After the storms,driftwood covered the beach in Lincoln City.

Winter 2012 has been like a bully. It let us think it wasn’t coming, then beat the stuffing out of the Oregon coast.  January walloped us with snow, then rain and wind, then more rain and more wind. The rivers and creeks overflowed. The storms  knocked the power out, broke water lines, sent mud and trees cascading onto the roads, bit a chunk out of Highway 101, and generally wreaked havoc, $6 million worth at last count. At one point, all the roads east were closed, along with the Yaquina Bridge, where the wind threw a semi into a pickup truck.  Schools were closed, events cancelled. The governor declared a state of emergency. And then the sun came out. We all stared at the sky, saying, “I don’t understand, but thank you.”

Then it rained again. And blew. And rained.

On the home front, the hot tub cover was Frisbeed across the deck again. Tree branches littered the yard. My gutters turned into waterfalls. I discovered I could heat a pot of water in an hour on the wood stove. Annie got comfortable sleeping in the house.

Today, the storm bully has moved on to beat up another town. Things are drying out. But I suspect he’ll be back.

Evidence of the craziness of this winter: I spent a big chunk of my Christmas money on a brand new yellow wheelbarrow, which I can use to pick up the debris from the storms–and a big green hose for when it gets warm enough to wash the car and water the plants.  Meanwhile, I’ve learned some lessons from the crazy weather. Here are just a few:

1) If you don’t buy rain boots, you’ll always have wet feet. They don’t have to be cute, just waterproof.
2) Don’t let the gas tank or the refrigerator go empty, and stock up on toilet paper. You might not be able to drive to the store.
3) Water and electricity are not guaranteed.
4) Find that old camp stove and figure out how to work it.
5) Keep at least one old-style phone that works without electricity.
6) If the sun appears, run outside and pay homage.
7) If you won’t go outside in the rain, the dog won’t either.
8) The best coastal hairdo is a hat.
9) All plans are tentative.
10) Get a boat.  

 Sue’s News

“My Imaginary Daughter,” an essay from my upcoming Childless by Marriage book, was published in the January issue of Still Crazy, a literary magazine that I really enjoy. In the essay, I fantacise about what it would have been like if I were spending Christmas with my daughter and grandchildren.

On the less literary front, my article on local jam sessions (the musical kind) was published in Oregon Coast Today, and my story on Antique Week is scheduled for the Feb. 10 edition. Up next: a feature on salt water taffy.

In the midst of our crazy storms, I made it to Oceanview Senior Living at the north end of Newport to give a talk and reading from my books Shoes Full of Sand and Stories Grandma Never Told. I surprised the enthusiastic audience with a couple of songs, too. I really enjoyed it, and I’d love to schedule more such appearances.

 Writer Aid

Have you ever heard of “Written? Kitten!”? I hadn’t either until I read about it in one of the numerous writing newsletters I receive. Curious as any cat, I clicked on it and found myself facing nothing but a big white square waiting for me to put some words in it. I wanted to see what would happen, so I drafted a blog post for my Childless by Marriage site. One hundred words in, it happened. A big beautiful cat picture appeared on the right side of my screen. It stayed there until I got to 200 words, at which point a new cat picture appeared. And so it went until I had finished. You can set this free program to reward you with a picture every 100, 200, 500, or 1,000 words. If the muse is sitting around with its arms folded saying, “Nope. Nuh-uh. Not writing,” try Written? Kitten!

We all need incentives to keep writing. Maybe it’s that chocolate chip cookie you promise yourself if you just get X number of words done. Maybe it’s a celebratory round of computer solitaire. Maybe you’ll dive into that new novel you just bought. We all need a reason to keep going. Money and deadlines are good, but they’re not much fun, are they?

I have four blogs (see links off to the side of this post) and this newsletter, in addition to my work on books, poems, essays and articles. How do I keep it straight? I use sticky notes that I put on my calendar. It’s amazing how good it feels when I remove that Post-It with a triumphant ta-da! Done!

For me, nothing beats a ticking timer to get me going. If I promise myself I’ll only spend 15 or 30 minutes on something, just to see what happens, I inevitably get so involved in the writing that I shush the beeper and keep going. Even if I don’t set the timer, there’s always the dog to let me know my time is limited. As the afternoon moves past 3:00, she’s at my side, nudging my arm so that I have a hard time typing. It’s time to finish my work so we can go for our walk.

