What have I been up to? Report from June 60th & WFMAD news!

I seem to spend most of my time trying to get my feet under me these days. I’m getting to the last of the paperwork generated from my mom’s death and setting up my dad so his life is worry-free. We’ve had a couple of extended family concerns that are working themselves out. I hope and pray that I’ll be back to writing next week!

BH has had his own paperwork and sorrow to work through, but he is back to making progress on the cottage. That’s him dragging the wheelbarrow.

I have even put in a few hours at the cottage. That’s me, below, surrounded by the cedar planks I stained. The planks are for the siding.

And my garden is growing, despite all my neglect. Last night I harvested a few things:

Onions, basil, tomatoes, and snap peas! I sauteed them in olive oil, tossed in some shrimp and alittle hot sauce and sesame seeds and served over rice. Bam! Was made of awesome.

So that’s a long way of saying life is gradually returning to normal. A new normal for us.

And just in time, too. My plan to extend June for an extra month has worked out rather well. (Sorry about that, July. I will lavish attention on you in 2010, I promise.) Tomorrow is June 61st and then…… August 1st.

And you know what that means, right?

August is the 2009 Write Fifteen Minutes A Day Challenge Month!!!

The rules will be the same as last year. I’ll be posting writing prompts and cheerleading in my blog every day in August. You just have to commit to write for a minimum of 15 minutes a day.

Are you up for it??

31 Replies to “What have I been up to? Report from June 60th & WFMAD news!”

  1. Glad things are getting a bit more “normal” for you.

    August sounds like a great month for a challenge. I’ll be there! 🙂

  2. Count me in for WFMAD in August! I kinda started last week, even if I did take the weekend off.

    Glad to hear life is coming back together. During the course of the almost-but-not-quite over Great Sorting, I’ve discovered that doing something physical and relatively mindless, something that accomplishes something (boxes of old clothes sorted or siding stained) does help with the sorrow.

  3. I am glad to hear that things are getting better. You have been through a lot!
    I want to be part of this too. I am starting a new book. Or trying to. The novelator (as my brother calls it) seems to be stuck. That’s the button you push to get the computer to write your novel.

  4. I’m glad you’re home. The veggies look great. Do you make pesto from the basil? I’m also glad your calendar doesn’t skip August. That’s the only month I’m not traveling. I’m going to do a version fo you challenge, but I think it might involve writing for 15 hours a day, uisng prompts from my publisher. 🙂

    By the way, my daughter is teaching at a new high school next year, and she showed me all the course material. You are well represented in the curriculum.

  5. Ooooh. I should try this. Really should. I’m only hesitant b/c of the sheer volume of Stuff To Do I have next month. But it’s only fifteen minutes a day…. *ponders*

  6. I’m not sure which looks better – the stained planks or the bowl of garden grown food. I’m going to go with both being pretty awesome. =)

  7. Ah, fresh veggies! I did the same thing with my veggies, shrimp and pasta. Bam and yum!

    I’m up for the challenge and then some.

    It was great to meet you at ALA!

  8. Where/when has Speak been banned?

    Hi Laurie,
    I had a question for you about Speak. I’m an intern for the National Coalition Against Censorship, and I’m working on updating our Kids’ Right to Read Project. Do you know exact dates and locations for Speak’s challenges? Or a better person to ask? Thank you,
    Maeve McCoy
    maeve@ncac.org

  9. Yes, I’m in! I’m glad you are back, too. I’m looking forward to your writing prompts, if you don’t mind I might use them in my high school writing classes.

    Have a great day,

    Kelly V.
    Northern Indiana

    -I really should get a Live Journal account…

  10. your cottage is coming together nicely 🙂

    oh man, here comes that challenge again…I don’t think I did so well last year. I shall try again!

  11. I’m in for the challenge. I usually write or edit for much longer than that each day, but I can always use more prompts.

    I love how the cottage is coming along, too.

  12. w00t! So excited about WFMAD!! I’d been trying to keep it up since last year, having it fall by the wayside for long periods, restarting, then flopping totally in June but (mostly) keeping up in July. But now I’m DETERMINED. 😀

  13. So happy to hear that your lives are starting to stabilize a bit, and that the lovely cottage in the woods is back on track.

    I’m desperate for a new challenge in my life (something to distract me from the challenge I’m avoiding – the need to start exercising!). 15 minutes a day I think I can handle. Count me in, and I will FIND the time.

    Sending *hugs* from Syracuse to you and BH 🙂

  14. I am up for it, yes. I don’t believe I’m going to commit to anything in particular except fifteen minutes of words, most likely in English. Possibly complete sentences. Undoubtedly sometimes not complete sentences. Because writing has been an utterly absent part of my life for so long that at this point all that counts is the physical act of sitting down and putting one word after another. I’m setting my expectations low, and hoping I can do it. (No, I’m not always this gloomy, it’s just been that kind of afternoon.)

    Thanks for this, I am looking forward to it. And Saturdays are such nice days to start!

  15. You know what, this is exactly what I need to restart writing and get into the habit. Especially since I have some awesome plans I need to write about coming up! I’m up for it!

    –Rachel, who used to work on the Hat-Chat with your daughter and met you in the Blockbuster in The ‘Sham once.

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