Spring Fever

No-Water World + Some News!

Dear Readers,

I’m late…again. I realize this. It has been a season of much busy-ness and business. Did you know that the water company has an alert if your water line fails and is leaking enormous amounts of water? Neither did I until — after noticing a drop in my water pressure, a weird noise, and calling my plumber at 5 a.m. to leave a message — the water company knocked on my door at 8 a.m. to let me know they’d shut mine off.

It was a Friday, so that meant several days without water. And a massive and pricey line replacement.

It was a long day for me, my excellent plumber (who worked until 11 p.m. to get the water back on), and all the dogs. But it was an especially rough one for Sally. She was SO good, and also unconvinced it was the right move not to kill to defend her domicile.

Home ownership has its rewards and its YEGADS!

Otherwise, I’ve been noveling away and doing all the things I normally do and LOVING spring. Josh’s MG doesn’t hurt, as driving around in beautiful weather in what Josh calls “analog world” (tape deck! radio! don’t check the phone!) and watching the car delight strangers is The Best.

I also did a paint by numbers and loved the non-verbal brain reset so much I’ve bought some Japanese watercolors. I’ll report back. I didn’t really use the numbers, just eyeballed the image.

Don’t worry, I’m not quitting my day job… Speaking of which!

I’m actually adding a new job to life and I couldn’t be more excited. Say hello to the newsletter editor for LEXtoday. I officially put on that hat on April 6!* Anyone who knows me knows that I love Lexington and I love knowing what’s going on here , so I can’t wait to write about all of the above. I’ve been a devoted reader of the newsletter ever since it launched. Local journalism is a long-time passion.

It feels like this opportunity showed up at the perfect moment. I cannot wait. My notes app is full of story ideas already!

Don’t worry — I’m still novel-writing too. And I hope to have news for you on that front soon. I’m awaiting (hopefully) last notes from my editor on one of next year’s books and finishing the other. Something I’ve realized is I do better in everything, but particularly in writing fiction, when I’m asking more of myself and have more structure rather than less (and when the books aren’t being counted on to pay all the bills).

So, anyway, hooray!

Tidbits:

• You’ve been reading Brown Hound’s story every week, haven’t you? If you missed last week’s by Merceline Ochieng, “Running Against the Shadow,” which dramatizes the bone-chilling reality of femicide in her home country of Kenya: go read it. It’s so powerful. And I’m so proud to say that Merceline’s membership at the Lexington Writer’s Room while she’s here on a Fulbright is covered by one of our Underrepresented Writer Program scholarships funded by LexArts. I’m happy we have been able to support her voice.

• Have you seen Sing Street? A friend is hosting an Irish film series all month at the Kentucky and it was this week’s movie. It’s an emotional delight about a group of Irish boys forming a band in the mid-1980s. Every artist should see it.

• Last but not least, if you’re local, I’m partnering with 2nd Story art gallery (which I adore) this Saturday afternoon on a free Worldbuilding Writing Workshop in conjunction with their current exhibit. It’ll be fun.

More soon!

Yours,

Gwenda

p.s. I also got re-blued!

*You can subscribe now if you don’t already and wanna, but I’ll remind you again too! ;)