The joys of summer

The last summer I experienced was in 2009. No, really. 2010 and 2011 were spent in Hawaii. I know what you are thinking...poor thing no summer because of Hawaii no summer in Hawaii...wait there's no summer in Hawaii?

Some would argue that there is, but it's different. Oh, it's gorgeous (soft sand, warm turquoise water, deep blue sky with big white puffy clouds, palm trees blowing in the breeze, the scent of plumeria in the air, and my personal favorite = the gecko's mating calls). Yes, it's gorgeous, but it isn't summer. Not really. I'm a mainlander at heart.

This summer involved a very large pot of sangria...

And a family trip to Yosemite...

And darn good strawberry cupcakes...

 I finally got to see Ani DiFranco live. (I only cried through three songs!)

 We did a little boating, crawdad-catching and paddle-boarding.

We got scolded by a topless hippie for swimming at our favorite hole.

 The little cuts from picking five pounds of blackberries healed quickly.

The resulting tart was very exciting.

This water was really freaking cold.

And this water was a little creepy.

Classic NorCal summer. Exactly what I needed! Thanks to the family and friends that took me and hubby on such fun adventures. The whole unemployment thing is tough stuff, and job-searching kind of sucks, but evenings and weekends have been really superb. Whilst lamenting the state of our finances, we've had a really good time. So thanks.


All that said, I'm not gonna pretend that I don't miss the geckos.

p.s. I do not think the images appear in the email version, so click through to the link. love!

Are self-doubt and great artistry directly correlated?

"The greater the artist, the greater the doubt. Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize."
--Robert Hughes

I'm currently revising, and I keep saying to myself, I don't know what I'm doing with this. Am I making a mistake? Am I screwing this up?

Doubt. Doubt. Doubt.

So, I'm not sure if I agree with the above quote, but given the doubt I've been feeling, it is at least encouraging. Actually, no I don't agree with it. I can't. There are moments of both reflections. This quote is talking about visual arts I do believe, as Robert Hughes is an art historian. But I assume that just like writing, there are moments.

Self doubt in the rough draft process can be frightening, but helpful. Self doubt when revising can get you to really step back and figure your ish out (thanks Alpha Reader #1 for getting me to take out all mention of trolls in a contemporary novel --duh!). But self doubt while copy editing just down right sucks.

At those end stages, when you're ready to put the work out there into the world, you need some confidence, perhaps even perfect confidence. Or else that manuscript might go back on the shelf. (Nope, not happening.)

You know you're a writer when...

You flip to the back of the book to see if there is an acknowledgements page...

...and if there is one, you recognize some names.

You find stuff on Pinterest that your characters would like.

Your birth date is an illiteration.