Since I work with words in the day job as well as in my fiction endeavors, there are times when I get tired of them all spinning nonstop in my head. This is especially true in these days of hunkering down "in place," and trying to live the "new normal"— which is constantly shifting and anything but normal!  When I need to escape, I go for a walk. I don't go far, usually just around my VERY suburban neighborhood. (I occasionally walk downtown, but that ends up stressing me out since so many folks seem to think the "new normal" equates to "let's just pretend this whole pandemic thing doesn't exist.")  To calm my jibbering, always-in-overdrive mind, I walk, try to erase words from my mind, and photograph what I see. In other words(!!), I take a short, nonverbal holiday and focus on the visual gifts the everyday world has to offer. Here's a sample of the sort of images I take: You can view the photos I ta...

That's what the governor is calling it here in Colorado: Safer at Home. I'm fine with that. Shopping during senior hours on occasion, but mostly sticking to curbside pickup or online shopping with delivery suits me fine.  I never got a big thrill from grocery shopping anyway. Or crowds. I would have made a pretty good hermit. Anyway, this post is about what I do when I'm not working on writing or writing-related tasks. Hmmm. Because my big goal for 2020 is to FINISH! those neglected writing projects—or delete/shred them if unworthy of further attention—it’s hard for me to come up with a lot of activities that are not in some way writing related. That's where all my excitement is these days. But there are a few non-writing things I sneak into my “safer at home” lifestyle. Back in March and April, I spent extra time in the kitchen, baking and trying new meat and casserole recipes. That got old in a hurry, especially when I stepped on the scales and saw the uni...