Hello, Ocean

 

I am fond of Summer - but not fond of heat. When the local weather guys issued the hot weather warning (which in this part of the world means the temperature will be close to 90 F), I knew I wanted to escape the hot house, and I heard the ocean call. The temperature in the valley was indeed pretty high - the highest our car thermometer showed as we were moving towards the ocean, was 97 F. (It's always cooler by the sea where we live.) On the shores of the Pacific, which is only a couple of hours South-West from our home, it was sunny and mild, in the 70s, and not too crowded - a perfect little get away.

Write and Link #2: When Suddenly I Saw

Gypsy by Konstantin Makovsky (1839-1915). Oil, date unknown (source)

It's Write and Link time! I chose a painting to go with my story - it does not illustrate characters or anything like it, but I thought it would go well with the mood. About 1100 words this time. The link to join in is at the very end of the post. I can't wait to read your stories!

Click here to read

The Gypsy

Story by Natalia Lialina

The opening phrase for the July stories:

"It was one of those endless Summer days..."

The Best

You guys! Thank you for your such wonderful, heartfelt comments on my book publishing news. You guys are simply the best! Of course, I am very thrilled, and as you can imagine, my mind is quite preoccupied these days. I left the "book thoughts" only for a little while to enjoy the Father's Day weekend with Justin, the World Greatest Dad ("and Husband", added Anya), and we had such a wonderful, relaxing weekend. Other than that and Anya starting a month long theater camp (read: I started a month long driving there and back, twice a day camp), I am focused on my writing. I tend to be extremely focused when I work on something that matters to me a lot, so no wonder, blogging takes a back seat for a while. I don't know how frequently I will be able to comment, please do not take it personally - and know that I treasure you VERY MUCH. :)

Oh Summer!

Oh Summer! 

Days are endless, nights short, sunsets and sunrises - amazing. 

No school, no tests, no uniforms. Cooking. Grilling. Farmer's markets (we've just been to the one that recently opened in our neighborhood). Red wine. And white wine too. Sun. Hot sand. I want to soak in as much sun and warmth as possible. But I also want to work, more than ever. These Summer days, I received an unexpected offer to publish a book. After being shortly in a state of disbelief and doubts, I reminded myself that life is what we make out of it. I can sit here in my room worrying that my writing is not good enough, not mature enough yet and decline the offer... or I can just dive in, do the best I can and see what happens. Guess what I am choosing. 

What Matters Most

When we lose something that matters to us a lot in life, it is the hardest experience to go through. And I don't know which is harder - to let go of what isn't working because of some external challenges that you have no control over, or to let go of something that you treasure, but which stopped working for you because of your own inner process of growth and change. You know that it is in your own power to push the stop button. You know that you need to start moving in a different direction, your destination point is not ahead of you any more, and you need to get off this train. You did not get on the train by mistake or by some willful life force - it was your own decision and even desire to take this ride, and for a while it was a wonderful ride. But then you started noticing the signs that it isn't going to get you where you ultimately want to be, and it gets harder and harder to ignore those signs. No matter how much you enjoyed the ride, no matter how much you invested in it, you know - it just isn't working for you any longer. It is an extremely difficult decision to make. It takes all your inner strength and courage. The weight of the fear of the unknown along with the sense of responsibility for your own life and for those lives which inevitably will be touched by this decision of yours, are simply overwhelming, and sometimes it freezes you for a few months, or maybe a few years even. It's hard to make this decision. It's hard to let go.

Domino

This week is a bit hectic here, In the Writer's Closet, but I'm full of outfit ideas. I love it when one of my activities inspires another, and vice versa. One of my recent outfits actually inspired a character in my new story (pretty much all my stories start with a character, it almost feels like a character appears, introduce himself/herself to me and tell me their story). This outfit, on the other hand, was inspired by the piece of writing I'm working on now - all in its own time, but I will reveal that hopefully pretty soon.

Riverwalk

It seems, this hat wants to go with pretty much every one of my outfits. 

And it seems, I let her!