Unfond Farewell

 

December 2020 Blog

Not sorry to see 2020 go. In fact, good riddance, bad rubbish.

 

Unfond Farewell: A Haiku

One useless, cruel year

Coming to its end. Hope the

New Year brings better.

by Ann Wilmer-Lasky

 

Not given eternity, I have but the rest of my life to get things done. So I’m putting all my eggs in next year’s basket.

I am sitting outside again, smiling at my platitudes. Hey, at least it’s a reason to smile. This has been one unbelievable year. It’s not like any other in my lifetime and I’ve lived a long, long life.

I would take a deep breath and shake this year off as December’s passing brings it to a close, but it’s not safe to take a deep breath. It may not be safe to do so for a long time yet.

I’m betting a lot of us will be happy to see this year go away and take its nightmares with it. We’re for sure hoping 2021 will restore our health, our outlook and our sanity. I’m not certain I could stand another year like 2020 has been.

So, I’m spending December planning for the future. During November’s NaNoWriMo, I wrote most of the sequel to the “Seasons of Sam Rock”, tentatively titled “Ravens’ Roost”. I may finish it in December, or I may just work on a myriad other things that need doing sooner rather than later.

I’m also hoping for the freedom to go places and do things outside the house besides grocery shopping and doctors’ appointments. Maybe even have access to a viable vaccine that may end at least part of the nightmare that is 2020. And it really would be nice to go somewhere without donning a mask and gloves.

With 2020 behind me, I’d like to embark on a new and more productive cycle of writing, editing, publishing and marketing. I may spend part of December planning for that. It’s hard to keep to a schedule if you don’t make one first.

I am thinking of publishing at least three novels, two or three new Haiku chapbooks and lots of audio book releases from my print and ebook back catalog.

First novel, of course, will be the “Seasons of Sam Rock” sequel. Then, probably “The  Early Years” prequel to the “The Chronicles of Acqueria”. Not sure what will follow that,

Then I have another full chapbook of Haiku for a “Global Warning” sequel, and I’ve been collecting Haiku for a chapbook on my personal outlook on life. (Not sure that won’t be mostly depressing.)

I’ve been promised the completion of my “Seasons of Sam Rock” audio book for Christmas. It will join the already available “       The Cottage”. Also looking forward to putting the “Aurora UFO Incident” out there and maybe the “Black Oak” series.

I might even make the “The Castleweaver” poetry series available in audio, I’ve been trying for a couple of years to figure out how to  make an ebook version available. It’s rather difficult considering all the artwork involved. But it should be doable. I’ll have to keep studying that.

So, there’s plenty to do in 2021, assuming we can successfully get  past 2020. I hope my faithful readers and fellow writers can look forward to a good new year as well.

I, for one, will ring in the new year joyfully, after burying 2020 somewhere in a landfill, where it belongs.

If you’re still looking for books for gifts, all mine are available on Amazon for your gifting pleasure.

https://www.amazon.com/author/annwilmerlasky

Until next time, read and write to your heart’s content. It will help pass the lonely hours of isolation and quarantine.

As always, I welcome your reactions and responses to any of my blogs. I love to hear from my readers. Also, here are links to my Twitter and Facebook accounts, if you care to share your thoughts with me there or look for my publication announcements:

https://twitter.com/awlasky

https://www.facebook.com/ann.wilmerlasky

Hopefully, this month we may enjoy some holiday festivities and next month will find us able to enjoy our lives even more. Let’s keep the faith.

 

 

 

 

Stop the World

 

November 2020 Blog

Not even sure whom I am petitioning anymore. Doubt anyone has the answer these days.

 

Cease and Desist: A Haiku

Stop the world and let

Me off, or barring that, give

Respite from the storms.

by Ann Wilmer-Lasky

 

But I do have #NaNoWriMo in November. So, for one whole month I can lose myself in writing my next novel.

I am sitting outside in the warm sunshine right now, which wouldn’t be strange except that we had eight inches of snow yesterday from a constant snow from two days before. Now it’s supposed to be over 70F in a couple of days.

It would be no wonder that everyone is getting sick, except for the fact that everybody has been getting sick for the last six months or so from that thing that has been going around that shall remain nameless from now on.

Not sure what my writing project for #NaNoWriMo will be. I should be able to finish the two novels I’ve been working on for the last two years – the sequel to “The Seasons of Sam Rock” and the prequel to my “The Chronicles of Acqueria: Blood Moon Treachery”. A combined 50,000 words should do it.

