Surgery Went Well

So it all went well. My surgeon is satisfied with how it looks in pre-op visits. For a few days I won't be on the computer. (Typing this with the operative eye closed, so I'm skipping the picture and links for now. But celebrating for sure.) Luckily, I can read print books and take walks. (Another thing to celebrate. Otherwise I'd be a little stir crazy.)

Have a great week and hope to be more chatty soon.

Glaucoma Surgery Coming Up

I haven't taken part lately in this blog hop because, as you all know, I was totally immersed in a re-write, which, I am happy to say is finished--for now: I sent it off to three beta readers who have never laid eyes on it, don't know the story, plot, characters. Based on how it strikes them, I'm either finished and it's ready to send out, or it still may need some tweaking. So I'll be a little more active on this blog than I have been in recent weeks.

But today I'm celebrating the fact that Monday morning, early, I'm having combined glaucoma/cataract surgery. In a moment I'll tell you why I'm choosing that to celebrate, even though it his hardly a "small thing." But first: This Celebrate the Small Things blog hop is co-hosted by Lexa Cain at: Lexa Cain,  L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge , and Tonja Drecker @ Tidbits Blog. You can go to any of these sites to add your name to the links, if you want to participate. I recommend it, because it's always fun to see positive news that others are celebrating, and to share your own as well. 

Okay, why celebrate the surgery? I'm certainly not glad to have glaucoma! But I'm celebrating the fact that they know what to do about it. Fifty years ago--even less--I could have expected to slowly go blind. I have a good surgeon who inspires my confidence, and a wonderful husband who can take care of me while my eye is healing. What that means is he'll be doing major housework, cooking, and gardening. I won't be bed-ridden, but I'm not supposed to bend over, lift anything heavier than 15 pounds, drive, or do any strenuous exercise for 6 to 8 weeks. I also can't fly in planes for about 3 months. Anything that increases pressure in the eyes.

But I can work on the computer, read and write, both online and print, in just a day or two after the surgery. I can also watch television--although I don't really do a lot of that--and take walks, which I love to do. 

I do, however, want to take this opportunity to give everyone a heads up about glaucoma. People over 50 are at risk. If someone in your family has it, you are at risk. African Americans and Hispanic people are at risk. AND YOU CAN LIVE IN IGNORANT BLISS, NOT KNOWING YOU HAVE IT, until it does some damage. And while treatment can halt or prevent its further progress, it cannot cure the damage already done. I have already lost some of my peripheral vision--above, not at the sides or below. (So it doesn't affect my driving.) 

So, I would like to urge anyone reading this to go have your eyes checked for it. Thoroughly checked. The sooner you discover it, the easier it is to treat, and if the damage isn't done, it can mostly be treated with eyedrops and surgery avoided. 

Despite the serious message, I hope you all have a great week-end. Meanwhile, please go next door to read my post on a wonderful festival in Galicia, where we spent our vacation. 

Finished!

Finished. Hooray! We are packing to go home, so I don't have time to post more until we land (Monday night).  But I am so happy.

Still Writing

Yup. Still writing. This re-write business takes longer than one would suspect. Almost done, though.

Nose Still to the Grindstone This Week

A most uncomfortable position in which to work.

The last scenes are always the hardest in a rewrite, I think: There's this desire to finish, finish, finish pushing at one, but the ending chapters need to be as clean as the opening chapters, which means slowing down and getting really picky, picky, picky!

Hope to see you soon. Maybe next week.

A Day Early Or A Week Late?

I know it's not Friday, but I'm celebrating two interviews and a road trip, along with the fact that I've finished 15 chapters of my rewrite. I've passed the halfway mark, yippee!

Last week I was interviewed by blog hosts, Geri Schear and Don Smith, about writing in general and my interest in Sherlock Holmes in particular. It was fun to answer their questions, and I also became interested in following their blogs, because they interview a lot of authors and explore all things Sherlock.

