The Ups and Downs

I originally intended to post a fairly political analysis regarding the inappropriateness of saying one is a fiscal conservative and a social moderate. But, It has gotten quite long and I want to do a complete fact check before I post it. Yes, I check to see if what I’m saying is true. I try not to lie, even to myself.

So, instead this somewhat more personal and considerably more up and down piece.

The Ups

This week was the national convention of the American Association for Nude Recreation (AANR). It was a great gathering of close to 300 nudists at Sun Meadow Resort in Worley, Idaho where I live during the summer. Stellar entertainment was included, and being an author not prone to miss a chance, I became a vendor at the convention.

The little white arrow upper left is where I’m camped, though I think this satellite photo was taken when someone else was in “my” spot. That doesn’t look like my truck and trailer.

And the results were as good as any show I’ve done! I ran out of stock on both Wild Woods and The Gutenberg Rubric with only two copies of City Limits left! From that perspective, sitting for seven hours on the patio talking to the variety of people who came by to chat and perhaps make a donation to the author (for which I let them choose a book), was a very good use of my time.

The Downs

I’ve been plagued with some health problems the past month and a half. I’ve lost nearly 15 pounds, which I could stand to lose, but not quite in this way. No. I’ve lost it as a side-benefit of sleepless nights, wheezing, coughing, in panic attacks because I couldn’t breathe, and suffering shortness of breath when engaged in the simplest tasks. I’ve had little or no appetite, often going a day or two without eating at all. I’ve not drunk wine all week. Even my coffee consumption is down to about half a cup a day. Now that’s serious.

It was critical enough that I even decided to go to a doctor on July 26 and the assessment was that I had asthma. I got drugs that made me feel better in the short term. Inhalers for the long term. And ten days after my appointment, I had such a horrifying panic attack because I couldn’t breathe that I froze in my chair and sat there all night waiting to die.

A visit to the urgent care center the next morning resulted in a basic affirmation. Chest x-rays showed little sign of moisture. I was clear and had 94% oxygen content in my blood. I got more steroids and a round of antibiotics. A nebulizer to get the albuterol deeper into my lungs and went home to my trailer at Sun Meadow.

Where I was roundly reprimanded by my friends for not having called 911, not having called one of them, and not having gone to the emergency room. But the reality was that my head was so muzzy, I didn’t think of any of those things. I didn’t think at all.

I had days of relief once again until I found myself in the midst of another attack Thursday night. This time (I thought), I knew what to do and kept puffing albuterol until the symptoms died down and I was able to sleep. And each time I woke up, I puffed again and got back to restless sleep. In the morning, I went back to Urgent Care.

Their alarm was over the fact that I’d used way too much of the inhaler which was simply marked “Use as needed.” Apparently, you aren’t supposed to need it more than once every four hours and taking eight doses in two hours was excessive. More x-rays and blood test. My blood oxygen level was up to 96%. I was given another nebulizer and told to practice my deep breathing to control the panic.

Friday wasn’t a great day. Saturday night was only marginally better. I have a doctor’s appointment slated in Seattle for Tuesday and decided that instead of driving 350 miles across Washington on Monday, I was just going to fly, and do it right damn now. Wow! Was that an expensive decision. There went almost $900 of my round-the-world travel funds for this fall. But it is good to be here with family and friends who are watching out for me and will get me to the doctor on Tuesday. And I slept all night last night for the first time in a long time.

I don’t know what the long-term prognosis is, but if I don’t have some mastery of this situation soon, I will not be heading around the world this fall. It’s too big a risk to be in Australia or Thailand or India and suddenly not be able to breathe. I’ll have to make other plans for this winter.

The Side Effects

Sleep deprivation, according to police, is more dangerous than intoxication when it comes to driving. That was my own assessment when I decided to fly to Seattle instead of drive. But sleep deprivation, like intoxication, significantly affects one’s rational abilities.

For a writer, that is devastating.

