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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

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. :)