Book Report

Dharma Girl by Chelsea Cain, Seal Press, 1996. In this memoir, Cain’s first published book, Chelsea and her mom take a journey back in time and place to Iowa City, where they lived a wild and free life on a commune when Chelsea was a little girl. It’s a beautiful story, full of the imagination of childhood and the wisdom of growing up. Through Idaho, Wyoming, and Nebraska, we take the trip with them, and it is all so real that I’m there. Back in Iowa, some things have changed, and a man they both loved is probably dead, but in finding her old home, Chelsea finds herself. These days, Cain’s detective novels are best-sellers, but you could tell that was coming even in this early work. www.chelseacain.com.

The Mill River Recluse by Darcie Chan, self-published on Kindle, 2011. Apparently this first novel by a young and gorgeous New York attorney is selling like crazy, but I wouldn’t have heard of it if I weren’t doing research on people who live alone.  This is the story of Mary Hayes McAllister, who suffers from “social anxiety disorder,” a fear of people and places made worse by her brief marriage to an abusive husband who attacks hers and blinds her in one eye. After he dies, she remains alone in their Marble Mansion, never coming out for 60 years. But that doesn’t mean she isn’t involved in the affairs of the town of Mill River. If they only knew. We really have two alternating stories, Mary’s life from her teens through her death, and what’s going on outside her window. Father Michael O’Brien is the only one who bridges both worlds. It’s a great read, a little predictable in places. The bad guys are very bad, and the good guys are unbelievably good, and perhaps the ending stretches out a little long. But overall, we love this book. www.darciechan.com.

Celebrating Time Alone: Stories of Splendid Solitude by Lionel Fisher, Beyond Words Publishing, Inc., 2001. When is somebody going to write about living alone and stick to the subject? This is an interesting book, a melange of memoir, research and other people’s stories. About two-thirds of it really does address the subject of living alone, including things like loneliness, self-indulgence and sex, but then the book wanders more into philosophy and spirituality. Fisher spends many pages on living in the present, finding our true selves, and facing death. It’s well-written and interesting, but I felt cheated when he included people who don’t actually live alone. He does offer wonderful references for further research.

Newport Blues, a Salesman’s Lament, by George Byron Wright, C3 Publications, 2011. I bought this for the local setting, but it’s a fun read, kind of tongue-in-cheek noir. When longtime traveling salesman “Jonesy” drops dead of a heart attack, Sidney Lister is suddenly tagged to take his place selling gift shop geegaws at stores on the Oregon Coast. It soon develops that our hapless hero has a bad guy chasing him who wants to kill him and is discovering that Jonesy left a girl and a story in every coastal town. It’s not great literature, but it’s suspenseful, and you can’t help but love Sidney. Plus, it’s always fun to read a story that takes place where you live.

End Notes

That’s it for now. January was fast and furious. February? Who knows? My dog Annie will turn four this month. Happy birthday also to Ellen, Evelyn, and  Jessie. Happy anniversary to Mike and Sharon. All the best to everyone celebrating something special in February. May the groundhog give us good news and may all of our trees stay upright.

Hugs,

Sue

All contents copyrigth 2012 Sue Fagalde Lick

Sunset at Seal Rock, the light of a crab boat in the distance

After stormy days when the sky never lightened beyond twilight, rain flooded the rivers and roads, and wind scattered the hydrangea petals like blue snow, I awaken to a bright clear Oregon morning. Blue sky, sun lighting the tops of the spruce and pine, spring bulbs beginning to push up from the ground.

My slippers slide on the frozen deck as I go to unlock the dog’s room. Still sleeping in her crate, Annie emerges, blinking in the light. She does her yoga, downward-facing dog, then upward-facing dog. Then she shakes all over, from ears to tail, and trots onto the deck, slipping a little as she steps onto the lawn to relieve herself. Then, tail wagging, eyes shining, she zooms into the warm house to eat Kibbles and Bits as I mark off another day on the calendar.

It’s the last day of 2011, a year most of us are glad to be rid of. Every year has its trials and its joys, but this one seemed to be especially loaded with trials. So many people lost loved ones this year.

Last New Year’s Eve, I was on the way to Albany to visit my husband when I got a call from the nursing home. Fred was being taken to the hospital, out of his mind with pain. It was the beginning of the end of his battle with Alzheimer’s Disease.

I spent the afternoon next to his bed in the ER, where he screamed and shouted and begged to be left alone as doctors, nurses and technicians examined him and poked things into his most private places. They were about to release him when he had a seizure and fell into a deep sleep. He didn’t wake up until the wee hours of the night, when he was confused, combative, shaking and unable to speak.

