Welcome to my blog Upstate Girl, (a.k.a Follow Your Bliss Part II), I am an independently published author. This blog is all about writing and the stuff that inspires me to write, the joys and obstacles that come along with the writer's life, and my fascination with the psychology of people and what makes them tick...the human condition, as is...and my love for words, playing with them and making sense of them...and I throw in a few photos from my acre of the world just to make things pretty...sometimes there are things I have no words for, only pictures will do.

*Copyright notice* All photos, writing, and artwork are mine (
© Laura J. Wellner), unless otherwise noted, please be a peach, if you'd like to use my work for a project or you just love it and must have it, message me and we'll work out the details...it's simple...JUST ASK, please.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Bee Balm or Creepy Space Aliens...I want to believe...

Yes, I want to believe that the weather will get better so the rest of my garden will take off...grow more than weeds...I love bee balm...it just like a creepy space alien...and it's so dang gorgeous...my hummingbirds are waiting...tapping their tiny toes (listen lady, we came all this way for this garden and it's just taking for-EVER to bloom)...sorry, any day now kids...we need another string of hot days...warm nights...if there's a little more sun tomorrow...getting so close to popping out their spindly red legs!

The bunnies finished off my brussel sprouts...poop.

Busy editing The Fractured Hues of White Light today...I had chapters 3 and 13 open, side by side...my character Sylvester was talking to Jacob...it needed to be done...there was just this spot that bugged me in chapter 3, something needed to be said, and it wasn't being said, and okay...it was sort of said in 13, but it really needed to be moved to chapter 3, and something in chapter 3 needed to be moved to chapter 13, so...word juggling...it's part of the fun of being a writer...and the book only gets better from the extra effort, and I'm happy as can be about what I just did to it today...and then this also got me back to thinking about my big fat epic Washed Glass, which I plan to work on this winter (gotta have something to look forward to while the snow is up to my ass and no garden to play in...)

I'm in the process of starting a give away of Dusty Waters through Good Reads, as soon as I figure out what I gotta do...if there's anything more I gotta do in this shameless self-promotion effort, I'll get 'er done and keep you posted!

Max didn't like this little bug buzzing around him on the porch the other day, his little tongue is sticking out here because he just showed it his teeth (tho' he didn't bark), ears in full bloom...cool looking buggy-boo...
The pattern reminds me of a tribal mask...nifty...it escaped from Max, I gave the pup something else to think about before he smacked it with his paw or chewed on it...he was getting pretty upset with it "teasing" him...

One of my roses finally bloomed...darn fussy things...I love 'em tho'!

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Hummingbirds...

I sat on my porch to get this shot of the little buzzer coming to the feeder...I kept the camera balanced on my stomach just above my laptop keyboard, so there was very little movement on my part to turn it on and snap the picture...this is the little lady from the nest...


Later on, looking through my dining room window, I saw her again at the milkweed (most folks would pull them as weeds, I like them for the critters who feed on them...I pull them before the seed pods pop...I think the flowers are pretty too...)

At nigh twilight, along came Mr. Ruby Throat...he buzzed there for a very long time, I kept snapping pictures from the window, then suddenly, I lost track of him in my viewer...looked up AND THERE HE WAS! Staring at me through the window giving me the stink-eye, he knew I was there, and he looked pissed, the evening sun caught the color on his throat so he looked really impressive, but I didn't get a picture of him because I was so startled (I screamed a little). My goodness...then he zipped away.

I received my box of new copies of Dusty Waters this morning (YAY!)

Tonight is the opening of Price Check: Syracuse, the group show we're in at the Delavan Art Gallery...can't wait!

Monday, June 22, 2009

Practice, Patience, Persistence...

Foggy out there...but clearing off...I'm on vacation this week and it would be nice to see the sun...I keep hearing these predictions that this year will be the year without summer...well, the way I see it...if it ain't snowing, it's summer...if it rains all summer, it's just wet...it fills my well, waters my garden. NOAA, the Farmer's Almanac, sunspots, global warming, the jet stream, volcano spew, El Nino, La Nina...whatever...weather is a crapshoot...shit happens.

I'm in the midst of making final edits of my novel The Fractured Hues of White Light...I'm looking to self-publish this book too...let's just say, I've lost confidence in the publishing industry, maybe they'll get their shit together, maybe not...it's tough to trust the consistency of agencies and editors when they can be cut loose at any time and your book can lose it's one and only advocate...so, I'm my one and only advocate (well, not really, I have my Fred too!) So Field Stone Press has happened...of course, I'm discovering that as a self-published writer, I'm shut out of many things because I'm not taken seriously...yet...

My becoming a writer has happened through practice, patience, and persistence...I don't expect to make millions of dollars doing it, but don't say I don't aim high, I do every day I sit down in front of my laptop and make things happen...some days I'm stunned by the things that I've created in spite of obstacles and frustrations...and the voices that say "You can't..." Well, I have...Dusty Waters is just the beginning...

Today I just made one small professional step by becoming an associate member of PEN American...it's part of getting "out there"...PEN is about freedom of expression...as a self-published writer, I'm all about that...

Friday, June 19, 2009

Catching up...

Tiger swallow-tail and phlox...the flutter-bye didn't land long enough for a decent shot...I like the sense of motion in this one...

Oh happy day, I'm vacation! I'm going to be gone long enough to know how it will feel to be retired...but not long enough to forget my place...yup, come June 30th, I'm going to be going bed kicking and screaming, NOOOOO, I don't wanna go back to work! Ah, well, I'll get over it...at least it will be a short week that first one back...

For now I'm catching up with myself...I'm in bed with my back being crappy, the heating pad is my best friend...the elliptical is teasing me to go for a ride (Gotta keep up your strength, lady! Come on, you know you'll feel good once you've cranked out a mile...) Oh, yes, I can put on my mp3 player, listen to three songs and jam out a mile in no time...stick a fork in me, I'm done...not now, maybe later...I need some quiet time...

As you can see, I've finally downloaded all of those pictures on my camera...
The hummingbird nest...I have yet to get a decent shot of the mommy in the nest...she buzzes me...and when she comes to the feeder, she gives me the stink-eye and then poops on me...it isn't the worst poop in the world to deal with...

The gang's all here! Just before the latest round of rain, my irises were so pretty...I'll need to do some dividing this fall...everything is soggy and saggy now...but once we dry out, there's more things to bloom, and it's going to get pretty again quick!

The softest, sweetest ears in the world belong to my Max...they're especially nice in the sunshine, he gets such a sweet smell, like being at the beach or something, I wish I could bottle it, a good dog smell...he's going to be sooooo spoiled having me at home...

I started with the flutter-bye, ending with the flutter-bye...

Friday, June 5, 2009

Honorable Mention at the 2009 New York Book Festival!

I hadn't heard a peep about it...so I checked the website...and then I started screaming, I won...OMG...not the big prize, but honorable mention...wow, not bad for a last minute entry on a whim...not a bad showing for a little self-published piece of literary fiction by an unknown writer from Upstate New York!

Why blow me down...

Entry fee...$50.00

Winning an honorable mention...priceless...

Oh Happy Day!