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Wupatki National Monument + the usual nonsense
While the rest of the US is going to the beach and planning picnics and lounging outside in hammocks, I am cowering in my house, afraid to open the front door. Why? Because this is what awaits me outside: And if I go out there, this will happen: So I don’t have any current pictures of, well, anything (can’t risk the camera melting along with my face), but I do have a collection of pictures from summers past that I can trot out, so we’ll do that today. But first: Welcome to the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer! Pull up a seat, grab a treat (I recommend…
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Paying the price for my procrastination
Good morning and happy Friday! June is shaping up to be a hectic month, and it’s all my fault. I have a couple of major deadlines this month, which I’ve known about for many months. But did I get the pieces written ahead of schedule? Nope. Did I even start them at a reasonable time? Also nope. So now here I am, doing the authorial equivalent of writing the term paper the night before it’s due. Why, oh why, do I do this to myself? Because of my sloth–and because it’s been too hot to go outside and take pictures of interesting stuff–this post will be shorter and duller than…
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How to keep writing when the writing gets tough
Writing is tough. Yeah, I know, I spend my writing time in a comfy chair in an air-conditioned room, lifting nothing heavier than a can of Diet Pepsi while other people are working construction in triple-digit heat. Trust me, I know how privileged I am. But while writing isn’t particularly physically demanding, it demands quite a bit of mental and emotional toughness as well as a huge dollop of faith–mostly in yourself. In this post, I take a look at the challenges writing presents and offer a few suggestions for pushing through when every cell in your body is screaming at you to quit.
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Uranium Springs postapocalyptic town and pre-enactment site (plus the usual news and memes)
In this week’s update, we’re going to visit Uranium Springs, a postapocalyptic town outside Holbrook, Arizona. Uranium Springs is the site of the annual Detonation festival, a postapocalyptic “pre-enactment” (read: cosplay) event. Long-Suffering Husband attends every year, along with a few hundred other Mad Max maniacs who are much more optimistic about the postapocalyptic aesthetic than I am. Attendees at Detonation, and its larger, better-known cousin, Wasteland Weekend, make the woman on the left look drab. I’m kind of fascinated by the whole postapocalyptic pre-enactment thing, and I love a good postapocalyptic story. I even wrote one: “Collateral Damage,” first-place winner in the Arizona Authors Association 2020 literary contest (learn…
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Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Books and Reading, Flower of the Day, Garden, Weekend Coffee Share, What's On Your Bookshelf
The weekly update: bobcat sighting, books, garden pix, and a small batch of memes
Good morning and happy Saturday! This week’s update will be a little short, because we’ve had a distinct lack of excitement here at Camp WTF. After today, I’ll be on vacation for a week, so I’ve spent this week working, working, working to get stuff done. And that’s after spending all weekend cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, because my son has a houseguest this week. This adulthood thing is a thrill a minute, I tell ya. Before we get to all those thrills: This post is part of the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer; Cee’s Flower of the Day photo challenge, hosted by Cee’s Photo Challenges, and the What’s…
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If it weren’t for COVID, I’d have no news at all
Good morning and happy Friday! It’s been a mostly uneventful week here at Camp WTF. I’ve finally recovered from my trip to New Orleans and am gearing up for my annual spring staycation later this month. The main event this week was a notification that I’ve been exposed to COVID. Did you know iPhones have a built-in feature for detecting COVID exposure? Apparently it’s connected to some public health departments and uses Bluetooth to determine if you’ve been close to someone who has reported a positive COVID test. I had no idea till I got a message on my phone from the Nevada Health Department informing me I’d been exposed.…
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Ebb Tide rose (#FOTD)
For Cee’s Flower of the Day photo challenge, I present to you: Ebb Tide. This floribunda rose is supposed to be purple (see this catalog picture for reference). Mine isn’t, but it’s still gorgeous and currently so covered in blooms, I worry it will collapse under the weight of them. To my subscribers, I hope you’ll forgive the more frequent posts. It’s such a beautiful time in the garden, and I can’t resist sharing a little of that beauty with the world. Happy Tuesday! What’s beautiful in your world?
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Unknown pink rose (#FOTD)
I bought this rose last summer as a rooted cutting from a guy selling them on a street corner here in Tucson. He said he and his wife brought the mother plant from Ohio decades ago. It struggled last year, probably because I planted it in the summer, but now it’s thriving and just bloomed for the first time. Shared as part of Cee’s Flower of the Day photo challenge. What’s blooming in your garden on this lovely Mother’s Day?
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New Orleans and Spring in the Garden
Good morning! Happy Saturday! I’m still trying to clear the fog after a whirlwind 3 days in New Orleans for my first in-person work conference since the before times. It was wonderful! It was exhausting! And, me being me, I ate my weight in beignets, because: And: But before we get to my New Orleans gluttony travel photos, welcome to the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer! Grab a drink, pull up a seat, and let’s visit the Big Easy.
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How to receive feedback on your writing without letting it crush your soul
Letting people read and comment on my work is terrifying. It’s like I’m offering another human a piece of my soul to critique. (Jeez, overdramatic much?) But if we want to become better writers, we have to put our work out there and ask for feedback–and not let that feedback crush us. It’s IWSG Day! But before we get into that: Happy IWSG Day! In case you’re new here, I participate in the monthly IWSG (a/k/a Insecure Writers Support Group) Blog Hop, which happens on the first Wednesday of each month. We offer words of encouragement to our fellow writers and share our doubts, fears, struggles, and triumphs. Some of…
Janet Alcorn
Suspense | Horror | Romance