I am currently basking in the glory of my newly released Haiku collection, “Global Warning: Climate in Crisis”:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KWQ6SHK/

For the remainder of the year, I am donating $1.00 from each book sold to https://www.planetbee.org/

They are dedicated to the education of children and adults on just how important bees are to our survival on this world.

At least I will feel that we have done something positive for the environment besides throwing words at the problem.

I hope all my readers and fellow writers have survived the Summer, and are heading into the Fall and Winter in good shape. We will need all our survival skills and a lot of luck to come through to the Spring intact.

I know a lot of things have to change before we can breathe easy again and expect to get some joy and satisfaction out of life. I won’t go into what changes we need to make.

All of my friends know where I stand and of what I write. I’m hoping the normal that was my life for so many years may be so again, and soon. I would like to spend my waning years with a modicum of the hope and pleasant anticipation for the future I grew accustomed to.

I smile just thinking about how I used to welcome the thought of retirement and leisure and travel and restaurants and concerts and ballgames and crowds – all maskless and gloveless. And, oh how I would love to hug someone.

Until next time, read and write to your heart’s content. My eclectic collection of reading matter may take your mind off things. Enjoy.

https://www.amazon.com/author/annwilmerlasky

As always, I welcome your reactions and responses to any of my blogs. I love to hear from my readers. Also, here are links to my Twitter and Facebook accounts, if you care to share your thoughts with me there or look for my publication announcements:

https://twitter.com/awlasky

https://www.facebook.com/ann.wilmerlasky

Hopefully, next month will find us all in the mood for some holiday festivities, as this month has not. Not anticipating any family gatherings or even going out to our favorite restaurant to enjoy their wonderful cuisine. Maybe some take-out, but somehow it’s just not the same.

 

 

 

Dichotomy

 

October 2020 Blog

Nothing ever changes; nothing remains the same.

 

Dichotomy: A Haiku

Morning has broken,

Yet the night will not yield, and

The darkness prevails.

by Ann Wilmer-Lasky

 

I stand by that first sentence, seeming conflict or not.

I am sitting outside watching the birds scouring the ground for seeds and nuts. (The pecan tree is providing its harvest.) Even the hummingbirds are still visiting their summer nectar. (I provide a colorful feeder, since I cannot grow flowers on this Godforsaken piece of earth.) The squirrels are cavorting up and down the tree trunk, doing their Fall dance before they retire to their nesting place.

All appears to be well. The long, hot  Summer has broken and Fall seems to be on its way.

But all is not well. We are warmer than ever, and all of us are not well. We are sicker than ever – in body and spirit.

Amidst all this, I am launching my latest Haiku collection, “Global Warning: Climate in Crisis”.

 

With its release, I hope to sway some of the folks who may not yet realize that our Earth is in deep trouble, for there’s not much mention of it these days. I’m not sure we even realize how deeply our nation is in trouble with the current pandemic. There are so many other distractions out there. (The upcoming presidential election sitting front and center.)

So, we have been here before in history, and we have never been here before. I see it all as a matter of how a pendulum swings. Either the pendulum will swing in ever widening arcs until it breaks away and flies off in who knows what direction, or – most likely (as pendulums are wont to do) it will swing in ever decreasing arcs as it loses its momentum until it stops dead, fini, complet, the end.

I would hope for better. I would hope we all would vote our conscience in the upcoming election and somehow get back to a more normal life with the health and wellness of all humankind and this planet Earth as our all-consuming concerns – or is that too altruistic of me?

     I guess this book couldn’t be released at a more appropriate time, as we are at the crossroads of a need to react or be doomed. The tipping point is fast closing in on us. As I say in the book, I may not see the demise of life on this Earth, but perhaps our children’s children’s children will. And that is an atrocious legacy for us to leave. One that should haunt us all in whatever final resting place we languish in until we are reunited with the rest of the stardust in the Universe before we wink out into nothingness.

Cheery thought, isn’t it? On a lighter note – Wait, there is no lighter note. Okay, let’s create one.  Let’s look forward to the upcoming season of holidays, and make them the best we can, under the circumstances.

I’m all for eating the Halloween candy we can’t give away, and stuffing the turkey anyway. We can eat leftovers for weeks, if we freeze them. Then sing carols through our masks, send presents and virtual love and hugs everywhere to everyone. Let’s all keep in touch the best way we know how – with the click of a button and a keystroke.

