time in audiobook production with an awesome narrator, I’m working on Malachi (work in progress), and I’m starting Undercurrents in Time on the audiobook process. I have to prepare files of scenes from Undercurrents that lend themselves to narration. ( Starting that this week). I’ve had Detours in Time on a Countdown deal for .99 this week which ends Sunday. Detours in Time is a fun, yet thought-provoking read of a woman and a scientist who travel to the future, then back and forward again,  and as a result, they learn a lot about their own families and themselves, as well as encountering some moral dilemmas.  Can you just observe a train-wreck?  That was metaphorical, but think about it.  Find out about Detours in Time or download it here:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0711ZW6XF

BTW, Undercurrents, the continuation, will also be on a Countdown deal in two to three weeks. I’ll keep you posted, because someone might be interested!

Today, my dog, Bixby and I are on the road with my boyfriend, Kenny. We’re going to Brunswick, Ga to see his dad and stepmom. It will be a low key visit, with conversation and lunch at his house. We’ll be quite entertained watching my dog and their little poodle chase each other around, though!

Road trip photo!

The author tasks and goals will wait until tomorrow, after I’ve enjoyed some sunshine!  Thank you for stopping by for our coffee chat, and have a great summer week!

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Weekend Coffee Share. New Year, new dog?

Welcome to my Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Allison at eclecticali.wordpress.com.  My irreplaceable dog, Bixby, ponders my morning coffee.

Well, of course I still have the same dog, my Bixby, but this week was a time for many new things, so maybe it’s just new year, new experiences? Specifically, new experiences for Bixby. Although, we are still in dog training mode. This is week 3.

 New year, New ‘do.

It has been a relaxing week, my last week of Winter Break, and I was broke enough to curtail any true vacation activities.  Still, I was going stir crazy, and the dog has been good all week.  I think his training is benefitting him greatly.  I also have bought him a sturdy, new leash that causes less stress on my wrist.  So, I felt adventurous.

This all made a New Year’s Day visit to the beach perfect.  Well, that and the almost 80 degree weather.  Jacksonville, Fl is unpredictable like that.  Whatever weather we get in January, we are never surprised.  🙂  Bixby’s never been to the beach before.  There were lots of people there, But I’d have to say, overall, he was well-behaved.  He was thoroughly distracted by all the people and the smells, but he did not once get defensive with anyone.  No one really came up to him, though.  Many people complimented him, foxy as he is.  After a brief walk, we went to Starbucks and he got his first puppucino.  As you can see, he was to busy to ham it up for the camera.  🙂  That was the greatest day this week.

I’ve also been purging papers today and getting papers together for doing my taxes and pondering my writing plan for this year.  I’m pretty sure I will push the publication of my next book to 2020.  It’s just where I am in life right now with my job and the publication budget.  I am short on time and money, so stretching it out would be a good call, and that may give me more time to promote Detours in Time and Undercurrents in Time.  The paperwork and planning is not exactly the fun stuff, but we did take Bixby to dog-training today and that is fun, if you ask me.  Everything has it’s time and place.

I did write a flash fiction this week for Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers, which opens a lot of possibilities and may inspire a new character!  Visit it here: Wrapped up in Silence. #Flashfiction #FFfAW

Here are some fun things I was reminded of when looking at my 2018 finances:

Celtic Fest

St. Augustine Beach for Kenny’s birthday

Publication of Undercurrents in Time and a blog tour

The Pixies Concert

Visiting Rhode Island with my son

I am also pondering taking a vacation at some point this coming year, probably not over the summer but at another time to visiting an interesting yearly cultural event.  You may likely hear upcoming details as I get myself pepped up as well as my travel partner.  🙂

Thanks for stopping by to share a coffee, tea, or some other beverage of choice.  Have a great week!

Weekend Coffee Share…Of Walter Dean Myers, bucket lists, baby goats, and writing goals.

Welcome to the Weekend Coffee Share!  Please don’t hate me because I live in Florida, and it will be close to 80 degrees today.  At least my iced coffee is pumpkin spice flavor!  😉

First, I’d like to ask, which rings true for you?  Here are two alternate skits:

Child:  Grandpa, why are we here?

Grandfather:  To love one another and care for this great Earth.