I drive a keyboard. Frequently over the past three weeks, I have jerked awake and found a page or pages of the letter ‘l’ typed across my screen. Sometimes rereading what I’d written just prior to that is as bad as drunk texting. Over the past four days, I’ve written only about 1,400 words on my current story. This is from a man who is used to writing over 4,000 words a day.

Only 10,000 words this week? When the rest of the year has shown 25-40,000 a week? And yes, if you are noting where the blue bars have reached, they show over 900,000 words so far this year.

I’m sincerely hoping that I’ll be able to focus on my story a little this week. I need to for my own sanity, not just for the sake of my readers.

So next week, maybe I’ll be ready to tackle the conundrum of being a fiscal conservative and a social moderate. See you then!

Just a game

Despite having written 900,000 words so far this year, I’m supposed to be retired. Life of leisure. All that. My leisure time the past couple of weeks has been sucked up by illness from which I’m now feeling mostly recovered. After a doctor’s visit, urgent care visit, two rounds of steroids, a course of antibiotics, a nebulizer, two inhalers, and over-the-counter expectorant and cough suppressant, I’ve had four good nights’ sleep in a row for the first time in eight months.

Nonetheless, I make time most days to go play cards with compatriots at the lodge here at Sun Meadow. We play “Hand and Foot”, a game that is best described as “Canasta on steroids.” I play for fun. I don’t have the focus or concentration to play some of the games I used to enjoy, like pinochle. I go up to enjoy conversation, a glass of wine, and an object in front of me to keep us occupied. I don’t really care who wins or loses. If I spot a mistake a player has made that would significantly change his or her play, I point it out and give them a chance to remedy it if they want to. Makes to difference if that person is my partner or opponent.

Usually, that’s appreciated, but not always. Especially not by my partner if I’m helping the opponent. A partner this week (we change partners every game) watched me make a mistake in my play and no one volunteer to correct it as we moved to the next player. “See. No one bothers to help you, even when you’ve helped them.”

And that got me thinking.

Is the price of my being courteous to other players having them be courteous to me? Everyone plays their own game. I’m sure most if not all of the players at the table didn’t even notice my misplay. But should I not extend my courtesy to other players because they don’t or didn’t return it?

A friend talked about driving to Seattle not long ago and how rude the drivers were there. He saw a car signaling to change lanes and slowed up to give him room. Nice. Courteous. But when he attempted to change lanes, no one would let him in. “If that’s the way they’re going to drive, then hell if I’m going to let them in,” he said. He made sure the distance to the next bumper from that point on was too narrow for a car to attempt to pull in front of him.

Why? Why would the courtesy of another driver, or lack thereof, affect me being courteous to others?

I think we get in a routine of letting other people’s behavior define the standard for our own behavior rather than let our standard of behavior be a beacon to others. In that way, the behavior of our society sinks to the lowest common denominator.

No. I will continue to be courteous, kind, loving. Even when those behaviors are not returned to me. It costs me nothing and perhaps will make my little corner of the world a better place to be.

Conscious Breathing

Breathing has been important to me for several years now. Well, all my life, I guess. It’s such a simple thing. Air goes into your lungs. Oxygen is extracted into the bloodstream. Blood circulates through your body to feed cells (like the brain). You exhale the waste product air. And it all happens automatically. It is an involuntary response.

Except when it isn’t.

I’m learning to deal with COPD and occasional panic attacks when I think I can’t get enough air. They are lessening, I think. But this post isn’t about that. It’s about meditation.

Back in the 70s and early 80s I participated in several meditation exercises and ultimately developed my own creative visualization meditation that I am trying to get back to. I called it 21 Breaths and it was/is focused on consciously breathing and letting that act release the mind and enter a healing state. It has gotten me through countless crises in my life. The toughest part is remembering to do it and let it work its magic.

And now, I’ve found that consciously controlling twenty-one consecutive breaths is a real challenge that I have yet to succeed in. I’m hoping that entering this meditative state will help me control my COPD, but also that it will return a contemplative state that I have lately been missing.

