Month: April 2021

May is almost HERE! And that means one more month of distance learning for my kids and then SUMMER VACATION. It will not look very different from last summer (or really, the school year), but my husband and I are looking forward to retiring our “educator” hats.

The Oscars were Sunday and other than adoring Emerald Fennell and Frances McDormand, I did not pay that much attention to the shindig. I did, however, adore People magazine’s recap of the Oscar ceremonies from 1991 and 2001.

I know I’ve talked about how ridiculously talented my friends are. Beyond friends who are writers, I am lucky to know artists and musicians. But there’s a special place reserved for those friends who bake … and my friend, author K. Bird Lincoln, hosted a “craft” morning the other day. I don’t craft, but I eat cake, and she’s been making this Orange Cardamom Cake with Almonds and Gran Marnier.  And it’s delicious.

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Reading: Why yes, I am still reading Story Genius by Lisa Cron. I finished How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber & Elaine Mazlish, My eldest is an excellent reader, so he got a kick out of my reading material. (“Are you LISTENING, moooom!?”) I may be a writer, but to two people, I am mom. 🙂

Writing: It was a bit of a week with work, so writing got put on the back burner.  But I did finish the third class (of three) from a Jane Friedman advanced editing class.

Hiking: Bluebells at Carley State Park.

Stay safe and well, friends!

– Shelley

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What is Friday Fare? As a recap, on Fridays I post link love to the various bits of arcane shiz I discover on the Interwebs.  I liken it to a glimpse into my mind, but without the 80s song lyrics or mental cobwebs.

I live in Minnesota and I’m grateful for the bravery of Darnella Frazier, the young woman who filmed George Floyd’s murder. We still have a lot of work to do, but Derek Chauvin’s conviction is a step in the right direction.

Gillian Welch is one of my favorite musicians. This article ends with a beautiful anecdote on how John Steinbeck’s son sent her a collection of Steinbeck’s books, because her records felt like something Steinbeck would have written. What an incredible compliment to her artistry.

I finished reading Cal Newport’s book A World Without Email and he cited an essay by my beloved Anne Lamott about how to make time for writing. As someone who’s largely been off of Facebook since Halloween and still struggles with the allure of Twitter and Instagram, I gotta say … Lamott’s got a point. (And I’ve never had a problem ignoring housework. Just ask my parents or my husband.)

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Reading: Story Genius by Lisa Cron (still) and Era of Ignition by Amber Tamblyn. I’m enjoying Tamblyn’s book/memoir and it’s interesting … I think many of my contemporaries (and people younger than I am) associate Tamblyn for her roles in the “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” and “Joan of Arcadia”. Being the eccentric that I am, I associate her as Russ Tamblyn’s daughter. And I love Russ Tamblyn:

Finished: I Have Something to Tell You by Chasten Buttigieg; A World Without Email by Cal Newport; and Too Much and Never Enough by Mary L. Trump.

Writing: I don’t talk a lot about my writing process, because I don’t know that I really have one. Am I a plotter or a pantser? Do I light candles and need to write in absolute silence. (BTW – there’s no such thing as absolute silence in my house right now and when there is, it’s absolutely weird.) The way that story works in my mind is a matter of “what if?” and then my squirrel brain goes from there. I tell myself stories when I should probably be doing productive things and eventually, those little vignettes start to hang together and I start seeing the characters in my mind and drawing the arrows, fleshing out their backstories, etc.  I’ve been carrying a notebook around lately and sketching little ideas in the pages. And now here’s the scary part … I know how the story starts and how it ends. I probably have enough in between to start writing, but … but … but …

This is the scary “jumping off the cliff” part of writing. Let’s hope that I fly and not:

Hiking: Friends persuaded me to go on a five-mile hike. It was glorious AND painful.

Stay safe and well, friends!

– Shelley

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What is Friday Fare? As a recap, on Fridays I post link love to the various bits of arcane shiz I discover on the Interwebs.  I liken it to a glimpse into my mind, but without the 80s song lyrics or mental cobwebs.

I *meant* to blog last week, but my Wednesday Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine had me like this on Thursday:

Considering I’m going to have my hair professionally cut for the first time since 2019 at the end of this month … worth. it.

Here’s some link love:

How did TV’s Frasier really afford his apartment? (Frasier wasn’t a must-watch in my family, but I have a huge soft spot in my heart for John Mahoney.)