As people elsewhere on the West Coast greeted the new year, I was in a motel, where I dined on powdered donuts and tried to watch TV but couldn’t concentrate on the trivia on the screen. Fred was dying. It would be four and a half months more of awfulness before he actually passed, but we really lost him on New Year’s Eve.

This New Year’s Eve should be easier. Fred is at peace, and I’m getting there. We have begun our new lives, still together in spirit if not in body. If he were here, we would toast with champagne and hug and kiss at midnight. So let’s raise a glass to Fred and all the loved ones who left us in 2011 as we greet the beginning of a bright new year.

Sue’s news

It’s all a blur of church music, potlucks, Christmas cards, dog walks, bags of stove pellets, writing blogs, and missing Fred. Somewhere in the middle of it, I brought home 300 more beautiful copies of Stories Grandma Never Told: Portuguese Women in California. See my book page for info about the book and how to get yourself a copy. I’m still selling Shoes Full of Sand, too. I’m scheduled to talk about my books at Oceanview Senior Living on Jan. 20 at 2 p.m. Drop on by if you’re in the area.

I discovered something cool online for guitarists. At Griff Hamlin’s Blues Guitar Unleashed site, you can get quite a few free lessons that are really good. He also has a full course he’d be happy to sell you, but if you get on his mailing list, you will receive some great stuff.

Writers, give this gift to yourself

At the risk of sounding like all the other rah-rah writing coaches out there, I have a suggestion for a late Christmas present to give yourself if you have any desire to write. Give yourself an hour, one hour, every day or every other day or once a week, whatever fits your life and your desires and use that hour to do nothing but write. It is amazing how easy it is to get distracted into a million other things, many of which are related to writing but are not actually writing. I’m talking about just writing. I have been trying to do this lately, and it’s surprising how much I produce. Even on days when I don’t feel like it, I can write the garbage out in my journal and then discover I have time and energy to write something of greater value. In one hour, I did four journal pages, then outlined a blog post for my Unleashed in Oregon blog, for which I started with absolutely no idea what to write about.  Then I started this little ditty.

As all the gurus say, from Anne Lamott with her “Shitty First Drafts” to Natalie Goldberg in Writing Down the Bones to Julia Cameron with her Morning Pages , open up your writing brain by writing whatever comes to mind. Just let ‘er rip, and you will find that it enables you to focus on the writing that you want to do. It doesn’t matter whether you use a pen and paper, a computer or an iPad. Nor does it have to be in the morning, if you’d rather write at a different time of day. Magic happens. I promise.

So give yourself one hour. Take the phone off the hook if you can. Lock yourself in a room. Go to the coffee shop. Write in your car, if you have to. Sixty minutes, not a second less. Just try it. Merry Christmas from me.

Writer Events

Willamette Writers, Oregon Coast Branch: It’s January again, which means another celebration of beloved Oregon poet William Stafford. We will meet on Tuesday, Jan. 17 at 7 p.m. at the Newport Public Library to read our favorite Stafford poems and some of our own. Admission is free.

The Nye Beach Writers Series will host novelist Peter Rock on Saturday, Jan. 21 at 7 p.m. at the Newport Visual Arts Center. Admission is $6. An open mic follows Rock’s reading.

Book Report

The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks, Grand Central Publishing, 2011. Amanda Collier and Dawson Cole were deeply in love as teenagers, but circumstances forced them apart. Twenty-five years later, they meet in the small town where they grew up to pay their respects at the funeral of the man who was mentor to them both. Despite a lifetime of changes, the spark of love between them is still alive. What will they do about it? And what will Dawson do about the hometown enemies who are looking for a chance to kill him? This is the kind of book you drop everything to read. It’s beautifully written in every way—language, characters, plot, setting. After a while, you stop noticing how Sparks keeps changing point of view, and you forgive the pat ending. It’s so good you don’t care. Sparks is also the author of The Notebook, Message in a Bottle, A Walk to Remember, Nights in Rodanthe, and many other novels. They are best-sellers that become great movies for good reason. Learn more about Sparks at www.nicholassparks.com.

