Sunday, Rainy Sunday

We so dearly needed the rain here…  not the way California needs rain, but on a pretty drastic level for this time of the year.  The change already is beautiful.  Since last night the grass has greened up; the air feels more natural…

Now…  it’s California’s turn.

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Bo Staff (Wikimedia)

It’s been a rocky couple of days, mostly emotional rocks, for me.  I know I should be “beyond stupid kid crap” by now…  I mean, I’m 45 years old!  What should I care about teenagers howling out of a car?  Thing is…  it hurt, and it knocked me for more of a loop than I thought it would…  as much because I was angry that it did still affect me.

Oh, yeah, context…  Well, Friday, I took my bo staff with me when we went to my son’s school (I teach on Fridays, and since weapons class is Saturday mornings, I like to get at least one practice in during my freetime before classes).  Normally I practice on the lawn, but I elected to use the parking lot as I was wearing sandals (love my Dr. Scholls) and a dress this week and didn’t want to stumble in the uneven grass.

Anyway…  As I was doing my kata, some kids drove by and started laughing out the windows at me, then drove back to tell me how funny-looking I was…

It still sucks to even remember it.  And…  I don’t really know why, not anymore.  I know my teacher was impressed by my staff-work yesterday in class.  I know I am surrounded by supportive family members and classmates.  And….  I doubt they could have done as well.

But it still hurts….

ROW80 Check-in

But enough about me and my problems…  let me tell you about me and my goals!  😀

• Writing — a little slack…  I did my OMW, and a lot of scene-planning for tomorrow’s start of JuNoWriMo
• Time with characters/storyworld — A bit every day…  though some of involved daydreaming and not actual writing
• Pushups/general fitness — three full hour classes of karate and weapons work, plus yard work, some push-up training…  my back kind of hurts now.
• Camera time daily — missed yesterday…  and the Boodle is frustrated with me because I took an extra 20 minutes to get home after karate class on Friday to grab a sunset shot…  But I need to get ready for this month’s First Friday Photo
• French and German daily 10 minutes — daily lessons/practice sessions…  missed yesterday 😦
• MOOCs — nada  😦

I kind of flumped yesterday.  After class I just wasn’t in the mood to deal with the world….  that’s why crap like what happened on Friday really bothers me.  Because I know it’s not just me that gets torn down by such things.  Yesterday, I flumped, and I snacked and…  basically self-comforted, trying to lift my mood, when I shouldn’t have had to.  And…  I probably undid all the good of all that exercise by plowing through a whole bag of Utz Sour Cream & Onion potato chips, undid by a serious magnitude.

Anyway, pressing on…  How about you go visit some other ROWers.  I bet they need your cheering and support too.  We’re all in this together in this Writing Life.

It Suits Me Poorly

It’s a bloghop!

Good morning, and welcome to my fourth Weekend Writing Warriors installment. The rules are simple enough:

• Add your name and genre(s) to the most recent post on the WeWriWa site
• Post a link to the WeWriWa site on your blog/Sunday post
• Keep your excerpt 10 sentences or less (8-10, no more!)
• Visit other WeWriWa authors and experience their work

(Find a complete set on the WeWriWa page as well as links to pages of all the authors involved. Check it out.)

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For today’s #8Sunday post, I offer you eight sentences from my present WIP, Courting the Swan Song. Here, Alanii and his escort have found themselves drawn to a merchant’s tent by the singing of a young woman.

“Welcome all, come. Look at how the harp blends with our lady’s voice, creating a harmony out of even the most unusual ranges.” Then, as if the man had not been thinking of how insulting his words could be taken, he glanced at the young woman.

The lady had, however, at his speech, stopped her performance abruptly and risen. She held out the instrument to the man. “Thank you, but I’m afraid it suits me poorly, sir. Hopefully your perfect customer will find delight with your craftsmanship.” Without waiting for the man to do much more than stammer, she reached out and plucked her parasol from the man’s hand. Then, lifting it over her head again, she stepped from the center of the circle in Alanii’s direction.

Thank you for reading; I hope you enjoyed the snippet. Coming up for WIPpet Wednesday, please enjoy a sample of the Was Long Variation.  For the month of June, I will be switching all my bloghop snippets to this work as I dive full-steam in the ♥Just Write♥ madness that are JuNoWriMo and Ready. Set WRITE! challenges.