Weather in the Tries:
Oh my goodness gracious sakes alive! A week of sunshine is ahead of us. A tad cooler than yesterday, the temps will mostly be in the 80s until the weekend, when it will drop to the 70s. And the humidity, though higher in the morning and night, will be low enough that the heat will be heavenly.

Saying Goodbye to Thomas:
In case you missed the wee bit in last week’s post about my chapbook being accepted, Finishing Line Press has accepted my chapbook, Saying Goodbye to Thomas. These are the poems I wrote, mostly in the final months of his life, about his dying. No, they are not all doom and gloom, you know me better than that. At any rate I think I’ve calmed down a wee bit from the excitement. It will spike again, when I get the contract. Then it will be really real;-) 

Here is their acceptance. Well, a small portion thereof, I’m sure you don’t want to read the whole thing. This is the important part:

“Thank you for submitting to us. Your manuscript has been accepted for publication. We would love to publish your book.” Every time I read those three sentences I just get giddy all over again 😉

Please check Finishing Line Press out and consider buying a book. Small Press publishers are a mainstay for poets. Not sure which one to buy, get Finding Her by Kristie L. Williams. It’s a great book.

I’m a writer, I’m used to rejection. But sometimes, when enough come with no breaks, it’s hard to remember that editors aren’t rejecting me, they are rejecting my work. And they can reject it for a myriad of reasons. Maybe I used a word they don’t like, or I wrote about peace instead of war, or I wrote it in this form and they really love another form. Or, as so many rejection/pass letters state, my work just didn’t grab them. Any and all of those reasons are valid, plus the plethora I didn’t list.

It’s really nice when acceptance letters come in like rejections usually do. Within a month, I had something like 8 poems accepted/published. Huzzah! for editors 😉

Depending on your frame of mind, you may or may not want to download the WeCroak app. They will send you 5 messages a day to remind you, you are not a permanent fixture as a live person. It’s inspired by a Bhutanese folk saying: to be a happy person, one must contemplate death five times daily. I just went to the computer one, and they have “the final word on advice columns” you can ask Death for advice on current events, relationships, etc. and so forth. I’m enjoying it very much, but then, I’m weird. However, should you get it for your phone or ipad or watch or whatever, let me know what you think of it. They have both ios and android.

I keep hearing Johnny Mathis singing Chances Are. Yeah, I’m wearing that silly grin, but it’s not because I’m in love with some guy, it’s because my book about my Elder Brother of Choice is being published. Oh, happy dance, happy dance. Oh, wait. Yeah, I am in love with some guy. He’s a spoiled rescue dog!

Speaking of being a spoiled dog, he’s finally taking treats from my hand! That’s huge. I used to have to set them down and walk away, or gently toss them near him. Even the one that looks like a stick to him. Especially the stick one. Now he takes it from my hand. Sometimes it takes a bit. I’d sure like to know how badly he was abused. I think it’s worse than I imagine, which makes me want to hold him and cry and then go find the abuser and abuse him the same way he abused this poor puppy.

Photos of the Week:

Thomas loved watching the bunnies in the yard.

And he loved tossing peanuts out for the crows. One was fairly tame, Thomas called him Podjo, Old Friend.

This Rosemary plant is huge, and was right next to the outside door to Thomas’s area, and when the sun shone, and it was warm, we’d open the door and enjoy the perfume.

from the desk of the big chihuahua;
my human seems tremendously happy i am now taking treats from her hand. i wish i could tell her why it took so long, but she has been patient. sometimes, i still can’t do it, but she doesn’t seem upset when i want it tossed to me. 

Earworm of the week:
Need you wonder? One of my girl-hood heart throbs, Johnny Mathis sings Chances Are. 

Quote of the week, compliments of Good Housekeeping:

“Live out of your imagination, not your history.” ~ Stephen Covey