Practice What You Preach

I just had one of those "ha ah" moments, as I was rushing around my house to get things ready to decorate.  The only light I had on was a small one in the kitchen and my small office light, but I didn't even notice as my focus was centered on the coming holiday.

The "ah ha" moment came when I realized I was doing exactly what I preached in my last article to a conservation magazine.  That is using as little electricity as possible.

My article was centered on a "Greener 2012" and I gave several numbered suggestions for the reader to think about and apply to their lives.

The same principal applies to our writing.  How many times have we told someone writing can be hard work and ideas sometimes fly away like dust in the wind.  The problem is we don't always listen to ourselves.  We become discouraged when the perfect idea or character, etc., doesn't immediately find itself on paper.

The writer has to focus on the project, maybe by freewriting, looking at our research, or just plain starting the project whether we have to through out the first few pages or not.  At least we are writing and somewhere in those pages we are bound to find that nugget that will carry on with the project.

Not As Easy As It Sounds

I write articles - nonfiction articles.  Sometimes historical fiction.  Its fun, I like the research, actually sometimes more than the writing.

And there lies the crux of the matter.  I find myself so immersed and caught up in the research that I lose sight of exactly what I wanted to write about.  Actually, what has happened is I have over researched the project leaving me with mounds of material to sift through.  Most of which doesn't even apply to the topic I started on.

However, there is a good in all of that.  When I sit down with my yellow marker and hi-light the facts, etc., that are pertinent to my present article I find I have plenty of material left over to create another article or another slant to the one I'm doing.  So my time wasn't really wasted.

Some writers would say my time was wasted and break it down into dollars per hour.  But if I can use that research for another article that sells, then my dollar per hour increases.

As the title to this blog says, all of this is not as easy as it sounds.  The research is time consuming,  it can be tiring, and sometimes not all of it can be accomplished on the internet.  Believe it or not you actually have to talk to people.

When I have all my material hi-lighted I spend some more time crafting a query letter to the magazine of choice.  I let the editor know what I want to write about, what slant I am taking, how many words, why it will fit in his/her magazine, and why I'm qualified to write it.  I may leave out the qualified to write part if I've only done research and I'm really not a clown in a rodeo.

After I have sent the query I wait, and wait and wait, and sooner or later I will get a acceptance or rejection.  Lately its been more rejections, but I will keep going and urge all of you to do the same.

M.E. CARMODY: BACK TO NORMAL

M.E. CARMODY: BACK TO NORMAL

BACK TO NORMAL

Well - we are sort of back to normal. The furnaces have been replaced as was the hot water heater. So we have heat and hot water, electricity and telephone. The well is still polluted but we will be fixing that this week. The Restaurant - The Barnyard Barbecue - we own in Owego was very badly damaged, but we hope to be open by next week.

All of this has put a crimp in my writing. I have several articles started, but life got in the way. Now that the basic necessities are back I can work on the queries for those.

On a good note, I did finish and article and get it submitted to Waterman Words - That should be in the November-December Issue.

Meanwhile I am back in the saddle so to speak.

Have a great day - I appreciate any and all comments

Flood Clean Up

Still in the middle of flood clean up here in North East PA. We are luckier than most - only a damaged basement. We had to put in two new furnaces and a hot water heater. I am in the process of listing all the contents that were damaged in the basement and the garage. A daunting task, but the end result is I will receive reimbursement from the flood insurance company, less the deductible. I would urge any who lives in flood prone areas to invest in flood insurance, I can't tell you how valuable a resource it is.

I have managed to write a bit, the following is a short article that was published in the last issue of Waterman Words, our local conservation center.

I, MILKWEED

By: Mary Ellen Carmody

Hi Folks – I’m Asclepias syriaca otherwise known as the Common Milkweed along with couple other aliases, Butterfly Flower, Silkweed, Silky Swallow-wort and Virginia Silkweed. Most of my varieties are toxic to vertebrate herbivores. Just in case you are having a brain fade, a vertebrate herbivore is an animal with a backbone that only eats plants. Sheep, cattle, rabbits, zebras, donkeys and goats are some examples. I am also a perennial herb and I grow from a deep rhizome. Wow, that’s a mouthful isn’t it? But I bet there are a few more things you didn’t know about me.

I can be a pretty plant as I have blooms that range from faded light pink to reddish purple and the scent of my flowers is quite pleasing. My height will range from two to six feet on a central stem. From this central stem my dull green leaves grow.

Also I’m not just another weed. Without me the Monarch Butterfly cannot exist. That my friends, is because the Monarch lays and attaches its egg to the underside of one of my leaves whIn about 3 to 5 days the tiny wormlike larva emerges. The Monarch caterpillar (after it hatches from its egg) eats my leaves which is its sole source of food other than when it molts it eats its old skin. As it eats my leaves is ingests the toxins in my leaves and stems. This makes the larvae and adult butterflies toxic to many predators. The caterpillar completes the transformation to a beautiful butterfly in about two weeks. As you can see the Monarch butterfly cannot survive without me. Now the sad part of this is that across the United States I am being cut down to make way for modern stuff, like parking lots and apartment buildings which is why I encourage you to plant me and let me spread.

My family name is Asclepiadaceae, from Asklepios, the Greek god medicine and healing. And along with being the sole food for the Monarch Butterfly I have been used in many other ways. For example, my tough fibers that can be used for making cords and ropes and weaving coarse cloth. Early Americans used my young shoots, flower buds, immature fruits and roots for a vegetable after they boiled them. Although I understand I tasted quite bland.

