Tomorrow Has Come!

December 2021 Blog

Tomorrow Has Come: A Haiku

The time to do what

You put off is now. There will

Not be a better.

by Ann Wilmer-Lasky

 

Today is yesterday’s tomorrow. The day I swore I would do “it”. Time to do “it”.

Starting to work early on my New Year’s resolutions. I feel I need to catch up and get super-organized before I can’t.

The Sam Rock sequel will be published next Spring, but I need to schedule and complete several more following that. I need to have a prolific year.

I also need to get all my pesky personal life in order.  Medical, insurance, financial. You know, all that stuff – just in case.

Time I guess also to start downsizing my possessions. I really, really, really don’t need all this stuff I have accumulated over these many years. I could never move this stuff again – even if I had to move (which I’m not anticipating any time soon).

I have a closet full of stuff I’ll never wear again and drawers full of gadgets I’ve totally forgotten I have.

 There are also boxes that are still packed from my last move (surely full of things I don’t need and will never use again).

Also, I’ve kept receipts and papers well past their get-rid-of date. The only things I don’t want to want to part with are the original drafts from my novels. I’m kind of fond of those pages.

My biggest problem is that I can’t past making plans to get stuff done to actually doing stuff. You know, that old three-step deal; (1) Conceive, (2) Plan (3) Execute. I’m great in the first two – not so hot in the third.

I’m trying to go back to scheduling my time, but I’m having trouble sticking to it. There are always distractions – including not wanting to jump out of bed in the morning to get started.

     Maybe it will help with winter coming on. I won’t be spending so much time outside. Maybe if I’m looking at what needs to be done, I’ll tackle it sooner. And then there’s the storage spaces we’re paying for. It would be nice to be able to save money this coming year.

Perhaps I’ll even have more brain space to write more and get to publishing faster. Sur couldn’t hurt. Maybe even have some fun next year, when the pandemic is finally over and we can all breathe freely again.

Hard to imagine, but we’ve been at this for two long years now. We’re still wearing masks and keeping our distances. And now we even have  a new and possibly more easily contracted variant ”Omicron”. When will it end? Would sure like to see more people embrace the vaccines that are available. It sure couldn’t hurt.

We actually went out the other day to a restaurant to celebrate my birthday and my friend’s . We went to lunch at our favorite place, which used to be packed for lunch every day. Now, it’s nearly empty. They have even down-sized the menu, and it’s printed on one sheet of paper for a one-time only use. Everyone is still friendly, but there are a lot of new faces, and like everywhere else in town, they are hiring.

No one seems to have the staff now-a-days to service even the most limited clientele.

Well, here’s hoping for a brighter and better New Year. We certainly deserve one – world-wide – all we’ve all been through.

Here’s hoping for a milder, gentler winter also. Not looking forward to nasty weather on top of everything else.

Happiest of New Year’s to us all!

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, this month we can enjoy our holidays and next month will find us actually embracing in a great New Year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

With Some Urgency!

 November 2021 Blog

Point of Reference: A Haiku

I have only the

Rest of my life to do what

I want to get done.

by Ann Wilmer-Lasky

 

Not that I have anything ominous hanging over my head, I just have another birthday coming up. They seem to be piling up ever more quickly. I’m grateful that they still are, yet wary of their cumulative effect.

In honor of my upcoming birthday and in light of the fact that November is NaNoWriMo month, I will finish my Sam Rock sequel and publish forthwith. There will be some unexpected twists and turns and a lead in to the third and final book in the series.

I’ve done NaNoWriMo for so many years, I’ve lost count. It’s always a good time to start or end a project. For one full month, I can concentrate on little but writing  and not feel guilty about it. Kind of like a busman’s holiday. (Now, that’s an old reference.)

My #NaNoWriMo Mascot "Rhimo":

Not sure what next year will bring, but I just got my Pfizer booster, (got my flu and pneumonia shots last month) so I should be relatively safe from the bugs out there. Hopefully, I can concentrate the whole next year on my writing.  Many more sequels, prequels, and chapbooks to come.

Also thinking about downsizing in the possessions department. I have so much stuff I’ll never use again and certainly wouldn’t move if I ever did that again. Also, I have stuff that’s not worth passing on. So, I’ll be sorting into three piles: Keep, Toss, and Give Away. Hope the last two are way bigger than the first.

As 2021 winds down, I’d love to announce that the pandemic is winding down with it. I guess it is, but I thought we’d be beyond masks and distancing by now. I guess we’re not.

So many things I’m sure will not go back to the way they were. And that’s not all to the good. Don’t know when, if ever, the Supply Chain problem will be solved. I’ve heard also that it’s going to be a cold winter with heating fuels being scarce and expensive.  Guess I’d best stock up on woolies – they will probably become scarce as well.

