Well, keep your chin up, and don't let the bastards get you down. Um, or words to, you know, that effect.

In other news, I have had to cancel my residency at Weymouth this week. At least two, possibly three, of my writers group is going tomorrow, staying through Friday. The weather promises to be glorious, and my mind's eye can see the heron fountain and the formal gardens from the wavy-glass windows of "my" room. However, my MIL is having surgery this week and has asked me to stay with her for a few days. As there's no one else she can ask, I feel I must, as well as being pleased that she asked and that I can do something for her.

On the other hand, she's an overactive control freak sort of person, so there are personal trepidations about my stay. Thank dog my BIL has internet access there for his visits from NYC, even if it is dialup.

My mom and her friends aare big fans of historical romances, Susan. Keep plugging. Your time, it will come.

There are some editors out there who want new and different voices. And plenty of readers as well. You'll find them Susan, eventually.

I thought just the length of the second letter was encouraging, and the fact that she, personally, is being cautious, but does encourage you to keep going means, to me, that she believes you'll sell too.

Susan, clearly they need you to save the genre. I mean it.

In other news, I have had to cancel my residency at Weymouth this week.

Beverly, was this Weymouth, Massachusetts? If so, I will cry at the thought that you could have been so near. I'm sorry you have to cancel it, regardless--just double sorry if it means you would have been in the area.

You're good to help your m-i-l. I hope her surgery goes well, and her recovery, too, and that the time together will be good for the two of you.

Beverly, I'm sorry about the loss of Weymouth. I hope, in between taking care of MiL, the muse bites and you get to do some good, soul encouraging writing anyway.

No, it's Weymouth Center for the Arts and Humanities in Southern Pines, NC. Although golf is the man activity these days, that region is old foxhunt and hounds country; there are even stone foxhounds on the gateposts at the entrances to the grounds. The stables have been leased to someone who trains carriage horses. We can watch them driving teams or singles through a course of pylons from the windows of the Writers' Kitchen. That's right, writers have their own entry, their own kitchen, four bedrooms, three baths and a "lounge" with computer access in their own section of the house. Plus access to formal and informal gardens, gazebos, and garden furniture scattered about the grounds just begging for someone to sit and write. My favorite thing about the gardens is the line of two-century old weeping cherries, which bloom at the end of February or the first of March. Incredible. The estate borders a state park, so it's usually quiet. But we're just a stone's throw from Ft. Bragg, and when the artillery is practice firing, it rattles the wavy glass panes in the antique window frames.

Cool. Sounds like somebody is doing combined driving there. Too bad about this year -- I hope that your m-i-l recovers quickly and that you get to do this next year. (Or next time if, it's sooner than next year.)

Susan, as somebody who reads but doesn't write -- I have to say that I hope you keep trying because I always enjoy your writing.

Under the wire with Under the Bed:

They roam there, free and unfettered, bounded only by trailing folds of coverlet and bedskirt. For all their bulk and mobility, they are eerily silent, and when they make an escape from the darkness, they move quickly, borne on the merest breath of breeze. They are legion, and for all they share a name, they are not at all kin to that once nearly-extinct breed that roamed North America, nor to their Indo-African namesakes who toil in fields and brave lions. Their kind shall never die, never be vanquished nor exterminated.

They are the dust buffalo, and they are forever.

Oh Beverly, I love you.

Drabble #23 (under the bed) is now closed.

Drabble #24 (which makes 6 MONTHS of drabbles, and how cool is that?) is a theme topic with one restriction.

The topic: First Time(s).

The restriction: it CANNOT be about sex.

Drabblers, start your engines....