I’ve never been good about keeping a journal. It all boils down to consistency. There are days when I skip making an entry. Life can crowd out the time I need to write down my thoughts about a day’s events. I’ve also been reluctant to pose as an expert on the writing process. If I knew anything of value about writing, my work would already be in print. I went out on a skinny limb of a tall in 2022 when I shared my 365 days of thankfulness. The exercise forced me to put myself out there with my soft belly exposed. Thank you for joining me on my journey in the written word. Therefore, I plan to keep a journal in 2023 to document my progress. I will call entry 38: A Question to Ponder.
Note: I consider editing an important part of the writing process. Editing is where all the artistry happens.
My morning writing before I started Entry 38: A Question to Ponder
I started my morning editing the chapters in Saving the Henhouse that I submitted to my writer’s group for critique. There were a few changes to make in the chapter. I always find the suggestions from my writer’s group very helpful and that is why I appreciate them so much.
I worked on chapter 22 and started 23 of Amazing Buchanan and the Beast, and I came up with a question to ponder, which has led to a decision I need to make. Before every chapter in my Henhouse Series book, I make up fictional quotes from a woman I named Rhody Norris that has to do with raising chickens but has more to do with the chapter I wrote. I am thinking about doing the same for Amazing Buchanan and the Beast. It wouldn’t be hard to create a fictional professor of folklore to give facts about rougarous, and it might be helpful because these bayou werewolves aren’t common knowledge. It might be helpful to the story. I’ll have to think about it because I might have to continue the practice through the whole series. I don’t know if it will be helpful for the other books. Plus, I will have to create another fictional character to provide the quotes.
The book I am currently reading right now and Entry 38: A Question to Ponder
I finished Alexander McCall Smith’s The Novel Habits of Happiness. It ended with Isabel having some news for Jamie. I don’t want to give away what she plans to tell him later. Isabel, Jamie, and Charlie travel to where the child who believes he was reincarnated thinks he used to live. Through research, she finds two possibilities to explain the child’s beliefs. It turns out that the answer doesn’t matter. Harry has stopped remembering this was a good resolution to the issue.
I will start reading the fourth book I found at the used bookstore. This book is another by Alexander McCall Smith titled The Careful Use of Compliments. It comes earlier in the Isabel Dalhousie Series, and I should have started with it first. Oh well, the reading can’t be undone.
What I’m listening to right now and Entry 38: A Question to Ponder
I decided the Joe Cocker and Mad Dogs & Englishmen would fix my mood this morning. They made a film when I was in my teens of one of their concerts when I was a teenager. They played it at the midnight show at a local theatre when I was seventeen. I met Rooster after the show. My brother and two of his friends were giving me a ride home. Rooster leaned in the window and said, “Hey, Dave, tell your sister she’s a fox. I can’t explain why I fell for the line, but I did. It started a thirty-nine-year romance. Of course, it helped that I got snowbound at his house a few weeks later. He had time to come up with some better lines by then.
This live album isn’t the best one Cocker ever recorded, but he does jam.
The thing I am most thankful for at this moment.
I am thankful I met my Rooster. I can’t picture what my life would have been like without him. He has been the cock-of-the-walk in my barnyard for a long time now. I am grateful our relationship evolved the way it did. There were days when I wanted to chop his head off, but I kept the axe in the shed. Some days I had to resist the urge to boil him in hot oil, and I am glad I did.
This old lady says
No rooster is perfect. If you find a good one, it’s a good idea to keep the bird around despite his flaws. After all, nobody is perfect. You might even be able to train him not to strut and crow. You might even be able to cure him of his male bird pride. It would help if you always kept in mind a good rooster is hard to find.
Who is Molly Shea?
Molly Shea is an accomplished fictional short story writer from Indiana who writes short stories and novels about a fictional town called Tecumseh. To read more of her short stories and adventures, click here.
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