What We're Doing

Thank you all for your encouraging comments on my last post. It is so nice when others can share in one's excitement over writing milestones. And speaking of which, my potential illustrator let me know the other day that she is working on the sample illustrations and should get them to me soon. I'm very excited to see them!

Currently Carl and I are practicing vocabulary words as he is preparing for the GRE within the next year. Graduating from an engineering school, his college English classes were not quite sufficient for this. It's quite a lot of fun for me, seeing what words I already know, what ones are familiar but I'm not entirely certain of, what ones I thought I knew but had the definition a little off on (or completely off, as when I mistook meretricious for meritorious. TOTALLY different words, BTW); and what ones are completely new. It's always good for a writer to have her vocabulary expanded - and I get to feel virtuous about helping my husband at the same time!

I've been doing writing lately, too - working mostly on the MG novel (taking a little break from the YA's) and even attempting a bit of poetry. Autumn and spring are my best times for the poetic spirit to move me!

(Carl just got stumped on "halcyon" - there's a great word, and one often used in poetry, in fact. Probably why he's never heard it before.)

(Now he's on forbearance - I said "what your wife always often shows you." I can't figure out why he's laughing.)

Back to the poetry. We went on a long ramble Friday afternoon that really inspired me toward some free verse. Most of it is still in my head, nothing I can share here, but it is fun to stretch my creativity in a direction it doesn't usually go.

And I've been reading - just started Mornings on Horseback. Not usually a big fan of biographies, but love reading anything about T.R., really. I disagree with almost everything he did while in office, but I admire him as a person so much, and his life was so full and rich. So far it's been a great read. It's been nice spending less time on the computer and more time in the printed word. I even find that I'm more inclined to do my writing longhand; once I start leaving the computer closed for a few things, it's easier to do so for others.

(Carl laughed - he just got "dolt," a word he might not know very well were it not for his friendship with my family and me. It's a great insult, right up there with "twit.")

And that is all the word-related happenings in my life lately! Not very much - which is probably why the blog has been so silent, too. We've been a little busy with hiking, apple picking, pumpkin painting, cookie-baking ...

Autumn is, as my Joy would say, my best favorite time of year.