Good morning!

Another early morning walk. Judging by the puddles, the number of small branches and leaves on the ground, and the flash flood warning, I must have slept through quite a storm last night.

It occurred to me while I walked that my power has stayed on through all the storms this summer (so far, knock on wood). That hasn't happened in years. I guess burying all the power lines in the neighborhood a year ago was a good idea.

I am now convinced that my sniffles, itchy throat, itchy eyes, and inability to stay awake is a reaction to the antibiotics and my ragweed allergy.

#Today I need to run one errand. I should probably weed the flowerbeds once things dry out a bit. And maybe I'll be able to peer through the brain fog and write a few words.

#ScribesAndMakers - 23rd Aug. Remember that time when...

...I met China Mieville and acted like a star-struck teenager. He has a new book coming out this fall. Already ordered.

"The assumption that language obscures our access to the real, rather than constitutes it, haunts [arguments against the humanities]. What they share, in other words, is the desire to capture the discrete kernel of singular meaning in all its ahistoric immediacy without the work of reading.
[...]
[E]very purportedly obvious problem with humanities writing—every bogeyman of bias, difficulty, obscurity, and irrelevance—dissolves into something else, something much more interesting, as soon as we wade into the spaces where the scholarship exists. What actually happens when we read the words on the page, look up the key terms, push against the ideas in a text, scan a bibliography, find the sources, identify a conversation, and put down our own thoughts in language?"

David Hollingshead lets rip! Academic texts are not designed to be accessible shelves of meaning, but afford mental moves that depend on the right resources.

#academicchatter #reading #humanities

https://defector.com/humanists-have-done-nothing-wrong

#WritersCoffeeClub ~ If no one read what you write, would you still choose to write?

Would you still ask a question if no one answered?
…Precisely. Now, back to my thesaurus.

🪷

#WordWeavers 23. What's one writing rule you've happily ignored?

There are rules? I happily follow the rules of standard grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Otherwise, I don't think in terms of rules.

#WritersCoffeeClub 23. If no one read what you wrote, would you still choose to write?

At this point, probably not. At the least, I'd take a long, long break from writing and explore some other forms of creativity. I'd get back to drawing, knitting, crocheting. I may do that anyway, while I still have readers.

Well, I've managed to stay awake most of the day today, only falling asleep in the recliner chair twice. Or maybe three times. I wrote a few hundred words this morning, so that was good.

Two (or three?) years ago I bought a hand-held battery-operated vacuum cleaner so I could vacuum the inside of my car, which needed it because of transporting plants that fell over.

#Today, my friends, I finally vacuumed the car.

The king of all he surveys. #caturday

Remember the tornado warning I posted about two days ago? I just learned that there was a real tornado that touched down just 15 miles from me. It was small and didn't do much damage. No one was hurt.

I hate climate change.

Good morning!

I still feel lousy, but I walked anyway. As I posted in reply to a well-wisher, I'm starting to think this isn't a cold, but instead a combination of the strong antibiotics I'm taking and ragweed allergy. I spent most of yesterday dozing in the recliner chair, and will likely do it again.

I have always felt safe on my walks, but today I was momentarily frightened by a man whom I saw angling towards me through the trees. I kept walking. I was definitely relieved to see a second man, another early-morning walker whom I've talked to many times, walking towards me. We stopped and chatted, and when I started walking again, the other man was gone.

On my way back home, I was frightened again by a Doberman, barking and growling at me while its owner desperately clung to its leash to hold it back.

Home safe now. Have a good one, my friends, and keep on keeping on.
#Today

#WordWeavers 22 Aug: Which character would make the worst roommate?

In the current WIP, I'd say Master Burbage, the alcoholic wine merchant.

#WritersCoffeeClub 22/8: Have you ever used a sensitivity reader?

No. Most of what I write about is not very sensitive today, although it might have been in the 13th century.

#ScribesAndMakers ~ "Fantasy stories are frequently inspired by medieval societies. Why do you think people are fascinated by that time period?"

It's easily romanticized. People think of it as a time with heroes and villains and an easy division between good and evil. Fair ladies and knights in shining armor. It's a time when it seems magic should be real.

The Arthurian stories probably started it all, with the Middle Ages romanticizing the earlier Middle Ages. Then you have people like Walter Scott and books like Ivanhoe. And of course there's Tolkien's influence.

I try to get away from most of that in my books, which are mysteries instead of fantasy. It's why I set the books among commoners in the medieval cities. Are people still fascinated? Yep.

Well, I perked up a little in the afternoon, but now I'm feeling lousy again. I did do the covid test and it was negative as I expected. I'm going to bed now. Goodnight all.
#Today

#FungiFriday

Poking at physician web sites and found one that has a video running a potential visitor through entering the clinic, checking in, being shown to a room, blood pressure/blood oxygen tests, talking with the nurse, etc, etc.

Everyone should do that for everything. Just a simple walkthrough to introduce a place can reduce so much stress, especially for some brands of neurospicy folks.

I just got a spam text asking me to send in $20 for my MAGA toolkit. Nope. Wrong person to ask.
Sheesh.

Good morning!

I'm not feeling well this morning, but I went out to walk anyway. It was only 59F (15C), and I was cold in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. Everything was still wet from the rains.

I've cancelled my dinner plans for this evening. I think I'm getting a cold, but I'll test for covid in a little while just to be certain. Then I'm going to stay home and rest and read and maybe write a little if I can.

Have a good one, my friends, and keep on keeping on.
#Today

#ScribesAndMakers 21. Yesterday's poll.

At last I made a poll that wasn't easy. Yes, my current WIP has an alcoholic wine merchant as a character, so 36% of you got it wrong. Yes, it has a young, pretty scullery maid, so another 36% got it wrong. But no, there is no charming thief, so 29% of you got it right.

#WordWeavers Aug 21 - What's a trope you enjoy writing, even if it's unpopular?

Again with the tropes. As I've said numerous times, I don't think in tropes, I don't try to write or avoid or subvert tropes. I probably wouldn't recognize one if it bit me.