New Camera Fun~

I recently took the plunge and bought a "fancy" camera: a Canon EOS 80D. Not the most expensive out there, but probably the best I've ever owned. I spent all summer learning how to use my Canon Powershot and now I have to learn this one. It's is a whole different animal!

I'm not sure when or how I decided I'd like to see Mount Borah. I just thought it would be neat to photograph after the snow storm that was forecast on Saturday. I didn't realize how many other gorgeous mountains there are along the way! Borah is the tallest mountain in Idaho, located between the towns of Challis and Mackay, Idaho, and only about a 2 hour drive from my house. So I got up early and boy, was it worth it.

I made the panorama above from two or three photos, taken just east of Mackay Reservoir. I think this one is Mt. Brietenbach – fifth highest in Idaho at 12,140 ft. – fourth highest in the Lost River Range according to Wikipedia. I just know it's astounding. 

But I should back up a moment. Here's the first peak I photographed: Mt. McCaleb. I thought at first it must be White Knob, but I was mistaken. Look at the tiny little ranch at the base. This peak is a monster and it sits just east of Mackay, Idaho.

A little further up the highway, you come to Mt. Brietenbach and Leatherman Peak. Leatherman is second highest in Idaho at 12,228ft. It was the only mountain here with a roadside sign, as far as I can tell.

After Leatherman comes Borah, the granddaddy of them all at 12,662 ft. It's not the most stunning shaped peak, but it's massive.

I'll have to go back another day to get pictures of the very top. It was socked in most of the day. Along the base of Borah is the Chilly Slough wetland, managed by the Nature Conservancy. I definitely want to spend some time birding there when the temperatures are warmer.

This old cabin was right along the highway, but I'm sure there are many more tucked away around the valley. I'm already scheming to go back next summer and spend more time exploring this part of Idaho. Maybe I'll hit Stanley and Challis and then swing back through Trail Creek toward Sun Valley. I especially want to get some sunrise and sunset pics, which is hard to do in only a day trip. Anybody want to join me?

Life is too short.

Life is precious and life is too short.

Too short to let fear hold you back.

Too short to spend every day indoors.

Too short to hold grudges or be angry for long.

Too short for hate and prejudice.

Too short to hang onto your money.

Too short not to give.

Too short not to do the things you love, to find your passion.

Too short not to smell the flowers.

Too short not to let your loved ones know you care.

Your life is a precious gift you've been given. 

Live it.

This Writer's Goals for 2016~

Happy New Year!

Time to start anew. If last year was crappy, forget about it! You can always make the next one better. They say, and I believe it's true, writing down your goals makes them more achievable, so here it goes~

My goals for 2016 are as follows:

1) Read lots of books

Last year I read about 25 books, which is pretty good for me! I intend to keep it up. Join me over on Goodreads and set up your own reading goal.

2) Write lots of words

Between 50,000 and 100,000 words would be good. I'll probably take part in JuNoWriMo to get a good chunk of those. June works much better for me than other months. Summer in general works better for me than the school year. I'm in between projects right now with a rough draft to be edited. I'm sure I can have an outline ready by June though.







3) Travel

Going some place I've never been before always inspires me to write, so this is a definite "to do". Last year it was Hawaii. This year, who knows??


4) Exercise and eat healthy

I got a new Fitbit for Christmas and I think I love it already. All the incentive of tracking daily habits without the monthly fee of joining Weight Watchers. (I love you too, WW. Just not the fee.)

5) Publish

I have two novels I'm currently querying and a third rough draft that I'd like to get into shape for querying soon. With any luck, someone somewhere will want something of mine, right?

6) Grow a garden that survives

My garden was a dismal failure last year due to rabbits, voles, and a lack of effort. When I realized how much damage the varmits were causing, I kind of gave up. I still want a garden though. It's going to require raised bed - cages of some sort because there are still lots of rabbits around. I'll come up with something.


