July Already?

The list of things I still need to do is nearly as long as the list of accomplishments.

I really should spray the tomatoes with copper before they blight, haul a few gallons of water across to the field to water the late corn, pull up the peas and plant beans... I've got four websites to create or update and literary festival press releases to send out. And then there are the obligations of a mother to her children during summer: teach good work ethic, ensure they practice piano, read Harry Potter to them, arrange time to be with their friends, plan birthday parties, take them swimming and see the latest block-buster kid movies.

Two more performances of Annie at the Parkway Playhouse.

But! I've driven to and from Indiana with the three kids -- sans husband, plus mother-in-law. We've had peas, lettuce, cilantro, kale and spinach from our garden. And it's only a little bit weedy. The chickens are all still alive and the dog has not run off. I've got a poem out in the most recent issue of Now & Then: An Appalachian Magazine out of ETSU. One of my poems was selected as one of 57 honorable mentions out of more than 900 entries in this year's Binnicale Ultra-Short Competition. I've got a profile on Wendi Gratz coming out in WNC Woman next month. And even more amazing, when I took my writing "vacation" last weekend, I wrote more than 30 pages of new material! That is a major accomplishment for me. I'm at page 60. I've NEVER in my life written anything that long before. Now, I've got to push through to the end.

I'm also keeping up with my morning pages and artists dates even thought I've complete The Artists Way. I'm sure that the work I'm doing with morning pages has a major impact on the previous paragraph's accomplishments. So, I've got to keep on going with the good-- and do my best to avoid Bejeweled Blitz and not binge on episodes of Farscape!