You know you're getting old when...

Yes, I know. This could be the longest blog post in history. Could be, but won't be, because I'll need my nap pretty soon.

Seriously, I looked at yesterday's mail and was assaulted by an envelope. There, on the top of the wad of stuff that passes for correspondence, perched a letter from The Scooter Store. The Scooter Store! I couldn't believe it. Did they think I was old or something?

I assessed the situation. Well, sure, I had spent part of the previous evening with the latest issue of AARP on my lap, reading an article in which Kristen Bell, Jamie Lee Curtis and Betty White shared advice about aging. I identified best with Betty White's remarks. Hmmm. Betty White.... And when did AARP, replace my Grisham novels, anyhow?

What else was in the mail? Oh, perfect--two pitches to change my health insurance plans. Change them? Not likely! I still bear scars from having to wade through all that paperwork when I approached my 65th birthday -- not that all the "wading" did a lot of good. In the end, desperate to make a decision--ANY decision--I played what I call Medicare-meeney-miney-moe, arbitrarily picking a plan and tossing around big words like "deductible" and "co-pay" to justify my decision. It had all the science of throwing a dart at at target and being satisfied if it landed somewhere on the wall. Why can't health insurance selection for seniors be easy? We old folks confuse easily, you know.

And don't even think of getting me started talking about long term care insurance (yup, did that, too) or the dreaded "doughnut hole" in prescription coverage. Being a senior citizen is not for sissies, indeed.

And how about that term "senior citizen"? Remember when being a "senior" was something to anticipate with pleasure, the year you'd attend your senior prom and later parade across the auditorium stage wearing a robe and mortarboard, diploma clutched in hand? Anticipate being a senior citizen? Not so much.

You know you're getting old when you can get fired up talking about health insurance before most people half your age have had their first cup of coffee. Me, I'd had three before I even penned the first line of this post.

You know you are getting old when a New York Times article by Sandra Day O'Connor and others, called "The Age of Alzheimer's", reminds you that you now are in the age bracket of those whose chance of developing Alzheimer's doubles every five years. The article, concise and powerful, clearly describes what the US must do to prevent the dire future these numbers portend. I encourage you to look it up. It's not pleasant reading, but remember, we aren't sissies.

Much of the remainder of my day will be spent writing and preparing for an upcoming writers' retreat. But, before I do anything else, I'm going to snatch up that letter from The Scooter Store, toss it into the recycle bin and then plot a few other acts of senior disobedience.

St. George Island Writers' Retreat 2010

NOVEMBER 10 - 14, 2010
I can't wait--white sand sparkling, sunlight dancing on surf, shrimp boats plying through gentle waves...the perfect backdrop for four days of glorious writing, of putting all other distractions on hold. I am SO ready for the retreat to begin.

We have a super group this year. As always, Adrian Fogelin, award-winning author of over seven young adult works, will be our author in residence. She will lead workshops and feedback sessions, offer private consultations, advice and encouragement. We'll have large blocks of writing time, too, so plan on making significant advances with your personal work-in-progress. The experience is magical.

Six of us who have attended one or more times in the past (this is our fifth year at St. George Island) will be there, laptops and dog-eared novel or memoir drafts in tow, and three new writers are on board, too--a great mix of interests and experience. We can fit in two more writers, but after that I have to close registrations and will be able to place interested writers on a waiting list only.

We check in at beautiful Abbeyfeale (a spacious private home overlooking the Gulf of Mexico) the afternoon of November 10 and stay through Sunday the 14th. If you are on the fence about signing up, do visit my website to look over the information and photos, and email or phone with questions or concerns. Hope to see you at the retreat.

You know you've been too busy when...

The summer of 2010 saw the arrival of three trains weekly at Thurman Station, and, as president of the Thurman Station Association, I was involved in helping to create and publicize special activities in Thurman to attract and entertain rail passengers. Added to my other regular activities, it made for one crazy summer, with way too much stuffed into my volunteer schedule. Not only did I not blog, I let myriad other things slip between the cracks of my life, as well. I've finally found a few minutes to reflect on that crazy busy-ness, and the impact it had on me:

You know you've been too busy when your "short" hair cut is curling down around your collar and you realize it has been three months since you felt you could afford twenty minutes to sit down and have it cut.

You know you've been too busy when the pile of documents to be dealt with on your desk teeters above the screen of your open laptop and threaten to topple down onto it.

You know when you listen intently to a story your spouse is telling and realize moments later that not one word pierced your brain --- which was focused on that teetering pile.

You know when you forget to eat, to sleep, to go to the bathroom.

