The foliage season seemed late in coming this year. Here it is November and the trees, at least to these eyes, have just donned their new fall clothes. The colors don't appear as brilliant to this, but deeper, more saturated. The yellows aren't sunshine-dazzly but burnished gold instead, and the reds aren't flame but rich burgundy. It isn't any less beautiful, just different this year. I like it.
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It hit me this weekend that in just three weeks, my friend Susan will be here for Thanksgiving. I have decided to cook, and Bonnie and Lanny will be joining us. I haven't planned out the entire menu, but I am going to order a turkey breast from the Friendly City Food Co-op. The turkeys are all locally raised, grass fed and all that good stuff. I've never roasted a whole turkey before, so I decided the breast will be a safer choice!
Of course, company means I have to get the house in order too. I spent today cleaning up --- read that as clearing out the stuff (yeah, there is more accurate four letter word for it, but I will leave that to your imagination) that has piled up. How can one single woman accumulate so many little pieces of paper? Cleaning off the breakfast nook table, the kitchen counter, the living room coffee table (both of them) scared me a bit. Could I be a hoarder in training? I found scribbled recipes, deposit receipts, old grocery lists, and magazine articles I'd clipped and never looked at again -- and some I can't figure out why I saved. They are all in the recycle bin now, so I guess there is hope for me. I hope -- I have yet to get to the office....:(
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I am three days in to Picture Book Idea Month (PiBoIdMo, as it is fondly called) and let me tell you, this is tough! I have three ideas, two more solid than the third, or at least it seems that way right now. Two, not surprisingly, feature cats as the main characters and the third a child whose wish on a star Uncle Jack's Cats and Jamie and the Corn Thief and getting the members of the Stinky Socks and Smelly Sneakers Good Acts Club out of the haunted house they are in. But I love the concept of having all of these ideas waiting in the wings for their turn at bat. I have only been moderately successful at the 12 X 12 Picture Book Challenge this year because my brain froze at the prospect of coming up with 12 new manuscripts.
And I am still having some trouble with that. Which is why this is hard. I guess I want my ideas to be perfect ideas, ones that will transform into a picture book. Of course, thinking that 30 ideas will all be just perfect and turn into a delightful story for kids is pretty pie in the sky. I know that, but I have a harder time convincing that little man who lives in my head and loves to say "that's a dumb idea. You can do better." I wish I knew how to silence him. I've battled him my entire writing life, and try as I might, I can only drown him out for so long.
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