Lost Time & Catching Up

Gratitudes:
1. I'm grateful for the house I'm now living in.
2. I'm grateful for the books I have to read.
3. I'm grateful for my friends, both online and IRL.
4. I'm grateful for my vision and hearing.
5. I'm grateful that I own a Bible.
Plan for the day:
1. Organize the back of the van.
2. Painting red flowers on green canvas paper.
3. Journaling in a pink Leuchtturm 1917, in ink; topic: what good am I, to anyone?
4. Cutting down some weeds.
5. Blessing the land I live on, with prayer.
Currently reading:
1. Perestroika in Paris, by Jane Smiley
2. Brave Intuitive Painting, by Flora S. Bowley
3. The World of Urban Sketching, by Stephanie Bower
4. Les Misérables, by Victor Hugo
5. One of my old journals (transcribing)
6. The Bible: Genesis 37, Psalm 71, Romans 15, 1 Corinthians 1.

Here's how my day is going:

Prior to taking my shower I researched folk art and hay fever. There's no time like the present for finding out more about how life works. I found out my antihistimine, Zyrtec, is approved for daily use, for people like me with allergies that never stop. I usually take Zyrtec just before sleeping because there's nothing more disturbing than waking up with a hay fever attack in the middle of the night. I don't need that kind of distress. However I've also discovered that Zyrtec can cause drowsiness which kind of explains my frequent napping as of late - two or three naps a day. That's too much. I'm 72 and don't think there's anything wrong with a nap at my age but when I spend most of the day napping, I feel robbed of my daylight waking hours!

Retrospective:

My lost time on this blog includes the entire last year and a little more. So let me catch you up on how my life is going. In May of 2023 when I last posted I was still living in a 30' travel trailer borrowed from the local tribe of Native Americans. Nice trailer, and I did my best to keep it nice though I lived in it for three years: 12/2020 to 12/2023. The man who picked it up was obviously surprised when he entered it because it looked nearly new still, at first glance. I've heard many if not most of the other trailers he recovered for the tribe were totally trashed inside. Sad but true. Travel trailers are not built to be lived in long term. Many people in my community got these borrowed trailers because our homes burned in a 2020 forest fire. The tribe didn't want half the community to move away from our small town because we were suddenly homeless.


I applied for help from a housing grant and in August 2023 building commenced on a two bedroom home here on my property. Or was it in September? I can't quite recall. Anyhow, from then until late December I had builders on this property and the happy result is a pretty green two-bedroom fire-recovery home. Two bedrooms are plenty for me. I have a room for sleeping and a room for art-making that I call my day room, and a great room with a kitchen in the corner, and two bathrooms and a laundry room. What old single woman could need anything more? I also have my 10x12 shed out back. It holds everything I don't want to put into the house. I like that. It helps keep the house uncluttered.


The builders finished and occupancy was approved by the county on December 21. I was able to move into my new home right before Christmas!


Living in a house again has been wonderful and amazing for me. My art is blossoming. I'm getting a lot of reading done. Furnishing has been a problem but recently my brother brought me my mom's dining table and chairs, so I really do have plenty. My reading chair is a plastic Adirondack chair with padding. Quite comfortable, really.


So, I don't know why I quit writing on this blog last year. I think things just got to be "too much" for me and there was some depression going on during the final stretch of trailer living. House living is so much better for me.


I've created a lot of new art since I moved into the house. Here's what my art studio (in the day room) looks like today.

The Story is No Story Today

I want to have a story for you every day, but today's story is only that there's no story. My imagination isn't racing, it isn't producing, it isn't revealing anything for me to share with you.

Oh, I could go into fiction and create a story that way, but what do I have to tell you about my life? I'm sitting in my apartment, the evening news is on TV. I've had the remainder of this post written for a while now... the gratitudes, plan for the day, and current reading list. All that had to wait until I could find a story to tell you.

I am serious about sharing my life stories on this blog. One little story per day. Can I do that? Honestly, I don't do well with consistency. The words "every day" are anathema to me.

Recently I bought a book about story telling from life - A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: How I Learned to Live a Better Story. I've only read a few pages, so far. Apparently I'm supposed to find a better story by living a more interesting life.

Well, hang on there! I'm planning to give up my apartment to move into a van... would that make life more interesting?