Wish I could turn the world off and and sit in my garrett (or backyard) and write, bit I do have to deal with the real world occasionally. Maybe I can make it a little less often – although with all the lockdowns and shutdowns, I have been pretty isolated. I should have been able to write a “War and Peace” length novel by now.

I guess it’s a matter of concentration. It’s hard to concentrate on anything these days, and more and more things are flinging about ready, willing and able to distract me.

Too bad I’m not enjoying them all. The one thing that does bring me joy is writing. So, I’m going to check my supply of pens and paper and get at it.

I wish you all a happy holiday season, starting now. Of course, we must be safe and careful, and wary of things we seldom had to worry about about before. But we must surely find some joy in what we do. Or what’s the point?

Okay, so not going down that rabbit hole. Going to  poise my pens for better things.

See you all on the other side of Thanksgiving and before Christmas. Whether you read or write, please enjoy it.

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, this month we can enjoy our Thanksgiving and next month will find us looking forward to a Joyous Noel to be followed by the happiest of New Years.

 

If Not Now, When? If Not Me, Who?

 

October 2021 Blog

Point of Reference: A Haiku

“Strike while the iron is

Hot!” is lost now on those who

Neither brand nor iron.

by Ann Wilmer-Lasky

 

This is my month for old bromides. Along with the title, I’ll add: “Sufficient unto the day are the problems thereof.” To me, that’s far more dire than: “Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today.” My personal short version of them all is: “Now! Before it’s never!”

I probably should put these all on 3x5 cards and post them all over the house, but I never seem to “get around to it”.

I’ve heard these things all my life, and until lately, I’ve just brushed them off. Now, they seem more important and pressing than ever, since my time to “do it later” is becoming more and more restricted. Seems like “I’ve got the rest of my life” isn’t that much time any more.

And in whatever time I have left, I need to publish at least half-a-dozen more novels and an equal number of poetry chapbooks. Guess I better “get cranking”! (OK, we don’t do that anymore, either.)

How about “A stitch in time”? I never could figure out the rest of it – “saves nine” didn’t make much sense to me as a child and still doesn’t all these years later.

Some of these would work well in my Sam Rock novels. That’s the time period I remember them from, but probably not in many of my other novels. I include references to them in my Haiku chapbooks more as explanations to the past than anything.

But for most, I think I should “let sleeping dogs lie”, which is still a good idea for sleeping dogs. They have a tendency to snap when they are startled.

After the Sam Rock sequel is done, I’m thinking of putting together a “Life’s Lemons and Lemonade” chapbook on life as I know it. I’m sure a lot of bromides will find their way in, in some form or other. The more I think about it, the better it sounds. There’s sure been plenty of “Life’s Lemons” these last few years to provide a lot of “Lemonade”. Not much sweetener, though. We just do the best we can.

Hoping already for a better next year, even as I hear news about there being yet another Covid variant discovered. I’m ready for an end to it all already. In the meantime, I’m going nowhere and doing very little, I’ll keep writing. It does “pass the time” or “fill it” as Norman Bates says of his taxidermy. (One of my favorite movies – watching it in the background as we speak)

Think I’ll end this now and enjoy “Psycho” while keeping in mind the immortal lyrics “Enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think.”

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 on top of this thing, but that’s what I said the last several months, and it hasn’t happened yet. However, I am still hoping...

 

 

Nothing New Under the Sun

 

September 2021 Blog

Unchanged Melody: A Haiku

As the day dawns, there’s

Nothing new under the sun;

It sets as it rose.

by Ann Wilmer-Lasky

 

Almost two straight years of deadly pandemic, raging storms, endless fires, and angry people. Would love to see something new (and good) as the coming year looms, but I’m not holding my breath.

August has not seen a down-turn in any of the above-mentioned areas. Not sure September will either. But I’m back on track for getting the Sam Rock sequel published by the end of the year. Just a few more tweaks to the final plot points and then on to editing and preparing the manuscript for publication.

     Then I can start wrapping up some of my other projects. Eldreth really wants his novel finished. He says he really needs to be about his dastardly deeds. He hasn’t woven an enemy or a feckless lover into a living tapestry in ages. He’s just itching to get back to in that dungeon.

https://tinyurl.com/y9d8czj4

Come to think of it, I’m pretty much feeling like him down in that dungeon. I’m really tired of not feeling like going out and doing things. Again, I haven’t  been out to a restaurant in ages. Seems like the only time I get out now is for doctor’s appointments (when a doctor is available) and shopping. Even there, I’m beginning to rely more and more on Amazon. There’s not a lot you can’t get on Amazon these days – or somewhere else on line. Whatever you want seems to be only a Google away.

