Is everyone having a great Labor Day Weekend?

I’d like to say that I’m sorry to see the summer of 2023 go, but I’d be lying. I’m ready for much cooler weather, y’all. Not cold, mind you. But low 90’s or even low 80’s would be welcome. We actually woke up Sunday morning to the sound of thunder. Did we get any rain? We got about five seconds of spit from the sky. I know this because I went out in the backyard to find out what was going on. That’s okay. I’ll take it. Thank you for the spit, Sky!

Our neighbor, though, reports that she knows someone who lives a couple of miles away who got a ton of rain. So there’s that.

This is the weekend where everyone cooks outside on the grill or gets DIY projects done around the house. Maybe even a few of y’all are decorating for fall and/or getting fall cleaning over and done with. Until the weather tells me it’s fall, I don’t care what the calendar says. Y’all have a good time with your beginning of fall rituals! I hope your home projects come out phenomenal and your delectables are grilled to perfection and delicious! Me, I’m waiting for the weather to cool down a little more before I embark on any of that stuff.

It’s Labor Day Weekend. I’m laboring over my book.

So, here’s where I am on my book if you’re interested.

I figured that as I read through my first draft, I might have a couple of changes here or there. *sigh*

Y’all, I haven’t left one page untouched with all of my notes and extra wordage. I’m only halfway through, too. Remember last post when I said something along the lines of this book was going to grow in length because, apparently, that’s what happens when I edit something? If not, you can read about that here.

We-eee-llllll…as wrong as I usually am about so many things, I was right about the length of this thing growing. Hey, it’s good to be right every once in a while. I’m just not sure this is where I most needed to be right.

Also, I’ve been reading about drafts and other writing whatnot on the internet. I found one site that suggested that for a novel, it can take ten drafts to get the manuscript ready to go to an editor. TEN DRAFTS! That’s enough to make you cry. Then you go through the editing process all over again with the editor. I’m so glad I’m not writing a novel. My book’s a collection of memoir, essays and conversations  — and, sometimes, those conversations are just with myself. So, yeah, it’s that kind of book. Not a novel.

So, I found a different site that talked about five drafts in the writing process. Wasn’t I complaining about five drafts just last post? I believe I did. That’s what my friend had suggested to me and that threw me for a loop. BUT GUESS WHAT? That sounds so much more manageable than ten.

Also, what I’m working on right now by just reading through the hard draft and writing in the margins and everything? That’s considered my second draft! So, technically, I’m working on my second draft. I like this site that talks about five drafts so much more than the one that talks about ten. I do enjoy that “less is more” kind of positivity!

Oh, and before I forget — Thanks, Barbara, for introducing me to the Interrobang symbol. I use question marks with exclamation points right after them all of the time. I didn’t know that there was a symbol that combined the two! How exciting is that?!?!?! Only, apparently, WWS doesn’t give me the option to use an interrobang. Because of course not! *sigh* Nor can I copy and paste it for some reason. But if you’re as excited about this as I am, you can look it up here, y’all! 

Okay, now I have to talk about the diva on your screen.

Wayward Sparkles? That’s right, I’m talking about you!

As I understand it, damned few if anyone at the moment is able to leave comments. Again. “Critical Error” is never what you want to see when you try and make a comment on someone’s post. Ugh. Thank y’all for letting me know this. I have let Richard, my tech guy, also know this. More than once. He’s supposed to get back with me and let me know what’s up. More than anything, I just want him to fix the damned problem, whatever it is.

When I hear back from Richard, I’ll let y’all know.

In the meantime, some of you kind-hearted souls have managed to get around “Miss Diva Wayward” throwing her wild-eyed fits and refusing to let y’all comment. Some of you have left me messages on Face Book or is that Meta now? I never know who’s who in the social media zoo anymore.

Also, some have actually gone to my email account and left messages there. That works even better. If you’d like to do that it’s: waywardsparkles@yahoo.com.

Lastly, some of y’all have left messages on your blogs about my latest post when I comment on your post. That, too, works.

You have no idea just how much I appreciate each of you and the fact that you’ve gone to as much trouble as you have to let me know what your comments were!

So, if Wayward Sparkles will let you comment, then awesome! Please do. If it won’t, though — she can be such a fickle bitch —then please consider one of these alternate ways I discussed above of getting through to me until Richard gets her back on track again.

Also, since Mailchimp isn’t working for me anymore, just know that I try and put out a new post on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday. If it hasn’t gone out by Tuesday, I’ll generally wait until the next week to put a post out. If that helps y’all figure out when I post. I’ll try to be more mindful of consistently posting in the future.

Lastly, I’ll leave you with a conversation I had with a stranger in the grocery store this summer.

It should go under the category of “Old-timers Remembering When.” I was reminded of this conversation when I read Ally Bean’s story about a conversation she was a part of at the grocery store she goes to. So thanks, Ally, for reminding me of this.

During the worst part of this summer, when it was scorching hot and humid (it felt like 111 degrees that day), I was grocery shopping and dripping with sweat. I was miserable and looked it, too. The last thing I expected was to have a conversation with anyone. I was looking for a particular specialty item on the baking aisle (graham cracker crumbs) when this guy who was also shopping, turns onto the baking aisle, sees me and says, “Is it hot enough for you?”

I told him, “Yes. I’m so ready for fall. I’ve lived through worse summers, though.”

Then he brought up the summer of 1980. In our neck of the woods, that was the worst summer on record. I told him I remembered it well. My family had just moved us into a fixer upper that didn’t have air conditioning. We spent a lot of time on the front porch that summer trying to catch a cool breeze now and again.

He said during the summer of 1980, he was working on electrical lines, digging ditches. He said that in the ditch, there wasn’t any cool air at all because the air was still. It was suffocating and miserable. While he didn’t end up in the hospital, five guys he worked with did. They all suffered from heat-related issues.

As he told his story, I just shook my head in sympathy and then said, “That’s awful. But it just goes to show you, what doesn’t kill you, just makes you *long pause* wish you were dead.”

He cackled all the way down the aisle.

Bottomline, I’m glad this isn’t the summer of 1980.

Also, I was sad to hear that Jimmy Buffett passed away on Friday, the first.

I like to think that he’s just passed on to where it’s always five o’clock.

Stay safe y’all! And Happy Meteorological Fall!

And music that I’ve been listening to this past week. Let’s start this off with a little Rock and Roll Circus with Lennon, Clapton and some of the members of the Stones —

and a little Smashing Pumpkins to start us off to a great meteorological fall

and, lastly, the perfect Labor Day Weekend song. RIP, Jimmy Buffett! You will be missed!

Sparkle on,

Mona