More About Plants

Today I'm over at the Darker Temptations blog, talking about which author I'd like to be (or not) and even there I had to bring gardening into the discussion LOL! I'm rather plant obsessed at the moment, so forgive me! I'm finally in a south-facing apartment and I'm all excited about the prospect of having plants again. Spent way more than I'd planned at Home Depot yesterday, but it makes me so happy, it was worth it I think.

So, just because, here are some pictures of my fledgling garden, both indoors and out. The Hibiscus will winter indoors, and hopefully between now and then give me some blooms! I love them because they remind me of home, where they grow wild and sometimes are used to create arches over walkways and things like that by twisting the branches together. Nothing like that possible here, but I'm not complaining.

So, here's the indoor garden so far:

And the outdoor planter, not quite complete yet:

And my hibiscus, sans flowers at the moment, but full and lovely all the same:

Oh, and a little correction to a previous post about the cherry trees. Apparently the tree I was photographing closely is actually a crab apple! My friend corrected me on that and, taking a closer look, I realized there is quite a difference, although not to my untrained eyes' first glance. I tried to take a picture of two of the trees together, but it's not as clear as I'd like. The cherry tree is in the forefront, with the lighter blossoms. The crab apple is a little hard to see, but it's just behind and has the darker pink blooms.

To Jump on the Bandwagon...or not

It seems everyone is self-publishing these days, or considering it, and I'll confess I'm no exception. However, being the kind of person I am, there's an awful lot of thinking going into the decision. I often wish I were one of those people who was comfortable just jumping in to things, but unfortunately I'm not! There are pros and cons to everything, and self-publishing is no different. Yes, you have a great deal of autonomy over what you produce, where you publish it, what the cover looks like and all of that. But as an editor I know there are costs newcomers to the concept often don't think about.
Editing can cost you a pretty penny, as can a professional cover and the proper formatting. You, the author, are in charge of ALL advertising and promotion, which can cost both time and money. And unless you have a loyal following already, you don't have a reputable publishing house's name attached to the project to let people know what quality to expect. On top of all that, it seems to me there are still an awful lot of people out there who expect a self-published book to be as close to free as to be insulting to the author.
Of course, there are ways around many of these things if you have the time, energy and skill to do a lot of it yourself or, like me, hope to eventually bribe one of my kids to do some of it for me. Editing I have worked out (and no, I'm not taking the chance on trying to edit my book myself! I'm not stupid...even editors need someone else to look at their work!) and I've sourced some reasonably priced cover artists. The formatting and loading I'd pass to my son to do for me, because I have neither the time nor the patience. As for the rest, if I do decide to self-publish, I'll have to work it out as I go along.
I can't help looking at the publishing world right now as the Wild West... and I'm not sure I'm enough of a gunslinger to survive!

I love spring...except maybe today

I've been loving the advent of spring...warmth and flowers and all that stuff...but today it's cold and windy and walking the dog is not just a chore but the kind of chore that stays with you, leaving eau de soaked chien  wafting through the house.

But it did give me an excuse to stay in and finish a novella I'd been working on, and got me thinking about some pictures I'd taken during the week. I know they are the bane of gardeners life, but I quite like dandelions, seeing them as "you take your beauty where you can find it in the city", like here:

And here is a close-up of some of the little darlings. Of course, they won't look that way for long, but for now, I <3 them.

I'm also fascinated by the cherry trees around the area where I work, so I took a picture on Tuesday of last week of one of the branches, where the buds were just beginning to open.

And these are pictures of the same tree, three days later.

 

And a close-up:

I'm hoping that the tree won't either have passed it's full-on flower or been battered bare by the rain over the weekend, so I can take some more pictures. And, here's proof that there are no colour clashes in nature...

As I said, we take our beauty were we can find it in the city...and sometimes you have to get right down low to see it. Wildflowers and variegated clover.

Just some of the reasons I love spring. :)

Where did the week go??

I find myself asking that question more and more often. Well, this coming week will be a relatively busy one for me, with a couple of unexpected appointments, and working every day at the EDJ, since the other clerk is off in the Dominican Republic sunning her buns. I just wish there was less ice on the ground. I wouldn't feel so anxious about having to do so much running up and down. I'm a terrible wuss when it comes to ice!