I have not written in my blog for awhile. This month has been a lot of fun, especially with family and friends. A few weeks back, Don and I visited my grandfather, who lives almost two hours away. We always have a good time with grandpa- he is a small German man with silver hair, mild-mannered and sweet as can be. He has an outrageous sense of humor that keeps the family in stitches!

For several years, Grandpa and I have had a tradition of lunch once a month- a different person pays each time. At first, when I was single, it was Grandma, Grandpa and I. Then, Don came into my life two years ago and the lunch routine changed to double-dates! Now that Grandma has been gone for a little over a year and a half, it is Grandpa, Don and I. The physical dynamic goes through a change, but the lunch tradition stays an integral part of our lives. Many times, we eat lunch out somewhere, or when Grandpa is not feeling well, we eat in. If no other family is present, we almost always finish the afternoon with Yahtzee. I have never beat Grandpa at Yahtzee, nor did I ever beat Grandma. Two seasoned Yahtzee pros if you ask me.

Around February, we had a scare with Grandpa’s health- at 90 years old, he ended up having his gallbladder removed. Luckily, it was removed with a laparoscope and Grandpa was able to recover quickly. The doctor warned there could be residual effects with gallstones. Sure enough, just this last week Grandpa became ill again and had to go to the hospital. He went through a procedure where the doctors found a stone in his liver duct. They had to make an incision made and remove the stone. Keep in mind, Grandfather is now 91 years old. Yesterday, after undergoing this grueling procedure, and after the comics of the anesthesia wore off, he was back to himself and doing very well. Thank goodness!

In between the business, I have been writing on my novel. I am striving with all of my might to write every single day. I like the feeling of getting words on paper. It’s important that I get my basic story down in an entire first draft before editing and doing a rewrite. I don’t know how many rewrites I will actually do. Before submitting to an agent, I want to make sure it is thoroughly edited and written to the best of my ability.

At the Writer’s Digest forum, there were some threads concerning “book doctors” and self publishing. I have already made up my mind that both flow against my grain. I really want to go through the entire process of getting an agent and of my work being accepted because I put my own sweat and tears into it. I have learned from seasoned publishers that self publishing is practically suicide for a novel. I am all for self editing and traditional publishing.

This is all I have to write for now. In the last 15 minutes I have written 570 words, and I am proud as pickles (where did that come from?) about it! I would like to write more on my blog, but sometimes working on my novel and plain old life gets in the way!

Until next time….

Take it easy out there!

© 2007 Susan Littlefield

In my last entry, I wrote that I was going on vacation. I enjoyed the time I spent with my cousin, Tammy, and being present during her graduation for her Master’s Degree. I also spent time with my uncle and many cousins and their significant others, as well as second cousins! For me, it’s always great to visit with family and learn more about where I come from. Family is a reminder of how precious life really is.

I spent the rest of the week at home. I had grand plans for doing work around the house, of accomplishing great tasks that I did not otherwise have time for. As it turned out, I did not take any of those big projects on. In fact, I was quite lazy and found myself being a couch potato and snuggling with my white and gray tabby, Buddy ask Budster. Once I couldn’t take the daily lethargy anymore, I went to the gym and went on a cardio blast to get my frozen blood circulating.

My greatest accomplishment during vacation is that I found plenty of time to write. I have been writing a novel about an adult who finds out was abducted as a small child. It’s an interesting journey allowing my mind to run with the story, to bring my character alive within myself, to realize that, while I create the story, the characters create themselves.

Starting Thursday of this week, I will officially be on vacation through June 23. This Friday, I fly up to Warrenton, Oregon for my cousin’s graduation with her Masters in Social Work. Tammy, who is my double cousin (more on that in a few), is also my soul sister and best friend. She has raised a wonderful daughter as a single parent, owned her own business as a hairdresser and worked hard for the last several years to reach her dream of becoming a social worker. She is truly an inspiration to me.

Now, back to the double cousins, for those of you who may not know: our mothers were sisters and our fathers are brothers. Tammy and I are connected through the same maternal and paternal family bloodline. Simple as far as biology goes. However, the soul connection between us runs deeper than any I’ve ever experienced. What a wonderful gift.