When you forget what file you were just about to open, whose number you were about to dial, what face belongs to the name on the page in front of you.

I knew best yesterday, when I sat down to work and suddenly was flooded with the awareness there was nothing -- NOTHING -- that I needed to do right away for any of those volunteer projects. It took a few minutes to fully realize that I had time to.....to what? I'd almost forgotten the alternatives.

I had time (not unlimited, but time, nonetheless) to phone a friend. Time to listen to some music and plug a few pieces into a jigsaw puzzle on the coffee table. Time to pull up a piece of fiction I wanted to noodle around with before my next writers' retreat.

Time to share a few thoughts with you in this long-neglected blog.

I've missed that.

Till soon,
Perky

Fiction Among Friends ~ A busy summer

Whoever coined that expression "lazy, hazy days of summer" didn't live in a small Adirondack town. As those of you who check in on this blog from time to time have noticed, it has been months since I've jotted a line here.

Chalk it up to Thurman and the myriad activities bubbling away here. I haven't stopped running since we returned home in April. Thurman Townwide Sale, Thurman Station Farmers' Market and Thurman Station Association's new projects (I'll blog more about those soon) have swallowed half of my waking hours. The work has been challenging, interesting and rewarding, so who can complain?

I have, however, enjoyed spending time organizing events for Fiction Among Friends, the "business" name under which I play with planning events for writers. The first was a writing workshop at Thurman Town Hall on June 19th. A good group of writers turned out, and we spent an enjoyable day working together on fleshing out characters and learning about publishing options--and all that goes with publication of a work.

The Second Thursday Readings at Willows Bistro, 3749 Main Street, Warrensburg, NY, have really taken off. Now in our second year, thanks to the hospitality of proprietor Debbie Swan, the list of so-called "Bistro Readers" boasts over forty members, most of whom have read for our group one or more times. The next session will be July 8th, when we welcome writer/poet Pedro Ponce from Canton, NY, where he teaches writing at St. Lawrence University, and Charles Watts of Lake Placid, a former TV scriptwriter now writing short fiction. If you are in the Warrensburg area July 8, stop in for the program at 7. The public is welcome at no charge. Desserts and beverages will be available.

On Thursday, July 29th Willows Bistro and Fiction Among Friends will host writer/poet/teacher Irene Sherlock's 5 p.m. memoir-based workshop to be followed about 6:30 by a delicious Willows Bistro dinner. The cost of this offering is $20 (including the dinner!), but you must preregister for the workshop and pre-order the dinner, both through me--no later than July 22, please. Irene is an amazing teacher. Visit my website for details and to read comments from former students and workshop attendees. Email me from the site to sign up, and mail your check to 11 Clarence Russell Road, Warrensburg, NY 12885. I'll email to ask your choice of entrees. After dinner Irene will present a reading, followed by readings by RayLene Corgiat and Gail Huntley. It will be a fine evening.

More is on tap for Fiction Among Friends, but I'll save that for my next post (soon, I promise), along with some exciting news.

Till then, all my best,
Perky

Making Your Voice Heard - Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Award

As writers know, getting published is difficult. It usually begins with sending a story or novel out to acquisitions agents, editors or contests. It's a time-consuming business, apt to be frustrating and ego-deflating. The first rejection is devastating; subsequent ones become mind-numbing. But once in a while you send the right work to the right audience, and things click.

Gainesville writer Rhonda Riley, a member of the critique group I belong to, entered her book-in-progress in Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Award Contest. Amazon had invited submissions of adult accepted) and young adult novels, cutting off the entries at five thousand in each category. The grand prizes include cash and publication of the book by Penguin Publishers.

In pursuit of that brass ring, the manuscripts began a rigorous judging process in which the stack of ten thousand entries was reduced first to two thousand, then to five hundred.

Rhonda's novel, "Adam Hope: A Geography" is one of the two hundred fifty hundred still vying for top position in the adult category. On April 27th, the current tier of judging will be completed, and before that time you can weigh in at this level of the judging by reading and reviewing the writers' first chapters. I hope you will.

Here's how:
1. Go to www.amazon.com/abna.
2. Select a category from the left column. Rhonda's entry, "Adam Hope," can be accessed by clicking on the "General Literature" link, and then scrolling through the list to see selections you'd like to read.
3. If you choose to read Rhonda's selection (I'm a little biased, of course), scroll down through to "Adam Hope," which usually appears on the first or second page. Click on it.

This is where it gets tricky, unless you already use Kindle.

