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...

 

 

 

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.

           

Good Plan – Didn’t Work

May 2020 Blog

No head start this month. What a cruel month it’s been. I’m just happy there’s a future to postpone things to.

Best Laid: A Haiku

I have a plan, so

What could possibly go wrong?

Life beyond control?

by Ann Wilmer-Lasky

Nothing has gone as planned. I’m still working on the “Global Warning” book. The “Climate Crisis” does not seem to be that important at the moment. Everyone has something else on their minds these days. Things like making it to the next day – physically, financially or mentally.

I have lived a long and interesting life. Nothing in it however has prepared me for this – the “Pandemic of the Century.” Not sure how things will work out. I only have the feeling, that for the greatest nation on Earth, we are the least prepared to deal with this, and we still do not have a handle on it.

So we sit and wait while the powers that be scramble to get a handle on this with little or no executive level direction. If we don’t literally succumb to this pandemic, it will be by grace alone.

I’d settle for one vaccine that will work to keep us alive and well. Somehow the prospect of 102 of them out there still being studied does not fill me with confidence. Just sounds like we’re throwing due caution to the wind and depending on a Hail Mary to save us.

Nearly everything in Roswell, NM is closed except grocery stores, Walmart and take-out (no dine-in). Oh, the pharmacies are open. That’s essential. No one is going anywhere. I seldom leave the house. I’m one of those older people at the highest risk.

My husband dons his mask and gloves and does the grocery shopping and picks up prescriptions and whatever else we need. In doing so, he risks his own health. So far we’ve been lucky. There’s little or no virus activity in Roswell itself, but you never know. They report by county in New Mexico, without mentioning actual cities involved.

As time goes by, my husband goes out less and less. I went out with him  once this last week. I donned my mask and gloves and got in the car. We drove to Walmart. There was very little traffic on the roads, There were actually very few people in Walmart. Everywhere on the floor were stickers six feet apart, warning everyone to stay six feet apart. A lot of the shelves were nearly empty. You need to take what you can get these days, and I guess that will get worse before it gets better.

It’s just such an eerie feeling. On the drive back I noticed all the closed and empty stores. Roswell is a tourist attraction. No tourists now.  Not even locals wandering about. I won’t be going out again anytime soon.

Everything is on hold, including the publication of my book. If there’s any consolation to any of this, it’s that the Earth herself is breathing a sigh of relief. The air is clearing. The land is healing. But at what cost? Lives are being lost. People are facing financial ruin.

It seems there can be no happy medium. Either we are ravaged or the Earth is ravaged.

I have no idea what the next month will bring. We will all just have to wait and see. Hopefully, we’ll get a handle on this and return to some form of normalcy. But know that life as we know it has once again changed forever as it did after 9/11.

I will do what I can to keep writing and publishing. I’ll keep you posted on my progress and my plans, but I won’t bemoan what hasn’t gotten done. We are for most part doing the best we can.

Hope we all come through this well and intact. For those going through tough times and heartache, you have my prayers and condolences. We will keep on keeping on and do what we can to get to the other side of this.

Until then, 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, it has become apparent that we will still be on lockdown well into May, possibly longer. I will surely be stark-raving mad by then, and “Global Warning” may still not be published.

           

What A Difference A Month Makes

April 2020 Blog

Got a head start on this month’s edition. Who knows what will befall us in even the next few days?

Wipeout: A Haiku

Life but laughs at lines

Drawn in sand; obliterates

Them at will or whim.

by Ann Wilmer-Lasky

Wow! All of a sudden last month’s goals don’t seem to matter much anymore. The world has been set on its ear and the “Climate Crisis” set on the back burner for who knows how long. So my “Diary of a #Madwoman on #Deadline has bit the dust, so to speak. At least its launch will not be the “earth-shaking event” I planned it to be.

Don’t get me wrong, it will still be published, if not on time, then close to it. But it will not be heralded as the “balm that salved the Universe.”.

For, at the moment, we have a more immediate problem – how to survive the “plague of the century” both physically and economically. And that with or without appropriate leadership.

COVID19 (to be politically correct) has taken over our lives, literally. We think of nothing else. And now, when we need each other’s support like no other time, we are told to stay away from one another. Not to hold, not to touch, not to be even within six feet of one another. The average person can do little more than obey the directives and hope the powers-that-be can get this pandemic under control.

So far, that hope is tentative at best. Few world leaders have shown marked ability to get a decent handle on the situation. And the problem and its dire consequences continue to escalate.

Day-after-day, the numbers go up and up. We hold our collective breath that it doesn’t come too close, but it does. First cases in the state, first cases in the county, and still waiting for the first case in the city, although the first man in our state has died from it, and could have caught it in our city.

We sit and watch the news and wait, like waiting for “the other shoe to fall”, certain that it will, but not knowing when. We try to fill our hours with meaningful things to do, but they don’t get done. It seems when you have all the time in the world to do something, there are no priorities and (procrastinator that I am) I can put anything off.

