Two Years and Counting!

 

February 2022 Blog

Stumped: A Haiku

Nothing comes to mind

But the frustrations of life

As we now live it.

by Ann Wilmer-Lasky

 

My mind grows tired. My heart grows weary. I’ve been vaccinated and boostered. I wear a mask everywhere I go. I see no end in sight.

I’m not sure we’ll ever be given the “All Clear”, And if we are, I’m not sure there will be a normal life to go back to. (Yep, I ended that sentence with a preposition. Pretty much, I don’t care anymore. It’s how people talk now anyway.)

I Should be used to the solitary lifestyle we now endure. As a writer, I’ve spent a lot of time alone in my own little world. But that was my choice, and I’ve always had the option and privilege to rejoin the human race at any time and share a smile and a hug with a another human being even raise a glass or two at a favorite local restaurant. I’m not doing any of that lately. I’m beginning to miss it.

Also I’ve found that the less social I am, the less inspired I am to explore new avenues of murder and mayhem.             It’s amazing what a chance encounter or new surroundings can inspire. Just seeing an interesting face or  place can lend inspiration to so much of one’s writing, even in the strange stories I tend to spend my ink on.

And I’m still spending ink on my “Sam Rock” sequel as well as my ”Chronicles of Acqueria” prequel. Hopefully they will stay on track to be published this spring and summer respectively.

Once again, Sam Rock will come up against Maerie Delaceroix and her murder of ravens. And in the Acquerian prequel, the birth of Acqueria will be expanded upon.

     The more I think about them, the more anxious I am to get back to work on them, so this will be a very short blog.

I hope with the coming of Spring, we will get back to a normal we can live freely with, if not the normal we were used to. I wish us all a save Winter’s end. I am certainly looking forward to a brighter summer minus the endless precautions we are still encumbered with.

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 coming month we can recover from the Winter’s bleakness, and the following month will find us looking forward more freely to Spring.

 

 

Cheers To A Happier New Year!

 

January 2022 Blog

Season’s Supplication: A Haiku

I would not only

Pray for world peace, but health for

All this time of year.

by Ann Wilmer-Lasky

 

Hopefully, we have rung in a happier New Year. We are certainly celebrating the world over. Hopefully, that will not come back to bite us in the end.

We deserve an end to the pain and suffering and dying of the last two years. And I am so tired of the isolation. I would love to hug somebody, see the smile on an unmasked face. At the moment, it seems like only a far flung dreams, and we are mired in an unending nightmare.

I should have written tons on my manuscripts in the year just past, but the inspiration has been little and more than a long time coming. Yet I persist and I will publish what I can this year.

When I do write, I love it because for the time I’m writing I am wrapped in a world where I have the control. I determine who is happy and who is miserable. I decide who lives and who dies and when and how. Even the weather is at my command. Oh, the power! I can feel it even just writing this. It’s wonderful feeling.

But, then I put the pen down and I’m back in the real world, wearing a mask and trying not to touch too many surfaces anywhere.

I haven’t been to a movie theater in two years. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve been to a restaurant in that time also. My shopping is limited to Walmart, the local grocery store, and Office Depot. The rest of my shopping is on line. Amazing how much you can spend with one click of the finger – and what you can find on Amazon.

We have not had a winter here yet. I’m sure we will have some bad weather in the next few months. We certainly could use the moisture. We’re already considered in drought conditions for the year ahead. Sounds like we are in for another grassless, flowerless summer. More hot and dry times ahead.

Actually, I’ve not heard much encouraging news about the upcoming months of the year we just embarked upon. All my hope is based on the belief that we’ve had enough, and we deserve better – much better.

I guess that makes me somewhat optimistic, which is not a trait I have an over-abundance of. “What could possibly go wrong?” is one of my favorite questions, which serves me well as a writer. It’s amazing what problems I can dream up. Unfortunately, life has thrown in its own answers, and they have not been pleasant.

I’m planning on spending more time with my pen and paper this year. Hope I have enough of life’s memories left that I can keep my writing interesting. I’m certainly not planning on making many new memories anytime soon.

I guess I’ll just hunker down and keep a low profile in the real world. I thank the internet gods for the ability to connect with people all over the world at anytime of the day or night as long as the power doesn’t go down – there’s that “What could possibly go wrong?” again.

Guess I’ll post this and get on with finding dastardly situations to embroil my heroes and heroines in. Smiling at that thought. Writing horror is good.

Here’s hoping again for a brighter and better New Year. Maybe I better light a few candles and say a few prayers.

Happy New Year to one and 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 recover from the holidays and next month will find us looking forward to a less restrictive spring.

 

 

 

 

 

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