4. If you don't have Kindle, and don't want to buy the device, you still may download the software for your PC or Mac to view the electronic version of the literature. Just click where indicated. Follow the download instructions on your screen. Initially I found it a little confusing, but eventually I got Kindle installed and was able to download the one-chapter sample of "Adam Hope." All I needed to do was log in with the info I usually use when I buy books. If you don't have an Amazon account, you'd need to start one. All of these things (downloading Kindle, starting an account and downloading the entries) are free.
5. Read, enjoy, rate the entries, write reviews (all optional).

What's next?

On April 27th, the number of contestants will be reduced to one hundred. A month later, six. Amazon customers will vote for their favorites, and on June 14th the winners will be announced. It's exciting to be on the fringe of the selection process. I think you'll like participating in the voting, and you'll certainly enjoy reading these works of literature.

The contestants deserve hearty congratulations, first for all of the hard work involved in preparing a book-length work, and second for their courage in sending their work out into the world to be scrutinized by selected editors and general readers. Good luck to all!

Readers at the Ready for Willows Bistro

Informally dubbed "The Bistro Readers," an expanding group of Adirondack area writers continue an ambitious program of monthly readings at Willows Bistro, 3749 Main Street, Warrensburg, NY.

On the second Thursday of each month, four to six writers give short readings from their published and unpublished works--fiction, memoir, humor, poetry and more. They serve up excellent entertainment, with that electricity that new work carries. Bistro owner Debbie Swan dishes up some fine food and beverages.

The free program to be presented on April 8th at 7 p.m. will highlight L.R. Warner, Elizabethtown, author of From the Blackest Cloud; Sonja Aubin, Elizabethtown, co-author of Growing Up Strong; Kathleen O'Day, Warrensburg, sharing memoir about teaching on an Indian Reservation; Carol Gregson, of Minerva, author of Leaky Boots, with new complaints; Doug Deneen, Warrensburg, with new...well, just come see what he has come up with. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll eat, you'll drink.... You don't really want to spend another night in front of TV reruns, when you could enjoy the most fresh material in the county, do you? Pick up a friend and get out to Willows. More readings are coming up, and you won't want to miss them.

Perhaps you've been wondering how to become a reader? Feel free to leave a comment here, email me from my web site (www.FictionAmongFriends.com) or call Debbie at Willows Bistro (518-504-4344). Each month's lineup is put together about three weeks in advance in order to make publicity deadlines. Readings will continue at 7 p.m. on the second Thursday throughout the spring and summer. See you there.

Maple Madness Continues in Thurman

Small towns seem to grow legendary characters the way the north side of a tree grows moss, and Thurman has a new one in the making. It all started a few years ago with a shy sugar maker named Marc, who didn’t think he’d be able to make himself talk to a group of visitors on tour. His wife, Cheryl, told all the children in the group that there was an ancient Adirondack hermit named “Tapper” boiling sap up at the old sugarhouse, and they should go ask him to show them how to make syrup. Charmed by the children's wide-eyed interest, Kenyon forgot to be nervous and stepped into the role Cheryl had created. A character was born.

Now the kids come looking for him. At last weekend’s Maple Days, one spied him. “THERE’S TAPPER!” resonated through the sugarbush, and kids flocked around him for their annual lesson in sugaring. Some gave him a goodbye hug before leaving Adirondack Gold Maple Farm.

Down at Kenyon’s new sugarhouse, used primarily for displaying merchandise and sugar making equipment, guests from near and far—some as far as Texas and Arizona—enjoyed sampling and shopping for maple products—maple syrup, maple sugar, maple cream and maple cotton candy, to name a few. And Sally Feihel of Adirondack Suds and Scents showed of f her homemade soaps, lotions and soy votives, talking to visitors about how the products are made and playing a video of the soap making process. Tour-goers soaked up the friendship, good fun and hospitality that permeated the place, sometimes pausing to sit with a cup of Cheryl’s special maple chili, trying to wheedle from her the secret recipe. Adirondack Gold was just one of four stops on the trek around town. Many enjoyed fluffy pancakes with syrup at Valley Road Maple Farm and watched a sawing demonstration at Martin’s Lumber, where big slabs of maple, stained glass stepping stones and other crafts were on display. A stop at Toad Hill Maple Farm, said to be the largest in Warren County, rounded out the tour, as the Galusha family opened their sugarhouse to friends old and new, with high technology assisting them in an age-old art largely dependent upon weather conditions beyond the control of man.

Maple madness continues in Thurman each weekend through March 28th. To see a map and more information, visit www.Thurman-NY.com. Email Info@Thurman-NY.com or phone 518-623-9718.

Tapper will be waiting for you.