March is Spring; Trying a New Thing!

 Here in Oklahoma March has no clue if it's winter, spring, summer, or fall. Earlier this week, it got up to almost 80 degrees, (early summer), then it dropped to below freezing, (winter). West Oklahoma got a layer (briefly) of snow! Today it reached the fifties in the morning and then it rained, while a cold front blew in and it's going to get down to the twenties tonight. 

Even the cedar pollen doesn't know what to do. And this is spring break for most of the kids around here. Oh, well. 

Since the weather has decided to do different things, I decided to try different things, too. I have been working on a science fiction novel set in the ocean. I decided I was going to try my hand at self-publication of this one and post teasers ahead of time. That meant I needed a cover, a blurb, and whatever one does to promote a new book. I tried several things with my cover creator from Book Brush, using pictures from Pixabay and a friend with Photoshop. (I didn't want the fisherman with the whales. Wouldn't work!) The friend took out the fisherman, I took out the background on the whale and duplicated it with Book Brush, and then played around. For Photoshop people, we're talking about at least four layers. 

I bounced it off of several people, making changes and bouncing again. Let me know what you think. 

Me? Consistent? Whoops!

I noticed last year that I had consistently written a blog post every month until October. I did a September post and then a December one. And this will be my first blog of 2023. 

Okay, a one sentence excuse. It's hard to think about doing blogs when at least one person in the family is sick.  

Anyway, it's a new year. Time to be optimistic. And I am going to be optimistic. I am still writing. I submitted things to several contests after fixing mistakes from previous contests. You see, if we're progressing, no matter how slow, we are doing better. I pulled out several kid's short stories I wrote a long time ago, and as I was making edits and corrections, I realized they would be perfect as children's books. Wow! One started life as a magazine submission that sat on the shelf for almost twenty years. Another started as a flash fiction based on a critique group prompt. (I actually have several of those.) There was another magazine submission with a history of rejections. (It won a prize last fall.) Memories of my childhood, a memory of my college days. I doubt those would be kid's books, but who knows? It was so nice to get them out and dust them off and let others read them, critique them, and help me make them better. 

And lest I forget, my first book also got a dusting off. My Zorro publisher republished My House of Dreams with a new cover, a new back cover blurb, and new formatting after I gave it some fresh editing. It's amazing what a facelift can do! I'm grateful. 

What are you optimistic about or grateful for? Let me know....