7) Save some money

I want to set up a seperate savings account that's never tapped into for normal bills and expenses so it can grow undisturbed. It's just a matter of setting it up and making an auto deposit. I have college savings accounts, so I know I can do it. I just have to make it happen.

8) Do some home improvements

This follows from the above obviously. I'd like to save some money to make some home improvements. I'd like to replace our gas range with an electric one so I don't set myself or the house on fire. I'm not a fan of open flames in cooking, at least not in my house. I'd also like to build a fireplace, but that's sort of a major undertaking. And a back yard patio and pergola would be nice. See? There's no end of reasons for Goal #7.

9) Meditate

My life gets pretty dang hectic starting in January through June, mostly due to my daughter's dance competition season. I get stressed out and cranky. I've meditated before and found it to be a nice respite from all my rushing around like a chicken with my head cut off. I plan to make time for it again this year.

10) Gratitude

Last but not least, I always want to remember to show my gratitude for the people I work with and the family I love, as well as all the blessings in my life. Life is fragile and it can be gone in a moment. 2015 taught me that once again. I don't want to waste a single minute of 2016 complaining or worrying,if that's possible.

What goals will you make for 2016?

Summer's Last Hurrah on #MondayBlogs

I know I always say go somewhere you've never been before, but this year I went somewhere I haven't been in a long time - Yellowstone.  The last time I was there was 2005, so it's been ten years. It's changed some. Now, three million people visit Yellowstone a year, so it's getting really crowded with people. So much so that the parking lots couldn't even hold everyone's vehicles and folks are parking along the highways, making trails where they aren't supposed to. As a result, we saw a lot less wildlife than usual.  We did see these lazy elk in Gardiner, Montana.

And finally after much searching, we found the bison on the east side of the park. I was starting to wonder where they all went! I almost asked the activists who were demonstrating against hazing of buffalo that leave the park.

Old Faithful was magnificent as always and the hot pools/springs were impressive, although they seemed to have less water than I remembered from years ago. I hope it's not because of the drought.

I'm afraid people are loving Yellowstone to death. It is worth seeing, but wow, there sure are a lot of us.  No trip is complete without checking out the historic lodges. Here's a pic of the inside of the Old Faithful Lodge where we enjoyed huckleberry ice cream. Pretty cool. *apologies to the random people in the pic- you were in my shot! ;)

I took the opportunity to take a break from writing and editing, which I've been doing all summer it feels like!  I have two manuscripts I'm querying and I third I need to get edited for query, not to mention the two books I'm getting ready to self publish. (If anyone is a Microsoft Word format wizard, please help!)

When I got home, I did a bit of editing on Crawdad, mostly just adding dates to the chapter headings. Reading back over it, I realized how much I loved the story. Oh man, it's good stuff. I really want to share it with you. Cross your fingers I get someone to publish it cause it's some of my best and I don't say that lightly. C'mon publishing gods! Bring me some good news!

Feels like summer is coming to an end. My kids go back to school next week, but I'm not ready to let it go. At least I have my pictures to help hold on to the memories~

New Year’s Resolution Update

Remember when I said I was going to do something this year I’ve never done before? But I didn’t know what it was yet? Well, I figured it out. I’m going to go somewhere I’ve never been – one of my favorite things to do! Of course, the family wants to go too. Where are we off to? Hawaii !!

 I can’t think of a better place to escape the northern hemisphere for Spring Break. And I mean Break! I need one. But I’m still a planner. If all goes according to plan, we’ll be getting lots of water/sun play time, dolphin sighting, luau smorgasborging, and I just might get to do yoga on the beach.

 The blog might be a bit quiet while we’re away, but never fear! Come April, I’ll be posting regularly again. In the meantime, go follow me on Instagram. I’ll try to post some Hawaii pics there!

Grandma's Garden

I'm always outside trying to "garden" this time of year. It's April in Idaho again, which could mean sun, wind, rain, or snow. Today was blowing like a biscuit-eating basketball player! and I was planting gladiolus blubs. I bought them on a whim at the store because glads always remind me of my grandmother. 

