Grandmas Goulash

Mel Gibson in Braveheart screaming his final word, "Freeeeedom". Now that's a rebel. Grandma?  Surely you've got to be kidding.   When it comes to avoiding conflict, I've got professional status.  Over the years, however, I've frequently heard that term applied to me.  Usually when I'm just doing something the way I want to.   That's what happened yesterday. November is a week away and I've pledged to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days.  Some folks begin on November 1st with just an idea, others have prepared an outline and done some research.  But the goal of the   NaNoWriMo  challenge is to write the 50,000 words in November. I'd come up with some ideas, done a bit of research and produced a sketchy outline, which has already been substantially edited in my head.  Could I actually write a novel in a month?  That nasty troublemaker, Doubt, crept to the front of my mind, rudely shoving novel thoughts out of the way.  That's almost 1

Throw out 90% of the refrigerator's contents? Insane? Not if you saw the contents. On Saturday, Calico will be bringing home lots of edible food. But it won't last long, if we can't refrigerate it. So today we bit the moldy bullet and tackled the job of cleaning our refrigerator. Psychiatrists lay the blame for many of our problems at our parents' feet. The condition of our refrigerator is my mother's fault. Perhaps it was growing up in the Great Depression, but she couldn't bear to throw away edible food. Half a green bean left after dinner? Put it in a plastic container and wait three months. It will be much easier to discard when it's covered in an inch of mold. No wonder she dreaded cleaning the refrigerator. When she finally did, she enjoyed the results and swore she'd never let it deteriorate again. But a few months later, it would once again be filled with containers more fit for antibiotic research than human consumption. I knew that I wou

Yesterday, our dog was exonerated of any wrong doing in the absence of  posts from my blog. Today, we're looking straight ahead.  Really straight.  No looking back at previous posts.  No participation in favorite memes.  No work on Convictions.  National Novel Writing Month  is just a couple weeks away. My daughter, a participant in previous years, is already brainstorming her next novel. I've decided to join her at this event with the hopes of writing a rough draft of a new novel, Essentials. Check out the link and consider joining us in this challenge. The rest of October will be devoted to a rough outline of my new story and a little research. I'll share some of that next week. Am I dumping poor Beth? Leaving her at Redemption House, forever at the mercy of the evil Pastor Bob? Check back tomorrow to find out.

Why haven't I been posting? Didn't the title tell it all? Okay. There's probably more to the story. Or maybe less. But it's not nice to blame our sweet border collie, who has no interest in virtual meals. Let me try again. My health isn't the best to begin with and hot weather makes it worse. 2010 was the hottest summer of my life with temps over 100 for many weeks and a heat index that climbed into the 120's. Cooler inside, of course, but still approaching 90 degrees on many days. It was a rare day when I felt sharp enough to get my thoughts together and write something. I'm a creature of habit. I had posted every day since starting the blog. I know myself. If I miss one day, another will follow. Soon there will be blogless weeks and months. And there were. Blogging is like housekeeping. Do a bit each day and it's not that hard. Skip a few weeks and you're buried in chaos, unsure what to tackle first. Half of October has be

What? You say there's egg on my face? Where have I been? What have I been doing? What's happened to Convictions? Patience my friends. I have answers for all of these questions. Check back tomorrow to learn more.