If you are interested in following the creative visualization of 21 Breaths, I’ve included it below.

I went to Art on the Green in Coeur d'Alene yesterday. Had to stop and rest half an hour as I walked around, but all told, the exercise did me good. I loved watching the couple in this photo create a sand castle. He had a picture of what it would look like and the finished product is remarkably like it.

It got me thinking, though. When you watch a building being built, you see a foundation laid and walls rise to the height intended. Three stories? Ten? A hundred? You see the building grow from the ground up, almost as though it was organic with deep roots and a living body.

The sand castle started from a big mountain of sand and the artists have slowly scraped away the part that wasn't a castle, starting from the top and working down. The castle doesn't grow, it emerges as the surrounding material is eroded away. It's more like the great stone formations of the Utah desert. Monument Valley. Rainbow Bridge.

I think in my life, I see the effects of both processes. I started small and grew larger. But I also started a rough and unpolished lump from which has eroded the things that aren't essentially me.

I'll meditate on that.

---

21 Breaths

Inhale as you imagine the scene in the step description. When it is firmly in your mind, exhale slowly.
Breath 1: You come to a park where a juggler is entertaining. The juggler has three red balls and you watch them as each rises into the air and falls back to the juggler’s hand.
Breath 2: Beyond the juggler are two green trees. They grow from a joined root and you place a hand on each tree to feel it’s life and how much it gives to the world in terms of oxygen and beauty.
Breath 3: You step between the trees and discover a rustic stair between their roots leading down. You place your right foot on the first step and determine to take the journey.
4-9: You consciously visualize each step in this rustic stair as you place your foot on it and descend into the darkness. Is it rough? Smooth? Creak? Have a scrap of carpet on it? Each step is different. Don’t forget to switch feet! You started on the right foot. You will end on the right (seven total steps/breaths). Right, left, right, left, right, left, right.
10: You step out and off the bottom step onto a wooden deck. You can see here but there is no apparent source of light.
11: Before you is a door carved with mystical creatures of all description. But it has no apparent doorknob or handle. You place your left hand on the horn of the unicorn and your right on the wing of Pegasus and the door swings open.
12: You step through the entry into a pool room. The water in this pool is magical. You could breathe it. You approach the steps into the pool and grasp the handrail preparing to back into the water.
13-19: Like the steps between the trees, you visualize each step down into the water. Starting on your right foot, you go down seven steps until the water completely covers you. The water fills your mind and body.
20: Turning to float on your back, you see a string dangling. When you pull the string, light floods the pool and your mind. It illuminates the subject you are contemplating. Is it a problem in need of a solution? Poor health? A relationship? Whatever the problem or subject of your meditation, it has now been illuminated.
21: Surrounding you in the pool and in the air above it are tools. They may look like your normal toolbox but they all have unique properties. A wrench might be needed that tightens a loose knee joint. A spoon might measure the appropriate amount of sympathy for a friend. A pump might extract the phlegm from your lungs. Whatever your problem or issue, visualize a tool you can use to fix it or understand it. When you release this breath, let the tool do its work and accept the solution.
Relax in the pool as long as you wish. It is your sacred space and will always welcome you. Go there to heal.

Getting my ducks in a row

Watched four ducks swim by on the lake yesterday, side-by-side. I said, “They’ve got their ducks in a row.” I got a strange look from my daughter and continued, “If they were following each other, they’d be in a column.” A little Excel humor. She appreciated it.

Even on a rainy day, being out here near the lake is lovely. Michele was out there on the point somewhere practicing her inner Sarah Woodruff.

I guess I need to catch up on some stuff that has interrupted my flow the past while. Too long, if you ask me. Late last summer, I started having some significant sinus drainage that began blocking my nasal passages so thoroughly that I started sleeping with my mouth open. That dried out my mouth so severely that I would wake up several times in the night gasping for breath and needing water to open my mouth. I figured it would all dissipate once I got to Arizona and out of whatever stuff was in Idaho that was making me wheeze.

