Where does the time go?

Comfy sweats, butter soft socks,

and “Write On” t-shirt donned.

Inspirational music – hit play.

Kids are at school, husband at work,

the perfect time to create.

Tea pot filled, “Write brained

people are creative” mug in hand.

Computer on; quick, check email.

Open a new document, blank page

waits for my words.

Quick, a load of laundry in while

I compose, multitasking to be sure.

Okay, tea hot, comfy in my chair,

Oh, the light bulb needs to be changed.

While I’m at it I might as well check the

others. Grocery list,

            Light bulbs

            Meat

            Veggies…

Dinner planning, lunches plotted.

Plotted like my book, all right,

settled in.

Phone rings, must find the file

and email it, help a friend,

pay some bills.

Back to the task at hand,

write something, anything, even

just one word.

“Honey, I’m home. What’s for

dinner?”

Where did the time go?

Maybe I’ll write something

tomorrow.

Hubris, Egotism, or Whatever You'd like to Call It

Being a writer of lax morals, I do not write as often as I should. I probably don't take myself too seriously. Perhaps I don't feel that I am a true writer. Whatever the reason, shame on me!

Sometimes I don't feel I have anything of value to post, so why just write a few lines and hit enter? Most of the time, I forget about the blog, and do laundry instead (somewhere my values are a little skewed).

So this morning I was thinking I needed to post a blog, keep my name out there, and not disappoint my five followers (I think I'll throw a party when I reach double digits!). I tried to come up with a good subject, has anything happened to me that was note worthy? Not so much. Then I thought about the reasons behind blogging.

Why do we blog? I blog, as a writer, to try to keep my name whirling around the internet, and hope to generate interest in books I publish (Skewed, My Take on the World - available on Amazon). Other bloggers I know, have much more interesting things to say. They blog to share knowledge, and also to create interest in books they have published. But many blogs I have stumbled upon are written by ordinary people, about ordinary things; their ideas about almost everything.

Is this hubris? Do bloggers think that what we have to say is so riveting, so important, that the world needs to read it? Pretty ballsy if you ask me! Why would I take heed of a strangers tale on how to - raise my children, diet, clean my pantry, or stay married? What makes them a reliable source? Most blogs never say why the blogger should be a trusted font of information. Many blogs ramble on and on, never getting to the point, or missing it altogether. Yet these bloggers have followers, not double digit followers (as is my goal), but triple, or quadruple followers.

I can only imagine the size of these bloggers egos. "I write, and people follow." What a scary thought. I write to share my quirky ideas with those that care to follow. I don't want to lead my followers anywhere but toward laughter, or toward the occasional deep thought. I wish to entertain, and perhaps enrich a life by something I have written.

My ego is well in check, any positive ego stroking I receive from my blog is heartily stomped down my rejections from editors. No big head for me, however I will continue to post a blog, however infrequently it may be.

So friends and followers, thank you for your interest, and I my goal is to post more often, and to keep you entertained.

When I'm Gone

When I die, and yes, we can talk about this, you may say whatever you'd like to about me. You can call me  pushy, bossy, cold, and even a hey she wasn't all that bad, and I won't mind.


You can say I've died, gone to heaven, passed away, bit the big one, gone to the other side, and went to volunteer with the Lord. I'm taking my final nap, pushing up daisy's, feeding the worms, that I'm in a far better place. I could be taking a dirt nap, being a coffin filler, resting my eyes for good, and doing research about death for my next short story.

I might be checking out all those virgins I keep hearing about, seeing what all my friends and family that have gone on before me are doing. I could even just be dead.

But whatever you do, please do not say that I'm the late Liz. I'm never late now, and I don't want to start being late when I'm checking out the compost.

Why Did I Keep This?

Too hot outdoors to garden, or clean the shop, or fix stuff, or anything, so I stayed indoors. I had the clean up bug, so I started going through old files. Folders of pages torn out of magazines, scraps of paper with notes pertaining to something important - once.

I read, and wonder, just why I kept that particular piece? Sometimes it is a great craft idea, so I put the page aside, to go into the folder with all those other great craft ideas that I have been hanging onto for, oh, ten or more years. Retro! Odd notes from ideas that no longer make sense have me stumped. What does  "Write cards, do mailings, and ---indecipherable scribbles." mean? The paper has no date, the ink is not faded, but green, and the last time I used green pen was........?

Pages from garden magazines with ideas galore, date back to 2002. Printed pages from emails with useless facts and jokes are dated 1997. Toss those in the recycle pile. Old receipts tossed too, no longer able to use as a tax deduction, drat.

