It was Ken’s birthday today. We don’t really do a lot for birthdays but he got a cake and lots of well wishes. It was also a beautiful day today which means work was less stressful on him.
I also got home last night to a package from Pillhill Press. I’d ordered copies of the book where my short stories are published. They arrived yesterday!! Here is a picture of the cover.
Photo snapped on my cell phone…
Also my second posting on my new blog came out today. The web address for it is here: http://www.naturalhomeandgarden.com/green-gardening/gardening-with-a-black-thumb-landscaping-tips.aspx The pictures in there turned out really good so go check it out. There is a bit of advice and a bit of humor for my black thumb state.
My Fiction Writing class is going to be interesting next week. I’m going to have my short story critiqued. I can’t say anything. I just have to sit there and take notes. This should be interesting. I don’t know if they are going to like the story as when we talk in class these people (yes I’m making a concerted effort to not call them kids) seem very idealistic and high brow.
We were having a discussion on happiness and whether you can successfully write about happiness. The article we had to read was quite scathing and condescending. I disagreed with him. I think in poetry particularly you can write about happiness. The professor said we can only see the happy moments in hind sight. I was appalled at that – how can you not be aware enough to recognize those moments. I raised my hand (sometimes I wish I had someone to restrain me in class and my damn hand going up) and disagreed with her. She told me that perhaps being older makes it easier for me to recognize those moments.
Now I’m not touching about my age. I’ll soon be 48 and am quite proud of that. But in this instance I wanted to say it has nothing to do with age but with an awareness of how rare and fragile happiness is. I mean really can you name a lot of truly completely happy moments in your life? If you are lucky you are nodding and saying hell yes!
I think happiness is the carrot and life is the stick. The problem is life is happiness if you let it be but people don’t recognize that even when you are fighting or struggling or just having a bad hair day – you can still find happy moments in your day. It is the little things – really as much of a cliché as that is – that matter the most. (This from the wise old age of 48!!!)
Anyways – I’m enjoying my classes and feel challenged by them. This is a good thing in the second week of classes. My professors are miles and miles better than the two I had last semester.
Next week I’ll find out if I can reach the audience of college students with my short story. Keep your fingers crossed for me.