Sunday morning, half way through summer. Lately we’ve been having a lovely stretch of weather, so hot the mosquitoes have packed it in and sadly, so have heat-sensitve roses. The day lilies are blooming though and so are the phlox.

I’m still working on my novel. Doing a long outline showed me where there were a few holes, not needing new material, but scenes moved and connections made.

Recently I’ve been reading Ursula K. Le Guin, Steering the Craft, an excellent short book on the craft of writing from a terrific writer and teacher.

The critiques arrived for the entries into the University of Winchester’s writing contest. My flash fiction piece, The Gulls Soared, placed third in its category and the reviewers had kind words to say and one piece of advice. The reviewers of The Empty Room, on the other hand, suggested a rewrite in first person. I have a first draft of that and may lengthen the story.

I also submitted the first three pages of a novel. The reviewer, a senior editor at Little, Brown in the UK, wrote, in part, “I’ve very much enjoyed reading this. You have a very assured writing voice”. 

Of course she also had areas of concern and advice but closed by saying, “I do think this is a very unique and interesting idea and hope you keep working on it”.

Encouraging to receive such kind words from someone whose business is evaluating writers. The novel in question is not my work-in -progress but one I have “in the drawer” for the next time.

Other news: George, my husband saw an Indigo Bunting in our back yard this week. In fact, it saw George, and hovered outside the window for a time before it flew off into the Sunburst Honey Locust. One of our few blue birds. I’m envious although I did see a flicker this week, although not well enough to tell if it was yellow or red-shafted.

Our plans for France are proceeding. We’ve been debating getting a Paris Pass vs a Museum Pass. All four of us loved the vaporetti in Venice and have almost decided to use the BatoBus on the Seine for most of our transport, that and walking.

That’s about it for this first Sunday in August.