Medicinally the Cherokee, Iroquois and Rappahannock used my sap for warts, ringworm and bee stings along with many other ailments.

But that’s only part of my story. Google me and you will see that my family is spread all over the states east of the Rockies.

Trigger Thumb

Hi all - only a couple sentences today. Can't type because I had surgery for trigger thumb. Stitches come out on Friday so I'll write more then.

Just Visiting

I just read a piece by Hope Clark about writing letters and the fact that we may have lost the art of letter writing. Reading that piece reminded me about another lost art - the Art of Visiting.

When was the last time you dropped in on a friend, unexpectedly, just to sit and talk awhile. Not recently, I would suspect - who thinks they have that kind of time. Who does that any more? Do you have any friends who would be home to sit and visit? The answer may surprise you. Someone you know may just be waiting for your visit.

In past times people did just that. They made social calls and received visitors, before answering machines, voice mail, and e-mail turned us into hurry, hurry, rush, rush. In fact there was a time when social calls were not only enjoyable, but an expected part of a woman's day.

I recall when I was very young and spent quite a bit of time with my grandparents we did a lot of visiting. Grandma made an quite an occasion out of spending the day visiting friends and relatives. We would venture out early in the morning with Grandpa driving. The first stop was usually at Aunt Vangie's for coffee and biscuits. The grownups talked while I wiggled in an oversize chair until my aunt released me to go outside and explore. We would have some lunch with my aunt and then be on our way. The afternoon object of our visiting was usually one of Grandma's friends and a frequent recipient of our visits.

Social calls began in England in the 1700's and soon became a key to social favor. Today many of us use our spare time to send a quick e-mail to a friend. In the 1800's Anna the seventh Duchess of Bedford used hers to introduce the tradition of “high tea” which just happened to coincide with the “proper” hours for calling. Relatives could stay as long as they wished, while the rules dictated that fifteen minutes was the length of the visit for others and no one called on a Sunday. A bit to eat and drink and some conversation was all that was needed; human interaction as opposed to the electronic connection of today.

The wireless world of today has taken its toll on personal interaction with others. Consider the fact that we now communicate almost exclusively by telephone, cell phone, BlackBerry, email and coast to coast instant messenging. We have no idea what the other person looks like as we are talking, emailing, etc. If we were to see their faces we might discover that we have just said something that upset or offended them. The impersonal electronic delivery of communication does not afford us the luxury of being up close and personal.

Today 15 minutes of relaxed conversation can seem like a luxury, but this is a luxury we should make time for. I have a friend who constantly bemoans the fact that people simply don't visit anymore. Oh, they'll stop in, "but just for a minute", "I'm running late", or "I have to be at so and so's". Spend some time with a friend, sit down and visit . Maybe there is something in her life she needs to talk about, but no one has been there for her. Research has suggested that talking with friends helps relieve stress. And who couldn't use that.

Spend time with an elderly neighbor. Use that time to chat about them, the news of the day, their hobbies, etc. Maybe during that visit you will notice they are in need of something and you are in a position to get it for them or know someone who can.

Real friends and good neighbors make time for visits.

March Madness

To a large segment of the population March Madness signals basketball, brackets and the final four. To me March is a Mad, Mad, Moody month.

You can smell Spring in the air, but there is still snow on the ground. Today the temperature was supposed to hover around 50, but it didn't come close, and there is still that darned snow. But when the snow melts this month we are blessed with MUD. I don't know about you but at least snow melts on the floor and can be wiped up. Mud makes a monstrous mess.

March makes me anxious to dig in the dirt, plant my flowers and get the vegetables going. But I know it will be two more months here before I an think about that. March makes me Moody.

I can't wait to get outside and take pictures of early Spring. However right now we don't have early Spring, we have late winter and the first day of Spring is only about a week away. Any wonder March makes me Mad.

My cats aren't too happy about it either. They wander out on the porch and lie in the sun, but all to soon, the cold wind blows and in they come. They can't figure March out either.

Well, off to my other writing. Hoping all of you are have a Marvelous March.

Mary Ellen

The Importance of a Calendar

Do we every stop to think how many times each day we consult our calendars, dayplanner, etc., to find out where we are supposed to be, what deadlines we are up again, and a myriad of other things. I know I consult mine, however, today I should have consulted it more closely.

I had scheduled on my calendar a School Classmates Luncheon (we meet once a month a different restaurants). So I hurried through my morning, tidying up the kitchen, loading the washing machine, empying the dryer and stuffing the woodstove.

After which I went upstairs and look through my closet to find something suitable for zero degree weather and that fit (notice the operative word is fit). Finding the perfect pairings I checked the house again (a little bit of OCD), make sure all the cats were in, grabbed my purse and keys and out the door.

After stopping at the post office I headed toward the highway and the 20 minutes to the restaurant. It was a pretty day, cold, but pretty, sun was out and very bright.

I arrived at the restaurant about 10 minutes early (I"m usually early, another OCD thing, I think) went inside and asked the hostess if my party had arrived. She informed me they had not and why don't I wait while she checked the reservations.

As I sat there I didn't notice anyone I knew coming in. and I'm not usually the first one there. After a couple minutes I asked if there were any for next week and she again informed me there were not.

At this point I am replaying in my head the voice mail from one of the group letting me know when and where the lunch was. It occurred to me that maybe she said 18th instead of 1th.

So I thanked the hostess and left. As soon as I got home I checked my calendar - and sure enough, it is scheduled for next week.

So, not only was I early for my lunch by a week, but next time I'll look at the calendar with a closer eye.