My Journey to Become a Writer 06/25/2024 Post #177

Informative Image

I pretty much reenacted the storm scene from Wizard of Oz this morning, spinning around like Dorothy.

The clouds were pressed flat, like the underside of a table; but the bottom kept stirring down, as if it was wanting to form a funnel.

Thankfully, I only lost some lilac limbs and small branches. I saw a couple of trees downed other places, and somebody I know driving one away with a tractor about two hours later.

From afar it looked like a giant bush was driving down the road, since the John Deere was kind of camouflaged behind it.

I got a small branch stuck to the bottom of my car.

Some friends came home to a tree across their driveway – I’m glad they didn’t get hit by it.

The wind turned my outdoor seating cushions into throw pillows and tossed them into the sandy, muddy field.

Lightning cracked and made me cringe – sounding like it struck the next building over.

My cardboard garden bed cover had a reveal party and wound up running away.

The shed door swung wide.

A stern wind made a port-o-potty beside the highway take a bow. Hopefully there was no man overboard inside it.

Someone said they saw all sorts of sparks shooting out of the transformers in town.

I’m grateful things weren’t worse.

What Did I Accomplish Today to Be a Writer?

I did Day 177 of the 100 Words a Day Writing Challenge 2024 through L.A. Writers’ Lab and printed several pieces to distribute to other writers in my writing group. We’re working on a collaboration for publication. The plan is to be done by Labor Day. We shall see…

Several people have sent me feedback on the pages I have written that are due for submission on the 30th. I plan to open their comments tomorrow and work through that piece again. I still need to cut it down by about 500 words, so hopefully their input will help.

Here’s a look at my Instagram post from yesterday. I’m trying to just make the focus sharing what I like to look at instead of stressing about whether my posts are socially acceptable for social media.

A pair of fox among Aspen trees
I can never remember, is this a pair of fox, or a pair of foxes? Help me figure it out… 🙂

My Office Management Strategy to Cut Down on Distractions as a Writer

Piles. So many piles. Paperwork is not something I look forward to. I’m super neat and tidy; but when it comes to paper, I just don’t like to face it. Today I did a forced march through several stacks, making myself only deal with one item at a time and put it away, rather than subdividing into more stacks, thinking I’d deal with it later.

This was a slow process; but I did make progress. Little by little… At least a tornado didn’t come through. And my freezer/fridge got fixed tonight. This was the first time in a long time that I have surrendered my pride to ask for help. There was still an internal struggle of, “I could fix it if I had time, and parts, and confidence, and a multimeter”; but I’m grateful it got done, and I’m grateful not everything needs to be done by me. I also got a clothesline installed, which I’m grateful for – another improvement I didn’t do myself, and a definite upgrade to the drooping rope I’d hung myself – that phraseology doesn’t sound so good – I’d installed myself.

Time to uninstall myself from this computer and go to sleep.

Thanks for reading what I’m writing,

Jody Susan

Looking back at the post below, from 99 days ago, I’m wondering why I could insert an Instagram link back then; but can’t seem to do it now…

Jody

I'm not sure what to say here: I once got second place in a dog-look-alike-contest? I know how to fold a fitted sheet? I'm pretty much a poster child for social backwardness - at least as far as social media is concerned; but I have some stories I think I'm supposed to share and am attempting to do that here, in this space.

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