OFFICIAL AUTHOR SITE FOR ATHENA
  • Home
  • My Books
  • About
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • Gallery
  • Prose

Elder Glade Chronicles

August 2019 Mid-Month Update

8/15/2019

1 Comment

 
Picture

Summer has blown past like a train that missed the station, but here are some updates about the goings on in my little pocket universe.

Writing: Athena
Summer is the season I work my ass off at the restaurant so that I can take time off in the winter to write. So usually, there’s not a lot of writing time in the summer weeks. However, I have been burning the midnight hours (and lots of wine) on getting Plague of Gargoyles ready for beta. Somehow with all the mad crush of season, I was able to compile a working V.1. I can’t even express what a relief this is. Sure, it’s the dreck draft, but going into the writing season with a block draft will make this winter so much more productive. Hopefully, Plague of Gargoyles will go out to beta readers in November or December, so I can put Tangle of Mermaids on the V.1 track to beta by summer next year.
​
With all that being said, I also went a little nutty after a few glasses of wine and began remodeling my character files, and organizing my world notes. There’s something to be said about late nights of drunken casting, sifting through celebrity photos and rebuilding character sheets. So. Much. Fun.
I’m dearly looking forward to sharing my hopeful casting notes with prospective producers. Let’s just hope they understand my wine-laced vision board notes….
Picture
The Elder Glade Cottage Stead

Most of June and July were so unseasonably wet and muggy that the growing time for many of the garden plants just never got enough light or heat. The tomatoes are still about the same size as they were eight weeks ago. Other plants molded from the rain and gray. However, the roses loved it.
Mister Lincoln, the rose variety that features heavily in The Pillars of Dawn books, specifically in Murder of Crows, finally bloomed. Three years ago I’d decided to plant several of the roses that grow in Auntie Celeste’s garden, so I could bask in the inspiration that is her special zen. Mister Lincoln was one of the first roses I planted, but each season I was sure I’d killed him. He never really took off…until this year.  Suddenly, as everything else was dying under the muggy gray sky, Mister Lincoln shot up five feet and declared one perfect flower, as if to say, “I’m here! Don’t give up on me!”.

And he was so worth the wait. It was like a little hello from Auntie Celeste, a nod and a smile and her voice saying, “Mr. Lincoln sends his regards.”
Picture
Also on the list of successful plantings were several quarts of raspberries, a pound of fresh rhubarb, and a mountain of herbs from pineapple sage, to mint, rosemary, and thyme, dill, and fennel. Still to be harvested, dried or frozen. I even managed a small harvest of baby potatoes, before the ducks destroyed the remainder of the plants (will put the potatoes in raised beds next year).

The black Cherokee corn, and the lilies are doing well. And in a week or so I will have the first blooms from a dahlia bulb that was a gift from my neighbor.

So, this mixed bag of summer growing output has been a good learning experience of what I need to alter to create a more vibrant landscape that can weather many climate variables. All the more delicate plants, the peppers, tomatoes, squash, pumpkins, and peas all shriveled in the gray damp summer.
​
The new chicken coop has been framed. All the wood is old or was donated by friends and neighbors. I hope to get it done before the rains, but if not, I’ll be looking to re-home the birds, as I refuse to keep them in the small coop for the winter. That’s just not fair to them. If it comes to that, I’ll start over on a new flock in the spring. 
Picture
Along with the wood donated for the coop, a friend has donated the lumber for me to create a bridge over the creek. I’m so excited about this! Once the rains come I’m not able to forge the water to the land on the other side, so nothing gets done to the property on the south bank until spring. Hopefully with a bridge, I’ll be able to do some work across the water on nice days in the winter.

All in all, it’s still baby steps, but finally after three years, the land is beginning to feel like it’s establishing itself. There are signs of flourishing, sporadic, and irregular—but there none the less.

Thank you for tuning into the mid-month update. Next month I hope to have photos of the grow site, and news on some upcoming sculpting projects scheduled for winter.

I will also update on the planning for upcoming creativity workshops.
​
Stay tuned!
1 Comment

41st Note to Self

8/7/2019

3 Comments

 
Picture
My Dearest Athena,

Happy forty-first birthday! Or as Traci would say, “Forty-(w)Onderful!”

Finally, the number bar rolled over the forty counter and leveled on the new path. There has been a lot of transformation in the last few years. This year alone has seen the launch of a new business, another book on the market, and changes around the homestead. You let go of some of your oldest friendships. You faced an inner demon, and won. Then you let go of some old, outdated ideas about yourself, and began a new evolution.

You could wax on about all the things you hope to achieve in the next year, or all the tidbits you’ve discovered the hard way along the path—but this year…this 41st Note to Self is all about wishing.

This year you have wishes to give away. This year the Note to Self is about spreading the joy.

For your birthday, you decided to give away forty-one wishes to strangers and friends.

