Wednesday, March 30, 2011

More moving

     Things are starting to fall into place around the big move to empty my condo and get it on the market. I have an experienced agent who is familiar with my development and the surrounding area. I have reliable movers ready to come on April 8th, putting the last things into a storage unit. My daughters have been helpful in finding homes for art work and furniture. I have window cleaners scheduled, as well as a janitorial service that will come and do a final cleaning/polishing after everything is empty.
     Packing is slow work. I have archives of letters and family history to put into a safe place till I have time to explore them. Yesterday I found a photo of my father, young and handsome with that cleft in his chin. No wonder my mother fell in love with him!
     The movers come on the 8th. We leave for Paris on the 9th. Oh happy day!
    

The Write Stuff Conference

     Mickey Getty, my studio partner at the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, and I spent three days last week at the Write Stuff writers conference in Allentown. We had a ball! Our class with Donald Maass on writing the breakout novel informed us that we need to create microtension on every page. Lisa Rector Maass helped us with sagging middles as well as the first fifty pages.
     Other writers shared their expertise in sessions throughout Saturday. Most valuable of all were the connections with other writers. This is my second year at the conference, and again I'm fired up, fed by all the ideas. I come home and rest for a day or two — and then start to apply the new insights.  

Monday, March 21, 2011

HD World

     In early March Tom's son David flew in from Colorado to facilitate our move into the world of HDTV. Tom's three sons had promised a flat screen TV as a wedding gift, and David and Jodie made it happen. I pictured Robert, still in Texas, cheering from afar. Three fine men.
     Now we have a gigantic TV occupying one end of the living room. It sits atop a cabinet containing all the smaller devices that make the system work seamlessly. I am stunned by the clarity of the picture, which details every pore and hair follicle of individuals. But nature programs are wonderful. The screen size allows one to feel almost in the picture. Oh, the wonders of modern technology!
     This does not mean we have more time for watching TV, though. We are still engaged in merging and purging. Patty took home a carload of things yesterday, and Laura will come tomorrow to help clear the decks. My handyman neighbor has done a marvelous job of touching up paint and patching holes where art hung on walls. I think we are rounding the last turn and entering the home stretch.
     Now to redecorate the studio!