Category: routines

Thursday Tea Party

Hello lovelies! Today is a coffee with lots of cinnamon creamer kinda day.

April has been exhausting. I tried to do the daily post thing, I really did. However things in the world at large have made life a bit harder on me then I expected it to. I am often a shut in. I only really go out to the grocery store. So initially I didn’t expect the stay at home order to really change things for me.

Then social distancing started making it to where stores were closing and the ones staying open were limiting hours. I usually go at night to avoid crowds. I don’t do well around mass amounts of people. People have noise and odors. They like to touch other people…all things that can cause me issues. So I have had to adjust. And it is exhausting.

I am not one that wants things to go back to where they were…not while the threat of pandemic lingers. I also however am not one who is comfortable with all of the liberties that the government is taking during this fear. I am just someone who is dealing with the changes, and the anxiety it is causing and saying that this is how it is affecting me.

Upcoming , on a better note, Fae Corps anthology Through the Sunshine should be available for preorder in two weeks. If you look over on the blog I have been posting the blurb promos that the authors have been making. We still have a couple of authors who have not done an image yet. We will post them as they are made. Coffee House Writer’s anthology is in the editing stage. I will let you know when I know more on it.

Did y’all catch Serena’s Interview on Chat and Spin Radio? It was last Saturday’s Episode part 3 (3B). I feel like it went really well. You can’t hear how nervous I was. Or at least I didn’t. lol. Anyway, the station is a decent internet radio station out of the UK. They do a lot of author interviews, and are quite fun. Go check them out.

I got the good news that Creatives Rising may be back up soon. The editors paused their magazine due to major life changes (Like a move) and posted that they are just about to start up again. I look forward to being a part of that again in the future.

With all that is going on in the world, I feel like I maybe should hold off on publishing new poetry volumes. I have been writing, but slowly. I normally do around three volumes a year…but I am thinking that I may only get one this year. We will have to see. I am also super busy with Fae corps this year as well. It makes a difference in the time I have to write. Also I have added Coffee House Writers. With all of the additional responsibilities, I think that promising more than I will publish when I have enough poems to fill a volume.

I am hoping to release Serena’s Kingdoms of Sin this year. I will release another Dylan story (Dylan and Zombie Hotel) this year. I am waiting for the Illustrator to be available. I do not know if Dylan will have any other books. He might. I like the character. \

I do not know how the world situation will affect my blogging, as my mental state affects how structured I can be, however I am going to try to keep my normal routine here.

Seasonal crud

This week, and the Last two days of last week, may be a little bit of nothing posted. I have the allergies that always hit me at the end of March. My head is so full of cotton and crud that I can’t think. I even begged off of my post for Coffee house writers. So next week when it should be posted It will not be going up. I will be back to writing and posting, hopefully by the end of the week. Until then I thank you for your patience.

Also a bonus to make up for it… April will be extra posts for National Poetry Month.

Thursday Tea Party

Hello lovelies! I am enjoying a rare morning treat. Hot apple Cider topped with a wee bit of Irish butter and honey. What do you enjoy as a morning treat?

Quite a bit has been happening over here…I indulged and spent the money to get me a decent laptop, It’s an Acer Aspire 3. I am still trying to get the settings the way I want. I have been without a proper computer for many years. I will want to upgrade the memory, as it is too slow for a couple of the games I want. I will also have to get a few accessories to make it do everything I want to do…but it has already been a boon to my writing.

Understand…I get into a slump every year, usually between thanksgiving and my birthday. This year was especially bad, I went from writing a daily poem and some other word count in whatever other story I was working on to managing nothing more than my blog for the whole of February. To be honest that became problematic with a biweekly poetry post going out. I was starting to feel concerned about the lack of inspiration/motivation.

Don’t get me wrong…it isn’t exactly writer’s block…I have more ideas than I will ever be able to write…it is more of exhaustion. I usually am sick during the winter months, and when I am not I am cold and irritable. So I end up not wanting to do anything.

Well, yesterday while I was setting the new laptop up…I ended up writing. It was only a poem and about 750 words in Serena’s Kingdoms of Sin. Yes…my slump time was nearly over anyway…but it is nice to be writing again. There are so many new things in the works. Plans for future anthologies, plans for future books… but if I am not writing those plans go limp. No one likes their plans to go limp…..

So, I name my computers. It has been a habit for me..This laptop is Athena. I am hoping that she will be my companion in gaming and creativity. Do you name your computer? If so what name does yours have? I look forward to the adventures in writing, gaming, and creativity I will be exploring.

Now, If you will excuse me, Today is my boyfriend’s birthday. He and I have been together 24 years in may….he has been my muse and my nemesis depending upon the day…but he is always my rock. So today is his. (I snuck this post in while he was killing zombies in 7 days to die. ) Hope it is a good day for you as well.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

I think that the teenager I was fell in love with the idea of a teen girl poet. Her words spoke to me deeply. Btw… My apology for missing Sunday. I slept all day.

Maya Angelou

Picture found on Google from (https://chapelboro.com/town-square/right-as-rain-that-time-i-flirted-with-maya-angelou)

So I have been thinking about this week and how much Tuesday has thrown off my schedule. My daughter was definitely more important and I have spent as much time as I could with her for her sweet 16th. So I also kinda missed my Monday poetry by telling y’all about my family.