No such luck. The condition continued to worsen all through the winter until by mid-April it was rare for me to get a good night’s sleep. Not having learned from the winter, I assumed it would be better once I got to Idaho and away from whatever was causing it.

No such luck. I kept having lousy nights and it extended into days. I’d just forget to breathe and then start gasping for air. I felt like I couldn’t get my lungs filled. Okay. Enough sadness and panic.

I came down to Seattle Thursday and had a doctor’s appointment complete with x-rays Friday morning. Very nice doctor I hadn’t seen before (had to take who was available) got right on it. Some fluid in the lungs but not a pneumonia. Aggravated by sinus drainage, especially when I lie down. Bronchial infection. She put me on five days of Prednisone to be followed by a maintenance dose of Flow-vent as long as needed. Immediate relief from Ambusol. Continue taking Mucinex and dosing with Flo-nase before bed.

I cleaned up okay for the wedding, I guess. Got a lot of compliments on the hat.

I started with the Prednisone and Ambusol immediately and drove to my friends’ wedding several hours away (50 miles, 3.5 hours) feeling better. Still not 100% and had to leave the party early in order to be sure to get the 60 miles home that night. The breathing had also affected my appetite and I was able to eat very little of the fantastic food at the wedding. On the way home, I stopped after 20 miles at a roadside rest area north of Tacoma and slept for half an hour before I felt up to driving the rest of the way.

I went to bed with another sound dose of Ambusol and slept straight through the night for seven hours! Saturday was a much better day. Last night, I got a solid five hours straight without even getting up for the bathroom in the night. It’s too early for me to claim a miracle cure, but I’m feeling much livelier and more energetic today than I have in quite a while.

I might write a book.

Don’t be afraid to buy one if you are so moved!

Speaking of writing, which I usually do, both my pace and my subject matter have been off a bit this month while dealing with the drained energy. I barely got 20,000 words written this week which is the slowest week so far this year. (860,000 words so far this year.) I have managed to keep up with my Camp NaNoWriMo goal of getting a chapter published every day this month, but only barely.

There have been a couple of flat spots in the graph. Still, not too bad overall.

So that brings me to the next issue I’m dealing with. Travel. If you haven’t heard, I’m planning to head off around the world in October. I did that in 2015 and loved it. This trip will be a little over six months and will include places I’ve never been as well as visits to places I want to return to.

If I have a passport. I was ready to start making flight reservations and went to get my passport only to discover that I can’t find it. My travel docs wallet might as well not exist. I opened every door and every box in my trailer last week and discovered that I wasn’t just missing my passport, but all my personal papers, like birth certificate, bankruptcy, marriage/divorce papers, property ownership. Everything was missing.

I was officially undocumented. As a middle age white man, that didn’t particularly put me in danger because—white privilege. Still, I needed some of those papers in order to get a new passport. Proof of identity and proof of citizenship. I made a stop at my storage locker Friday and opened every box in it. Sure enough, I’d put all my personal papers in the box of genealogy materials where it would be easily accessible for family research. At least I’m not undocumented any longer, but I need to contact an expediting service tomorrow and get my passport replaced so I can get a visa for China so I can make my first flight reservation.

In the meantime, the hay in our community is all baled now. Thorp Fruit in Ellensburg continues to be a standard stop on my way across country.

And writing the next volume (5) of my massive series, “The Transmogrification of Jacob Hopkins” is progressing into the last volume, Double Team.

I’m continuing to work slowly on the sequel to Municipal Blondes and still expect to have Stocks & Blondes ready in about a month. In other words, life goes on. Keep up!

What people are saying

About Wild Woods

“This is easily the strangest/oddest/most unusual tale I have read in the last 50 years—unique to say the least. Thanks for your time and talent.”

“I wish it were possible to assign a point above a 10 to the occasional story that merits very special consideration and award. This would be one that deserves an 11.”

