Around the Club House Turn

Winter solstice has passed, the saternalia is over and the sun will be travelling north a little further each day. It all means long, sunny days are just around the corner.

How do you picture the calendar year in your mind? In my mind's eye, I actually see it rather like an oval shaped race track with January and February at the top and July and August at the bottom. The months of March, June, September and December are all at the curves of the track, while October and November and April and May are along the sides.

I'm always happy when we "round the club house turn" where December sits and we head into the top of our calendar oval. It means, up here in the Pacific Northwest, that we are getting near the end of our winter. Sometimes in mid-January dear little snowdrops bravely show their faces and by February the green spears of daffodils are poking through the ground.

Those long, dark days of November and December are difficult to get through and it's easy to understand to some extent why our pagan ancestors living in northern climes instituted the Saturnalia to add some winter cheer. I often wonder if that is not what modern day winter festivals are all about.

Neutrogena Ageless Intensives Anti-wrinkle Deep Wrinkle Filler, 1-Ounce

As one of my hobbies, I'm an Amazon Vine Reviewer which means that they send me books to read prior to being released to the general public and, quite often, other products as well. I thought my review of the above item might interest some of my senior friends out there. I have published the following on Amazon:

It may be that I am asking for miracles here. There does come a time when one is past the point of no return and I think I'm there, unless I try injections and fillers.

I've tried this product now for two weeks and at least it has done no damage, which is great since I have extra senstive skin. There is a little bit of redness around the lip line but they tell you that will happen.

Let's face it. I've been a senior citizen for awhile now and I think no amount of applied creams will help everything. I do think the finer wrinkles are better and I will have to see how it goes in eight weeks for the deep wrinkles they call marionette lines. Stay tuned for more information in about a month and a half. In the meantime, I do feel it's a good product, so I'm giving it at least a four out of five stars.

Hope my readers find this analysis helpful. :)

No Excuses for Lazyness

So it's a long time since I wrote anything on here and that is just wrong. I suppose I could say it's because I'm a year older and getting lazy in my old age. But that's not good enough. I'll have to pull up my socks and try to do better.

However, it is true that at this age life has a habit of flying by. I remember when I was six or seven and in my early school years, those weeks until summer holidays just dragged by. They were interminable. Now it seems that the time between one summer and the next is gone in the blink of an eye. So I guess it's a matter of perspective and mathematics.

I have been busy though, reviewing books on Amazon and editing my own book a couple of times. And I've come to the conclusion that I will self-publish. I'm thinking that at my age I don't have time for the normal process. Sometimes it takes years to get an agent, then it takes months for them to sell it (if they ever do) and then it takes months for the publisher to publish it. I don't have that sort of time left. And with e-books self-publishing has become quite respectable.

I would like to get this book out to the public because it's an interesting time in history that has been mainly overlooked. So in January I hope to actually push the button that will put it out there. Will keep you "posted."

Yesterday my husband and I celebrated our 47th wedding anniversary. It's difficult to believe that time can go by so fast. I remember my mother telling me that in your mind you remain the same young person you were in your early twenties or even in school. I now understand what she meant. It really is only the body that ages while your psyche keeps the illusion of youth.

These later years have not been without the difficulties though. In 2002, my husband suffered a heart attack which came at a very inopportune time. We were in the middle of leaving our home of 36 years and moving to a townhouse in the countryside. (well, of course, there's probably never a good time for a heart attack) We were fortunate that it didn't do too much damage and with the help of two stents and a careful lifestyle, we were able to settle into our new home.

But sixteen months later, the stress of both his illness and the move took its toll, when I was diagnosed with Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma and chose to undergo five months of aggressive chemotherapy. Again, happily for me the treatment worked and this narrow escape was the catalyst for me to think about writing a novel as I had always intended to do. So began an adventure that has lasted five years now. (More about this to come.)

Hiatus

I have taken a rather long hiatus from my blogging. I guess it's because as one ages, your brain can only handle so much at a time, and I decided way back at the end of last year, to once again enter my fledgling novel into the Amazon contest. I worked hard for a month or two giving the novel what I thought was a pretty thorough edit. As well, I came up with a new name for it.

It all started out fairly well as I passed through the "pitch" part of the contest and progressed to the quarter finals. My Amazon Vine Reviewer reviews were pretty favorable and I felt wonderful. Maybe this time I was going to be discovered.

But on the fateful day the Publisher's Weekly reviews came out, mine was horrible. In spite of several writing instructors and even one literary agent telling me that my book was a compelling read, this fellow absolutely hated everything about it. For awhile I was devastated. But then I started checking those of authors like Ken Follett and Diana Gabaldon and they all have some terrible reviews amongst the good ones. I guess it goes with the territory and one just must develop a tough hide. I wonder if it's a little late in life for that.

Never mind. Some day I'll publish that book. But right at the moment, I'm not holding my breath.