Once You Start Blogging

Once you start blogging, it's hard to stop. Okay, that's what I think, especially because I've been sitting on so much material for so long and now I've decided I'm just going to go ahead and blog it out there.

I wrote my first book, Waterfront Property, in 2003. Since then I've written two more novels and have started about a half-dozen non-fiction books. The trouble is ... well, I can make lots of excuses but I suppose it all boils down to fear of failure or something like that. I haven't been able to believe in myself and my work enough to want to send out all of those query letters and face all of that rejection again.

Last week, my friend, Conny, got me going on a blogging rant. So in addition to blogging as the Williamsburg Wordpecker, now I've decided to start putting a lot of my backlog of written work online in blog format too. If you happen to surf over to any of my book blogs and you like them, I'd appreciate your supporting my advertisers with your clicks on their links. You see, this is a way to monetize my work for now. It brings in pennies, but that's more than this material was bringing in from its spot on my hard drive and in my file cabinet.

Hey, and maybe a literary agent will find it and like it and contact me! But then, traditional publishing is a hard business to be in these days. Paper and ink books aren't doing so well. After all, too many people are doing their reading online! And as far as I know, the new business model for online books is still in the works.

I suppose some would be worried about someone taking their written work if they just "put it out there" in cyberspace. But since I've actually published five books now I'm not too concerned. I know from experience that writing won't make you rich ... unless it's really, really good or Oprah discovers you. There are better ways to make easy money. Even the not so easy ways to make money can be more lucrative.

So, here we are. Take a look at my revised edition of Waterfront Property or curl up with your digital device and read Driving Around the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Let me know what you think. And don't forget the advertisers. They're waiting for your clicks (and so am I).

What a Difference a Day Makes!

I didn't check all of the bluebird boxes today, only 4 of them. I was at the park with Virginia Native Plant, Williamsburg Bird Club, and Master Naturalist friends to plant about 100 native plants left over from the Annual Sale (see Saturday posting) in the Bobwhite Habitat Restoration area and in the Teaching Garden at New Quarter.

At Bluebird Box 10, there was one more nestling, so all of the first clutch in that box have hatched. The same was true of Box 8. At Bluebird Box 7, all 5 eggs have hatched since yesterday! Box 7 was exciting to check since the parents dive bombed Shirley and I from a branch high over the box. I suppose you can't really see it, but that's what's happening in the photo with this posting. At Bluebird Box 13, all 6 eggs are still whole. Shirley opened the box and we stood there talking to the mom for at least a couple of minutes before she took a notion to move so we could see. I'll look in on her again on Friday. The eggs in Bluebird Box 11 should hatch that day too.

See photos of the New Quarter Park bluebirds in my Picasa album.

Bluebird Nestlings!

My friend, Conny, and I took a walk at New Quarter Park today and peeked in the bluebird boxes along the trail. Thirteen boxes, 38 eggs, and 12 nestlings! See more photos.

John Hinckley Jr., Williamsburg, and My Church

When our subscriptions to the Daily Press and the Virginia Gazette ran out, my husband and I didn't renew. We thought the local newspapers were thin on substantive news, conservative, and gossipy. We need to know more, are liberal, and not particularly social. So I laughed at myself for reading the long, gossipy article in the Washington Post, which is now tossed on our driveway daily, about John Hinckley's probably next move to my hometown.

The reporter relished in her descriptions of the NIMBY-ness of the Williamsburg and Kingsmill communities. I loved her line about the murder of a cat being front page news around here. The murder of cats has, in fact, been front page news in Williamsburg's Virginia Gazette. Locals may remember Hill Pleasant Farm and the outrage of locals against the owner for drowning feral cats in a pond on his property. I included a photo (also above) of the farm on page 109 in my book about James City County. Thousands of Williamsburg-area school children visited the farm to learn about apples and pumpkins and all things warm and fuzzy about our wholesome, local farming community.

I digress. I do feel empathy for Hinckley, as I know how depression feels. Likewise, I have empathy for his brain injured victim, White House press secretary Jim Brady, as I am a person who copes with moderate TBI.

Interestingly, my church and minister were cited for offering Hinckley a job in the Williamsburg Unitarian Universalists church library. The Reverend Jennifer Ryu said, "He needs a community. He needs to socialize. We believe in leaving no one out of our circle." I'll second that emotion. And I look forward to, perhaps, meeting the would-be assassin. I like to form my opinions based upon first-hand experience, not just from what I read in the paper or, ahem, on the Internet. Don't you agree?