I will push the publish button in the next few days and announce on Twitter and Facebook when it’s up and running and what charity I will be donating a dollar to for every book sold in October. Look for the announcement.

Until next time, read and write to your heart’s content. My eclectic collection of reading matter may take your mind off things. Enjoy.

https://www.amazon.com/author/annwilmerlasky

As always, I welcome your reactions and responses to any of my blogs. I love to hear from my readers. Also, here are links to my Twitter and Facebook accounts, if you care to share your thoughts with me there or look for the publication announcement:

https://twitter.com/awlasky

https://www.facebook.com/ann.wilmerlasky

Hopefully, next month will find us all on the mend and on the upside of this thing, but that’s what I said the last few months, and it didn’t happen yet. However, I am still hoping...

 

 

Sakes Alive!

 

September 2020 Blog

Egads! Oh, my goodness! What a year this has been, and it isn’t over yet.

 

Sakes Alive: A Haiku

Amazing – how long

You can hold your breath waiting

For that other shoe.

by Ann Wilmer-Lasky

 

You just know it’s going to fall; you just don’t know when.

We may just yet survive the year 2020; I’m just not sure how we’re going to do it.

It’s been a toxic year for so many reasons. It’s been hard not to get burned in one way or another.

Fires are raging both literally and figuratively. Besides the devastation of the wildfires raging in the west and the Amazon, we have people raging out of control across America. And then there’s the pandemic. Haven’t seen much control over that lately, either.

In the midst of all of this, we are trying to live and make a living. Both of which are becoming more and more difficult to do as time goes by.

So who has the wherewithal to sit and read? Or to even write? Some of us do, and some of us must.

To that end, “Global Warning” will be published in September. I wish I could say it will take our minds off of “things” for awhile, but that’s not what it’s designed to do.

It’s actually designed to make us worry about one or two more things –  the “Climate Crisis” we have been ignoring since the pandemic hit, and just maybe  the current acidic political climate.

While we are ignoring the above, we are close to registering what may be the hottest summer in history, with the hottest day (130 degrees F) ever recorded in Death Valley, California. Epic storms are devastating our land with their winds and their deluges. (If only we could put that water to good use, dousing the over 500 wildfires raging in California alone.)

And then there’s the “Climate Crisis” among people. We can’t hug, we can’t shake hands. We can’t even breathe on one another. We are, however, in the wake of the lack of niceties, becoming far more hostile toward one another, unforgiving and intolerant. This may be the most devastating crisis of all, and will surely need to be overcome before we can accomplish other needed changes. At this point one can only hope for the best – literally – as it seems we are not in control of our own future. If we were, I would like to think that cooler, more intelligent heads would prevail.

But I digress from announcing the release of my latest Haiku collection. I plan on announcing its release date on my weekly Twitter chat forum, #CelebsForSmallBiz. We’re live on Fridays at 2:00 PM MDT.       It’s in the late evening in the UK from where it originates.

If you can’t catch the chat, I’ll also post it on Facebook once it’s cast in concrete (or relatively so). Look for it on Amazon around the 22^nd of September, maybe with the coming of Fall.

In the meantime, please be well and please be as kind to the people and the animals and the earth all around you as you possibly can. Kindness matters more than ever now.

Until next time, read and write to your heart’s content. My eclectic collection of reading matter may take your mind off of things. Enjoy.

https://www.amazon.com/author/annwilmerlasky

As always, I welcome your reactions and responses to any of my blogs. I love to hear from my readers. Also, here are links to my Twitter and Facebook accounts, if you care to share your thoughts with me there:

https://twitter.com/awlasky

https://www.facebook.com/ann.wilmerlasky

Hopefully, next month will find us all on the mend and on the upside of this thing, but that’s what I said last month, and it didn’t happen. However, I am still hoping...

 

 

 

Sh*tty! Sh*tty! Bang! Bang!

August 2020 Blog

I thought this would be over by now, but it seems, it’s barely started.

Teetering: A Haiku

Difficult it is

To remain sane as the world

Around you crumbles.

by Ann Wilmer-Lasky

Any little nudge and it’s over the edge. We have been buffeted about on several fronts, not the least of which is the ongoing and still escalating Covid-19 crisis.