“An intriguing story with great characters—both heroes and villains—as well as great storytelling and moral teachings without being preachy. Well deserving of the aforementioned 11. Even better than City Limits!”

“Wonderful story. Well told. Well written. Thank you.”

With 3,500 downloads per chapter at StoriesOnline, Wild Woods has garnered an 8.74/10.0 rating from nearly 500 voters. The book is available in paperback or Kindle version from Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07S4CVZKX

And in .ePub for Nook and eReaders from Barnes & Noble at https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/wild-woods-nathan-everett/1131673515?ean=2940161211823

Remember: If you love an author, leave a review!

And now, about Municipal Blondes:

“Great Story and perfect ending. Had me tearing up at the end. Thank You for an excellent read.”

“Excellent as always. Thanks so much for sharing your talent with all of us. As I live in the Seattle area your stories always resonate with me even more.”

“I do hope you can keep Deb going, she has a good story line starting and it seems like a good place to continue from.”

Municipal Blondes was downloaded 3,000 times per chapter and garnered a score of 8.29/10.0 with 450 votes. It’s a fun sequel to the Dag Hamar mystery series, featuring his partner, Deb Riley.

It is available from Amazon in paperback or Kindle eBook at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07S7YNTFB

And in .ePub for Nook and eReaders at Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/municipal-blondes-nathan-everett/1131678734?ean=2940161239926

And for Devon Layne’s Double Time:

“I have always maintained that character focused chapters are your biggest strength and any time you do them I will instantly like them. Not only was this no exception, but I will even go as far as to say that it is a go to example on just how good you are when it comes to writing chapters like that.”

“I have been reading your story non-stop for hours today, and I was pretty taken by the quotes you put at the beginning of every chapter. I am thinking of reading those books. And thanks for the wonderful story too.”

“I've been a fan for a long time now. I believe that this is your finest offering so far! I'll eagerly await the completion of the next book in this series. Thank you for all of your work...TEN!”

Amazon has declined to release this book and the prequel Double Take on their platform, therefore, the Kindle version can only be ordered direct from me at www.paypal.me/aroslav for $5.00. Be sure to leave delivery email address and the words “Double Time”. (Or “Double Take” if you want the first volume.)

Barnes & Noble has no such qualms and the .ePub book is available at https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/double-time-devon-layne/1131678783?ean=2940161239995

Double Time currently has a score of 8.16/10.0 at StoriesOnline with 800 votes. It’s been downloaded over 5,000 times per chapter. Devon Layne patrons at the Sausage Grinder tier ($10/month) are enjoying a chapter a day of this story in raw, unedited format. So far, they have access to over 200 chapters in the saga. Join at www.patreon.com/aroslav.

Well, that’s what people say. How about joining them and leaving a review at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, or LibraryThing. I’m also available for a guest appearance on your book blog. Lots of fun stuff to talk about!

Calling All Time Travelers

Yes! I want your time travel story. But before you dig out the manuscript you wrote in 1826, let me explain what’s going on and how you can participate in this once in a lifetime opportunity. Twice if you’re really a time traveler.

Page 1: Like everything I write, there’s a story to this request and possibly a story at the end of it. It starts with a peek into the writing process.

I was happily minding my own business and writing 30-40,000 words a week on my multiple works in progress. Doug and I were sitting around the campfire early this spring talking about my Devon Layne erotic do-over story Double Take. Then out of the blue, he tosses out, “You know what would be neat? A time travel story. Suppose there was some kind of vortex floating around that seemed to follow this one guy. When it catches him, he’s randomly caught up in a time distortion and plopped down at some other time in history. Past, present, future.”

“That could be interesting,” I mused. I’m not sold on it yet.

“Well, in each time he’s plopped down, he makes friends, enemies, lovers… maybe has a family. Then he gets caught again and they all disappear and he has to start over sometime new. Maybe he’s able to take one person with him but he’s left everyone else behind. Eventually, he starts piecing together the stories of the people he left behind and what happened to them.”