Bed by David Whitehouse, Scribner, 2011. When Malcolm Ede turns 25, he decides life is just not worth the effort and goes to bed. From that day on, he stays in bed. Eating the huge meals that his mother prepares for him, he grows fatter and fatter until he becomes the world’s fattest man. Malcolm’s story is intriguing, but this is really the story of his younger brother and what his brother’s retreat from the world does to his own life. This is a fascinating novel, different from any I have ever read. It’s grotesque, funny, bittersweet, layered, and adeptly written. Whitehouse’s first published novel ought to become a classic. It has already won numerous prizes and been optioned for a film. http://bydavidwhitehouse.com.

Veronica’s Diary: The Journey of Innocence by Veronica Esagui, Papyrus Press, 2010. Veronica, whom I met at a book fair in Medford, OR, grew up in Lisbon, Portugal. Her family went from very rich to very poor, and she always felt like an outsider. In her early teens, her family arranged for her to marry her cousin Alberto and live in North America. They had never met. Would this be a happy marriage? All she knew was that she wanted to move to the land of movie stars and rock ‘n roll. This is told as a diary written in the voice of a child and then a young woman. Many English-language mistakes can be found, but after a while the story takes over, and you just want to find out what happens. The book also offers a nice taste of Portuguese life in the post-World War II years. Esagui, today a chiropractor and host of a TV program featuring Northwest authors, has published a sequel, Veronica’s Diary II: Braving a New World. For information, visit her website, www.veronicaesagui.net.

Jan’s Story: Lost to the Long Goodbye of Alzheimer’s by Barry R. Petersen, Behler Publications, 2010. Newscaster Barry Petersen tells the story of dealing with his wife Jan’s early-onset Alzheimer’s. He takes us from just before the diagnosis to the point where she is staying in an assisted living facility and no longer recognizes him. I thought he might include the story of her death, but he doesn’t go there. As far as I can discover, she is still alive. This is a heartfelt story, well-written and easy to read, full of information about Alzheimer’s. The resource list at the end is invaluable. In many ways, this echoes my story with Fred. We weren’t on TV or living all over the world, of course, but we did share a second love like theirs, and there were many occasions as I read that I found myself nodding my head in recognition. Yes, that happened to us, too. http://jansstory.com.

End Notes

Early December’s freakishly dry weather has finally given way to the wild wind and sideways rain we Oregon coasters are accustomed to. Not that we love it, but at least it’s normal. Here we are at the start of a new year. Let’s all try to make the best of it. Happy birthday to my friend Sherri and anybody else celebrating this month. Happy New Year to everyone.

I’ll have a new cell phone number as of Jan. 8. I’m finally getting an Oregon number. It’s only been 15 1/2 years since we left California. If you’re on my contact list, I’ll send you a message with the new number. Call me.

Hugs,

Sue

All contents copyright 2012 Sue Fagalde Lick

Wildlife Get Wild

I sat in my car staring at these two giraffes who were doing the most amazing dance. They twined their long necks around each other, moving in slow motion for at least 20 minutes. Then a third giraffe walked toward them. Hmm. Would they fight or turn this into a menage a trois? Neither. It seemed as if the third giraffe was calling them to dinner. The two untangled their necks and walked down the road side by side as I snapped one photo after another.

The giraffes were only three of 600 animals at the Wildlife Safari in Winston, Oregon. It’s not far from Roseburg, off Highway 42/99. I first visited there in 1989 when I broke my foot on our vacation. The drive-through tour was perfect for a girl on crutches. This time I was on my way home from a book fair in Medford and decided to treat myself to a safari.

The 4.5 mile drive-through tour is the main highlight of the park. Everything from alligators to zebras can be found in natural habitats. Often the land creatures cross the road right in front of you. Emus will come  up to your window. Lions, tigers and bears; they’ve got them all. Be ready to take lots of pictures.

When you return to the parking lot–where a peacock came within touching distance of me–you’re not done. Wildlife Safari also includes a walking tour with more wonderful animals. Of course there’s a gift shop, and the Safari Cafe is open on weekends.

Admission, $17.99 for adults, less for kids and seniors, includes two runs through the drive-through tour and is worth every penny. Wildlife Safari is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Winter is a good time to go because many of the animals are more active in cold weather and there are no crowds, so you can commune with the critters as long as you want to. For info, call (541) 679-6761 or visit the website at www.wildlifesafari.net.

Sue’s News

Well, I confess that I did not write a poem a day in November, although I did draft 10 poems. Nor did I write a novel in 30 days with NaNoWriMo. But I have a good excuse. On Nov. 1, when I sat down to write fiction, my muse screamed, “No! I have something else for you to do.” So I did. I started a new nonfiction project that might be a book someday.

