Ides of March

Alex Trebek noted the Ides of March on Jeopardy this past week - my first thought was that we are past mid-month (beware the Ides of March from Julius Caesar). Today, I think I ought to consult the dictionary - the Merriam-Webster Dictionary to be exact, 2004 copyright:

"ides - the 15th day of March, May, July or October, or the 13th day of any other month in the ancient Roman calendar."

I'm a-thinking what ever tidings the ides bring, they have brought the whole month through for March 2011. So much has happened this month, and the ripples and repercussions of what has happened will ring through for years to come.

Haven't done much this week in relation to exercise - I was down sick Wednesday and Thursday, fighting off what has gone around the office for the last month so I could enjoy spending time with my darling daughter shopping for her wedding dress on Friday. She found THE ONE and she looks beautiful in it - and will again in November on the day of her nuptials.

Saturday (yesterday) was my grandson's third birthday - he and his sister are so adorable! He's a little man instead of a toddler - wow where does the time go?

As for writing -have done the Daily Pages, and am sending off two short stories to the CWC Sacramento Branch 2011 Short, Short Story Contest. I find I tend to be more verbose than a mere 750 words, but I have two stories that say what need to be said within that word-count limit. We'll see if they win me any accolades (and a bit of cash!).

April is National Poetry Month, and I am challenging myself to write either a poem or about poetry each day -perhaps I'll put up a poetry blog for the month - and link it here!

Laundry beckons - so I bid you adieu for this week.

Poetry Contest Results

Well, yesterday I received the news - none of the poems I entered in the Redwood Writers Poetry Contest placed. The rejection e-mail was very sweet and thoughtful, which makes the non-placement much easier to swallow. The other contest I had entered my work in I have not heard on, but am assuming I did not place there either, since they said the winners would be notified by 15 Sep 09, which has come and gone. Oh, well - there are more contests to enter and more writing to be done...tomorrow is another day!

Writing, Contests and Conferences

Well, I signed up for another conference yesterday. This one will be in Santa Rosa the last weekend of October. Here's the website: http://redwoodwriters.org/conference.html. I also entered three poems in their poetry contest for that conference. We'll see what comes of that!

I've also started organizing my writing files so that I know what I have to start with and then I can find things/track things easier. I mean to make this gig my next career, one I hope to have for the next, oh, 50 years, so I really need to keep things easy to find!

I'm on Twitter as bethane13, but haven't been able to post the last few times I've tried. Very frustrating! I follow Laurell K. Hamilton, Lance Armstrong, Leif Sorbye from Tempest, and a freelance writer from South Africa who is also on one of the Yahoo writing groups I belong to. Laurell K. Hamilton also blogs, and had a great one on writer's block cures and preventatives last week.

Writing Contest Entry

Well, I did it - I sent off five entries to a local contest. Focus On Writers Contest 2009, sponsored by the Friends of the Sacramento Public Library. Three poems, two short stories...wish me luck!