I am really looking forward to sharing four days with Tammy. Then, I will be spending the last four days of my vacation doing things I want to do at home. I plan to finish painting the trim on my house, as well as doing minor repairs. At my condo, I don’t have a yard but I do have a terrace where I have plants and ceramic animals. I am hoping to expand my herb garden, as well as add a potted jasmine. Finally, I will work on organizing my home office, closet included. I can’t wait!

After returning from Oregon, and in between all of this work, I plan on sitting my derriere down and working on my short stories and my novel. The only way to learn discipline is to make a habit of writing creatively every day. I would like to average at least 10 pages (or approximately 2500 words) on my creative writing each day. It does not matter whether I work simultaneously on both my stories and novel or on just one of the other on any given day.

I look forward to all of the adventures during the coming 11 days!

© 2007 Susan Littlefield

Today, I don’t want to write about writing. I want to write about my experience with Arby, a very special cat who I was fortunate enough to spend 17 years with. My niece was eight when she brought this six week old bundle of Russian Blue to me as a gift. I already had two cats, I wasn’t sure I could handle a third, especially a funnocious (this is a word I made up- do you think it will make it into Webster?) little kitten.

“What’s her name?” I asked Jennifer.

She looked up at me with her big blue eyes and smiled. “Arby. Arby Grey Face because she looks like a Native American Cat.”

Within the hour, I knew Arby and I would be life mates. True to my instinct, she was with me through marriage and divorce, moves, job changes, and every aspect of my life. When I cried, she stayed close to me and provided comfort. When I laughed, she became playful and brought me even more joy. She stuck with me through thick and thin, sickness and health. She loved my boyfriend, Don, and always tried to greet him with a purr even when she wasn’t feeling up to it.

About a week ago, Arby took an unexpected turn. She had undergone treatment earlier in the year for an infection but bounced back. She was putting on weight, becoming involved again and seemed to be doing well. Then, about 10 days ago, her behavior changed. She became more quiet and subdued. I thought perhaps she had been having a few bad days. Until, a few days ago, she stopped eating. Yesterday, she was diagnosed with end stage kidney failure.

Having my dear Arby put to sleep was one of the most difficult things I have had to do in a long time. But, it was also humane and brave of both of us. I know she would have only worsened. Her quality of life was already diminished, and there was no chance of moving up hill. I miss her already.

As I have been with all of my pets who have reached end stage illnesses, I was with her at the time of her passing. I figure if my pet is with me throughout my life, I will be present when they take their last breath.

The good thing is that Arby is now with her best friends, Nicholas and Estelle. At one time, they were all three quite a bunch. I now say goodbye to Arby as her cat friends welcome her with open paws and purrs.

© 2007 Susan Littlefield

Have you ever thought about what it means to be a writer?

I have written since I was a little girl. Writing has always been in my blood, a part of my soul. For me, writing means putting pen to paper and seeing what will come out. Other than a church newsletter and poetry invitations in Dickens’ Style for an annual Dickens Street Faire, I have been published five times in my life; recently a short story in Adventures of the Average Woman and poetry years ago in some spiritual chapbooks. My hope is to continue to publish my short stories and complete my novel and have it published. But, if none of these things come to pass, I will still call myself a writer.

I love writing and putting words together and figuring out how to create an image, or evoke a feeling. As a writer, it is my job to pull the reader in and keep him or her happy until the end of the story. Hopefully, the reader will remember and be satisfied with my ending. If I can do those two things, then I have succeeded as a writer.

One of my pet peeves is the use of adverbs, the writer’s taboo. Good thing because I despise those pesty little rodents. However, I have learned that they sometimes have a place. For example, I used “hopefully” in the paragraph above. I could have written “I hope.” I made a conscious choice to use the adverb because it did not weaken my sentence.

I worry most about adverbs in my fiction. When I first started writing, my fiction was riddled with adverbs. I thought they made my writing more colorful, strengthened images. It was when I learned to describe (show) rather then use an adverb (tell) that I began to feel better about my writing. Sometimes I might choose an adverb, especially if the scene is fast paced and already has a lot of description.

© 2007 by Susan Littlefield