Meanwhile,  in the bathtub in a motel in Roseburg, I got a brainstorm that led to a complete rewrite of my upcoming Childless by Marriage book. I threw on a bathrobe and started typing, not even bothering to dry off. I’m deeply immersed in that now, which explains the dazed look on my face when I venture away from my desk. Overall, I suspect I churned out more than NaNoWriMo’s required 50,000 words in November. I got so busy I stopped counting.

Along with the book revision, I have doubled my postings at the Childless by Marriage blog. Most recently, we have discussed Thanksgiving without children, mothering our dogs, and how to talk about having children with a partner who says he doesn’t want them.

At my Unleashed in Oregon blog, I wrote about the New Mass, Black Friday, and my recent cataract surgery. Yes, as predicted, I am typing this without glasses. My closeup vision is amazing. Distance, not so much. I need to wait until the end of the month to trade my not-quite-right glasses for new ones. Then I will see everything.

Writer News

Writers on the Edge is celebrating the 15th anniversary of its Nye Beach Writers Series with a party on Dec. 10, 7 p.m., at the Newport Visual Arts Center. Admission is free. There will be live music, food, door prizes and an extended open mic. If you’re in the area, please come.

The coast branch of Willamette Writers meets Tuesday, Dec. 6 at the Newport library. Guest  Charles Goodrich will present a workshop on “flash non-fiction.” The festivities begin at 7 p.m., and admission is free.

Writer Aid: Is it Finished?

As of this month, I have stopped posting to my separate Writer Aid blog, but I will offer advice here in my newsletter once a month. 

I have “finished” my Childless by Marriage book several times. Each time, it seemed perfect to me, but when I took another look at it, I found something to fix. These were mostly little things, and yes, an editor might catch them in the publishing process. Although they might not. We all see typos and spelling errors in books nowadays.

I didn’t want to make any big changes because, after all, I was “finished.” The book was ready to go, good as it would ever be. Wrong. Time passed, things happened in my life, and I suddenly realized the book was not finished. The story was not complete from beginning to end. It bumped around lots of side-roads, but now I knew how to make it work. It would require writing new chapters, revising old ones and removing sections that I loved but that didn’t quite fit.

It has taken me years to reach this point. When I finish this revision, I’ll have to go back at least two more times to smooth out the bumps created with the changes. Then an editor will go through it and probably require more changes. Finally it will be published. It will not be perfect, but as close as we can get.

I spent many years writing newspaper articles. It’s a great profession which forces one to write a lot quickly. But one of the things I hated was that I could never polish a story as much as it needed. There was never time. Before we had computers, I would write a rough draft, mark it up with a pencil, then type a clean copy and turn it in. Finished. Now we can make changes easily on the computer, but do we take the time to do it?

Whenever you finish writing something, immediately go back to the top and fix the mistakes you see right away. Then let it sit for a while and take another look. Take your time. Is it accurate? Does it flow? Is anything missing? Do some of these sentences seem unnecessary?Let it sit again, and read it out loud. Are there still rough spots?

Think of it as polishing a gemstone. When it comes out of the ground, it’s dull and rough. It will take several rounds of polishing before it’s shiny and smooth and finally, good enough to sell or give to someone you love. Don’t rush the process.

Book Report

The Help by Kathryn Stockett, G.P. Putnam’s sons, 2011. Here’s another book I couldn’t stop reading. The Help takes place in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960s. The characters are black housekeepers and their white employers. We shift between Skeeter Phelan, a white woman who wants to be a writer, Aibileen, who is Miss Leefolt’s, maid, and Minny, who used to be Miss Hilly’s maid until she did something “terrible awful.” Now she works for Miss Celia, who has some intriguing secrets. Skeeter comes up with an idea to write a book about the black maids, with Aibileen’s help, and that’s where the plot thickens. If anyone finds out what they’re doing, the consequences could be deadly, and there are so many lies and secrets flying around things could blow up at any minute. Wonderful book.

Looking for Karma at the Eden Cafe by Ellen Davidson Levine,  Terroir Ink, 2010. Karma is an aging hippie who arrives in the tiny Oregon town of Eden with Rob, the latest in a series of bad boyfriends. They’re broke and their truck just died, but it happens that Rob’s grandmother Riva lives here and runs a beloved local restaurant called the Eden Cafe. In a jiffy, Karma is working there, has become best friends with Riva and has a whole new coterie of loyal friends who don’t care what she did in her past. Of course something goes wrong and it’s up to Karma to save the Eden Cafe. Does this sound familiar to you yet? I know I have read several similar stories, but this is a good yarn anyway. It takes me to a place where I like to be.