My main reason for doing that is ... well, there are a lot of reasons. How can I choose just one?

1. If I stay in my apartment for the next 20 years it will cost about 150,000 dollars. Living in a van would cut my expenses.
2. I've been desperately wishing for road trips. Well, in a van, my life will be nothing but road trips.
3. I have a blog called Journey! California that I've wanted to develop ever since the early days of the internet. What's been stopping me? Mainly - the opportunity to travel. But now I'll have that opportunity - though I won't confine my efforts to California only.

So, my no-story day has turned into a bit of a story. My story today is that I need a more exciting life, and the plan is in the works. Tomorrow, hopefully, I'll test drive that van.

---

Gratitudes:

1. I'm grateful that I've got an audio version of the Bible. Some days I don't feel like sitting at my desk to read, and it helps to play the audio Bible instead. Today I listened to a few chapters of Proverbs, and some Psalms.

2. I'm grateful for the many friends I've made at Booktube.

3. I'm grateful for a day without rain (hopefully) tomorrow. That will help a lot as I want to test drive that van.

Plan for the day:

1. Pay bills

2. Bullet journal border video

3. Install and use new scanner

Currently reading:

1. The Pursuit of God, by A.W. Tozer, chapter 1

2. The Nightingale, by Kristen Hannah

I've been reading both The Nightingale and People of the Book. Last night I decided that I must choose only one ... two novels at a time - that's just too much for me. So I decided to finish The Nightingale first.

Blogging, Affiliate Marketing, and What I'm Reading

I've had a busy, happy day. Yesterday I joined a blogging mastermind group - something I've been wanting to do for a long time. I also got a mentor for my affiliate marketing career. I've been having difficulty with sales since the time I was writing for Squidoo (a site that folded over a year ago) and am learning techniques (new to me) that will help increase online sales.

With that in mind, I made some changes to my most recent article, How to Overcome the Fear of Cooking. I also started a new page for selling scarves and shawls. It is partly written already because it had been posted on HubPages long ago. I am doing more research and will revamp all the affiliate links. I want to write well over 1000 words of content on each page. The last one I wrote was 2000 words... and that sounds like a good number to aim for. I want my readers to find the information they're looking for whether it is ways to overcome cooking anxiety, or the information needed to safely wash delicate silk scarves.

Today I also wrote a new welcome page for my online office at LJ Martin Web. I want to continue adding to that site as the central hub of my online activities. It has most of my links - both blogs and social media links - but I've skipped a few that will eventually be added, when time allows.

Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils
(and Rewards) of Artmaking
by David Bayles and Ted Orland
Buy at Amazon

I'm nearly done reading Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking. I bought the book because, while reading the introduction I was moved by a particular quote that spoke to my heart. The book delved into scholarly writing, but not frequently. For the most part it is readable and I've learned more about reasonable expectations for artmaking.

The Newbery Challenge Rides Again!

I'm back to the Newbery Challenge! Almost twenty years ago I decided to read all the Newbery books, and now I'm inspired to get going on that again. So far I've read 42 out of 89 books, so I'm not even half-way there, and that's just the Newbery Medal WINNERS. I haven't counted the honor books and how many of them I've read. One of these days, I will. When I feel like I have more time on my hands, I guess.

I was inspired to read more of the Newbery books because I'm updating my Newbery pages online, starting with my page for the 1920's. My next job will be to do the page for the 60's, starting today. The reason why is that the 60's page is getting a lot more traffic than the other pages, so the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

I also started a blog for recording my impressions of the books I'm reading. I'll also be reviewing indie and small press books for teens and children. Yay!! I have a thing for children's literature!

I'm starting with the first Newbery book: The Story of Mankind ... it is a history book! In subsequent years fiction took over as the most common type of book honored by the Newbery Medal, but occasionally there are non-fiction books chosen as honor books. Some of them are excellent, too!

I've read enough books from the Newbery list to know that some of them are great and some, you just wonder why they were ever published, let alone chosen for this honor. As a writer of children's and teen's literature I believe luck and "who you know" count for something. And I read the good, the bad, and the ugly because it is all instructional for my career.

What's got me excited is that I have found communities of people doing the Newbery Challenge... one great group is at Goodreads, and I found out about 2 children's librarians (guys) that are doing a Newbery challenge with videos. I will also be doing videos!