KICKING OFF A NEW WEEK!

I love to keep busy - and I do. I think it's a part of my creative brain. I want to live every minute, sometimes forgetting to live in the moment. So much to do, no promise of time.

Last week, I took a 'live in the moment' opportunity to spend a couple of days in Springfield with my sister, Kitty (Dona acutally, but she's always been kitty, kitty, kitty to me) Her moments are going to come more frequently and she requested a sister outing.  We try to meet up in the city a couple of times a year - just the two of us. She lives about an our West and I live two hours East.

After 18 years at Sam's Club home office, she became officially retired - not by her own choosing. Too many job cuts and only a tenth of positions listed on the job force board. I spent our two days reminding her that now she can do all of the things she was always too tired to do - and at her own pace.

I took her to dinner at Hemmingway's Cafe in Bass Pro. They offer all you can eat snow crab legs on Thursday nights. We can eat our weight in crab legs LOL. Then we came back to the hotel and chilled. I spent part of the time building my potential entry list for the 2017 Ozark Creative Writers conference I told you about last week. For the price of conference registration, you can enter as many of the 30+ contests categories. Did I mention they all come with cash prizes? Check the list out HERE. Incidentally, if you're considering going, make your hotel reservation ASAP. The block of rooms fill up quick. Best Western Inn of the Ozarks 

I use the categories to write out of my comfort zone, try new ideas and if I make a little prize money, that's a bonus.😀 Well, I came up with 26 potential entries. Will I enter them all? Probably not. Especially since although the entry deadline is August 25th, I need to have mine turned in before the grandkids get here in June for 8 weeks. So I only have about 8 weeks to write like the wind. I will have time to polish after they leave but I'd rather get them turned in and out of the way.

With that deadline in mind, I also have four articles due for Saddlebag Dispatches magazine.

While my ideal would be to work on fiction right now, I have to focus on work and items that need done before the girls arrive. I've not seen them in almost four years. I don't want to miss a second of the time they are here.

Bob and I  also have things to get done in the yard before the girls arrive, like their chalk sidewalk and the new sandbox. And I'm finally going to have the gazebo I've wanted for three years. We'll have a shady spot outside to curl up with snacks and story time.

Speaking of story time, what are you reading? I just finished a classic by Leanne Banks - His Majesty, MD. Great, quick read.