Announcing November Workshop

***ANNOUNCING***November 2, 2009 I'm giving a month-long online workshop for "Cause & Effect Sequences." The cost is $30 for Pennwriters members, $35 for non-members. For information and details, go to--http://tinyurl.com/PennwritersCourse200911

Comment on comments

I received a couple comments to my blog entry on "Where did the time go?" regarding there didn't seem to be a place to reply or add comments to something I wrote. Well, I'm not a computer person. I assumed, and rightly so, that there was a way for folks to reply to something I said. Turns out it's that little word "comments" at the very end of my post. Clicking on it brings up a screen with a reply box. Of course, to post also means filling out that "membership" stuff if not already a member with Google. Whether or not I see those comments depends on time, which tends to flee me regularly--and being regular at checking posts or posting to my blog is, well, hit or miss despite my best intentions. Actually, I'd rather write novels and short stories than blog--and currently I'm drafting a 100,000 sci-fi, so time for it trumps blogging.

August and fair time

How do I know summer is waning? Because it's fair time. I've been competing for ribbons and prize money at my local fair' s home show for 24 years. That's a long time as evidenced by the collection of ribbons hanging on my sewing room wall like a trophy pelt. Some years there are lots of projects that get entered and others, like this year, that I have very few to enter. Sometimes there are rare surprises--like winning a grand championship of a division. My first fair ribbons were as a 4-Her in a sewing club. As an adult, I competed in open divisions with my sewing. Then I branched out into crafts, floral, and finally baking. I'm a cook--baking isn't easy. This year I entered my cranberry-almond scones, bacon-biscuits, and chocolate chip cookies--and all three took first place ribbons! Writing is like baking, you start simple and work up to complex recipes (more complex stories). Publishing is like entering a fair with a "project"--there's competition, the judging is subjective, and you may not end up with a ribbon even if you have tried your very best. But you learn by doing, by baking (or writing) and striving to, as the 4-H motto says, "to make the best better."