And what I forgot ...

Of course I forgot to give a link to the book.  Sigh.  Here it is; check it out tomorrow. Tiny url is a great free service, btw:

http://tinyurl.com/n2paf6r

Free book! Presidents Day give-away!

Presidents Day Freebie! If you haven't read "The Sword of the Land", it's a free Amazon kindle book for two days, starting on Monday, February 17 through Tuesday, February 18.  So get it while it's hot! (Shameless promotion here.) Of course, if you have Amazon Prime, you can still borrow it for free.  And for my cat-loving friends, yes, it has a big cat in it.  Doesn't everything?

And now, back to work.

I was recently asked why I'm not blogging.  I have a blog, right, so why am I not using it?  I could say that I'm suddenly teaching a course that I didn't really expect to have (true) and that, as usual, I have all sorts of "stuff" going on in my life (true).  More important is the fact that I am in re-writes.

I hate re-writes.  Well, okay, maybe I just dislike them.  Nope.  I think I hate them.  They have to be done, though, so I'm doing them, and that takes a lot of work. And fidgeting.  And grumbling.  Much grumbling.  On the plus side, it's means the book is much closer to being released.  The book is "Burning Bright", the sequel to "Tiger Lily", for those of you who have been asking me.

So that's my excuse for not blogging.  Blame it on the re-writes.  And now, back to work.  Stay tuned.

The beauty of winter trees

One of the best things about winter in a cold climate is the trees.  I know people think I'm crazy for saying that.  After all, it's cold, freezing, and the leaves have fallen. Except for the evergreens, of course, which have their own beauty, all year.  The leaves are no longer green or even the colors of autumn's flames.  They are brown, lying in untidy heaps.  What is there to like?  The trees are bare.

That is the beautiful part.  Without their leaves, the trees show their lines, graceful against the winter skies.  Standing alone at the edges of driveways or weaving their branches together in the woods, the trees are magical.  I never tire of looking at them, striped with sunlight and shadow, or catching the snow in long branches.  One of the best things about winter is the trees.

Coming Attractions

It's November.  In the northern hemisphere autumn is flaming out, with drifts of leaves and in some places, yes, the first snows.  I love autumn, with its chilly nights and beautiful trees.  I appreciate not shoveling snow. The holidays loom on the horizon like some vast planet toward which we hurtle.  

Why am I telling you what you already know?  Because a book of mine should be out in paperback in time for the holidays.  The book is "February's Country", poetry, which is already available in kindle and ebook formats.  I've always wanted to have my poetry in print, real print.  This year I will have two poetry books, "Meow Cat Poems" and "February's Country" out in print!  Holiday attractions!

And yes, I know that "Burning Bright", the sequel to "Tiger Lily", is very much over due.  I am anxious to finish it and it will be finished soon.  It's a just slightly later "coming attraction".

Introducing...."Meow"!

It's not a new book but it is new in trade paperback.  It's "Meow Cat Poems", finally available in print.  I am more than pleased to have this out, with its cover featuring two of my past dearly loved cats.  (And yes, I took the cover picture; I'm kind of proud of that.)

Before anyone gets on my case again, yes, I am working on the sequel to "Tiger Lily", which is a little overdue.  I was supposed to finish it this summer, ahem, but as usual, things got in the way.  One of those things was dealing with getting "Meow" into print (proofread this, change that, check the cover, okay something else).  I really didn't accomplish a whole lot this past summer, although I did read "A Game of Thrones", which should count for something.

Anyway, the "Tiger Lily" sequel should be done soon, I hope, and in the meantime check out "Meow Cat Poems: in print!  Yes, it is still available in e-format, also, but Amazon hasn't linked the two editions yet.

http://tinyurl.com/kmb43yr

Nine Eleven

The anniversary of the attack.  It is still vivid in my mind: where I was that day, how I heard the news, the student who ran out of class, screaming that her daughter was on a flight out of Boston.   I remember it all, but that's not what I want to write about today, on this anniversary.  I am remembering something else, something that happened a little later.

Two months after the attack on the Trade Towers, I was in Manhattan.  My mother was still alive back then, living in her beloved city but considering moving to assisted living.  Some of the family gathered to see her.  

Of course there was much discussion of the attack.  My mother said, "They tried to kill us all but look, we're still here."  Some of us thought the attack would draw the country together.  Others thought it was divisive, that we would all be suspicious of those who didn't look like us, dress like us.  Eventually, most of us grabbed cabs and went down to Ground Zero.

Ground Zero.  It was still burning.  The smell was incredible; my eyes burned for hours afterwards.  Much of it was fenced off but you could still climb some of the rubble for an overview of ruins and smoke.   I walked away from my family and began to climb.

There was an African-American woman already up there. She leaned over and extended a hand.  I grasped her hand and she pulled me up.  We looked at each other.  We said nothing, just nodded.  A few minutes later, an Asian-looking man started to climb up.  The other woman and I grabbed his hands, hers dark, mine pale, his golden, and pulled him up.  Again, there were no words.  We all looked at one another and then looked out over the pile.  The man wiped away a tear.  Then we heard something behind us.  A brown-skinned man was trying to climb.  We helped him up and we all stood there, shoulder to shoulder.

I said there were no words but that isn't really true.  No words were spoken but there were words.  After helping up the last man, the woman's jacket fell open, revealing her sweatshirt.  There were words on her sweatshirt.  The words were: "United We Stand".