Buried

I done been kilt and buried!

Or at least it's felt that way over the past couple of weeks. I've been up to my neck and a bit beyond with various projects and weather worries. So grateful that we get a break from the severe weather for at least a few days. Storms are supposed to head this way again on Wednesday, but so far, the outlook isn't as scary as it's been.

Here in my town, we've had a lot of hail, high winds, and an incredible amount of rain, but no tornadoes, thank God. It's been the wettest May on record this year. Our three-year drought is broken in a major way. Not that summer couldn't change that, but right now, we're squishy moist.

As for projects, the anthology my writers group is publishing has been quite time consuming. More than last year's ever was. Mostly because of three people who have behaved unprofessionally -- not meeting deadlines, not editing their work, not playing well with others. One of them finally started to work with us, and that's turned out okay. Won't know about the other two until next week's meeting. At this point, I'm not sure I care about correcting their mistakes. Either they turn in proofed copies or they don't. If they were working with a magazine publisher in the "real world," they would have already been dropped. A bad part of me wants their work to be published as is so that people can laugh at them. And that might happen, particularly if they insist that their mistakes are inspired by God or the muse or whatever excuse they tell themselves to excuse their sloppy work. I am tired of arguing for a higher standard. I will say I think God knows how to punctuate a sentence and can correctly use verb tenses. He strikes me as that kind of deity.

I keep getting told that working with people is good for me as a human being. I think I've decided I don't want to get any better as a human being.

The other project is, of course, Murder by the Mile, which is finally -- thank God -- showing real progress. I don't know if I'm going to make my July 30 publication date, but it will come out in August if not in July. The story's a bit of a muddle, but slowly that's working out. This book was started in 2010. Three years is a long enough gestation. Time for it to be born. I will be so very grateful when I hold a copy of it in my hands.

Health -- Not doing as good on controlling my diabetes as I should. Mostly because I haven't walked as I should and haven't eaten as I should. I'm supposed to go back to the doctor this month. Not looking forward to it. Also, my arthritis has been giving me fits. Probably because I've been eating inflammatory foods -- too much sugar, bread, artificial sweeteners, etc. Just last week, I started to put myself back on the straight and narrow. More salads, no sweet drinks, more water, more exercise. I know the drill. Just have to find the backbone to do it.

Blogging -- Haven't been posting on any of my blogs. Been discouraged. Been tired. Mostly been whiny. Didn't have much to say that didn't sound gloomy. Hope that changes this week.

Writers group -- Other than the above mentioned problems, it's been going okay. We lost a dear member who passed away unexpectedly. She was my friend, and although she was 81, she was so lively and smart and seemingly healthy, her death hit us hard. She was one of my favorite people in the group. Maybe that's why I'm so disenchanted with it right now. The anthology, by the way, has some good writing in it. Several strong poems, memoirs, and short stories. That is pleasing.

Black dog -- Sigh. The cur has been chewing on me more than not. That's the way things go sometimes. I'll beat it back soon.

Hope you have a great week. Even when I don't post here, I'm still thinking of and rooting for you.