Years ago, she had a huge flower bed in front of her house filled with roses and glads. Of course, she lived in North Carolina, so all she had to do was throw them in the ground.

I glanced at the package when I got ready to plant and I noticed hardiness is "Zone 8-10". Now, I'm lucky if I'm sitting in Zone 5 here. I'm probably closer to Zone 4, but I just don't care. I want glads so I planted them. Maybe they'll bloom this summer? Maybe a few will even make it through the winter.

They always say to plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.  In Idaho, to plant a garden is to believe in miracles~

October 5~ Goodbye Summer

 
 
 
 

My son and I took a little trip to a local pumpkin patch today. It was a crisp fall day. As much as I hate to admit it, it's time to say goodbye to summer. I'll miss my morning glories. They're pretty much gone now, but I have my pictures.




At the pumpkin patch, we loaded up on pumpkins and squash, big and little. And I found some yummy jam there made with strawberries and honey.  I'm a sucker for anything that says "honey" on it.




Of course, Ryan had to slide down the straw slide face first and shoot the corn cannon multiple times. The cannon was pretty impressive, a real launcher.



I couldn't convince Ryan it was actually chilly out and he shouldn't wear shorts.  To compensate, or maybe just to make me feel better, he wore three shirts and a vest. Moms are stupid, duh.  I guess he's not ready to say goodbye to summer either.





I hope you are enjoying fall~

Looking back

I realize I said I would blog about my trip to Oregon, but there was so much going on that week, it proved rather impossible.  Now that I've been home a bit, I've had time to reflect on the trip. This might be a bit on the long side, so bear with me. There is a lot to tell.  We got there just in time to see this sunset, best one of the whole week as it turned out.

 

 

 

I ate lots of delicious seafood. If I recall, I had salmon, halibut, shrimp, crab, and clams. Some people pretended to eat seafood, like Ryan with this string of gooseneck barnacles.

And some people, like Hannah, don't like seafood at all, which is too bad.  (Check out Hannah's face when I suggested we could eat this dead crab we found on the beach.)



We made some fun side trips to various places along the coast.  One day, we went to Cape Mears to see the shortest lighthouse I've ever seen and the Octopus Tree, a crazy big Sitka spruce.

 

My favorite trip was the day trip to Cannon Beach, to see all the beautiful flowers and shop at their epic candy store, and visit Ecola State Park, to see the stars! Starfish, that is. Hundreds of them.

 

                                                                          

And of course, I attended the Oregon Coast Children's Book Writer's Conference in Oceanside, Oregon.  I learned a few things that week, some of it in the class from the actual instruction, but also outside the actual class. I've been to a lot of writer's conferences, so I've heard a lot of the course material before. That doesn't mean it isn't useful. It's just that I already knew it, so I started thinking~ what else am I getting out of this?

 

One thing I learned is not everybody can help you. Maybe that doesn't make much sense, so let me explain. There were several editors and agents at the class, but they didn't really work on the kind of material I'm writing right now. They could offer friendly advice, but they weren't my "in" to the publishing industry. On my way to the conference, I received an email from an agent I had recently queried. No, he didn't want to represent me either. It was the second agent rejection I had received on the manuscript. I had a third agent query out, but have never heard back, so I assume that's a 'no' too. An agent at the conference also rejected my offer to query, so that made four. I didn't really feel sad about it though; I'm getting used to it. The way I look at it, none of them could help me. Then, something exciting happened...

On Friday, late in the day after class was over, a publisher emailed and said they wanted to make an offer on the manuscript.  Finally, someone in a position to help me! So maybe it's just a matter of finding the right person?