If you, dearest reader, are reading my annual Note to Self—we are wishing these things for you. Take what you desire, and give the rest away. Keep the wishes that are meaningful to you, and let the rest drift off into the great unknown. Print them out. Read them as many times as you like. Share the wishes you hope to carry close to your heart so that those who love you can support your dream.

To whomever you are, fellow traveler on this wildwood path, we wish for you a blissful, abundant, fulfilling year. May you know love, safety, joy, health, wealth, and freedom.
 
  1. 1. May you know how breathtaking you truly are. 
  2. 2. May you know you are 100% lovable in all your totality. 
  3. 3. May you know you are enough, always. 
  4. 4.  May you love yourself perfectly for all your glorious imperfections. 
  5. May you always be struck with wonder and awe when you look up at the stars.
  6. May you nurture the wisest parts of yourself that tell you, always, to trust your story.
  7. May your future be rich with immeasurable wealth and abundance.
  8. May your next adventure fill you with untold measures of bliss.
  9. May you understand your wishes are granted, and it’s okay to let go of the manifestation struggle so the Universe can fulfill your desires.
  10. May your curiosity grow stronger as you evolve.
  11. May your creativity expand and rejuvenate you with perpetual energy and vigor.
  12. May all your fears be revealed for the illusions they are. Then may you be granted the courage to create, build, and enjoy all the realities withheld from you by such illusory concerns. You’re free!
  13. May you be shocked to speechless wonder by a wonderfully magical romance.
  14. May you know and understand you are the creator of your reality, and that should you desire something different—you are powerful enough to imagine it into being.
  15. May you understand how powerful you truly are.
  16. May you know freedom and joy in your own skin.
  17. May you glow with happiness.
  18. May you remember that all things are possible, and your dreams are easily achievable.
  19. May you know the feeling when someone you love looks at you like they’ve discovered a new galaxy in your eyes.
  20. May you know yourself fully healed and vibrantly healthy.
  21. May you know, without doubt, you are absolutely worthy of all the beautiful experiences you wish to enjoy in this lifetime.
  22. May your bravery always outweigh your shame.
  23. May you have the strength to get back up again, as often as it takes.
  24. May you find childlike joy and happiness in the simplest of pleasures.
  25. May you protect and look out for the humanity in everyone around you, including yourself.
  26. May you see the truth of both sides of an issue, and the promise of a compassionate judgement.
  27. May you know your own worthiness, and the loveliness of your complexity.
  28. May you laugh a lot; happily, riotously, and with total joy.
  29. May you strive for your own greater good, and the greater good of those around you.
  30. May you always know your full value. And may you never compromise less than that mark in your relationships, adventures, and partnerships.
  31. May your wanderlust never be truly satisfied. Keep exploring. Keep discovering.
  32. May you never cease to love the build. Build. Build. Then build some more.
  33. May you know the beauty of being the song of another person’s heart.
  34. May you wake up each morning full of gratitude for all that you have in your wonderful, magical life.
  35. May you walk in beauty.
  36. May you grant yourself the forgiveness and grace you so easily bestow upon others.
  37. May you be surrounded by people who see you, hear you, and know your worth.
  38. May you challenge the paradigms that need challenging, and keep your footing in that process 
  39. May you remember the beauty in simplicity, and the peace in nature.
  40. May you always know where your home truly lies.
  41. May you know bliss in the journey, and ever new horizons to explore.
 
Dearest Athena, on this 41st Note to Self, you have finally let go of the ruminating of annual failures.
Congratulations! How liberating. What took so long, eh?

This year your roots are finally deep enough and your branches stable enough to spread. Your face is turned up to the sky, and the sense of a great unfurling is building.

I think we both have the sensation that this time next year, the game will be completely different. What a delicious taste in the air.

Go forth this year, my friend. Party on. Build. Laugh. Smile. And write…always write.

​Love,
Athena
 
P.S. Refresh your travel luggage and passport, you’re going to need it. 
Picture
Wishes tied to flowers and delivered to strangers and friends.
3 Comments

    Archives

    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    August 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019

    Categories

    All
    Art Full Living
    B. Unbidden
    Cannabis
    Coming Out Of The Woods
    Conversations At The Pub
    Creativity
    Creativity Challenge
    Elder Glade Chronicles
    Erotica
    Female Sexual Empowerment
    From The Archive
    Garden
    Indie Publishing
    Letters To Lovers
    Literary Grunt
    Mid Month Update
    Mid-month Update
    Note To Self
    Palate For Life
    Patrons And Members
    Recipes
    Sketchbook
    Spangled Gap
    The BlissQuest Archive
    The Creative Life
    Twin Flame Lovers
    VLOGS
    Writing Craft

    RSS Feed

Trust Your Story.


  • Home
  • My Books
  • About
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • Gallery
  • Prose