Doug gets enthusiastic about ideas like this and soon had me caught up in it as well. He had snippets of what could happen.

He’s being shot at on the Gettysburg battlefield and all of a sudden a guy next to him whispers, “You're supposed to fall down.” He realizes he’s no longer in 1863 but in a 2018 reenactment.

I started thinking about what could hold it all together. Then he hit me with one more thing.

“You can’t start writing it yet. You have to finish Double Team and Stocks & Bondage first. When you are off traveling around the world this winter, pick out some interesting locations where he could end up. Think about what he’s encountering. And we’ll talk it over and you can start writing sometime this winter.”

You see, the last time Doug made a suggestion for a story I was working on something else and was going to wait a few months before I started the new thing, but it was shiny and characters started talking to me and I sat down and wrote it immediately. He doesn’t want to risk having me get sidetracked when I have other projects to finish. So, I agreed that until I take off in October, all I can do is brainstorm and make notes.

Page 2. We were sitting by the campfire enjoying some particularly good scotch a few nights ago when Doug said, “You’ve got a pretty big network of fans and patrons. Why don’t you ask them for ideas of times and places they’d like to time travel to and why? Just a short snippet. No do-over stuff. Can’t go back to when you were eighteen and got drunk, tattooed, and enlisted. This is all about going someplace sometime that you think would be interesting to visit and having an adventure there.”

I have two different blogs, two Facebook accounts, two Twitter accounts, two Patreon accounts, and several hundred fans. So that’s why I’m setting about calling for your ideas about time travel. Here are the rules:

Respond via email, not comments to this blog, to Nathan@NathanEverett.com with the subject line: Time Travel. Let’s keep it simple. State when you would like to time travel to (past present future), where you would like to be when you arrive, and in 100 words or less, why you would like to travel there/then. I’ll collect these and start making sense out of them while I’m jetting around the world this winter.

Everyone who responds with an idea, whether I use it or not, will receive a copy of the eBook that results—probably late next summer—so be sure to include a usable email address. I won’t use it for anything else.

Right now, I don’t know how long each adventure will be. I don’t know the exact nature of the book, but I expect it will have humor, tears, and triumphs. I also expect that it might fall under the authorship of Devon Layne erotica, but it is also possible that I’ll produce two different versions, one with and one without sex. That would be a good trick!

Page 3: Keep those cards and letters coming, fans. And join my Patreon page to help me travel this winter and collect all those good locations and story ideas! https://www.patreon.com/join/NathanEverett

This is it!

Honestly, I try not to get too hyper about a new book release, but it’s hard not to get a little excited. So, let’s get this out there right away. Wild Woods and Municipal Blondes are both now available, as of today, in paperback and eBook from popular vendors! And this afternoon, paperbacks will be available from me personally, so I can sign and personalize them, at Chandler Reach Vineyards Tasting Room in Woodinville, WA. Here are the details:

Wild Woods paperback and Kindle eBook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/195018305X

Wild Woods, ePub for Nook, Adobe Reader, and others: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/wild-woods-nathan-everett/1131673515?ean=2940161211823

“My gods, that was incredible. I get it, too. Who he was didn't matter, it never did. It was always about who he became when he came to town and jumped into that river. Damn good mystery.” The Dark Baron

Municipal Blondes paperback and Kindle eBook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1950183068

Municipal Blondes ePub for Nook, Adobe Reader, and others: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/municipal-blondes-nathan-everett/1131678734?ean=2940161239926

“Great Story and perfect ending. Had me tearing up at the end. Thank You for an excellent read.” Tony Tee

In case you are interested, today also marks the release of Devon Layne’s newest book in “The Transmogrification of Jacob Hopkins” series, Double Time. The erotic do-over is available as an ePub from https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/double-time-devon-layne/1131678783?ean=2940161239995

The Kindle book is available only by sending $5 to www.paypal.me/aroslav. Indicate your email address and the words “Double Time” and I’ll send you the download link.

