Eugie · Foster's · Self-Indulgent · Musings

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