I shake my head as there is really no explanation for some of the stuff I'm finding. I did find a few things I had been looking for (months ago), and can now send a requested article to my mother-in-law (but, will she remember she wanted it?). A note from my hubby, goes in the keep pile, as do post cards from our son, mailed to us when he was in the Army, many, many years ago.

My husband says I keep way too much stuff, and I probably do. Why do I keep grade school papers? Out they go. Old love letters? Well, I think I'll keep those, have to have a little scandal for the kids to find. "Who was he?", but after reading a few, there is no scandal, but I can see the untapped passions of youth, hidden, just waiting for the right moment to blossom. Those letters are a definite keep, maybe even something for me to read in my old age, to revive that youthful exuberance.

Bag two is filled, and I have gone through my filling cabinets. Cleaned out, sorted, and refiled. Now I have room for more.

Nothing to Write About

I can't think of much to write about these days. I figure that it is the heat - 90 degrees plus, just too much for my brain to think and try to stay cool.

At least that is what I'm going to say. Looked through prompt books, read magazine articles, hoping for some inspiration. Nothing. Bring out the ever faithful word tiles, they always work. However, they must be on vacation. Not one bit of inspiration.

So now I'm trying to come up with some inspirational thing for a blog. Think, think, think. . . . .

Last night I was watching a show I don't normally watch, something actually pretty dumb, but it was more for background noise while I relaxed. Prat falls, and big ouch that has to hurt show. There were ads for other shows that I had missed viewing. Oh darn! LOL.

Not really a darn, but Oh! Thank heaven I missed it. "Dating Naked". Wow. . .

I read somewhere that in the early to mid 1980's there were no more than a dozen "Reality" TV shows. Now, there are more than 800. From junk yard make-overs, to hoarding. Tow your car, to fix it up. Cooking shows, well, there is a whole category just for those - dessert, deep frying, celebrity chef, long time family recipe versus chef extraordinaire. Naked dating, to polygamist families. Little people to how I lost 400 pounds. Addiction to rehab, and "Sex Sent Me To The ER".

John and Kate and their 8 - their TV show probably ruined their marriage, although I really think she was an A-One top notch bitch, and didn't blame him for seeing the light, and getting the heck out of Kate. (I must admit I watched all of 3 minutes of that one)

If a TV camera was in my home 24/7, what would happen? Would I change the way I do things? Put makeup on to cook breakfast at 4:00 a.m.? Put on the cocktail dress to vacuum? Whine about the dust on the floor? Probably not. My "Reality" show would probably be canceled before the second airing. While I do not think my life is boring, it certainly would not keep an audience captive. Sponsors would end up being whiskey companies, with a tag line of "Put some life into your life".

Reality life, is nothing like television, and I am sure today's young folks do not realize it. They compare what they watch for mind-numbing hours to their lives, and they don't measure up. So off to the tattoo parlor, get hooked on something, create drama, for the sake of drama. How can reality life compete with reality TV?

It can't, but I will take my reality life over the reality lives on TV any old day.

Well, it looks like I found something to write about. It may be that my art - writing, took a cue from TV. The reality shows are about nothing, so did I write about nothing, or did reality life trump reality TV?

Have A Good One

More often than not, a sales clerk, or someone who has helped me find something in a store will end our relationship with "Have a good one."

Now, I know they mean have a good day. Both words have just three letters, so it's not a matter of trying to shorten the length of time til departure, so what is it?

I could have a good buying experience, a good time at the check out counter, a good drive home. . .

If you think about it too much, which evidently I have, why stop at one? Why limit myself to a good one? I would rather have lots of good days, good meals, good whatevers.

The next time someone says have a good one, I'm going to ask them have a good what? That can then be fodder for my blog.

Oh, by the way, have a good one!

An Afternoon of Pleasure

I spent this afternoon putting a book together. Not my own, but a family book filled with reminiscences and photos. It was well written, and a joy to work on, getting to know the family, even though they are long gone. The photos are from the early 1900's, and are amazing, beautiful people, and farms.

I often edit, as a service of Lizard Leaf Publishing, and sometimes dread it. Poorly written prose, and grammatical errors make it difficult to continue with the project, but slog on I do.

Knowing the person who asked me to help compile this book, the editing portion of the task, I figured, would be easy. And it was.

Thank you to this author, who knows how to write, I spent an afternoon doing a pleasant task. An experience not often encountered in the publishing business.