 

The other thing I learned is this~ in the end, only kindness matters. Of course, you and I already know it, but it's always good to be reminded of this. I came to a class of strangers on Monday morning and left with many new friends on Friday. The kindness of the instructors in their thoughtful critiques was outstanding, a far cry from what I remember in English class. (*Note to self, blog about that!) The kindness of our hosts, David and his lovely family, was a refreshing escape from the rush-rush, 'I don't have time for you' real world. David, in particular, left me with the feeling that I could contact him any time and he would do his utmost to help me if he could. That's pretty impressive for someone who's about to leave for Morocco. :)  And that's a rare thing for anyone these days.

 

So maybe the take away is this~ we leave our footprints everywhere we go, including on the hearts of others~ always remember to tread lightly.

Blog #17 On the Edge of Land and Sea

If this blog reaches you on July 17, it means I’ve found a wifi coffee shop here in Oregon and somehow managed to upload a few words. The house we’re staying in is a lovely little cottage, but it has no cell service or wifi. Not even the kind you can steal from your neighbor, not that I ever would. ;) My phone has effectively become an expensive, electric brick.

Oceanside is really just a collection of houses perched on a steep hill beside the ocean. The night we arrived, Ryan and I went down to check out the beach. I can’t remember the last time I’ve been so cold on a beach. The wind chill was bone withering. Coming from ninety degree temps to this was a shock. I found myself wishing I had brought more coats, jackets, sweaters, and hoodies! Where I grew up, going to the beach meant shorts and sunburns, so it’s always an adjustment coming to Oregon.

Still, we’ve had fun. It is good to unplug a bit, but I’m not sure I’d say I’ve loved it. I’ve missed refreshing my blog forty times a day and responding to your comments. I’ve missed Twitter because I’m addicted to it. I admit it.  I scheduled several blogs to post in advance of the trip here because I thought I’d be busy, not because I knew I wouldn’t have access! Good thing too, or I’d be way behind on my #31day blog challenge. J

More to come about the writing conference…stay tuned, same Bat channel!

Blog #12 A To Do List a Mile Long~

Ok, so this post is me whining a bit about all the things I’ve gotten myself into this month. You can click past it or you can bear with me and maybe give me a bit of encouragement if you like.

First off, I don’t know why I decided to do the 31 Day Blog Challenge #31dbc this month, I’m so crazy-busy, but I’m glad I did.  It’s been great and I’ve blogged tons more than normal already. I’ve met some cool bloggers, learned some interesting things, and broadened my perspectives by reading the blogs of people I might never have met before. For selfish reasons, I wanted to gain more blog/website traffic and promote my upcoming book. I know of at least one person who discovered my self-published work through the blog, so makes it worth the effort. J

Next, I need to prepare for this writing workshop I’m attending next week. I sorta know what I need to bring, but I sorta don’t.  I figure I’ll take hard copies of two of my works in progress. I have a “consult” set up with an agent there some time during the week, but it’s not like the agent has reviewed my work beforehand. I’m supposed to use the time to pick her brain about any subject I like, but I need to figure out what that is!!  Do I ask for a query critique? A ten page manuscript review?  Maybe help with a synopsis…that could be useful.

This consult is unlike any I’ve ever done; all the others have been a ten page critique. I suppose I could just ask questions about the industry and ask for advice, but isn’t that what the conference is about??  I think part of my problem is I’m torn over whether I even want an agent as this point. For so long, I was operating under the assumption I had to have an agent.  With the ease of self-publishing and small presses that don’t require agented submissions, maybe I don’t?  I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want a cheerleader to go out and find me a lucrative contract. That would be wonderful! I would be thrilled!  But I also know if I don’t have an agent, it’s not the end of the world and it’s not the end of my writing journey. I’m still going to write and put it out there.

But honestly, I haven’t given any of this serious thought because I’m so wrapped up in travel logistics – who’s gonna feed the animals? Have I done everything at work that needs done before I’m gone? What do I need to pack? Laundry!  I feel like I’m running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Ack!  Wish me luck~

Blog #10 A wee bit about my Website~

I thought I’d take a moment to tell you about the look of my new website and blog, lovingly built for me by the talented xuni.com team. Take you on the guided tour, so to speak.  I knew I didn’t have the skill to make a professional web site myself.  Maddee gave me the guidelines, but I chose the pictures and the colors. Quite by accident I think, I ended up with a banner that represents all the things I love. Well, most of them anyway.

