Haiku: Depression's Death

I wrote this in response to a photo prompt by Sunflower Ranch. You can find the photo here:

Title: Depression's Death
A haiku by Lois Eighmy

The sun's rays burst forth,
causing my depression to
vanish with their light.

My New Story:

Today, I wrote about 3,000 words in my new story. I changed it from third person to first person, so the main character, Orly Mae Summers, is now telling the tale. :)

I also wrote a couple of shorter pieces.

I haven't created any new digital scrapbook pages or artwork, but here's a photo I took a while back. I also wrote the haiku in the top left hand corner:

New Book Purchase:

I recently received $20 in the mail as a late birthday gift. I was going to buy the latest Artful Blogging magazine from Stampington.com, but I got to thinking that some new books on writing would be more practical, so I bought these:

It came to almost $13 over what I had, but it was worth it! :)

I know what I'll be doing tonight. ;)

In My Absence:

Note: I found this photo on Quilter.com when I performed a Google image search. I do not hold the copyright.

I've been doing a lot of writing during the past week and a half that I've been gone. I ran over my bandwidth limit by about 5MB (*eek!*) and I'm not sure what kind of a bill we'll be hit with. I've never gone over before, so this is a nerve-wracking experience for me.

I finished my Jason Corbet story, outlined two more stories and have written some short pieces.

I began one of the outlined pieces today. I wrote 1,700+ words. Not a bad start. I'll be expanding that scene a little bit, I think.

I usually write about characters who are younger than me. This time, I'm writing about a woman the same age as me. :)

Orly Mae Summers is on vacation and she has spotted a cottage on the cliff above her. It makes an impression on her as she goes to see it. She calls a Realtor, Janet Billingsley, who shows her the tiny cottage. Orly calls her mother for advice, then makes the decision to buy the house. This is that section.

This story takes place in the fictional town of Sparrow Point on the fictional Crystal Bay along the coast of Northern Maine.

Here's a brief excerpt:

“How long has this house been on the market?” [Orly] asked.

“I hate to say it, but it's been on the market for five years,” Janet answered. “I don't know why no one has snatched it up. It seems like a good, sturdy house. It has a beautiful view, lots of land for gardening and such. You can't go wrong with this house.”

“I agree,” Orly said.

“You can put an offer on it, if you'd like.”

“I have to make a phone call first, if you don't mind.”

“Sure,” Janet nodded. “Take your time. I'll be out on the front porch.”

Once Janet Billingsley was gone, Orly called her mother and told her about the cottage.

“I think you should forget it and come back home. Everyone you know and love is here. Why would you want to live so far away?”

“Mom, it's been a dream of mine to live in a cottage on the ocean. You know this...”

“Yes, but your father and I aren't getting any younger,” her mother replied. “And what about Nate? You'd tear him away from his friends?”

“Nate's young and flexible. He can handle it.”

Silence filled the air for several awkward moments before Orly's mother spoke again.

“You called to ask me my opinion and I've given it to you. Do what you want.”

“But, Mom...”

“It's your life, Orly. I won't interfere. Whatever you decide, you will have to live with the consequences. We'll see you when you return.”

They hung up and Orly took one last look around. Her mother had spoken, as she often did, trying to guilt Orly into doing what she wanted. Well, not this time, Orly thought to herself.

“I'm 42 with a mind of my own. It's my life and I've never done anything for myself. This time, I'm going to listen to my heart...”

The door opened and Janet poked her head in.

“Is everything alright?”

“Um, yeah,” Orly answered, blushing. “I was just talking to myself.”

Janet nodded and was about to leave again when Orly called her back.

“I'd like to put an offer on this house. I've never bought a house before. What's involved?”

“That's what I'm here for,” Janet smiled, ushering Orly out of the cottage and out to where the cars sat in the driveway. “Don't worry. I'll walk you through it.”

The other story I've outlined is a novel I wrote a couple of months ago. I'll be rewriting it and I wanted to outline it to get rid of the criminal element I had in there before. The problem is that now it has a Sasquatch element. I want to get rid of that element, as well, so I've got to think of a better scenario to replace it with. Ah...the joys of being a writer! :D

I haven't made any new drawings or digital scrapbook pages. Hopefully, soon! I need to work out a schedule that I can stick to. It's not easy, let me tell you! LOL! Yet, it has to be done, and done it will be...just as soon as I can figure out how.

Well, that's it for now. I'm going to go shower and then we're going out to Books-A-Million to hopefully pick up the latest issue of Stampington.com's Artful Blogging magazine. :)

Have a great day!

Lois

Serious Bandwidth Limits, Disappearances, etc.

I thought about labeling this entry "Serious Bandwidth Limits and Mysterious Disappearances," but decided against that. After all, I'm posting about it, so it's not very mysterious at all, is it? ;-)

I've just about reached my bandwidth quota for this week. I've figured out my average, per day, for the next six days (when, finally, the new billing cycle will start up again) is about 20MB per day...that's for me and two other people! O_O

So, as a result, I'll be mostly doing just e-mail. I won't be reading anyone's posts until this coming Saturday or Sunday, but I'll do my best to catch up!

It's not all bad, as I pointed out in my notice to my LiveJournal friends. This temporary break will give me a chance to concentrate on my reading and writing and, hopefully, some new drawings and digital scrapbook pages! :-D

Have a great week! I'll see you on Saturday.

Lois

My Writing Space

I got an e-mail from Nanowrimo and it reminded me that I hadn't sent in a photo of my writing space. Yesterday was the last date they were accepting photos, but I sent one anyway (I didn't get the e-mail until this morning). I've included it here, just so you can have some idea of where I'm sitting when I write (at least at home):


So, where do you write? ;-)

Lois

Flash Fiction: A Garden's Restoration

I've written a very short story in response to this post on the Sunflower Ranch Blog. It was supposed to be no more than 50 words, but I couldn't make it that short. I ended up with 169 words.

Here it is:

A Garden's Restoration
by Lois Eighmy

From dawn to dusk, he toiled in the little garden beside the cottage. The aches and pains in his limbs, his back and his neck did nothing to diminish the love he put into his work. His beloved wife could no longer tend her garden, tears flowing daily as sorrow overtook her at the sight of the overgrown area.

Finally realizing what the little garden meant to her, he planned a whole day to restore the overgrown sanctuary to what it had been before his wife grew ill. He worked long and hard to make it the most beautiful garden ever to have existed.

At the end of the long day, when he stood back and looked upon the growing things now free of brambles and weeds and restored to their former beauty, he sighed happily. He looked toward the window where he knew his wife would be watching. Tears filled her eyes and a smile curved her quivering lips.

It was then he knew he had done well.

Let me know what you think! :-D