I Heart Ohio! (excerpt)

I ventured out into the pollinated world today. Hubby drove me into town to run a couple of quick errands. The last stop was the vet clinic out past the north edge of town to settle yesterday's farm call bill. Since I didn't need to go back into town, we took the back roads home. I love the gently rolling pastures surrounded by horse fence. We pass along a very scenic stream, surrounded by one of those subdivision-in-the-middle-of-nowhere spots. The sloping backyards angle toward the main road. Their landscapes naturally blended with God's design.

Our conversation drifted to a relocated friend's comments last night. She lived about an hour from here and her old area was quite different. Now she is farther away, but in an area similar to the topography we enjoy. She said she never thought Ohio was pretty until she moved there.

No offense to you Floridians out there... Most of my family is in Florida. I will not move. I always cite the sweltering ever-lasting summers and the huge bugs, but truthfully... The thing I dislike most about Florida? It's flat! It's not only flat, the trees are ugly. OK, I know there's not very many trees that rival the huge elderly oaks spread wide and dripping in moss. But those poles with the hula skirts on top? They get old. Cabbage palms coiled in snakes? Look like shrubs, not trees.

So what on earth does this have to do with my book? Keep reading...

The chapter I'm in now has my main character leaving her adopted Florida for a trip north. While driving down that country road, I stated to Hubby, "I've got to mention the flat land and skinny trees!" When I returned home and opened my document, I scrolled to a previous paragraph that would nicely fit the new injection.

And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, for your reading pleasure: An Excerpt from 'Unfinished Business'...


When she had first settled in Davie, she adored the tall, bare palm trunks and the see-forever horizon. Now that those things were old hat, she realized the beauty in rolling hills and foliage. The huge oaks dripping with Spanish moss were her favorite. They reminded her of the canopy of leaves along the creek banks where teens could slip away from supervision and explore their new found desires.

author's hideaway

I mentioned a couple of blogs ago about wanting a cabin in the woods to shut myself off in when I'm writing. Today I got some inspiration for the cabin from a newspaper insert. I can just picture myself sitting inside one of these, listening to the birds chirping and the leaves rustling in the wind. I see myself sitting in front of my laptop, holding a hot cup of coffee while breathing in the fresh air.

Now it's going to be harder to concentrate on the book and not burn time sketching my dream treehouse. I like the swinging bridge. It absolutely has to have a porch! A tin roof sounds so nice in the rain. If it had a pot-belly stove, I could use it in the winter. Yes, someday...

forward march!

Finally, I'm making great progress on my book. It took a while to reread because of my incessant need to edit! I try to tell myself, the time will come for that... I don't listen. Anyway, I finished going through my previous chapters and actually wrote several pages tonight.

I love it when I can shut myself off and totally immerse myself in the characters. That is when the keyboard clicks along trying to keep pace with my thoughts. If only I could stay in that place for longer periods of time. But I glance at the clock and the real world yanks me back.

Hubby and I have worked out spending time together while I write. We sit in our recliners in the bedroom. He watches TV (he's an addict) and I sit with my laptop, wearing industrial earmuffs. It's not perfect... On those occasions when he just can't stop interrupting, he finally gives in and goes to the living room.

Someday, when I've made enough with my writing to pay for it, I will have a small cabin out past the goat shed or deep in the woods. It will have all the comforts I need for writing, plus the solitude I long for. I'll be able to seal myself off from the world and return with a finished manuscript. Until then, I'll have to settle for the recliner and earmuffs.