Home 2018 September

Month: September 2018

Looking at Trees

In Western Pennsylvania where I grew up, you do not have to go out of your way to look at trees. Just on the farm my parents owned, a large blue spruce grew on one side of the driveway, and a stand of aspen on the other. In the front yard was a walnut tree, on the hill a black cherry tree, on another hill, three plum trees. Also on our thirty-five acres stood thirty-seven apple trees. (You might understand that as a child I learned to be picky about my fresh fruit. But this post is not about that. This post is about trees.) Ahem, yes. Trees. I grew up with trees everywhere. Though we had fields and pastures on the farm, they were divided by lines of trees. And the eastern half(ish) of the property was all trees. Real forest, that had been there forever–maples and oaks and elms and beeches and crabapple and choke-cherry and sassafras and– Trees. I loved them then. Now that I live in Southern Arizona, I love them more. Trees are so restful. Green and quiet, making the sunlight shimmer, home to birds and bugs and cute furry animals… I’m luckier now than I’ve been many times. I have mature, beautiful palm trees in my front yard. I have dwarf citrus trees in my back yard. I live across the street (practically) from a park with lots of big trees. That’s “lots” by Arizona standards. By Pennsylvania standards, that’s a pasture. So Sunday…

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5 Lessons I’ve Learned From Freelancing

I recently hit the year anniversary of my layoff, July 28th. I was sitting in the dentist chair and I remembered how scared I was that my life was changing in a major way. I no longer had a job, a job I’d had for the past sixteen years. I grew up there—I was just twenty-five when I was hired. I was forty-one when I was laid off. So, if you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, you’ll know that I made the decision to work from home. Freelance editing and virtual assisting were my two main niches. I am now looking at freelance writing as a possibility, too. So what have I learned this past year? #1 Fear is a part of the process. There’s no way around it. It’s a huge change. I’ve spent hours just looking for clients with the ever-present threat of not having enough money to pay our bills. I’m happy to report that that has not happened yet. But the fear is real. Just not going to an office was an adjustment, too. Most people say we’re lucky. And we are. But after twenty years in office work, I literally had to relearn how to work. There are always distractions and things I never thought about because I wasn’t home. Now, things are different. Not bad. Just different. I was scared that I’d never be able to make the transition. That I was so hard-wired for office work that my brain wouldn’t be able…

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The Best Laid Plans

Oh, friends. I was so excited for September. The trees are already starting to turn and autumn (the best season, fight me) isn’t far away. Plus, for the first time ever, all my responsibilities will be in school, at least for part of the week. Free time! ahahahahah Or, at least, that was the plan. I made a list of all the writing things I was going to get done in September. It looks something like this: -Children’s books -Nonfiction series -Finish draft -Write anthology story -Edit first chapter on submission novel -Work on Sekrit Project II Admittedly, that is a lot of stuff. But I have guaranteed free time! For the first time in years! ahahahah Unfortunately, two things have combined to destroy all my writing plans. The first is that I have decided I need a change in day job. Admittedly I’m not really day-jobbing on a regular basis at the moment, but it turns out that editing/working on other people’s stories kills my enthusiasm to work on my own. So in a few years all my responsibilities will be at school full time, and I can go back to work in an industry that is creative, but differently creative. So I’m learning how to program. I picked out a course on Coursera and am about halfway done with it. But man, does it take a lot of work! More than I’ve spent working on my freelance and contract jobs in recent years. That by itself is eating…

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Farewell to Summer and Good Riddance

This is the way my summer has gone… I worked all summer, and most of the weekends were either miserably hot or rainy (or both!) so I didn’t get out and about very much. I sort of feel like I missed the summer. I did get some glorious long weekend afternoons on my shady back patio. We sprang for some good-quality patio furniture a few years ago, and that was an excellent decision — I swear that couch is more comfortable than the one in our living room (though my spouse would beg to differ). The vegetable garden was fairly minimal, but delicious as usual (more about that next time, probably). Writing was also fairly minimal, but better than it had been in the previous half-year, so that’s something. I have stuff in the works now that you’ll be seeing at TDP in 2019…stay tuned! Springtime here is usually grey and rainy, and I’m solar-powered, so I always wait for summer to arrive and my mood to perk up. Except this year, that last part didn’t happen. I think I’m pulling out of it now, but that was a long haul of just hanging in there. I’m looking ahead to a very busy September. That’s due to some happy events that I’m really looking forward to (including family stuff and my annual writers’ retreat with my in-person critique group!). But right now I’m still in the “all the prep aaah” stage. I strongly dislike winter, but as long as I’m…

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Coat of Scarlet: A Clockpunk Tale, Part 2

by Siri Paulson Read Part 1 first! Two days after the visit from the airship pirate, Marius was engrossed in the tiny stitches of a buttonhole when the shop door darkened. There was Niko again, frowning at the vest Marius was holding as if it had personally offended him. Today he wore a blue damask justacorps coat, snug enough through the torso to hint at his muscular shape, then flaring over the hips to end at the knee and show his finely turned legs in their white breeches to best effect. The fabric and cut of the coat were high-quality, Marcus saw, but the gold trim and other finishing details were not nearly as fine as on the coat he had left for mending. “What is that?” the pirate demanded, gesturing elegantly towards the vest. Marius realized he’d been staring. He set his needle hand moving again. “It’s a commission. Something for a party, I understand.” He’d been lucky to get such a complex job. Maybe, just maybe it would lead to more, extravagant outfits with details like cuffs and pleats and lots of fiddly little braids, or even a mantua for a lady, where he could really shine… “And what of my coat?” Marius looked up, blinking as his concentration fell away. Niko looked as imposing as he had the first time they had met, and he moved with an ease that implied that Marius’s stitches on his injury were doing their work well. But something about the way…

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