You can read Geri Schear's Interview HERE: and Don Smith's interview HERE:

The road trip was to Asturias, a part of Spain known for its cheeses. Lovely scenery and charming little villages all along the way. (As you can see by the pictures above.)

This Celebrate the Small Things blog hop is co-hosted by Lexa Cain at: Lexa Cain,  L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge , and Tonja Drecker @ Tidbits Blog. You can go to any of these sites to add your name to the links, if you want to participate. I recommend it, because it's always fun to see positive news that others are celebrating, and to share your own as well. 



How about you? Are you a Sherlock fan? Do you like to travel? What is your favorite country (away from home)? And, now that I think about it, do you do interviews?

Four Things to Celebrate

 
As many of you know, my husband and I come to Galicia spring and fall -- usually the most comfortable seasons in Galicia, although this time they have had a delayed spring, so it's been rainier and chillier than usual. Always beautiful, though, as you can see. Meanwhile, our wonderful neighbor is looking after our house in Sacramento, so we are very grateful.

I'm also celebrating the fact that I've rewritten the first five chapters of my mystery novel. It was worth the wait, once I'd had it critiqued. Some of you may remember it looked like this:
 

There was much to think over, as you can see, and I'm glad I didn't just jump in and start revising right away. I've a much better idea about how I want to handle scenes and characters, and if I'd started too soon, it would have been like knitting rows and rows on a sweater and then needing to rip them out again. Now the book knows where it's going. (At least so far.)


A third thing to celebrate: I've mentioned before the Kickstarter campaign for coming anthology, Beyond Watson, in which twelve stories involving Sherlock Holmes will use differing viewpoints than the traditional Dr. Watson perspective. One of my stories starring Imogene (& Rusty) will be included.
The Kickstarter campaign was a huge success. The book will be coming out in June, and you can expect to see this cover again (as well as read some teasers) in the next two months.  Meanwhile, if you have projects you'd like funded, by all means visit KICKSTARTER to learn more about what kinds of projects they fund and how to go about starting a campaign of your own.

Last, but not least, we were fortunate last night to hear the great María do Ceo, a renowned fadista, perform in a concert in the Casa da Cultura in Sober (an interesting town few miles away that offers many musical and cultural events.) She lives in Galicia but is originally from Portugal, the birthplace of Fado. I originally heard her sing in August of 2013, when friends Terri & David took me to a performance at Rectoral de Castillon. (I blogged about it HERE ) Rajan and I were taking turns in Galicia that summer, while the other took care of our sick dog, so I was alone on that particular trip, but that was when I discovered Fado.

The following April, we went with friends, Craig and Melanie to hear María do Ceo sing at a town called Quiroga, an hour away, and I blogged about it HERE.  That was when Rajan discovered Fado,  too, and we've both been hooked every since. We've hoped many times to catch another performance in Galicia, but she has always been singing somewhere that would involve a very long drive in an unfamiliar location for us.

But: three days ago, our friends, Craig and Melanie, alerted us to the concert in Sober, and we all went together last night to hear her. She was marvelous, as usual. She was featuring songs from a new CD -- which we bought, of course, and had her autograph. She's a very gracious lady and even remembered me from before, which was so nice!

Here she is, kindly allowing me to have a selfie with her:


If you have never heard Fado before, listening to her singing is a wonderful introduction. You can go to here WEBSITE 

And this is her new album:

 How about you? Do you have a favorite singer you go out of your way to hear? What is your favorite music? Are you involved in a rewrite of a story or book?  How do you approach your own rewrites? Do you have to mull them over for a long time? Or can you jump right in after you've have feedback? 

Meanwhile, 

Celebrate the Small things is a blog hoop co-sponsored by Lexa Cain at: Lexa Cain,  L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge , and Tonja Drecker @ Tidbits Blog. You can go to any of these sites to add your name to the links, if you want to participate. I recommend it, because it's always fun to see positive news that others are celebrating, and to share your own as well.