We're lucky enough to have a small stand of native Texas bluebells, Eustoma exaltatum or grandiflorum. They truly are exalted and grand, perhaps the loveliest of all our wildflowers, especially in good years, when there are many of them. This isn't a good year, but it is what it is, and I appreciate what we have. Eustoma is an annual, biennial, perennial, depending on the rain--but whenever, wherever it appears, I always feel blessed when I see it. If you find it, take a photo. Please don't pick them--and don't take the seeds. Chances are you'll forget to plant them, or they won't do well in your garden, and the plant will have lost its chance to reproduce itself. They are disappearing, as their habitat is destroyed by development and as thoughtless people gather them for bouquets. You can probably find cultivated seeds on the Internet.
The big news here (the only news, if you don't count Michael Jackson's and Farrah Fawcett's deaths) is the heat wave: 12 straight days of record-breaking heat (104, 105, 107) in Austin, a few degrees cooler here, but not much. The spring grass crop got mowed this week, and harvested for the compost. The garden is still producing tomatoes and zukes, but the spring beans are finished and the summer/fall beans aren't ready yet. It was too hot to bother with canning, so I dried the tomatoes and made tomato powder, which is a wonderful addition to soups and sauces. Takes less space, too. I'm drying (dehydrating) the zukes and tatume squash, as well. Bill isn't a great squash fan, but he doesn't recognize the bits when they turn up in his favorite winter soups, and I don't enlighten him. I'm sure you have a few little cookery tricks like this one.
The Tale of Oat Cake Crag is moving well. I'm at 68,000 words right now, and have been taking a few days to go back to the beginning and rework the text, mainly for style but also to pick up the plot seeds I planted and forgot about. This happens with every book. I have a great idea for a subplot, plant the "seed," then forget what it was meant to grow into. Reworking the text gives me a chance to either "grow" that plot line or drop it. I'm sure you've encountered books where the author and the editor(s) skipped this important step, and a bit of undeveloped, orphan story got left in. (Not the same thing as a continuing plot thread designed to be developed in the next book in the series, which is intentional.) Anyway, I'll finish the reworking today and move on tomorrow, with a clearer idea of what has to be done in the last 20,000 words. I'm expecting to be finished with the book in about three weeks, if no crises intervene.
I've linked this blog to GoodReads and to Facebook's Networked Blogs, so if you're joining me from either site, welcome. Hope you'll keep reading!
Reading note. Practice is essential. If you’re going to learn to write, it has to be your practice. I’ve been fascinated with the job of learning to write, which is unending. And I enjoy writing. Dealing with the problems it presents gives me pleasure. Sometimes there’s frustration, but if I get frustrated or hit an impasse, I just stop and go back to it later. I don’t like to hear writers talk about how they suffer for their craft. If it’s that bad, they ought to quit.--Wendell Berry