Alternate:

Child:  Grandpa, why are we here?

Grandfather:  To compete with each other, destroy our enemies, and turn a profit.

I will not deny that this may seem a little political.  I have a hard time verbalizing such things.  I love people regardless of their political beliefs.  But I am having such a hard time lately dealing with recent policy changes, seeing the earth pilfered, people hurt, and families torn apart.  I may seem like a pipe dreamer, but I have long ago realized that was my place on this Earth.  If we all saw things in black and red (monetarily and us vs. them), it would be an ugly world indeed.  I’ve also accepted that, if I were alive in the Middle Ages, I would have been an artisan, poor indeed, but I would make people smile or cry, and they’d throw me enough crumbs to keep me alive.  I’d also be least likely to get beheaded.  I obviously would dress for comfort and not to impress some king into putting jewels on my head.  I’m perfectly fine with my place in life.  If I should ever make it big as an author, I’ll wear what the heck I want to book signings, just like Stephen King.

Now, off of my soapbox.  I have not participated in Weekend Coffee Share in a while!  Part of that is due to neglecting to blog more than once a week.  I’ve been doing the flash fiction entries since it’s tickles my fancy, but only once a week.  It’s good to be back, even if for once in a blue moon.  I love my writers’ community, and I’m glad you all are still here in this space!

Work has kept me busy, busy, while I try to promote my published books.  I’m not writing a book for NANOWRIMO, but I am fleshing out and revising the one I wrote last November.  It is a sequel to my time travel novel, Detours in Time .  This sequel has gone from 45,000 words to 56,000 when I last checked, so I am making progress.  Still, some nights, I get home from work and just want to read and relax.  It may not be completely revised at the end of November, and that’s okay.  I get achy in my hands and arms at times, either due to arthritis or the way I manage stress (internalizing).  So, I’m not pushing it.  All will happen in due time.  I don’t see myself quitting the job to just write until I most likely legitimately retire from teaching.

The workplace has given me more challenges than last year, I believe.  My family life is calmer, but I come home from work good and tired.  I won’t complain about the job; there are good days and bad days.  Sometimes, you can know just what to say to tell a student you’ve “got their number,” and it may work.  Other days, it’s quite overwhelming and you just wonder why they have to be manipulated or pleaded with to do the right thing?  Ah, the nature of middle-schoolers.  They don’t always know who they are.

At least I get to teach one of my favorite books again:  Bad Boy by Walter Dean Myers.  Talk about a struggle for identity.  This book is about his life, and he sure went through some hard times regarding: poverty, race, identity, growing up in Harlem, family issues, and adolescence in general.  I know I mentioned this last week in my Stream of Consciousness post.  This book stays with me.  We are starting to study author’s point of view in a memoir.  I’m hoping I have enough artistic kids, because what I’d like to do is have posters of his head opening like a box with a hinge, and his thoughts on paper strips coming out.  Truly, isn’t that what a writer does?  We open it up for others to see what is inside.  Usually, there is an end goal.  He obviously wants to inspire kids of today to stop making excuses and go for their dreams.  I know Myers inspires me.

Well, Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday, is coming soon.  We’re going to NC to see my brother and sister-in-law.  The cooler weather will be nice.  I think I’ll gain weight.  I do yoga once or twice a week, but my cardio is faltering.  I blame it on weather fluctuations and writing goals.  I just have to do enough to make sure my clothes still fit.  Buying a whole new wardrobe doesn’t appeal to me like it used to.  I guess I’m getting more practical as I move toward fifty.  It’s gonna be awesome.  I will make it awesome.  I’ve added beer yoga, baby-goat yoga, trying helium beer with my high-school best friend, and still have sky-diving on my bucket list.  Wish me luck in these endeavors!      (Seriously, find a video of baby goat yoga.  They jump all over the place and look so light-weight.  It just seems like a joyful, laughter-filled experience I’d love to try.  Watch it and feel your blood pressure drop)!

-Pamela

#WeekendCoffeeShare is now hosted at https://eclecticali.wordpress.com/ Please visit the blog to view other weekend coffee shares and to enter your own.

How was your week?  What’s going on in your life and your artistic/ blogging endeavors?