The Birds Nest...

Today was a tangle and chaos day...not really...now that my work on The Fractured Hues of White Light is done until the proofs come through for my final inspection, I'm feeling a bit in knots and adrift...and so, I went walking around the acre with my camera and Max, and I followed his nose into the weedy tangles behind our barn...and I found a bird nest (note you can barely see the black dog in the weeds just beyond the small tree!)

It's that time of year when nests are visible, and this one was special because of the dangle of plastic that the birds must've been sooooo delighted with to add to their little home...I have no idea what kind of bird would build it...low to the ground, grass, straw, twigs, some mud...possibly one of the black bird variety, they like shiny stuff and things that are eye catching...it's quite the little construction...

I got up close and took a peek at the debris gathered inside since the birds left it...

I'm feeling a bit "on pause"...after working for 8 months on the manuscript...I do deserve a break...but I feel at a loss...restless...odd, very odd. There's an emotional process that I go through after finishing a book, some of it is not so good...if only I can avoid some of the bad parts, but I take the good with the bad, it's part of the package. There's a sadness, there's a happiness...frustration and self-doubt...back to joy...and relief. Let's just say, a pokey walk in the weeds gave me something else to think about, and I enjoyed myself immensely...while I was out there, getting into the burrs, I wanted to write something grand about books being like bird nests...but that didn't happen, I'm feeling a bit tapped out of words...but I did dedicate my new novel as follows:

This book is for those who love the written word, and for those who still prefer to hold a book in their hand while sipping a cup of hot tea...or a tall glass of Guinness. It's a beautiful thing.
(or something like that...subject to change anytime between now and the final proof before printing.) Anyway...I felt that I needed to say something in that sort of vein...just because of the current climate...tho' as an independently published author with my own indie press, I could be accused of being part of the problem...but...whatever...I'm looking forward to digging into my next one, Drinking from the Fishbowl, it's finished, but I'm going to spend time polishing this winter...I'm going to try to have it ready by April or May...

Books...bird nests...tea or beer...

Good grief, I still don't know what the cover is going to be! My Fred says not to worry, he'll come up with something. I keep thinking yellow...it's Sammy's favorite color.

The book is about love and it's many forms...it's about art, making art that is from within...it's centered on an autistic woman (Samantha Ryder) who is an artist...she's in a rut with the routines that have been instilled into her daily existence that allow her to be independent...it's also about loss...I only recently realized that my main characters each lost their mothers in some way while they were young and vulnerable, it was unintended...I guess Bambi had a profound affect on me...there's an ongoing theme about dreams and realities...we have expectations how things are, our minds construct fantasies that put the people we love on pedestals, but the reality often causes that pedestal to wobble, crumble, fall...oops...drat. I just love these characters that I created...I can't wait to see how readers receive them...

(I miss reading them!)

Well, thankfully, I have Thanksgiving to think about, a turkey to buy, a menu to consider, coordinating who's to bring what...I'm expecting 17 people...as the nieces and nephews grow up, they marry, and are having kids...my old farmhouse can handle it...the cats will hide...Max will have more ear rubs than he can stand...and then I'll have time to decompress after the turkey day is over...