Okay, taking a deep breath now. All are well here, and I am thankful for that. All our puppies are happy to have us home. The think we are there for them. That’s okay, it keeps them happy.

All projects are still moving along, if not more slowly than I had planned. I finally gathered all my Universe, Earth, world, nature and weather Haiku from the last six years together. That number was close to 500. Peeling some off for another book on the personal side of writing, I still have about 350. Now comes the fun of putting them together in a cohesive way to present them to a totally pre-occupied world.

At least it gives me something to occupy my thoughts with other than gloom and doom. Oh, wait, that’s what I usually write about, isn’t it?

As I sit here and write this, I’m also thinking of thing to put on my list of places to go when this pandemic is over. One of the first places will be my favorite restaurant (assuming they survive and are able to reopen). Then maybe a few day trips. We live in Roswell and have never made it to the debris field for the 1947 UFO crash here, nor have we made it to Carlsbad to see the caverns. Both are now on the list. Heck, I’d be happy to take a ride without wondering if the guy in the next car is wondering if I’m essential like I’d be wondering if he is.

For the moment, I am sitting in my backyard, enjoying the coolness of spring and watching the clouds wander from west to east as is their wont. I may or may not come back to you in May with the announcement that “Global Warning” has been published, but I am working on it.

I am also working on staying well. I hope you are all well and survive this current madness we have been thrown into. And I  hope to see us all back next month with smiles on our faces.

Until then, sit back relax and enjoy a good book.  I have several to offer here on my Amazon Author Page: https://twitter.com/awlasky/status/1081402168207278080

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 has become apparent that we will be on lockdown at least until the end of April. I should be a stark-raving loony by then, or I will have published “Global Warning”.

Madwoman on Deadline

March 2020 Blog

Deadlines are not crossed without consequences.

Slippage: A Haiku

Hate it when “By Spring,

I will...” suddenly becomes

“By Summer, I must...”

by Ann Wilmer-Lasky

I finally did it! I set some goals in concrete, complete with a “thou shalt not pass this line!” I even made a calendar for each of the two projects I am tracking in my “Diary of a #Madwoman on #Deadline (posted on Twitter).

The new publishing date for my “Global Warning” chapbook is now “Earth Day” (April 22, 2020) and for “The Early Years” prequel to “Chronicles of Acqueria” it’s the 1^ST day of Summer (June 20, 2020).

I’d love to say things are going swimmingly, but of course “Real Life” is already getting in my way. The goals, however, are do-able, and I’m still gung-ho about meeting those deadlines.

“Global Warming” will contain about 125 environmentally inspired Haiku along with other verse and comments.

I will use this picture, taken by my husband here locally for the cover. As you can see we are suffering drought conditions. This winter’s weather has done nothing to alleviate those conditions. It’s been warm and dry, and I fear the coming summer.

Perhaps in some small way, my offering will sway some minds. More people must be convinced  that “Global Warming” is real. Perhaps calling it “Climate Change” or “Climate Emergency” will help. Something must, before we reach that “tipping point” beyond which we cannot survive.

Also, we are already so close to the “Doomsday Clock” that it’s frightening. I wish more people would be alarmed about that. But now, there’s a pandemic to worry about. Unless we stick to the “filtered” news (or rather censored) that will be disseminated to us by someone else’s choosing.

No wonder I prefer to sit in the middle of my fenced-in (privacy fencing) backyard with only my wieners and my birds and the squirrels to interrupt me, as I sit and write about worlds over which I have control.

“The Early Years” manuscript is going well. My protagonist and my antagonist are about to come to life-shattering odds. Hopefully, the good guys win and live to fight another day, to face the conflict again in another novel. Oh, wait, they already do, since this is a prequel to “The Chronicles of Acqueria, Blood Moon Treachery”. (It has not been easy making certain that the prequel matches up with it. But I’ve done my due diligence, and successfully, I hope.

Looking beyond these two projects, I will be reworking my “Sam Rock” sequel, incorporating some great observations from my “Sam Rock” narrator and personification of the detective himself, Steve Hamm, also a Life Flight helicopter pilot in Ohio. (I promise the Audio book is coming soon.)

Next month, assuming the world population survives the Corona Virus, I will offer updates on all my projects. It’s heartwarming to know I have loyal readers and friends out there who are looking forward to my books. It’s nice to feel appreciated for one’s talents.

Until next time, keep the faith. Keep writing and keep reading. Enjoy what makes you happy. There is far too little happiness in this world these days.

This month, I’m again featuring “The Chronicles of Acqueria: Blood Moon Treachery”. It is a young adult coming-of-age story of a strong young lady growing up in a patriarchal society. See how she copes. Available from Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/y96zzp9u

My featured poetry for March is again “The Castleweaver's Tales: A Dozen Glimpses of Medieval Madness: 25th Anniv. Ed” – available from Amazon at: https://tinyurl.com/y9d8czj4

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 all of my books are available on Amazon, I’m also including a link to my Amazon Author’s page. Feel free to visit me there also:

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003SH6HIQ