It’s a difficult thing to realize that as a nation we cannot master the self-control necessary to bring this catastrophe under control. And that goes from the top down. Our cardboard captain is awash in a contaminated sea in a rudderless boat with ever-enlarging holes in it. Or so it seems.

I couldn’t even make a believable horror story out of that scenario.

Unfortunately, the things we are ignoring while dealing (or not dealing) with this pandemic are not going away. When all is said and done, they will rear up and kick us in the head.

First and foremost of these “things” is the “Climate Change” crisis. It’s on the back burner, just waiting to flare up and consume the Earth.

Okay, maybe that’s a little over the top, but give me a break. I am a poet. I can always claim “poetic license”.

My Haiku Chapbook, “Global Warning” will be published shortly. It will debut to little fanfare and probably little impact, but I am bound and determined that it be published.

I have little to say this month, except to hope all my friends and fellow authors are well and safe and will continue to be so.

After posting this, I’ll get back to that drawing board and finish formatting “Global Warning”. Who knows, maybe I’ll even find the inspiration to work on my “Acqueria” prequel or “Sam Rock” sequel. I have to do something to take my mind off of what’s going on in the world.

Maybe publishing my self-reflective magnum opus Haiku chapbook will lift my spirits, even if I don’t get it out by August 22^nd, the 100^th anniversary of my mentor Ray Bradbury’s birth. But I will get it done. I do still have some pride.

In the meanwhile, my husband and I will try to keep a low profile, stay home as much as possible, and wear a mask and gloves when we do go out.

Hopefully, we will see a slowdown in the virus that plagues us. Maybe we will even see a vaccine sometime soon. We can only hope, and hope is one of the few things we have left – that and maybe a prayer or two.

Until next time, read and write to your heart’s content. My eclectic collection of reading matter may take your mind off of things. Enjoy.

https://www.amazon.com/author/annwilmerlasky

As always, I welcome your reactions and responses to any of my blogs. I love to hear from my readers. Also, here are links to my Twitter and Facebook accounts, if you care to share your thoughts with me there:

https://twitter.com/awlasky

https://www.facebook.com/ann.wilmerlasky

Hopefully, next month will find us all on the mend and on the upside of this thing, and I promise I will check for comments before next month. :)

Life Isn’t Fun Anymore!

July 2020 Blog

It’s now just a matter of survival, and apparently, it can always get darker.

Mirthless: A Haiku

Laughter is a sound

Seldom heard in the bleakness

Encompassing us.

by Ann Wilmer-Lasky

Yet again, nothing has gone as planned. I have spent a lot of my sleepless night time contemplating things like – do we deserve happiness? I don’t know the answer, but I sure do know that we don’t deserve such a sh*tload of unhappiness. It’s like Mercury is in constant retrograde. By the way, Mercury is retrograde until July 15^th. That surely doesn’t help.

It seems life is now one great big game of Russian Roulette, and you know there is a bullet in the chamber somewhere. If you pull the trigger often enough, eventually you’ll find it.

According to a scene in the movie “Psycho”, “you can’t buy happiness”, but you can “buy off unhappiness”. Lately, we can’t even afford to buy a lottery ticket, where for a few hours or minutes you can dream of the chance for a better life.

It’s gotten to the point where all the “feel good” platitudes in the world can’t help anymore, and it’s getting harder and harder to work on publishing a book which seems to little matter anymore.

But I plod on, and I plan on. “After “Global Warning” is published, I’ll work on publishing a self-reflective Haiku chapbook by the 100^th anniversary of Ray Bradbury’s birth in honor of the man who once told me that I was a writer. I’ll never forget that.

Then I want to publish the prequel to “The Chronicles of Acqueria” and the sequel to “Seasons of Sam Rock”.

That should take my mind off everything else that’s going on, but I’m not sure it will. Although, I am pretty much physically isolated from the rest of the world, it constantly creeps in through the media. I don’t particularly care to keep so well informed, but then I don’t feel comfortable being uninformed either.

So, day by day, I continue to slough on, which has been my wont to do until I no longer can.

I will go to bed tonight almost assured that I will wake up again in the morning and continue on. As long that still brings a smile to my face, I’ll be okay.

This blog this month is shorter than usual, not because I have nothing more to say, but more because I really don’t want to dwell on this topic.

I hope this month finds my faithful readers and fellow writers well and safe. I understand there is a lot more reading and writing going on, so that’s a good thing.

