a convergence of thanks ...

It seems like, in the last month, I've been shaking my head and saying, "Man, am I lucky or what?"

A friend's husband died suddenly. He found out one week he had cancer and two weeks later he died. He was 52 years old.

My uncle died. He was in good physical health but he had Alzheimer's and he was starting to drift away from us all. He was hospitalized one week and died the next.

I was in Iowa for the funeral and a week later they had catastrophic floods -- and this is catastrophic for everyone, because Iowa feeds the world. We're all going to feel the pinch because of this for years to come.

I was on a group outing yesterday and we went to the Arboretum. One of my co-workers and I climbed, walked, examined, and moved around for at least an hour before taking the trolley ride around the grounds. Another co-worker is very obese and can't move well, and she had to wait for us in the main building while the rest of us explored. Man, am I thankful to have my health.

Perhaps diasters/calamities like this are meant to make us stop and take an account of where we are. I'm relatively healthy, my home is intact, my food source is safe, I have clean water, my loved ones are safe, and I have a good job. I am not going to bitch about my husband's eccentricities, gas prices, food prices, or property taxes: I've GOT my husband safe with me, I've GOT a house, I've GOT clean food, and I've GOT a car.

So many don't.

It's good to keep that in mind ....

How a writer's mind works ....

There's a natural disaster in my home town (major flooding), which I've been following closely on the news. In addition to my natural shock and dismay at seeing familiar landmarks be innundated with water, I'm also making notes.

That's what writers do, you know? We see something and thing, "Hmm. I can use that in a book." We're not trying to be cold-hearted or anything -- we see the human side to the disaster and we empathize. But we also recognize interesting data for our stories, and want to capture it while we can.

This whole Midwest flooding event has given me great ideas for my Big Book (the one I plan to write when I get all these other books out of my head). All those things I had a hard time imagining? They're happening right now. All I need to do is take notes, stretch my imagination a tiny bit more, and I'll have some great plot points.

So I guess that does answer that old question. Does life imitate art, or does art imitate life?

In my case, art will definitely imitate life....

The best laid plans ....

Well, I was supposed to have a dinner tomorrow night, but I'm not sure if we'll be gathering or not. Big weather is slated to come in, and I don't want folks driving on the roads-under-construction when we're having a flash flood watch.

This is something of a metaphor for my writing, too. I was buzzing along on my WIP when I took a minor detour into another book (brainstorming a new plot). I worked on that for a while now I'm back to my WIP. It's odd, but taking that detour came at exactly the right time because I feel re-energized on my WIP and have a good sense of where it's going, plot-wise.

Now if I could just figure out my dinner plans ...

New books are a lot of effort

You think writing the book is work? Try promoting it! I've got to get out on the loops, post excerpts, chat with people, update my web site, update my blog (here), update my other blogs (MySpace, LiveSpace, BookPlace, CrimeSpace) ....

The list goes on. You'll note that the picture of my book has goofy colors. I'm not sure why. I've tried loading it twice, and both times it was goofy. I'll try tomorrow since Blogger is goofy today.

So I'm back in the swing of promotion. I've got a short window of opportunity for concentration on this one because I have another book coming out in July. So I want to hit the loops now with this one then hit the loops with the other one in mid-July.

I'll try to upload a new picture tomorrow, when Blogger isn't burping. If you want to see the real cover, go to http://www.jayellwilson.com/.

Still a dilemma ... somewhat

I saw one baby raccoon yesterday when I got home. He/she stumbled out of the woods, saw me, made that 'bleat' noise and beat a retreat. A wobbly retreat, but a retreat. The cat food I put out was gone -- did Baby eat it or not? Not sure.

I called the Wildlife Rehab center and they confirmed what I suspected: DO NOT HANDLE RACCOONS. Many of them carry a ringworm that's fatal to many animals and humans. It's in their poop and since coons aren't the tidiest of creatures, who knows where the poop is? Since the critter is still alive, there's a good chance it's been weaned but probably too soon (that is, Mom either abandoned it or got hurt and can't care for it). The Wildlife people and no humane society will come out to capture it. The DNR will come out to shoot it if it's obviously ill.

So I've compromised: I'll put a can of food out when the food disappears. I'll leave my shoes outside, use disposable gloves to touch any dishes, and generally fence off the area so the critter won't stray. If it lives, well, so be it. If not, well so be it.

In a perfect world, I could grab the baby, take care of it, and release it (sort of a Free Willy scenario). But I'm worried about disease, my pets, and my health. I'm willing to give Father Darwin a push, but not a shove, I guess.