Square Foot Garden Experiment

Last year I read All New Square Foot Gardening written by Mel Bartholomew. We had recently moved to Ohio and rented a home with a large back yard.  After living in the desert of Las Vegas for the past two years I was excited at the idea of having space for a real garden!  I stumbled across this book and was immediately taken with the idea of having a small garden with a large output.

But life happened, in the form of my mom becoming so sick they put her in a medically induced comma.  The stress of her unexpected illness both monetarily and emotionally put a hold on any garden plans.  But it is a new year, mom is home and well on her way to a full recovery (YAY!) and I'm lured in again by the dream of home grown vegetables.

Square foot gardening is basically growing veggies in a 4X4 raised garden bed instead of the traditional row method.  It is ideal for growing your own food when space is limited, or in my case you don't want the daunting task of taking care of an enormous tilled garden for your first time out.

Emily over at www.mysquarefootgarden.net has a fantastic site dedicated to her journey into Square Foot Gardening.  It provides lots of information from the community of SFB folks, including lots of great photos and How Tos. 

I went out to purchase my seeds today from Home Depot. Three types of tomatoes, four types of peppers, broccoli, herbs, watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumbers, zucchini, radishes, beats, pea pods, green beans, spinach and lettuce and a partridge in a pear tree.  OK, not the last... maybe next year.  Sound ambitious?  Oh Yes... but then I do have this tendency to jump in head first and come up for air later.  So we'll see how this all works out.

My dear husband helped me plant the seeds for the tomatoes and peppers.  I think it brings back memories from his childhood.  I know images of canned vegetables from my childhood are dancing in my head while he is remembering fresh cucumber's in vinegar.  Here is hoping my thumb is more green then black in the coming months!

Patricia Briggs Frost Burned Sneak Peak

Patricia Briggs writes the very popular urban fantasy series about Mercy Thompson.  I stumbled across these books when I pulled out my much loved copy of Masques and thought "Hmmm, wonder if she wrote anything else?"  Then with the help of my Kindle, who from here after shall be known as Temptress of Evil, I found a whole world of books written by this talented author.

The newest book in the Mercy Thompson series will be released soon, called Frost Burned.  I'm giggly with anticipation, and today I stumbled across a sneak peak that I'll share:

Frost Burned Snippet

March 5th ladies and gents.  I. Can't. Wait.  !!!

If you are unfamiliar with Patricia Briggs check out her blog at www.patriciabriggs.com and be sure to stop by her Facebook page at Patricia Briggs

Patricia Briggs’ blog is social, natural, consistent, and diverse, all the good tag words associated with a successful blog.

 She regularly participates in chat room discussions with fans.  Providing her readers an opportunity to discuss characters and plot developments with each other.  Sharing their insights on her novels and maybe getging sneak peaks into what makes them tick from the lady herself.

I love how involved her whole family is with the blog.  It is not just a “professional” site, cold and impersonal.  There are posts from her family as well.  My favorite is from her daughter talking about how mom forgot to join the chat room and promised to show up later.  J  How easily I can relate to that, getting caught up in life and forgetting important events.  Like sending a birthday present to your Goddaughter and niece…. Oh wait, that was me…  Yikes!

You will find regularly updated status reports on book releases and tours posted as well.  No Ohio stops, yet.  * Fingers Crossed * 

Overall I found the blog charming and approachable with lots of great tidbits including chances to win copies of her soon-to-be-released novel.  And if you have problems, just ask for help.  I was really impressed with the level of communication when one fan was having issues accessing the sweepstakes entry.  They stuck with the fan until they found a solution; use a PC instead of a smart phone.

To end on a funny:  Here is a photo of her kitty, expressing her enjoyment of a good book in a very feline manor.  Yes folks, that is a draft of the new book Frost Burned or at least it WAS!  ;)

Am I Too Old To Start Writing?

The decision to become writer was an easy one, well mostly.  I also earnestly wanted to become a genetic engineer and develop a cure to genetic diseases using modified viruses.  Sound cool.  Oh ya!  Super duper cool!  Until I sat down and realistically looked at the amount schooling I would need.  The  inevitable fact that I would be competing for research spots with much younger students who don't have commitments like children and family to divide their time.  

Reality check!  

Could it be done, sure!  But did I want to sacrifice the time with my family that it would require.  Nope.  Nopity Nope Nope.  So I chose my first dream, becoming a writer.  

I've been catching up on my Sword and Sorceress anthologies.  I claim it is for research.  At least that is what I tell myself when the dryer dings and I choose to ignore it because I haven't finished the story I'm working on.  I swear that darn thing knows when I'm in the middle of the action sequence.  Who the heck wants to fold laundry when the heroin is about to kick some major bad boy booty?

Marion Zimmer Bradley writes little intros to her chosen nuggets to give you a glimpse of the writer and why she chose the story as part of her anthology.  I've noticed that a lot of the writers are young, or have been published since young, and I started thinking.  Am I too old for this?  Granted 38 is not over the hill yet, but it did start me thinking that I might be behind the power curve.  Do I have anything to offer, now that I'm approaching my fourth decade?

Then I came across this U-Tube interview with R.A. Salvatore

It changed my mind about what I bring to the table.  I'm NOT so fresh behind the ears anymore.  I have more perspective.  I've matured, and as Mr. Salvatore mentions in his interview, the readers of Fantasy Fiction have matured as well.  Listening to his words gives me hope that not only can I become a writer at my age, but my experiences in life will help bring dimension to my characters and to my stories.  In short my age will make me a better writer.  

So self doubt #1 has been squashed.  Renewed optimism has been achieved.  Now on to the other 20 million or so other self doubts and challenges.  

Once Upon A Time A Writer Was Born

Once upon a time I was a young girl who scribbled bad poetry and wrote pages after pages of stories that she shared with her English teacher.  Straight from high school I went on to join the military in search of an education.  I found myself a wonderful young man and married him.  We spent several years together as DINKs (Dual Income No Kids) until we were blessed with a beautiful baby boy.  I left the military to be a SAHM.  Fast forward three years, and we were blessed again with another beautiful baby boy.  OK his pug nose and purple color gave us pause at first, but that was only temporary.

Several moves later, (did I mention we are a military family), I finally sat down and thought, do I still want to be a writer?  After several years of not even writing a word, but reading so many books I think I need some kind of intervention group...

Hello my name is Jenny and I'm a readaholic....

I decided it was time to make the decision and get the ball rolling.  So I went back to school to get a degree in Creative Writing.  Because I had no illusions about the quality of my dribble, and figured a solid grounding would do me a world of good.  ...and here we are.  I created this blog as a school assignment.  Yay for the A!  (OK, hoping for an A, LOL!)

So I hope you will join me as I start my journey down the road of rejection letters.  Because let's face it, breaking into any kind of creative field is not the easiest of tasks.  And I'll be doing this while balancing a busy home life as well.