Curtiss Ann Matlock's Blog, page 11

Exercising Faith

I enjoyed a walk with my dog, Faith, this morning. I instituted this habit a couple of years ago, when the vet said she was overweight. And yes, I needed exercise, too, for both body and mind. That Faith trimmed down, gained energy, and gets such joy from the walks has kept me at the habit. In winter we generally walk in the evenings and in summer the mornings, trying to beat the heat, which neither of us like.

I think the turn for fall was in the air this morning, because Faith stepped out ...

Looking for Beta Readers

Are you a beta reader for an author? Have you read two or more of my books? Do you like my books? Do you enjoy women’s fiction? I’m looking for five beta readers for my latest novel, currently titled According to Carley Love.

The term ‘Beta Reader’ makes me smile. It came about from the computer-jargon of program developers. In my first years of writing, we called them ‘friends’, or maybe it was a mother, a sister, a cousin. Or simply ‘readers’. For my first books, I would write a few chapter...

Piddlin’

Months ago my friend, Melissa, brought me two pots of butter daisies. I plopped them at the base of a big old magnolia tree in my front yard, with the idea of leaving the hearty spreading plants to escape and proliferate on their own. This morning I decided to hurry the process along, and dug some starts from a wild patch growing on the side of the road.

I did not dig to plant the butter daisy sprigs–that would require a reciprocating saw and great deal of effort to cut through the roots of ...

Accept Life’s Chaos

Do yourself a favor and read Steven Pressfield’s Writing Wednesdays post: The Willing Embrace of Chaos. It’s short, and you’ll thank me later. Read the comments, too; much wisdom in them.

I have always disliked chaos and have fought it like a tiger. Wasting a lot of energy in a losing battle. Chaos is the reality of life on earth, and in my experience any time we set out to create something good, chaos jumps in to hamper. What cannot be changed must be accepted, dear hearts. Power comes wi...

In Remembrance of Hardy Dean, Patriot

No, he is not famous. He’s not in history books, and I had to follow a trail of breadcrumbs along my family line to learn of him–thanks to Family Search, which now has some Revolutionary War records online, and to the countless individuals recording genealogy.

Here is one of the military pay vouchers for Hardy Dean. The voucher is not for being a soldier, as I had expected. I was looking for a hero of the Revolutionary War in my family line.

I got a farmer. The voucher is for selling the ...

In Praise of Dawdling Time

I spent five days camping where this was my view–the Tombigbee River. When I go off in my camper, I forget about my so-called normal life–schedules, demands, writing, bills. That’s the point of a get-away, after all. My camper life is one of driving curvy roads through the countryside, photographing long-abandoned houses and buildings, reverently strolling old cemeteries and taking photographs of headstones. Setting in a lawn chair and considering life, watching bugs, studying the light on the ...

The Road Unseen

This is the road my faithful dog and I walk along each morning. I have deep thoughts, and the dog smells deep smells, and her tail wags happily, her ears perked as she pads along in her happily expectant manner.

As I walked along this morning, gazing mostly downward, I thought of the conversation I had last night with a dear friend. My attitude had been dismal about a state of affairs I felt ill-equipped to deal with and simply wanted to give up on. My friend, being a fabulous friend, attem...

Life is Like Riding a Bicycle

I’ve started riding my bike again! But wouldn’t you know, the second time out, I took a bad fall.

Picture a smallish white-haired old woman with a pink hat riding a lavender bike. The wind blew her hat off and she automatically cast her hand out to catch it. She might have gotten away with that, but unfortunately, she attempted to use both hands to put the hat back on her head, without stopping her bicycle. Arms and legs going every-which-way, hair on end, bicycle out of control. It had to b...

On Memorial Day

‘Decoration Day’, my mother called it. She had been taught of it as a child, a teaching I do not recall being passed to me. It was only a holiday for much of my life. Then came the years I began to understand, but still thought it meant all veterans. It doesn’t. It honors those who died in service to their country, and it began in the U.S. after the Civil War. I’m grateful that today I more understand the sacrifices. I think the understanding gives me more respect for life.

This Memorial Day...

Books I’m Reading

Make Your Bed, by Admiral William H. McRaven, USN Retired. It was the subtitle: Little things that can change your life and maybe the world that drew me in. I went straight and downloaded the sample of the book onto my Kindle library and read the first of it. I was so captivated that I ordered it in hardback. Easy to read and identify with. You know, we tend to think some big admiral hero would not pay attention to the underlying factors of everyday life, but that is exactly where heroism comes...