My family eats a lot of macaroni and cheese and while I have the ability to make a mean homemade mac and cheese, my kids are Kraft people. (Weirdos.) I like the white cheddar mac from Annie’s Organic, so of course I had to read this article that talks about the Annie formerly behind this organic behemoth.

My college advisor died on April Fools Day. Since she wasn’t known for her sense of humor (the urban legend about her was that she did the Sunday NY Times crossword in pen), I don’t think that it was comedic timing on her part. While I can’t credit Mary Hull Mohr for my writing career, I can credit her for being a gentle force in making sure I graduated from college. I am also exceedingly proud to have known her and to be able to say that she was my academic advisor. (Trust me, I was a TERRIBLE advisee.) Mary Lou and her husband Martin loom large in the memories that my husband and I share from our time at Luther College. We adored both of them and hold their memories as a blessing.

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Reading:

Finished: Her Final Words by Brianna Labuskes and Pursuit of the Truth by K.D. Richards. Both were fun and good reads.

Currently: (And yes, this list is as random as I am …) I Have Something to Tell You by Chasten Buttigieg (loving it); A World Without Email by Cal Newport (I have a thing for productivity books); Story Genius by Lisa Cron (obvs); and Too Much and Never Enough by Mary L. Trump.

Writing: Good things are happening on the querying front. Some of the books I’m reading pertain to the next book that I’m percolating in my head.

Otherwise, this was a week to fill my tank … my husband and I got to have lunch with our college mentors and I got to spend some time talking to my parents (it was the first time my husband saw my folks in person for about a year). Some friends and I are going to conquer another trail this weekend and warmer weather is supposed to finally arrive here in the Midwest! (It will be in the 50s this weekend … woo!)

– Shelley

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What is Friday Fare? As a recap, on Fridays I post link love to the various bits of arcane shiz I discover on the Interwebs.  I liken it to a glimpse into my mind, but without the 80s song lyrics or mental cobwebs.

My long weekend sans family was NOT a bust, although I did not do anything remotely creative. I did a mountain of laundry (including bedding for all of my stinky boys. Phew!). I did make it to Costco and I basically ate a lot of takeout, drank beer, and made up for all of my interesting choices by going on an EPIC hike with some of my dear girlfriends.

That Dakota Trail wasn’t messing around and man, I was grateful that the majority of the mud we slogged through was frozen.  Ooooof! Lots of Gandalf jokes were made, we decided as a collective that we weren’t going to hike Everest … ever, and I grateful for good friends, post-hike coffee accompanied by Ina’s blueberry bran muffins, and the morning migas from Taco Jed’s here in my town. Delicious.

AND THEN!!!! If the fact that I had three days and two nights sans family wasn’t enough, my parents asked if they could watch our children for a couple of days. Given the amount of screen time my kids have been consuming lately, given that my folks have acres for my kids to expend energy on, and the fact that my kiddos have missed out on a year of grandparent-ly shenanigans from both side of the family, we said “hell yes,” reminded my oldest to not play with axes (long story, but no injuries, thank the goddess) and they spent two nights with my folks and whew … between visits with both sets of grandparents, I think my kids had a fantastic spring break. And I have a grateful heart.

You’d think that with so much time to myself, I’d be outlining my next novel, working on the synopsis for Dragonfly that’s eluded me, etc.  But on Sunday I confessed to my girlfriends that I hadn’t been near my computer since Thursday evening. And honestly … I think I needed a break from computer screens as badly as my kids did.

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Watching: While my family was gone, I rented a terrible, TERRIBLE 90s “thriller” that I adored when I was younger. I still adore it, it’s still terrible (saxophone at crucial scenes whether romantic thriller or “hey! that dude has a knife” thrilling moments), but it was Friday night and I was eating pad Thai … so life was good and I wasn’t questioning my taste.

My children were born in 2012 and 2013, so it is no great mystery that I missed out on a couple crucial moments of pop culture history … namely most of the Marvel movies. While our kids were gone, my husband and I caught up on “The Avengers” and one of the “Thor” movies while drinking beer and eating snacks for dinner that we’d never let our kids get away with.

Reading: Her Final Words by Brianna Labuskes. (And it’s gooooood.)

Writing: The next adventure is still percolating …

Wear your mask! Be good to people you meet. Get outside if the weather is fine where you are.

– Shelley

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What is Friday Fare? As a recap, on Fridays I post link love to the various bits of arcane shiz I discover on the Interwebs.  I liken it to a glimpse into my mind, but without the 80s song lyrics or mental cobwebs.