A Woodpecker Tree in My Natural Lawn

The woodpecker tree that was "planted" in my backyard by my husband, sons, and daughter's boyfriend several weeks ago is one my proudest possessions. Working to reverse the environmental impact of the modern lawn, I am a promoter of natural landscaping. Sure, I know that I am engineering "natural" for now. But I can see, after nearly three years, that soon I will be rewarded for the hours that it has taken to re-create my yard in a manner that will contribute, in a small way, to the near-term survival of our species. Shortly, my yard time will be spent in simple maintenance tasks ... including pulling the English ivy, Japanese stilt grass, and other non-natives that creep over from my neighbors' yards.

The woodpecker tree was once part of a tall and old white oak tree. Our suburb was developed out of disused James City County farmland about 50 years ago and my house is on the edge of it, in the headwaters of a creek that feeds the James River. So we are blessed (or cursed, depending upon your fear of hurricanes and nor'easters) with lovely trees that sprouted about the time of the Civil War. The guys from Johnny Timbers called the branch that became my woodpecker tree "a tree growing out of a tree." It stretched out to shade my entire back yard and its weight frightened my daughter, whose bedroom is on the back of the house, for many years. Finally, after a nor'easter brought a tree down on my neighbors house I enlisted the arborists to relieve the parent tree of its excessive weight. They said they would saw it up and take it away, but I said no, as I envisioned turning it into a woodpecker tree. They laughed.

Why woodpecker trees? Cavity nesting birds like bluebirds and chickadees nest in tree cavities created by other critters, like woodpeckers. Unfortunately, inhabitants of the suburbs don't leave too many dead trees standing. Nest boxes help, but in order to attract more birds to my lawn, I need trees with holes in them. Voila! I can enhance my suburban "natural" lawn with dead wood.

My woodpecker tree provides hours of free entertainment as I watch the squirrels and birds climb and perch. I smear it with a little Birdacious Bark Butter and the wildlife love it even more.

The woodpecker seen in the photo above is a downy woodpecker ... or is it a hairy woodpecker? I wish I could learn to tell these two apart! The hairy is the larger of the two and I believe the one seen here is a hairy. Or maybe it's a downy ... Argh.

The Best Saturdays are Spent Bird Watching and Gardening

Saturday morning on Queen's Creek. Another walk with the Williamsburg Bird Club, led today by Bill Williams. We walked from the parking lot to the floating dock and saw bluebirds, cow birds, grackles, cardinals, towhees, wrens, titmice, chickadees, goldfinches, robins, and more. On the creek, there were osprey, great blue herons, white egrets, red-winged blackbirds, red-shouldered hawks, laughing gulls ... We walked through the woods and into the brushy area where there were plenty of warblers, gnatcatchers, woodpeckers. A very birdy day.

Next stop: the annual Virginia Native Plant Society sale. I bought swamp milkweed, butterfly weed, jewelweed, bee balm, foam flowers. All but the bee balm were purchased because they are suitable for my very shady yard, which is a flower and vegetable garden with a rain garden on the side. At home again, I got them all in the ground just in time for the rain. The bee balm was planted in a spot where it will get about 5 hours of sun a day. Keep your fingers crossed.

Did I mention that I stopped by the Williamsburg Farmers Market? Ah, yes. A little bee pollen for extra energy ... and amaretto-almond honey butter just for fun.

Tonight? A book and a glass of wine. Saturdays are splendid.

Back in School

I recently discovered what I want to do with the rest of my life. About time, don't you think? So, here it is 26 years since I finished my M.B.A. that I find myself back in school and preparing for my first final exam in quite a while.

I've known for a long time that business isn't my cup of tea, but I couldn't quite figure out what else to do. I've been freelancing, mostly writing books and articles since dropping out of a full-time traditional business job in 2004. When my father suffered a stoke last year I found my interest in brain injury and communication coming together like magic. Dad has aphasia of the sort that has left him fluent, but making many word errors. He uses many "nonsense" words and has difficulty reading and understanding what is said to him.

When a speech therapist came to work with him, I discovered the speech-language pathology career path, which I am exploring by taking courses online through Longwood University. Am I too old for this radical career change? I have to think not. I love to learn, am intrigued by our unique human ability to use language, and know that I need to do something helpful and worthwhile. Volunteer experience so far has been touching. It feels right.

Wish me luck with my Anatomy and Physiology exam! Send positive energy this way on next Thursday morning.