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I love June in Georgia. The wild blackberries are beginning to ripen. We went out to pick our first batch yesterday. Before the picking began in earnest, I wandered around our wild backyard--which needs mowing--and admired the lush bounty. Blackberries on the vine! I discovered that one of the trees we have is a cherry tree. This is the first year that we've lived in this house that it's borne fruit! (And we've been here for over four years.) The fruit is far from ripe, and I'm not sure if it's the edible type, but I love how pretty it is, and how, well, fruitful our backyard is, all without us having to do a thing to cultivate it. I suspect the nasty outbreak of tent caterpillars we had a couple years ago stunted this tree from producing, and it's only now recovered. There's also a very pretty ornamental flowering shrubbery that the previous owner planted. I wish I knew what it was. It's looking a little forlorn after the rains, but last week it had the loveliest white and blue flowers. Anyone have any idea? Hobkin is less pleased with June, as he's still shedding, and it looks to be an itchy process. And when I try to help him out by brushing him, he scampers away quite defensively. Writing Stuff Had an absolutely wonderful mail day! First and foremost, I sold my story "The Princess and the Golden Fish" to Cricket! Woot! They're going to serialize it. When I first subbed it to them, I sent it to Cicada, primarily because of its length (>6K), but they want it for Cricket. I'm pleased as punch about that because it will get full-color illustrations in Cricket, and I've never had anything serialized before. Another writerly milestone! The acceptance letter was positively glowing. The editor-in-chief called it "breathtaking" and a "gem of excellent writing." That sentence, ye verily, triggered a great deal of squeeing. But, eep, I don't have anything in the queue to send them next! After I finish my current WIP, I need to pick up the threads of the folktale research I started and see if I can't retrieve my train of thought there. Or, hmm, I speculated that the story I'm currently doing a final rewrite on might appeal to a YA audience. Maybe I should send it to Cicada? Erg, then again it might not. Decisions, decisions. Also received my copy of Apex with the interview of me in it. It's a delightful publication, with a very swank two-page ad taken out by Scrybe Press for one of my chapbooks. Sweet. Yes, June is turning out to be a much better month than May. New Words: 800 The short story progresseth. I got stuck, well, more like bogged down in narrative, so skipped some of the middle and jumped to the end. I don't usually do that with shorts, but it kept me writing, which is the important thing. I'm thinking another 1K should complete it. A short one, definitely. Club 100 For Writers 20 500/day 55
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On June 28th, 2005 12:29 pm (UTC), (Anonymous) commented: ![]() Yay on the sale! I loved that story! I THINK (only think) that your pretty flowering shrub is a variegated hydrangea. From what I can seen in the photo, the leaves and flowers look to be the right shape. Judging by the colour, you must have fairly acidic soil - blue hydrangeas = acid soil. If it is a hydrangea, you can make it go pink by adding lime to the soil. When the weather cools, prune off the branches that have borne flowers, and this will encourage all the other branches to flower. And don't worry if it looks quite sick in the winter. Hydrangeas are remarkably hardy and are one of the few plants that don't mind getting soggy (which is good because we're getting a lot of rain in eastern Australia at the moment). |
Oh, that is fabulous news about Cricket!!! And the editor's comments...Wow! You must be on cloud 9! ~Maggie :D |
On June 28th, 2005 04:03 pm (UTC), (Anonymous) commented: Ah, [sighs with relief]. Got my Hobkin fix. Very nice, lush garden, btw. Must be nice to live where water falls from the sky. I wonder if Clicker Training* works with skunks? Lots of animal trainers use it for critters like ferrets and cats. Works wonders with Nikolaij. Thanks to the click, I can do all sorts of unpleasant things to him. V. helpful since at 1100 pounds, he can protest mightily. (*It's a very humane method. Wouldn't think of using anything hurty on my horse.) Anyway, Hobkin looks handsome, shedding or not. Pat Kirby |
On June 28th, 2005 04:05 pm (UTC), (Anonymous) commented: Oops. Oh and congrats on the sale! Pat K. |