These fresh pink mushrooms are young and naive.
This old mushroom has a lot to teach them. Although damaged and scarred, it remains fully open.
Mushroom Wisdom
Looking Down to Look Up
Sky and trees, trapped in puddles.
Clouds and trees, trapped in a puddle.
Other clouds and trees, similarly trapped.
Impromptu Rorschach Test (2)
Gorgeous and evocative clouds on a hike this week. What do these look like to you?
Clouds, scene 1
Clouds scene 2
Impromptu Rorschach Test (1)
The cracks in this asphalt (to me) suggest a left-handed javelin thrower, mid-throw. To you?…
Self Portrait With Stop Sign
An Ode to Earthworms
It rained last night, hard enough to wash earthworms into the streets. I used to try to relocate them back to the dirt but nowadays I just wish them luck or farewell. (Turns out to be crazy hard to pluck them from asphalt without hurting them.)
Earthworms have always intrigued me, from the days I used to dig to China in my backyard and they would slip away from the edges of my hole. They move like a sound wave or certain earthquake waves, by contraction and expansion. They can live for a decade! I just learned from Wikipedia that they include a few, wide-ranging species which are called cosmopolitan earthworms.
And of course, if you are a gardener, they are your special allies. When they move through the soil, they make it looser – they are better aerators than any device. As a bonus, their excretions are a terrific fertilizer. I know somebody who enslaves earthworms to gather their pee and pour it at the feet of her flowers. The flowers do indeed thrive. Maybe it isn’t a horrible life for the worms. They live in a black plastic tub, but she is always feeding them treats like watermelon she buys especially for them. Still, I keep hoping for the right windstorm that will tip the tub and free the worms.
The Resurrection of C.R.I.M.E. Science
Cover art by Lars Huston.
So. I’m a writer who didn’t write for a couple of decades. Life is short and I’ve squandered a lot of it. But let’s just say I went in other directions. I tried other things. Certainly the hiatus was worthwhile. I became the mother of twins and completed graduate school in earthquake science. Bu the reality is that I fashioned a life where writing fiction became well nigh impossible, and for a long time I didn’t even try. At the beginning of that long hiatus – before I admitted defeat and succumbed to all the non-writing demands of my existence – I wrote a novella, envisioned as the first book in a detective series. I wrote it, and I shelved it, and I mostly forgot about it. Rhetorical Q: What kind of writer doesn’t even try to get a book published and/or read?
The thing is that I really liked the characters and they kept poking me for attention. So, now that I have resumed writing, I have also unshelved the first book in the series C.R.I.M.E. Science, about a misfit group of scientists and techno whizzes who solve crimes and right wrongs. As of today, it is available on Smashwords in every common ebook format. Coming soon to additional venues.
Fear of Blogging, part V
My blog. I’ve been at it well over a month now. In addition to posts I’ve actually posted, I’ve got posts I’ve thought about posting, as well as posts in progress. The distinctions are fuzzing up and I realize it’s inevitable. At some point I’ll inadvertently repeat myself. I don’t want to do that but don’t see how to avoid it. Maybe I could convince my kids to read each post before I publish it. They’re so good at detecting my repetitions. We know, Mom. (Is eye-rolling allowed in the blogosphere?)
How to Shop Kobo and Support an Independent Bookstore
I am lucky enough to live near Once Upon a Time bookstore in Montrose, California. It is a small space crammed with a very large number of treasures and surprises – and a dangerous room to enter if you are in a hurry. For me, time stops at the threshold. More than one book on my Best-Books-Ever list came into my life during some meandering browse of Once Upon a Time shelves.
No wonder this bookstore has held on during so many economic roller coasters and is now the oldest independent children’s bookstore in the nation. Certainly the children’s book collection there is wondrous, but so are the other collections. In addition, the store provides the heart and hub for numerous book-loving groups and communities.
Needless to say, the e-book revolution has affected Once Upon A Time bookstore. Wisely, through its website, the store now sells Kobo-formatted books – and if we buy Kobo books by starting at this link, Once Upon A Time gets a cut of the sale. Kobo folks, please bookmark the link and do your shopping from it henceforth!
P.S. BTW and FYI, my novel Scar Jewelry is available from Kobo (as well as other venues).
Required Writing 