A Busy Writerly Week
Whew! The past week has been busy in a writerly way. On Monday, the Pros & Cons of Self-Publishing presentation at the Roanoke Public Library went very well. I thought we’d have maybe five or ten people. We had over two dozen, including a few friends I hadn’t seen for years.
Two people in the audience have blogged about it—Betsy’s post is here and Anita’s is here. Betsy is a member of Lake Writers, Valley Writers, and the Virginia Writer’s Club. Anita is a fellow member of Pen Women and the organizer of last week’s blogger meet-up.
On Tuesday, I went to Collinsville to appear on Hal Hubener’s cable show, Cover to Cover. The show was live on BTW21 but will be rebroadcast throughout the week. Eventually it will be posted on the Blue Ridge Regional Library website where all the previous Cover to Cover shows are archived. (Hal is director of the Blue Ridge Regional Library.) The half-hour passed so fast that I didn’t get to cover nearly as much as I wanted; consequently, I might be invited back sometime this summer.
Wednesday was the Pen Women’s monthly meeting at the Daily Grind in Roanoke. Rex Bowman was our guest speaker; this made the third time I’ve introduced Rex this year—and the second time in less than two weeks.
Before the meeting, I met with Judy Ayyildiz, an award-winning poet and fellow Pen Woman, who judged the Virginia Writer’s Club 2009 Back Page Poetry Contest for me (I was the contest coordinator). After the meeting, we Pen Women addressed cards for the Pen Women’s Poetry Contest. Anita blogged about the meeting here and Elena here.
On Thursday, I finished re-reading The Great Gatsby and mostly caught up with some writer-related email. And did yardwork. And laundry. It was weird not to have a meeting to attend.
Today, Jim, Sally, Marion, Claudia, and I met at the Westlake Country Club for lunch and to judge the 2009 Lake Writers Student Essay Contest. I’ve been a coordinator of the contest for the last few years, but a lot Lake Writers serve as readers for the first, second, and sometimes third cuts. It took us two hours to go over the finalists in the middle school and high school divisions and determine the winners. The weirdest thing happened when we matched the cover sheets to the winning essays: the winner of the middle school contest was the sister of the winner of the high school contest.
Right before I left for Westlake, I looked from my deck and what did I see?
Melody and my cousin Mary coming down the road. They'd been "around the block," a distance of 3.3 miles.
Notice how green everything is? Notice the clouds gathering?
Fortunately, the rain held off until they'd finished their ride. Rain fell as I drove home, though.
When I returned home from Westlake, I spent another two hours posting the essay winners on the Lake Writers website, e-mailing the second and third place winners as well as the honorable mentions, and phoning the two first-place winners. (Fortunately I only had to make one phone call.)
Afterward, I tried to do a bit of yardwork, but it was too darn humid. Maybe tomorrow—or next week, when I have only have one writers workshop and two writers meetings.
I you're wondering why I haven't blogged for several days or why I haven't answered your e-mail, I've just been too involved with writerly stuff to find time to write.
Who knew retirement meant I'd be so busy?
Two people in the audience have blogged about it—Betsy’s post is here and Anita’s is here. Betsy is a member of Lake Writers, Valley Writers, and the Virginia Writer’s Club. Anita is a fellow member of Pen Women and the organizer of last week’s blogger meet-up.
On Tuesday, I went to Collinsville to appear on Hal Hubener’s cable show, Cover to Cover. The show was live on BTW21 but will be rebroadcast throughout the week. Eventually it will be posted on the Blue Ridge Regional Library website where all the previous Cover to Cover shows are archived. (Hal is director of the Blue Ridge Regional Library.) The half-hour passed so fast that I didn’t get to cover nearly as much as I wanted; consequently, I might be invited back sometime this summer.
Wednesday was the Pen Women’s monthly meeting at the Daily Grind in Roanoke. Rex Bowman was our guest speaker; this made the third time I’ve introduced Rex this year—and the second time in less than two weeks.
Before the meeting, I met with Judy Ayyildiz, an award-winning poet and fellow Pen Woman, who judged the Virginia Writer’s Club 2009 Back Page Poetry Contest for me (I was the contest coordinator). After the meeting, we Pen Women addressed cards for the Pen Women’s Poetry Contest. Anita blogged about the meeting here and Elena here.
On Thursday, I finished re-reading The Great Gatsby and mostly caught up with some writer-related email. And did yardwork. And laundry. It was weird not to have a meeting to attend.
Today, Jim, Sally, Marion, Claudia, and I met at the Westlake Country Club for lunch and to judge the 2009 Lake Writers Student Essay Contest. I’ve been a coordinator of the contest for the last few years, but a lot Lake Writers serve as readers for the first, second, and sometimes third cuts. It took us two hours to go over the finalists in the middle school and high school divisions and determine the winners. The weirdest thing happened when we matched the cover sheets to the winning essays: the winner of the middle school contest was the sister of the winner of the high school contest.
Right before I left for Westlake, I looked from my deck and what did I see?
Melody and my cousin Mary coming down the road. They'd been "around the block," a distance of 3.3 miles.
Notice how green everything is? Notice the clouds gathering?
Fortunately, the rain held off until they'd finished their ride. Rain fell as I drove home, though.
When I returned home from Westlake, I spent another two hours posting the essay winners on the Lake Writers website, e-mailing the second and third place winners as well as the honorable mentions, and phoning the two first-place winners. (Fortunately I only had to make one phone call.)
Afterward, I tried to do a bit of yardwork, but it was too darn humid. Maybe tomorrow—or next week, when I have only have one writers workshop and two writers meetings.
I you're wondering why I haven't blogged for several days or why I haven't answered your e-mail, I've just been too involved with writerly stuff to find time to write.
Who knew retirement meant I'd be so busy?
~
Labels: reading. writing, retirement
posted by Becky Mushko | 8:48 PM
4 Comments:
Whew!!!
I'm pooped just reading all that, and by the way, you have done such alot of work for the Lake Writers with this contest...I applaud you!
I think that sounds like a fine week!
That's what I was just thinking--aren't you retired?
I saw your picture in the paper again too.
I wish I could ride down the street like your cousin and Melody. Someone nearly ran Kelly and I over the other day. Kurt said, "No more street." It makes me really mad. I'm going to blog about it.
www.GreenerPastures--ACityGirlGoesCountry.blogspot.com
My goodness, Miss Becky! You need a vacation from your retirement.
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