Summer has Begun in Sunny Florida!

I'm devastated, just devastated. My writing group is disbanding for the summer months. We won't meet again until August 23rd. As I finish this book, I am going to soooo miss them.

Apparently, summer does happen in sunny Florida. People are going home/north for the summer, or some are going to be traveling for most of the summer months. It does not make a difference if we have more sunny days than not, summer is here.

If I were north, flowers would be planted, lawn furniture pulled out from the shed and cleaned off, lawn mower and tools pulled out and cleaned, outside spigots uncovered and hoses attached, outside windows cleaned off after the winter freeze, talking with neighbors over the fences, walking outside on clean roads. That is the beginning of summer in the north. Here, that is our everyday. I live in summer year round. What do they do here in the summer? What are the rituals, the rites of passage?

I have no clue. Even though I have been here for nearly two years, this is my first summer as a full-time resident. Maybe I will get that stain glass piece finished! Maybe I will lay at the pool or on the beach for the summer months. Certainly, I will finish my last story and start the publishing process.

Today's writing group meeting was phenomenal. Penny Fletcher, award winning journalist and author of at least three books, was our guest speaker. She was there to answer our questions on publishing our work, detailing some of the perks of self-publishing. Well, I knew that I was going to publish my book that way, so I had already researched the subject before I knew she was going to speak to the group. After listening to her, it only instilled the idea further into my quest of seeing a book published. I am so ready for this dream to become a reality.

I am working on my last story, and although I am having some difficulties with finding the correct words for this story, I did have a nice compliment for what I did read today to the group. One of men in the group said that my writing this story reminded him of Sherwood Anderson's "Winesburg, Ohio" and how Anderson could get inside the heads of his characters. Now, I need to read that book to see what he is talking about. I would imagine I have read it before during all my studies, but I need to be refreshed. Maybe I haven't read the book, I will soon find out.

I know I have missed my self-imposed deadline of April 30th, but I am so close, so close. Last story, half written, all researched, searching for the right words. Working on all. Summer is here and dreams come true. What more can a girl ask for?

Until tomorrow...have a great day