Summer in Full Swing!

North Garden, June 2016 photo by P. Tonery

Here we are, nearly end of June.  We've had a bit of rain the other night, but could use more. It's become my nightly prayer: rain, rain, rain.

Since the semester ended, I have been living the mundane.  We've spent days, that turned into weeks, getting the gardens planted.  There are two other gardens (East and South).  I have been  diligent in my weeding, which has been a challenge (as it is every year).  I planted over 150 tomato plants. Tomatoes of all kinds are beginning to show themselves on the plants.  Yellow Jubilees are in the lead! Followed by Sweet 100s, honeybunch,  red grapes and so on. Who doesn't love tomato sandwiches. O, I can't wait.

I have been on track with my writing projects too.  This is what I've accomplished since May12th, 2016:

1.a chapbook of prose poems and  flash fictions called e-Motion.  This has been sent out to publishers.
2. Fourth  full length collection of poems called This Thirst. This has been sent out to publishers.
3.  Finished Novella on June 7.  Several weeks a head of my writing schedule.  Novella's title is Blue Door.
I'm currently editing this now, after a couple of weeks of letting it rest on the back burner.
4.  Last leg of writing projects.  I have two play ideas, which I have been mulling over, and plan to start working on them soon. Very soon.  Maybe today.
5. After finishing the novella, I started to write a poem a day.   At first, it was difficult switching gears.  So I spent some time revising some poems that I had written in the Spring, and this seem to let me find my way back to writing poems.

What have I learned?

1. Set deadlines.  Stick to them. Writing is like tending a garden, in so many ways.  If you say to yourself, I'm going to write for 2 hours in morning, 3-5 pages, and actually do it, you will be over the moon with the accomplishment.

2.  Try to embrace the mundane.  It could be the meditation you need  to be creative.

3. Be present and mindful.


What's next?

1. Weeding.
2. More canning. I have put by 4 batches of strawberry jam.  Every morning's cup of coffee accompanied by toast and jam!
3.Swimming.
4. Working on daily sketches and watercolors.
5. Writing letters.