“Aroslav [Devon Layne] has both the talent and the emotional depth to make each one of the characters a three-dimensional person, complete in all respects; for the perceptive reader, a friend who lives not very far away. In that he is not unique on SOL, but his peers in this respect are not his equals.” Daanj

* * *

You can make any number of assumptions about how I’ve been spending my week! Probably wrong. I got into the Seattle area late in the afternoon on Father’s Day to be taken out to a fantastic dinner at the Flavour Bistro in Duvall. What a delicious meal! I had duck and pork stroganoff. As the host said, “It’s a hug in a bowl!”

I’ve spent a good part of the week doing my normal thing and writing. Jason and I are also pulling things together for a smoker fest tomorrow and will be putting a fifteen-pound brisket on the rack. A few friends and family coming over to help celebrate and to help me plan my upcoming trip around the world. It’s a little early to pack my bags, but we’re going to have fun talking about it.

I had the opportunity to have coffee with one of my readers. Les and I had a good conversation about writing, life, and the metaphysics of psychic phenomena. (I lied about that last one. We didn’t really have time to discuss that after we finished solving the world’s problems.)

Q and I headed off to see the Fremont Solstice Parade yesterday and I thought there would be some interesting pictures to post from it. Unfortunately, after driving around for an hour looking for a place to park, we were two miles away from the nearest intersection with the parade. So, instead of naked bicyclists, we settled for a bag of Dick’s.

Spent some time just driving around places I hadn’t been in several years. Including researching a few of the locations that will appear in my next Deb Riley mystery (currently being rewritten). Wallingford and Ravenna both play a part, as well as Queen Anne.

Last night I had a delightful dinner with my friend, Jeri. We were at Arnie’s in Edmonds where we looked out over the marina and the ferry terminal. The view was great, the food was okay, and the conversation was brilliant. First time I’ve been out like that in a very long time!

* * *

I saw a post this week that reminded me a lot of grade school when kids were prone to respond to a disagreement with a direct verbal attack on the other kid. “Your mother wears army boots.” Something that might be taken as a positive fashion statement today. I thought about how little those mindless insults meant and yet how hurtful they could be. Chagrined, the kid might say, “I didn’t mean nothing by it.”

When I look at our world, I see a lot of terrible things. I also see a lot of good people. And I keep trying to figure out how so many good people can do and say so many terrible things. And all the time, they didn’t mean nothing by it.

Something we forget is that one does not need to intend harm to do harm. If we’ve lost something from our society in the past few years, it’s the ability to be civil. Social media allows us to “express our opinion” without filters. It thereby becomes a vehicle for spreading hatred, discontent, disreputation, and social unrest.

I don’t “say what I think” these days. I can think of very few people whose unfiltered thoughts don’t need to be followed by the words, “I didn’t mean nothing by it.” But surely, to someone, it did mean something.

Happy Solstice (a couple of days ago). Hope your summer season brings joy and light!

Economizing

I like toast. For five years in my trailer, I have made toast by melting butter in my frying pan and frying bread. And it was good. I even had a perfectly good smoke alarm to tell me when the toast was ready.

Then, last fall I decided I really wanted a toaster. At Walgreen’s in Blythe, CA, I found a cheap little off-brand (Proctor Silex) toaster for $8. Heaven. I could have toast and usually the smoke alarm didn’t go off. Except the toaster slots are just a little narrower than most loaves of bread. And the racks only drop about half an inch. So, I had to put the bread in sideways and when it popped up, I’d turn it over and toast the other end of the bread. This often resulted in bread that was raw on the edges and burned in the middle.

But it was toast. I like toast. I might have mentioned that.

My solution has been to keep an eye out for bread that is of smaller dimensions than standard loaves. The big round loaves are out. I saw great looking homemade bread at the farmers’ market in Las Vegas but they were huge and I don’t even have room in the trailer to put them on the shelf.