     I’m not sure if that’s good or bad these days. It’s surely convenient. And the choices are vast. Sometimes I just feel like throwing a dart and choosing that way. I’m sure I could get a good deal on darts somewhere.

     The weather here in Roswell has turned dry again. After an unprecedented monsoon season, we are hardly seeing a cloud in the sky. Our extended forecast day after day lately has been temperature in the mid-nineties for the next ten days out and no chance of precipitation.

I’m really looking forward to the Fall, assuming we actually have a Fall and don’t go straight to Winter again.

Seems we are having another year of unprecedented weather all over. Parts of the Earth are being consumed by fire while other parts are being inundated with raging waters.          Unless of course, you are California, which is running out of water and burning. There’s even smoke at the North Pole for the first time ever (due to fires in Siberia).

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KWQ6SHK/

Then there’s the melting ice caps with the release or long-frozen biological entities capable of hatching here-to-fore unknown diseases that will probably surpass Covid in  deadliness.

So far, I’ve seen little about the countries of the world coming together to combat what is undeniable Climate Change rapidly becoming an undeniable Climate Crisis. But then, the countries of the world don’t seem to come together much anymore about anything.

At the start of this year I thought things were going to get so much better, but two-thirds into it, it just seems more of the same with a slightly different cast. Also, I’ve really not seen any progress toward the next year being any different.

I guess I’ll just have to light a candle and hope for the best and do my part to make my little corner of the world the best I can.

Come to think of it, if we all do that, we will improve our little corners and perhaps overlap to help improve more and more expanding corners of the world. At least that is something to look forward to.

I guess I can end this with a smile on my face and a slightly brighter outlook on the near future. September may be better after all.

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

Also, please feel free to visit me at my Amazon Author Page:

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

 

 

 

 

Departure

 

August 2021 Blog

No Way: A Haiku

It may seem I’m not

Getting anywhere, yet I

Will not go nowhere.

by Ann Wilmer-Lasky

 

Stubborn, aren’t I?  As August starts on another rainy note, it also brings an upswing in Coronavirus cases again. My mind has grown tired of living in fear of its own life. I would have peace from this global hell of man’s creation.

I would have surcease of constant sorrow. I would have freedom from constant fear of death, either of mind or body. It also wouldn’t hurt to have freedom from the constant restrictions imposed in the battle to fight this pandemic for over one-and-a-half years.

I would have an end to it all.

I had a dream about nothingness last night and woke up with the tune and words to The Beatles “Nowhere Man” running through my muddled mind. Hence the above Haiku. In the dream, I was choosing a morbid dark-hued cloak with even darker symbols which I don’t remember clearly except for a dark maroon star (and I’m not even sure of its shape).

I also chose a pliable blue mask of a freakish cat face. It all might make a great horror novel some day, but I have no clue what any of it means.

     But that idea will have to wait until the completion of my many other projects . When will that time come?

Sooner than later, I promise. Starting today, I have promised to write every day. At least until the end of the year, if not forever. So far, such a pledge has worked well for me. I’ve posted at least one Haiku a day every day since January 1, 2014 and a blog on the first of every month since January 1, 2017.

So, next month’s blog will herald the progress I will have made during August. Should put me close to the end of the Sam Rock sequel. Would love to publish that by the end of the year, lest I publish no new book this year at all.

Other than that, there’s not much new in my world. Hard to have new experiences when there’s little you can go out and do, even with some of the restrictions being lifted. And sad to say that I’ve gotten used to not going anywhere and not doing much.

You’d think that I would  enjoy the isolation and write and write and write. But I always seem to run out of time or find some way to put I off until a tomorrow that seldom comes.

I so need to get beyond that and get back in the habit of writing ever day. It’s the only way I’m going to get things done what I need and want to do.

And to do that, I would best leave undone that which would waste my time – easier said than accomplished.

But, since I prefer not to be a “Nowhere Man”, I will give it another shot.  We’ll see what happens. We’ll see how far I can get.

July has also been brutal. Looking for so much better from August. Here’s hoping.

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

Also, please feel free to visit me at my Amazon Author Page:

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

 

 

Will She or Won’t She?

 

July 2021 Blog

Insurmountable: A Haiku

I have hit that wall

Over which I cannot climb,

Yet I keep trying.

by Ann Wilmer-Lasky

 

Does that make me noble, hopeless or just plain stupid?  As July starts on a rainy note (It’s actually Monsoon Season), I’m vacillating between “hanging it up” or “hanging in there”.

I’m suffering from a really bad case of Writer’s Block. Except for the blog and my daily Haiku, I haven’t made any progress in more than two months.

Sam Rock is not pleased. He wants his new adventures with Marie Delacroix to be published and soon. The natives of Acqueria are anxious to get their early story out there also. And there’s always Eldreth lurking in the shadows wondering why his story isn’t finished.

