It’s been an interesting week, Squiders. As I said last week, we were hit by a tornado, which is, in itself, interesting, since I don’t live in a place that traditionally gets tornadoes. I mean, we had tornado drills and everything as a kid, and some of the surrounding towns do have tornado sirens, though I’ve only heard them used as tests.
I looked it up, and we’ve only gotten 15 tornadoes in the last seventy years. So.
We’re okay, our house is okay. We did lose seven trees, all except one of which were at least thirty years old and about 50 feet tall. Four of them fell over in the storm, and the other three were so badly damaged they’ll have to come down. (One of them already has.)
We’re all still cleaning up, of course. The chainsaws start bright and early, and sometimes you can’t get through the neighborhood because it’s so clogged up with trucks. One of the news stations has picked our street as their street for their coverage, so every couple of days a new video comes out that includes my neighbors. Apparently FEMA is supposed to come by some time and take a look as well.
Here’s what our view from our patio was pre-tornado:
(It’s from autumn, obviously, but I don’t normally take pictures that direction so that’s what I’ve got.)
And here’s the same view now:
My poor trees. I miss them.
Enough of that. The world doesn’t stop just because you go through something traumatic, unfortunately. And dwelling doesn’t really help either.
I did end up having to edit and re-submit Chapter 3 for the critique marathon this week, and though I was annoyed at first, I think it’s for the best. The new chapter is MUCH stronger which is only going to mean good things in the long run. And my in-person critique group on Sunday got Chapters 1 and 2, revised from the critique marathon comments. That also went really well. Getting lots of good feedback and, even better, validation.
This is how the critique process is supposed to work. I’ve been more productive lately since…I don’t remember when.
Some stories for you guys to read:
My flash story “Coming Home” was published by Wyldblood Press today!
Tomorrow, the second part of “Across Worlds with You” comes out over at Turtleduck Press. Part 1 is here, and part 2 will be here (won’t work before midday on Sat, July 1).
See you next week! Stay safe!