But last week, I discovered Dave’s Organic Good Seed bread. It’s a square loaf of dimensions moderate enough it can be toasted in one pass in my little toaster. Tasty. Toast every morning. I like toast.

I proudly told my card-playing buddies about my new discovery and received their congratulations on my find. Except from Mike. He looked at me with the “You’re a special kind of stupid” look you see in pirated Facebook memes.

“So, you’re telling me that in order to keep using your $8-toaster, you are now paying $10 a loaf for bread instead of $3 a loaf for bread that would fit fine in a $20-toaster?”

Um… Yeah. I think I’ll shop for a new toaster this week.

I like toast.

Just a reminder that the Wild Woods and Municipal Blondes book release party and wine tasting at Chandler Reach Tasting Room in Woodinville is on next Sunday, June 23, from 2-5 p.m. Stop in and say hi. Look at my beautiful new covers. Taste some wine. Talk literary. Buy a book. I’m looking forward to seeing you.

Where time has no meaning

I’m startled this morning to find my book release party is in just two weeks. Pre-orders for eBooks on Amazon and Nook are beginning to trickle in. With three books going live the same day, you’d think someone would buy something. Municipal Blondes and Wild Woods are available on both Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Double Time is available only at B&N or through my DevonLayne.com website.

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In the meantime, I’m still writing and loving my little home. (Even though I need to do dishes. Again!) When I get up in the morning about 5:00, I make coffee and settle into my working chair.

The cat was visiting that day, compliments of Mark and Roxanne, who stayed with me over Memorial Day weekend. As you can see, the sun streams through my window and I look out on a perfectly lovely view of the sunrise.

And I write. Did I mention that? I often write all morning and at noon think about food and wandering up to the lodge to play cards. It’s not unusual for me to catch a nap in one of the comfy chairs at the lodge while I’m pretending to do serious work. Maybe the snores give me away.

Sun Meadow is a lovely and relaxed place. A couple of my pickleball player companions have arrived for the summer now, so I’m thinking I might get some exercise sometime soon. Otherwise, my biggest exercise is walking through the meadow to the lodge once or twice a day. There are many fun events there. Cards in the afternoon, movies Friday night, patio cocktail party Saturday afternoon, carry-in dinner Sunday evening, and dances once or twice a month.

But mostly, I end up sitting in front of my computer, albeit in a beautiful setting, and writing. I generated over 40,000 words this week, completing ten new chapters of Double Twist (Book 4 of “The Transmogrification of Jacob Hopkins”). This week, I will also begin writing the next Deb Riley mystery (sequel to Municipal Blondes) titled Stocks and Blondes. I have a lot of fun with the Deb Riley books and foresee quite a series of them. Someplace along the line, however, I’ll also finish writing the last Dag Hamar mystery, For Mayhem or Madness. It fits between the other two Dag Hamar stories.

We’ve had enough rain that the fields are all incredibly green and lush. I simply get lost in time and don’t remember what day it is or what time. I came back to the trailer after cards and a nap at the lodge yesterday and thought I’d just sit for a few minutes to put down some thoughts on the story before I went back for the patio party. Two and a half hours and 2,000 words later, I realized I’d missed cocktail hour. I made a nice bowl of Ramen noodles and went back to writing.

The writer’s life is idyllic. I’ve entered a world where time does not exist. I’m lost in the lives of my characters and emerge each day to spend a little time in the real world with friends. I kick back with a cigar and a whiskey or a glass of wine in the evening and at night I dream about the stories I’m writing.

There are roughly 40,000 words in the English language, not including variations of the same word, like use, used, user, using. I figure I still have close to 30,000 I haven’t used in one of my books. I think I need to get back to writing!

See you June 23, 2-5 p.m. at Chandler Reach Vineyard Wine Tasting Room, 14450 Woodinville Redmond Road, Suite 107, Woodinville, WA.

Pass it on, okay?