My muse sits and sulks. She wants us to go outside and write, but we can’t. It’s been too hot (well over 100°F) for most of the month or (lately) raining day and night. She says it’s no excuse, but she knows my inside voice is hampered by the slightest distractions.

And there are plenty of those: the computer, the TV and all the housework and organizing  that screams to be done.

It would be so easy to just hang it up and not make the effort, but I’m not sure the other stuff would get done anyway. And I certainly wouldn’t be any happier.

In fact, I’m happiest when I’m writing , so I guess I owe it to myself to keep at it. There’s always the chance my muse and I will connect, and the words will flow.

My not writing would not lead to a happy me.

This will be the shortest blog I have ever posted, but it’s a compromise with my muse. The alternative would be no blog at all this month, and I’ve posted faithfully since January 1, 2017. I don’t want to break my streak, Hoping for more and better news to report next month. Until then – keep the faith and keep well. Try to stay cool. That’s been difficult in our neck of the woods where the temperature having been north of 100 F° for a while now.

June has been brutal. July promises to be no less. Let’s hope August cools down, but I’m not holding my breath.

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

Also, please feel free to visit me at my Amazon Author Page:

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

 

 

 

 

Raining on My Own Parade

 

June 2021 Blog

Brass Ring: A Haiku

Happiness is a

Lifelong pursuit without a

Lifetime guarantee.

by Ann Wilmer-Lasky

 

I have never been a happy-go-lucky person, but I’d like to think I have had some fun in my life. Lately, it seems, “I’m getting too old for this sh*t” has become my theme song.

I am sitting out in the sunshine between storms writing this. The sun’s warmth feels wonderful, but the re-gathering clouds loom ominously. Kind of like a metaphor for my life now.

Truly, I feel I am in a race against time to pour my remaining words out into the ether. And I seem to be losing that race.

I have no one to blame but myself. I just don’t seem to be up to the challenge anymore. “That which needs to be done” always seems better done tomorrow than today, even though I realize tomorrow is not a given and today needs to better embraced.

But then, this has been my theme for quite a while, hasn’t it? I’m beginning to wonder if I can change. Perhaps I’m afraid the if I complete things (or even a thing)  that will be the end. Foolish,for sure, but still within the realm of real truth.

I’d like to prove myself wrong about this. If for no other reason, than I am happiest when I am in that world of words and nothing else can penetrate – no undone task, no upcoming responsibility, no worry, no care...

See? There I go happily into that world, even with the clouds looming. Wouldn’t even care if I got rained on right now. (Okay, getting wet would not be a real great idea.)

Seems rain has become a theme lately. Besides posting that lead-in Haiku on Twitter the other day, I also recently posted:

Cloud Burst: A Haiku

It rained upon my

Parade of words today; they

Lie in turgid pool.

by Ann Wilmer-Lasky

 

Guess I’m really not fond of storms and wet weather, even though any moisture  is appreciated when you’ve lived in drought conditions for so long.

But enough about today’s flood in my front and back yard. Let’s talk about the torrent of words not flowing from my drought-stricken mind.

I keep thinking that maybe if I didn’t have so much to do (actually no more than anyone else) and less stuff to worry about (actually have less than a lot of people), I could concentrate more on my writing.

Well, that seems like a no-brainer. Did I mention interruptions? Someone just dropped a text message on my phone. Now I get to worry about who and what the message is. I can’t stop and check right now, because I‘m outside. I also can’t see my screen when I’m outside, but I don’t want to stop and go inside, let my eyes adjust to the dark and either check the message or lose it as I do frequently, and this isn’t even a Smartphone.

Now, where was I? Oh yes, the year is almost half over, and it has pretty much gone the way of the last one. I  pretty much still don’t get out much and don’t get anything done.

Every time I sit down to write or edit, I have to re-gather my papers and my thoughts. It’s far too long between sessions. It’s a good thing the I have a running synopsis now of what I have already written, so I don’t have to go back over the whole manuscript. But every such stop and start is time-consuming and not the best use of the time yet allotted to me.

I’m happy that Steve Hamm is now narrating my first “Black Oak” novel, so I have that release to look forward to. But any other releases are strictly up to me, and so is the advertising campaign I need to start working on.

I need more reviews for my books on Amazon, so I’m going to be heavily promoting that in June. Any of my readers, who have enjoyed my books, if you can, please post a review to Amazon. People do tend to pay attention to those, and I could certainly use a boost – you know –  like the Experian Cow on TV – BOOOOST!

Okay, I’m smiling now and the sun is still shining . I guess I’ll wrap this up before my parade gets rained on again and go and check that message I got.

Have a great June! See you again come July!

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

Also, please feel free to visit me at my Amazon Author Page:

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