On Halloween Night in 2013, a brave little tuxedo kitten began meowing for food and love and I offered both to her.
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| This is Wiggle Cat. I named her Ocean because the vet nurses felt Wiggles was too silly for her. |
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| This was in 2021 when I ordered a couple of cat posts during the pandemic. Ocean prefers napping in this one, but the tall one at the window is great for morning suntans. |
And today October 31 2023 is our tenth anniversary together, you wiggler.
Well, this year for some reason the Florida Writers Association was not selling a Day-Only attendance for me to attend on Saturday, they were offering the full weekend which cut into my work schedule (and honestly I cannot afford). So I missed the conference presentations and discussion groups.
I did pay to attend the Royal Palm Awards banquet as I was a Finalist this year in the Nonfiction - Published Blog or Article category and I had high hopes for my submission "All Which Wicked Designs" this year.
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| Checking in before the dinner. |
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| It seemed to be a smaller crowd than last year's, but well attended. Only a handful were finalists, the rest were there for the good food and the friendships. |
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| Nice mix of zucchini, mashed potatoes, and a chicken/steak combo. |
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| I have to admit this photo is 7 years old, I may need a new Author headshot. |
And... well...
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| SQUEE |
As I already planned to include the article in the collected essays book I'm currently putting together, I will need to include the update for it.
Yay.
Once again into the deep dive of National Novel Writing Month!
This year, instead of stressing over a fiction novel idea that I quickly look narrative control over, I'm going to focus on a non-fiction work: Going with my background in journalism and my political interests, I've decided on writing about about American socio-political ideologies.
I've even got a title: American Isms.
I've done some preliminary research on the primary Isms - Liberalism and Conservatism, naturally - but also looking to include the less-common Isms - I'm finding there's no moderate/centrist Ism on record so I've got more research to fill that gap, arguing to give Pragmatism some due - to give it more depth.
We shall see how it goes.
In the meantime, if you're in the Lakeland / Polk County FL area needing a NaNo group to join for Write-Ins and inspiration, and if you've got a Facebook account, check here for the Facebook updates! Otherwise, sign up FREE with NaNo at their official site (link above) and join the US>FLorida>Lakeland Region for updates there!
Good luck, fellow writers!
It looks fantastic.
If you need someone for fantasy / science fiction book covers, I highly recommend Folse to you! She's at https://www.stephaniefolse.com/
Also, I need to let people know that National Novel Writing Month is barely two more months away! I hope my fellow Lakeland area writers are gearing up for their novel projects!
So yesterday was the inaugural street fair in Bartow FL for local authors to promote their works and help fundraise for Bartow's Community Service Center.
And, hoooooo boy, when I say "I survived," I am not kidding.
And for the first couple of hours, it wasn't TOO bad, considering how hot and humid the weather can get in central Florida in the middle of May.
By noontime... One big NOPE about being outdoors without air conditioning or even fans/blowers to help cool the tent areas. Even in the tents, covered from the sun, you couldn't get away from the fact the street you were on was turning into an open-air oven. The humidity turned into a brick wall. You couldn't get up to move except for the fact that it was too hot to sit still.
Smarter people than I brought portable or rechargeable cooling fans, only to have their batteries run out. That's how hot it got.
I started plans on designing tent covers with sewn-in solar panels charging up ceiling fans you could mount inside the tent frame. (I've been informed someone may have beaten me to that)
We didn't get the big crowds I've seen for their annual SyFy street conventions in mid-Februarys (and THOSE could get relatively hot and bothersome, but tolerable). Almost no one showed up in costumes, except for one author promoting a fiction work about a zombie war in 19th Century Europe, dressed up in the woolen uniforms of that era. I was amazed that guy didn't collapse from heat stroke.
We did our best to raise money for the community center, but there was little else we could do. Finally, before 3:00PM, the organizers okay'ed an early end to the street fair to let us pack up and flee for air conditioning by 3:30PM.
To Sean and Lori, thank you for hosting, and I am sorry the climate was against us. This would be a fun thing to do for local authors, except we gotta consider better times of the year. Some of the attendees were offering suggestions - my personal one is to build everything in downtown Bartow up to five stories high and install street cover roofs with solar panels to charge up massive F-16 sized blowers mounted at ground level to keep everything air conditioned during these street fairs, but we'll need federal aid for all that - and some of the more practical ones deserve some thought.
With that, sharing a few more photos of people I met at the event and pics from other attendees I'm stealing off Facebook...
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| Big hello back to Bill Hatfield, whos been at many of these statewide authors events over the years! He's still recovering from major health issues, best wishes and healthy hugs to him! |
These photos were from earlier in the day, when the heat and humidity wasn't wilting everybody in sight.
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| That fan was the biggest reason why these authors were smiling on-stage. That bottle of water was there in case any of them burst in flames. |
These were the other local authors invited to the event. Several of them did dress up as part of the scheduled events - there was a Jane Austen-themed tea party - and the author who dressed up as Anne Rice was kind of the default winner of the "Dress As A Famous Author" contest.
We did our best to print out a big check to the Bartow Community Center!
Big shout out to Marie, my neighbor at that Fountain Lakes apartments so long ago, who was there at the event volunteering for the food vendors and providing overall moral support. You can tell the humidity was getting to me at that point.
So that being all said and done... oh man I need another nap ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz oh right, uh, until the next writers event... KEEP ON TYPING, YOU FIENDS. ZzzzzZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Oh, I should have mentioned this sooner.
I will be one of many local authors at the Bartow Writers' Block Party and Street Fair happening this Saturday May 20th from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM.
Lemme get the details here:
All types of activities including, painting with a friend, kids coloring with a Klingon, a Jane Austen panel, guest speakers, music & so much more.
We are inviting people or their pets, to dress up as characters from books. This also includes your favorite author like Herman Melville, HG Wells, Mary Shelly, Edgar Rice Burroughs. The skies are the limit on who you want to be. It could be from a movie that was adapted from a novel or a character from the book itself, including the author.
It's a pet-friendly event, but make sure your alligator is emotionally prepared to attend.
There will be painting activities for kids and teens, I believe.
Food vendors will be in the area, so lunches and refreshments are available (bring moneys for books and food, don't eat the books eat the food).
I may have drink mugs and mousepad giveaways. I need to check supplies.
To the nine people I think follow me, hope you can make it to Bartow this Saturday!
Which is also considered Revenge of the Sixth for tomorrow, because May 5th conflicts with Cinco De Mayo...
Lemme get you some Sith:
Whoa.
Nickelback just called, Megan, they need you for the next tour.
This whole transition thing is a thing on TikTok and YouTube...
But how long have the geeks been making lightsaber video clips???
This was maybe 17 years ago (!):
FINISH HIM! Wait, wrong franchise...
