Here they come, oh no
Look out! Here come the dogs
Mix two nine-month-old lab-terrier puppies, a rainy day and a pile of dirt where they dug up the lawn, and what do you get? Mud. I have never seen so much mud in my life. In fact, the robe I'm wearing right now is decorated with muddy pawprints, and my husband is wiping more paw prints off the kitchen floor because he accidentally let the dogs in without cleaning their feet first. I had already mopped the floor and was trying very hard to keep it mud-free. Oh well.
Annie, the smaller but trickier dog, added some mud prints to the green chair by the window. I barely got her back outside when her brother Chico (the black one) slipped in. What's a little more mud on the linoleum? But in the laundry room, where the dogs live, oh, the horror. The floor is completely covered with mud and so are the tops of the dogs' crates. The edges of the walls and the washer and dryer are also paw-painted with mud. It's everywhere, including smeared all over the sliding glass doors in the dining area. No matter how many times I wipe the dogs' paws, they get dirty again. It's only November. We're in for many more months of rain. Ahhh!
I keep hearing the old folk song about the woman who spent her life trying to sweep the dirt out of her house, and then when she died, she was buried in dirt.
Chico went with us to hike in Mike Miller Park recently. Having never been anyplace like that, he was one excited pooch, dashing from tree to bush to deer droppings, dragging us along. He also got to visit the post office, but he didn't like that; the slippery floors remind him of the vet's office. Annie had to stay home because we haven't got a big enough crate yet. If loose, I'm pretty sure she'd eat the car from the inside out.
Speaking of dogs eating things, here's the damage report for November: one book, two pens, two balls, the board covering the hot tub cover they destroyed in October, two rope toys (each in less than a day), a comforter, a slipper, four towels, and a lacy white napkin we put out for Thanksgiving. They seem to have eaten my original damage list. I know there's more.
Finally, Chico, who got a taste for the stuff in the big coffee spill of '08 (don't ask) now knows how to turn the coffeepot on. He's still trying to figure out how to get water out of the spigot on the refrigerator door.
Unleashed in Oregon
Yes, there's a pun in there, but it's also the title of my newest blog, which celebrates the daily discoveries made by this California Oregonian. You can read it at http://unleashedinoregon.blogspot.com. I continue on with my Freelancing for Newspapers+ and Childless by Marriage blogs, too. How do I come up with all these words? Hey, I can do 500 words on anything anytime, and so can you. Just apply pants to chair and fingers to keyboard and don't get up until the screen is full of words.
Which reminds me. I'm always available for mentoring and private teaching. Click the Writer Aid button to the left.
Promotions and Publications
November was the month of the mini book tour for A Cup of Comfort for Families Touched by Alzheimer's. My booksignings, readings and interviews in Newport and Portland were successful, and it was fun to hang out with the other Cup of Comfort writers, all terrific people. Now I'm ready to relax a bit and take time for new writing and music. Of course it's the holidays so you can only relax so much, but I'm taking the easy road as much as possible.
I participated in Robert Lee Brewer's Poem a Day challenge for November. I missed a few days, but still came out with 41 new poems. It's interesting how I was overflowing with poetry at the beginning of the month and the gush reduced to a trickle by Thanksgiving. Those last poems probably aren't my best, but hey, I stuck with it despite constant distractions. Brewer has a daily blog in which he offers interviews and advice about poetry. During November, he provided a new prompt every day, but this month he goes back to prompts every Wednesday. They're usually good ones.
Oregon Coast writer activities:
The Oregon Coast Chapter of Willamette Writers will hold its Christmas celebration Dec. 2 at 6:30 p.m. at the Newport Library. Not much notice, I know. All the more reason to join Willamette Writers and get the newsletters and e-mail reminders. Anyway, the plan is to celebrate our successes, sell and sign books, enjoy an open mike, and nosh on holiday treats. No reservations required. Just come. For more information, e-mail me at suelick@charter.net or Dorothy Mack at dmack@centurytel.net.