The roses represent my love for all things growing, especially flowers. I’m so crazy about flowers I have an entire pinterest page devoted to nothing but flowers. Roses are especially lovely. And what’s more poetic than a lovely thing with thorns?

The ocean scene is also perfect for me since it’s probably my favorite place to be, on a beach somewhere. I almost became a marine biologist when I was younger. Oceans and water in general can usually be found somewhere in my stories. I even have a work in progress about pirates.  And of course, a pinterest page. J

The compass represents travel and exploration, and metaphorically, finding your way.  Exploration, both inside and out, is often featured in my stories as well.  None of these things was really planned! They’re just themes that appeal to me, I guess.  I’ll be blogging about themes and outlining in some future posts, but for now, check out my lovely Vintage pinterest page.

The arches of the old abbey represent the mysterious, intriguing places I love to take myself and my readers in my stories.  It was very difficult to choose just one image to represent “places” but I think this one captures it well.  I love travel and seeing new places, even if it’s just pictures of them.

Blog #8 "Off to Camp” or “The Importance of Travel”

Well, my Hannah bee is off to Sawtooth camp this week.  Her brother Ryan is excited he gets the TV all to himself!

at the Sawtooth Fish Hatchery~

 

When Hannah gets back we’ll be off on our trip to Oregon. After that, she gets a week at home and then she’s on the road to Grandma’s for a week or two. She’s a busy girl.  School starts August 19, so she doesn’t have much time left to fit it all in, but it’s good for her. Travel is good for all of us actually.

Redfish Lake~

I know, you’re saying, “it’s expensive” or “I don’t have the time”, but it doesn’t have to be very far or very long to have a benefit.  Seeing new things and having new, out of the ordinary experiences energizes us.  When we’re little, everything is new and exciting to us. As we get older, we tend to fall into a rut, mostly because of our daily obligations. If we let ourselves stay in that space too long, we get tired and sometimes cynical.  We have to break out of routine every so often to keep ourselves sane.

Sawtooth Valley, Idaho~

My mom came to visit recently and we took several day trips. None of them were more than two hours away, but it was nice to get out of the house and see some new scenery for a change. I want to challenge you this summer to go somewhere you’ve never been.  Then come back and tell me how much you loved it because I know you will ;)

Writing Update: Oregon here I come!

 

I’m getting excited for the Oregon Coast Writer’s workshop coming up in July. The emails have been flying back and forth about the class in preparation, only making it worse.  I have to send in a writing sample for the instructors, so I’ve been debating on that. I think I will send in Vessel, since it’s newest and it’s something I want to work on perfecting.  I’ve queried it to a couple agents and publishers, but no bites so far. Given my generally positive experience with self publishing so far, I don’t think I would hesitate to publish it myself if it comes to that.

Every trip we’ve taken to Oregon has taken us to a new beach. This time it’s a place called Oceanside, perched on a cliff, not far from Tillamook – cheese capitol of the west. Things I’m looking forward to – tide pools, seafood, and writing/photography.  Things I’m not looking forward to – fog, rain, and any form of cold weather.  Our spring has been too cold and I’m ready for summer now. Got that Oregon?? I want sunshine!

 

My latest project is the third book in the Storyteller series, working title “The Last Page”.  All the chapters are outlined (I’m a huge outline fan) and I’m just finishing Chapter One this week.  My goal is at least chapter a week. If I can do that, I’ll have a book in six months. That would be lightening speed for me. Maybe with the kids out of school and dance lessons for the summer, I can do it. I’m having fun with it anyway. I guess that’s what’s important.

I’m hoping to reveal the cover of Hush Puppy in the next week or so. I’ve been lucky enough to have a publisher that allowed me input into the cover design and I think it’s going to be really beautiful. Can’t wait to show you!

Peace~