Highlights for the past two weeks:

Finished two short stories: one for the school newsletter, the other for a small press/e-publisher. Have been having all sorts of lovely productivity, for which I’m extremely grateful. June was a wash-out–painful just to get a page or two done. July, I’ve been able to get back to the usual five pages (and more!). Who knows how long this will last. I’m writing as fast as I can, and writing as much as I can, so when the drought hits (and it always does), I’ll be on or ahead of schedule.

Put my cell phone through the washer. And dryer. Yep. Very clever on my part. So, I had to go out and get a new phone…I’m not a huge fan of my current provider, and I was dreading have to re-sign to a new, three-year contract. Thankfully, I was able to buy a phone outright and didn’t have to sign anything.

What else is new? The puppies are back for a refresher course in how to be good citizens. They’re actually pretty good dogs, but after they decided to chase a dog, we thought it was best to re-train them on proper greetings…I admit, I have mixed feelings about this…to be fair, the dog WANTED to be chased, she just got freaked out when she realized how hard our guys go. So, the training is mainly about getting them to STOP doing something when we or the dog decides we’ve had enough.

Oh! I know what’s new. The library camps! They’ve been AWESOME!!! Two very different groups. One has about eleven members, who range from grade 5 to grade 10. The other is smaller, about six kids, grades seven to nine. The size of a group really determines its dynamics. Smaller feels cozier, and bigger can bring a really unique energy to the setting.

The librarians have been absolute dreams to work with, and we’re all having a great time!