The Mystery Starts Here

I thought this might be a good topic because in our household, we’re always enrolled in classes on one topic or another. I’m not talking about classes and seminars related to writing either. Nope, I like to learn all kinds of new stuff. For instance, this fall I’m taking a class in drawing and water colors and a class in acting! Why? Because I love art and know zero about creating it and want to learn how to draw. Acting? Well, I’ve always wanted be in a play. I don’t aspire to be the lead, and I seriously doubt you’ll ever see me in a Broadway production but I think doing a small walk-on in a live performance would be the bomb.

I don’t know about others, but I have been in school learning about one thing or another since I entered kindergarten as a five-years-old. I keep learning because I love to, and I think as a writer it’s imperative to broaden your experiences and taste every area of life. How else can one keep coming up with new, fresh ideas to write about? As Julia Cameron says in her excellent book, “The Artist Way,” we have to fill up the well. In the past I’ve taken classes, just for fun, and wound up writing and publishing pieces. Took a class in video presentations - sold an article about it. Took a class in vegetarian cooking and wrote an article about two vegetarian caterers I met in the class. Volunteered at the Sheriff’s Department (hey, that’s learning!) and got a book out of it. Another great aspect of taking classes is the new people you meet. And who doesn’t want to make new friends?

Today is August 3rd and I have a whole month before I can take out my new notebooks, sharpen my pencils and head for class. I can’t wait!

I have been busy submitting all six of my previously published books to amazon.com for their Kindle book reader and…now they are all there and ready for purchase! I’m not sure how many people use book readers, but they are coming down in price and I see more and more people - especially travelers, using them. I figured, couldn’t hurt - might help. If you’re interested, go to www.amazon for a list of my books.

I’ve been a bit lax in writing here mainly because I have three manuscripts in varying stages of completion and have been working on them. Hey, I’ve got hungry dogs to feed you know! I’m also chef cook and bottle washer, cleaning lady, dog walker and have to give some time to my precious husband, Dennis.

We had a minor trauma a couple weeks ago. Duke the rescue dog had to have a tooth pulled! Poor guy fractured his front tooth somehow, so off to the vet’s we went. Now, we COULD have had a root canal and crown put on, but…we had the vet pull that sucker. Duke didn’t care. He was back to his bouncy, loving self within a day. We were delighted to find he gained 10 pounds in the two months hes’ been with us. He’s still pretty skinny at 87 pounds, so you can imagine what he looked like when we rescued him!

Till next time….