So, until next time, read and write to your heart’s content. I offer a wide variety of reading material for your enjoyment:

https://www.amazon.com/author/annwilmerlasky

As always, I welcome your reactions and responses to any of my blogs. I love to hear from my readers. Also, here are links to my Twitter and Facebook accounts, if you care to share your thoughts with me there:

https://twitter.com/awlasky

https://www.facebook.com/ann.wilmerlasky

As I post this, it appears that COVID_19 is indeed spreading at an accelerated level. Hopefully, science will prevail, and we will soon get a handle on the problem.

What a Month We’ve Had!

June 2020 Blog

As I write this, I am waiting for Space X to launch. It will be the first American venture into space in nine years. I am praying it goes well. We need something to go right, right now.

Fair Wind: A Haiku

I would the breeze could

Blow ill-will, disease afar

And good be anchored.

by Ann Wilmer-Lasky

Still, nothing has gone as planned.  The world has descended further into chaos. Not only do we have a grossly underrated planet-wide pandemic to worry about, the U.S. is currently under siege.

We are rapidly devolving into anarchy, sparked by a single heinous act of abuse of power. And all that’s happening seems to be fomented by the prevalent attitude from the highest of positions.

So,  who can concentrate on writing, editing and publishing during all of this? Surprisingly enough, I have made great strides toward publication of “Global Warning”. I am within weeks (maybe days) of getting it all together.

Writing and editing on the Sam Rock sequel and the Chronicles of Acqueria prequel? Not so much. Kind of hard to slip into other realities with such a persistent, horrendous real world constantly in your face.

I can’t see anything getting easier anytime soon with the months rolling by and a divisive election looming before year’s end.

Perhaps, I should just keep my head down and dive into my projects, but I feel it would be irresponsible not to keep abreast of what’s happening.  If only for my own health and safety and that of  my family.

No matter what your politics, we need to unite and promote peace and harmony. Cooperation is not a bad word, neither is compromise. And it’s about time the needs of the many really outweighed the needs of the few.  (Remember, Spock died for that premise.)

On a more local and immediate note, I badly need a haircut. Salons are opening on a limited basis starting June 1^st in my state. One probably needs to make an appointment and very few will be served at one time, but I will celebrate when I can get in. And I’m considering getting a  boy-cut, so I don’t have to worry about it for a while.

Next, I can’t wait for the opening of my favorite restaurant in Roswell, “Peppers Grill and Bar”. I will be there with bells on, regardless of the restrictions. They make a great “California Burger” with guacamole on it.  My  mouth is watering as I write this.

I would like to go where I want when I want, but I am afraid that won’t be for a long time.

In the meantime, I am glued to CNN, watching the protests. I understand there are demonstrations in over 30 cities across the nation. I have never seen anything like this in my lifetime.

In fact, just this year (and it’s only 5 months old) I have seen so much I have never seen before – regarding anarchy, raging pandemic, and a general nastiness. It’s all unprecedented.

I’m also sure, when this dies down, we will again discover irreparable damage to our environment. Although, the worldwide shut down of so much seems to have improved air quality throughout major metropolitan areas. We can be thankful that, I guess. But then, I’m sure it won’t last long once we fire everything up again.

I hope all my faithful readers and fellow writers are well and safe at this writing. I wish us all a summer of wellness and prosperity, but I realize that is extremely optimistic.

It seems the Space X launch has gone well and is on its way to being a success. I salute all the  men and women  who have afforded us the one moment of happy triumph in the midst of all this pandemonium.

I hope  I will have better news about better times to blog about next month, but I’m not holding my breath until it comes true. I’m now watching the police in Chicago (joined by the State Police) using tear gas against protestors turned destructive rioters. I’m done for now. I’m turning on a  PBS  show about early rock and roll.

Until next time, sit back relax and enjoy a good book.  I have several to offer:

https://www.amazon.com/author/annwilmerlasky

As always, I welcome your reactions and responses to any of my blogs. I love to hear from my readers. Also, here are links to my Twitter and Facebook accounts, if you care to share your thoughts with me there:

https://twitter.com/awlasky

https://www.facebook.com/ann.wilmerlasky

As I post this, the lockdown is gradually being lifted, but there are still concerns for the spreading of the virus, maybe soon on an accelerated level. I have yet to become stark raving mad, but I am getting closer. Maybe working on “Global Warning” will help.