A conversation with a friend of mine, another author, got my mind going. There are a few women poets who have been a big influence in my life. They helped me to survive and become me. So I am going to, until I cover each of them, share information about these poets daily. Yes it is going to include the weekend. I am also going to do next week’s normal posts if I have not finished by then.

I am starting with a legend. Maya Angelou.

Picture from snopes.com

I feel like her voice when she finally found it was what every survivor needed. A good deal of her poetry is about being a better person, about growing into something more. She was a woman of her age, and a activist who was an example for her community. For women, for women of color, for survivors, for people who are struggling. She was all of this, and more. She used this to leave words to inspire that will continue to help those who read them.

Her writing has a very lyrical quality. You can feel the rhythm as it is read. For me, there are several of her poems that resonate. I chose the three that I love most to share here. Her autobiography is a very interesting read. She was someone worth reading.

Last Friday

So I have a set up for this blog… Mostly. Monday is poetry.. Either mine or discussion of others. Tuesday is Tuesday tunes. Wednesday is either webcomics Wednesday or wordless Wednesday… Or very rarely Wednesday whimsy. Thursday is either tea party or reviews. The first Friday will be monthly prompts. I am considering a monthly submissions call on the second week. (Where I scour through finding calls for submissions for you all) I have two Fridays (most months) that I am still not sure about. I am considering doing a service spotlight where I point attention to a person providing a service for writer’s (editors, illustrators, cover designers, etc). 2020 my word for the year is change. I am going to embrace change. That means I am looking to improve how I interact with the world around me, how I approach my writing.

That is incredbly scary. Courage is not the lack of fear, instead it is being afraid and doing it anyway. I am terrified of change. It brings more Chaos… But I am facing it anyway.

So, I challenge you. What is your word for 2020? What are you going to embrace, and change in your life? No, I am not speaking of new year’s resolutions… This is something that is meant to make you think about you and how you approach life.

Thursday Tea Party

Welcome! Pull up a seat, and pour the tea! Today I am having my lovely lavender.

Have you ever felt staggered and humbled by the response to a single statement? That was me a couple of days ago. I posted on my Facebook about how much I enjoy sharing the wonderful things that my artist and author friends are doing. Everyone was so generous in their response. It makes me feel so happy to know such amazing people.

Did you notice the guest blog post a couple of days ago? Well the Blogger who wrote it has two wonderful blogs. Her poetry blog and a really nice homestead blog. I highly recommend that you check both out! She is also a fellow coffee house writer. I am so thankful that she was willing to come visit.

October passed too quickly. I swear I blinked… Tomorrow will see Serena starting Nanowrimo, and me starting the P.A.D. challenge. I have been slacking off due to illness, so I am still a couple of poems needed for Beauty’s Tears. I have no doubt that I will be done in a day or two, but I was wanting to start a clear volume in November. Sigh. It is what it is.

Fae corps blog will be posting a daily prompt for November. I am doing Layout for Faery Footprints. It is planned for publication in December. The deadline for Through the Sunshine submissions is January 31…we hope to see some wonderful light fae stories!

Have you had a chance to get a copy of Inspiration Without a Home? I would love to hear any opinions.

2020 is going to be an interesting year for me. My art studio will be useable. I am planning to be out more. Fae Corps will be releasing a light fae anthology. There is a book that we are publishing for Deedra Nichole. And who knows what else that will be generating for us there. I should be releasing audiobook versions of my books starting in December. The first planned is The Princess Lost.

…I know there is still two months! Why am I talking about 2020? I am seeing November as being so busy that I may not be able to do a lot of planning. December will be recovery and edits. Layout and publishing. So I think that I am going to be busy.

So, tell me… What in the new year would you like to see this blog cover? Do you like the way that I have been handling it? What can I improve? What irritates you that I do?

Coffee House Writers

I am now doing a bi-weekly post on the Coffee House Writers website. I plan on sharing the post here when it goes live.

Today my post is a poem called Ego Trip. Enjoy.

Monday musings

I know that I usually post poetry on Monday, but the last week has been a rough one for me and creating. Between a death in the family, that hit rather hard, and general aches and pains… This week has been a lot of “couch time”…basically me and my television have seen more of each other than I ever do.

There is always a little slow down after I publish a new volume. When I wonder if I am foolish and vain for publishing. When I acknowledge that I don’t do well with pushing the books that I already have out. When I wonder who I would be if I didn’t write. When the idea scares me, so I try to force it… And end up scraping a few really bad foced starts. This is the first month after I publish a new volume.

Then, I start actually calming down… Realize that I don’t have to sell it. I have written it. I have put it out into the world so that it can be seen. I have done my part. It is my job to write, not to force anyone to read it. Those who are meant to be be my readers will find it, as long as I keep sharing. Which I have been doing a bit more of. I have been putting my poetry on graphics and putting more on my blog, and Instagram. I have a public album on Facebook and a board on Pinterest. In the meantime what that time of panic and reflection often means is that I have nothing worth sharing today, except for the view of my weirdo neurotic mind. Some like that view though, so I decided to share.

Next week

So next week will be a very active one. Under the Mists is releasing!

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We are pushing pre-orders right now for this drawing. So comment a screenshot if you want to enter of the purchase.

That means that next week I may not post all of my usual daily subjects. I am going to try to post both the under the mists posts and my regular… But I will not promise as I have several places to post for this week. We will be posting the original content to the fae Corps blog and I will reblog it here. So I think that I will be able to get at least a few days of the usual posts. If you don’t already follow me on other social media, this week may be a good time to start. I am pattimouse on all of the platforms.