These non-stop blue skies are going to ruin the northwest girl. My expectations are being compromised. This may be the first spring that I am longing for rain instead of my usual longing for sunshine!
It is hard to do things indoors when the weather is so fine. Fortunately, there is a lot of work to do outside, too.
Writing Updates:
I have been sinking deeper into a big writing project. That’s right, The Ragman. Blue, Indigo, and the Ragman himself are becoming most insistent about their story being told. Thus, I must oblige!
What does this mean? My short story output and submissions have nearly come to a full halt. I’m even having a bit of trouble focusing on my regular nonfiction essays. Having trouble, but still managing to soldier on a bit!
If you need something to read, I put out an argument against clock-watching, with the help of the neighborhood dads (the jovial cock-robins). You can read Living Life On Robin Time, free of charge, on Medium.
The newsletter has been a tough nut to crack, but I still have this feeling in my bones that it is time to write one. You can read, once again free of charge, about my struggles with the newsletter, Substack, and (un)social media expectations. Read it here: I Don’t Know What I’m Doing On Substack, and I’m Cool With That.
Reading Updates:
Much of my reading is still taken up with that required for class. In that vein, I read an assortment of Phillis Wheatley-Peters’ poems, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and part of the Decameron.
For pure entertainment, I finished Tress by Brandon Sanderson. This was my intro to Sanderson’s writing, and I must say I will be back for more! I loved the style, particularly of the narrator. It reminded me of the non-Xanth works of Piers Anthony, as well as the Princess Bride, but it was still a perfectly unique work that didn’t feel like it was aspiring to be anything but itself.
Survive & Thrive:
Mowse the kei truck is still in the shop. No word back yet on whether he can be repaired. Fingers crossed, because I would love to begin acting upon the idea I mentioned in last week’s update.
As for surviving and thriving around here, we are doing our best. We spent the weekend building a sunshade for our deck. The goal was to spend no money, and we achieved it! We built it from old lumber (we always stop to pick up lumber, whether it is from a free pile on the curb or lumber that has dropped off along the roadside from a poorly secured load). We did need one piece that we didn’t have, but a neighbor came through for us with just what we needed! I will spend the morning today painting the sunshade frame with leftover paint from past projects.
It’s also the week to put in the garden, so I will be busy between writing, school, and other tasks. Growing your own food, free of the industrial system, is a radical and revolutionary act, so I will find a way to get to it all!
Go forth in hope, my friends,
Jenny Wren 