The Way of the Cat: Teaching Humans to Be by “Xena,” Wellworth Publishing, 2004. Author Jean Sheldon apparently typed this book in which Xena the cat endeavors to teach other cats how to teach their humans how to be more like cats. I suspect this isn’t the first book of its sort, but this one is really good. Not only is it entertaining, but it actually offers a lot of great information about cats. Did you know that cats can rotate their ears 180 degrees but they can’t move their jaws sideways? Do you really know what makes them purr? It’s a compact package of fun and a great Christmas present for cat-lovers.

End Notes

Good golly, it’s December already. Christmas is coming and with it a whirlwind of things to do. I refuse to make myself crazy over it. Let’s all take a breath and realize that if we do not get the perfect gift bought or have the best holiday display, life will go on. Stop and think about what we’re really celebrating and ignore the advertisements. They just want you to spend money. Sharing love and faith doesn’t cost a cent.

So Merry Christmas to everyone. Happy birthday to anyone celebrating another year this month. Somewhere on this page, there’s a place to comment. Please feel free to post a few words.

Hugs,

Sue

All contents copyright Sue Fagalde Lick 2011.

If you want to see past issues from before Oct. 2011, go to http://www.suelick.com/Newsletter0911.html to find the links for 2011 issues or http://www.suelick.com/archives06.html for 2007-2010 issues.

Or to pet a dog?

Or to take a bubble bath?

For a lot of us these days, the money doesn’t quite stretch far enough, so I got to thinking about what people can do that doesn’t cost anything. I did some research and asked some of my friends. Of course sex came immediately to the top of the list, but after that, there are still lots of good things to do. For example:

1.Breathe. We do it all the time, but how often do we actually think about it?

2. Enjoy water (not in a bottle): drink it, swim in it, let it rain on your head.

3. Dogs: play with them, walk with them, snuggle with them. See if you can make them yawn.

4. Pray.

5.Count your blessings. Yes, you do have some.

6. Daydream about what you would do if you had lots of money.

7. Reread an old book.

8. Go the library. You can get books, movies and music there for free.

9. Fly a kite.

10.Clean out the refrigerator and see what surprises you find.

11.Clean out the closets for more surprises.

12.Donate stuff to charity; you’ll realize you are blessed even if you are temporarily broke.

13.Gaze at clouds or stars.

14. Share memories with a loved one.

15.Write.

16. Blow bubbles.

17. Have an actual non-electronic conversation.

18.Exercise.

19.Sleep.

20.Meditate.

21.Play a board game or a card game.

22.Try on all the clothes in your closet.

23.Experiment with that makeup you never use (ladies only?)

24.Paint your nails.

25.Visit a museum or art gallery.

26.Go to church.

27.Look through old photos with a loved one.

28.Walk on the beach and look at the tidepools.

29.Birdwatch.

30.Go to a park and play on the jungle gym.

31.Have a picnic.

32.Camp in your back yard.

33.Sing.

34.Write a letter.

35.Sort through your cassettes, CDs, VHS tapes and DVDs.

36.Wash the car.

37.Draw, color or paint. Why should children and serious artists have all the fun?

38.See if you can still do a forward roll or cartwheel. Be careful. The chiropractor will cost money.

39.Attend free readings by local authors.

40.Go to open houses and tour homes for sale.

41.Call a friend you haven’t seen in ages.

42.Go for a walk with a friend instead of hitting the coffee shop.

43.Get a plant ID guide from the library and learn the names of the flowers and trees around your home.

44.Document your valuables for the insurance company.

45.Bake bread.

46. Visit local attractions that tourists usually visit. Some are free. For example, here in Newport, OR, the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse, the Hatfield Marine Science Center and the Alsea Bay Bridge Interpretive Center are all free and fascinating.

47.Make a cat chase the light from a flashlight.

48.Make shadow pictures on the wall with your hands.

49.Visit a cemetery.

50.Do absolutely nothing.

