A Return to the Rants for a Life Update

So here I am, back at the old blog.  It's been almost a year since I've posted here.  I usually spend my words on the sister blog, Elsetime & Otherwhen.  That's where I stretch my creative writing muscles.  Though lately they've been stiff and unmoving.

Doesn't mean I'm totally idle, though.  I have been busy.

The restaurant eats most of my time.  Seven days a week, ten to twelve hours a day.  For the last year.  We listed it for sale back in August.  I'm ready to move on.  Just waiting for a buyer now.

So, since the Muse has been silent lately, I've found other things to do to entertain myself.

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My newest adventure is DIY-ing.  I've started making my own chemical free stuff.
Stuff like...laundry soap, shampoo, lotions, sugar scrubs, and shower steamies.  My next experiment will be in making my own soap.
When I started, it was just for fun.  It's also less expensive than the store bought products.  As I learn more about the chemicals and additives in the commercial brands, it is beginning to be a lifestyle choice.

(And it's fun as well.)

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Of course, I still have my ongoing love affair with yarn.  And bowling (a love/hate relationship).  And I'm already starting to get spring fever.  Ready to start sorting seeds and get the gardens going.


In the last month I read several books, which was wonderful.  It had been far too long since I just curled up and read.  Most have been books by my writerly friends.

Eric Storch's "Impenetrable Falsehoods"
Cameron D. Garriepy's  "From the Earth to the Moon"
Lance Burson's "The Ballad of Helene Troy"
"Echoes in Darkness" an anthology featuring many of my writing friends.
"Precipice 13" the second collection from the Write on Edge group, where I post my stories when I can find them.
"Embryo 2" by JA Schneider

Next on the list is Stephanie Ayers' "Til Death Do Us Part"

There are so many more I've read or are on my to read list.  Most of them by indie authors I've met on Twitter or Facebook.
Patricia Lynne, Andrew M. Crusoe, Tui Snyder, Molly Campbell, Shelton Keys Dunning, JM Gull, Rayne Hall....I can't name them all.  But, give the indie authors some support.
Someday I hope to be one of them.

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As to my own writing, I have been slowly working on cleaning up a few stories.  Trying to put something publishable together.
A friend has also been trying to construct a real live web site for me.  Hopefully it'll be up and running in a few months.  I will undoubtedly make her crazy with tweaks and whistles and bells and stuff.  Between her job and mine, the building will be slow and careful.  Fair warning, when it is done, I'll be trumpeting all over the social media.

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That's about it, I think.  You may see me lurking in the corners of Twitter, @2old2tap, or hanging around the Facebook sharing cat pictures.  I have even been know to haunt Instagram, Pinterest, Google+, and even Tumbler every now and then.  Don't hesitate to wave if you see me.