At our Jan. 6 meeting, Matt Love will lead a writing workshop to produce 200-word stories for the “Oregon 150 Stories” collection. Come and share your Oregon experience.
Meanwhile, Writers on the Edge is taking a break in December, but will start the 2009 Nye Beach Writers Series with poets Carlos Reyes and Travis Champ. The program at the Newport Visual Arts Center starts at 7 p.m. Admission is $5.
If you're looking for Christmas gifts, choose something from the local authors section at one of your local independent bookstores. By buying books by hometown writers, you help both the writers and the bookstores. These days, both are struggling to survive.
Book Report
Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo, Alfred A. Knopf, 2007. This book is long. Too long and complicated by too many stories going on at once. In fact, it's difficult for me to summarize the situation. We start and end with Lou Lynch, a shy easy-going guy who gets locked in a trunk by a bunch of bullies. After that he has these "spells," where he mentally shuts down. But the story extends far beyond Lou to his parents, his uncle, his friend Bobby, his wife Sarah, an old black guy named Gabriel Mock and all of their families. We trade narrators, go back and forth in time, and move between present and past tense and first and third person. In some ways, Lou is a non-protagonist narrator, the neighbor to Bobby's Gatsby. In 525 pages of small print, a lot happens, but this book is much more about character than plot. We look at how even the most wicked men have kindness in them and even the kindest harbor evil thoughts. Overall, the characters are likeable and interesting, and Russo plants enough hints of future problems and revelations to keep you reading, but prepare yourself for a long read.
Younger Women Older Men by Beliza Ann Furman, Barricade Books, 1995. Being in a May-December marriage myself, I expected to find this book fascinating, but most of it centered on very young women married to very rich men and their lives in high society. Trophy wives. Even for a 13-year-old book, so much of it rings excessively sexist and dated. We need to cater to his desires so he will support us and dole out his money to us? Come on. I did find the chapter regarding younger wives who give up having babies because their older husbands don’t want them to be very accurate. I could also identify with the financial issues and end-of-life concerns. And yes, some of the bit about stepchildren seemed a bit familiar. However, the writing is bad, filled with clichés and frequent grammar gaffes. Furman, who started a support group called W.O.O.M., Wives of Older Men, and often calls her members Woomies, has done her research, but I would hope for a better book on such an important topic.
We Can't Stay Together for the Dog by Jennifer Keene, TFH Publications, 2008. I interviewed Keene a year or two ago for my book on childless women, looking for answers about whether people treat their pets as children. I didn't get much for my book out of the interview or out of this book—except for the fact that she refers to pet owners as Mom and Dad throughout—but there is a lot of useful information for dog owners here, even if you're not getting a divorce. Plus the photos and design are gorgeous.
Shimmering Images: A Handy Little Guide to Writing Memoir by Lisa Dale Norton, St. Martin's Griffin, 2008. Unfortunately, "little" is the key word in the title to this slim book by a lovely writer and teacher. Most of the content is so general as to be useless. However, her concepts of shimmering images and memory maps do work as guides to writing memoir, and the book is certainly a positive push for those hesitant to start writing pieces about their lives.
End Notes
Happy birthday to Aunt Edna Sousa, who is due to celebrate her 100th birthday on Dec. 27. She's 99.9 years old and still looking good. Cheers to everyone else celebrating birthdays or special occasions this month. Fred and I will have been together for 25 years on Dec. 17. Not married, but together.
We're deep into the Christmas season around here. Newport is all lit up, and I'll be joining the wandering musicians in Nye Beach over the new few weekends. I've got the Christmas cards done and the gifts well underway. Whatever you do during the holidays, enjoy it. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a wonderful new year in which we find peace and prosperity once more.
Hugs,
Sue
All contents copyright 2008
Sue Fagalde Lick.
If you would like me to send you a link to this newsletter every month, e-mail me at suelick@charter.net. Feel free to forward the newsletter to friends who might be interested. Also contact me if you want me to stop sending the link.
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