For some other ideas, some serious, some not, try these sites: http://www.pisymbol.com/top_ten_20001126.htm, http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-have-fun-without-spending-money.html, and http://ecosalon.com/broke-20-fun-things-to-do-without-spending-a-dime

Sue’s Writing News

I’m probably insane, but this month I plan to participate in both the Poem a Day challenge and NaNoWriMo aka National Novel Writing Month. The former, sponsored by Writer’s Digest’s Robert Lee Brewer, offers daily prompts at his Poetic Asides site and encourages poets to write every day and build up a chapbook to submit for competition in December. NaNoWriMo challenges writers to write 50,000 words of a novel in one month. If you write every day, that comes out to 1,600 words a day. I’m not daunted by the word count, but every day?

Anybody want to join me?

As of Oct. 20, my novel Azorean Dreams is available on the Kindle. For those who couldn’t find the print edition or felt the $20.95 cover price was too much, you can get it in minutes for $3.99. That makes my third book on Kindle. Shoes Full of Sand and Freelancing for Newspapers are on there, too. More to come. You do not have to have a Kindle to read Kindle books. You can download the Kindle reading program for free on any computer.

I have been writing articles for Oregon Coast Today. At this writing, I have covered the Toledo Art Walk, Jazz at Newport and the Yachats Mushroom Festival. My article on the Latimer Quilt & Textile Center and the Tillamook Quilt Trail is coming. If you like quilting, weaving, knitting or any kind of fiber art, you’ve got to go there.

You can hear me reading four of my poems at the Oregon Poetic Voices site. Local poets recorded at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Waldport in August. It was kind of like going to confession. You’re alone in this little room with this guy and this huge microphone. Due to the vagaries of alphabetical order, I’m listed right under famed Oregon writer Ursula LeGuin. Cool!

Book Report

I’m scheduled for my second cataract surgery on Nov. 11. Yes, Veteran’s Day, 11-11-11. It’s not a holiday for Dr. Haines. I hope I’ll be able to do my next newsletter without glasses. Wouldn’t that be amazing? After wearing glasses for more than 40 years, I’ll believe it when I see it. Meanwhile, it is November. Thanksgiving is coming. Also, despite the sun shining in right now, winter looms, possibly with snow, and then, so quickly, Christmas. Bundle up and enjoy some indoor fun.

Happy birthday, Tim, Sandy and anyone else celebrating a birthday this month. Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Hugs,

Sue

All contents copyright 2011 Sue Fagalde Lick. If you want to see past issues, go to http://www.suelick.com/Newsletter0911.html to find the links for 2011 issues or http://www.suelick.com/Archives06.html for 2006-2010 issues.

Feel free to e-mail me at suelick@charter.net.

I have too many places online. It’s confusing. So this month, my newsletter has moved to WordPress, home of my Writer Aid blog. So, let the news begin.

The Yaquina Bay Bridge was built in 1936

Happy birthday,YaquinaBayBridge. We have been enjoying a month-long celebration of the 75-year-old bridge designed by Conde McCullough, who designed bridges all up and down theOregonCoast. Before these bridges existed, there was no way to drive theOregonCoastwithout constantly stopping to take a ferry across the bays and rivers. In fact, the highway wasn’t always there. People drove their wagons on the sand when the tide was low enough.

You can’t tell it in this twilight photo, but our bridge is painted sea green and has lights along the top at night. At normal times, only a few brave souls ride or bicycle the narrow walkways past two lanes of constant traffic. But on Oct. 2, hundreds, possibly thousands of people will be walking the northbound lane to celebrate the bridge’s 75 years. They will be led by the Newport High School Marching Band and Color Guard and 1930s-era cars across the bridge and intoYaquinaBayState Parkfor a good old-fashioned community picnic. Food, music, vendor booths, and giveaways are planned. Participants are encouraged to dress 1930s-style. Rogue Brewery is issuing a commemorative brew for the occasion, and of course the local historical museum has a special bridge display.

For those can’t celebrate the bridge in person, two new books by writer friends of mine might be of interest. Matt Love writes of his love affair with the bridge in Love & the Green Lady. Longtime Oregon Coast Magazine editor Judy Fleagle teamed with Richard Knox Smith to write Crossings: McCullough’s Coastal Bridges.

Writer News

I continue to blog at Unleashed in Oregon, Childless by Marriage and Writer Aid. I’m write articles for Oregon Coast Today, pen the occasional poem and work on my books. Just out in OCT is my piece on Jazz at Newport, happening this first weekend of October. Book sales for Shoes Full of Sand, Stories Grandma Never Told and Freelancing for Newspapers in print and on Kindle are moving along.

My latest obsession is getting my novel, Azorean Dreams, published in 2000, on Kindle. To that end, I am formatting and proofreading this Portuguese-American romance and finding that it’s still a good book. I’ll let you know as soon as it goes live. You’ll be able to buy it way cheaper than the original $20.95.

(By the way, did you notice that now that we’ve all gone out and bought Kindles for more than $100, Amazon is selling the basic version for $79 and a new color version for not so much more? Grumble.)

Here on the central OregonCoast, we’ve got a couple of great writer events coming up. On Oct. 15, Writers on the Edge will welcome poet-songwriter-artist John Amen to the Nye Beach Writers Series,7 p.m. at theNewportVisualArtsCenter.  Admission is $6. An open mic follows Amen’s presentation.

On Oct. 18, the OregonCoastbranch of Willamette Writers will host a fiction workshop with Valerie Brooks at the Newport Library. It starts at7 p.m, and admission is free.

Book Report

Full of It by Wendy French, Tom Doherty Associates, 2007. Ah, what fun. Wendy French’s Oregon-based stories are a breath of fresh air. In this one, Lauren Peterson is mourning her breakup with her fiancé and working at a mindless job she hates. Out of the blue, an aunt she barely remembers leaves her a house inPortland. It’s a funky house that comes with funky people. This leads to a series of adventures that I will not reveal for fear of spoiling the plot. A running theme throughout the book is Lauren’s big mouth. It’s not physically bigger than average, but she can’t help blurting out things that get her in trouble. It happens over and over. But don’t worry. She’ll work it out. If life is getting you down, read this.

 My Teenage Werewolf by Lauren Kessler, Viking, 2010. No, this isn’t a book about vampires and such. It’s an intimate look at the relationship between a mother and her 13-year-old daughter Lizzie. It’s a time when the most innocent of conversations can lead to screaming and slamming doors, when the daughter is hovering in the doorway between childhood and adulthood, when both mother and daughter often find themselves in tears. Kessler, author of five other books of narrative nonfiction, opens herself wide to share the conflicts and her search for ways to create a better relationship with her daughter than the icy relationship she had with her own mother. We follow them through various attempts at bonding. Kessler goes to school and to camp with her daughter, takes her shopping, takes her on a mother-daughter train trip, and joins her in her explorations on the Internet. These experiences, countless conversations with Lizzie, and lots of research create a sweet and captivating narrative. One could learn a lot here about raising a daughter, and it explains a lot about why life seemed so hard when we were that age.

Nina Here Nor There by Nick Krieger, Beacon Press, 2011. My mother would die if she knew I read this. This memoir is the story of Nina, who was born a girl but sees herself as a boy. She takes us intoSan Francisco’s world of lesbians and gays who go beyond just liking people of their own gender to having surgery to transform their bodies into something that is neither male nor female. Throughout the book, we wonder whether Nina will go beyond dressing like a boy to the next step. It’s gripping, well-written and totally shocking.

Riding with the Queen by Jennie Shortridge, New American Library, 2003. Tallie Beck left home early, anxious to leave her bipolar mother who made life hell for her and her sister Jane. She went on the road as a rock and roll singer and was quite successful. But now, as the novel begins, she gets fired and the only lead she has on a job is back in her hometown,Denver. Her mom and sister don’t exactly welcome her with open arms, but her niece, Emma, thinks she’s the greatest. A whole lot of things happen to make her reevaluate her life and make a fresh start. Meanwhile we get a lot of love, a little laughter, a ton of music, and a bit of magic.

End Notes

Here we are at the bottom of the page. I’m still learning to work this format, which has less freedom than the old one, but more handy features. Among the good ones are opportunities to subscribe (upper left) and to comment (lower right near “categories.” Go ahead!).

October. The weather is definitely easing toward the rainy season here on the coast. We get some sun, but now we know we’d better throw a jacket in the car because it could turn dark and cold at any time. Annie and I will continue to walk, rain or shine, and to visit the dog park, where she is still ridiculously in love with a Dobie named Frisco.

Happy birthday to Michael, Brandon, Rob, Jennie, Beth and everybody else notching up another year this month. Happy Halloween, too.

See you next month.

Hugs,

Sue

All contents copyright 2011 Sue Fagalde Lick. If you want to see past issues, go to http://www.suelick.com/Newsletter0911.html to find the links for 2011 issues or http://www.suelick.com/archives06.html for 2007-2010 issues.

Feel free to e-mail me at suelick@charter.net