Shakey S. Smith

I have another novel out. This one is called "Six Hearts; Seven Stories." It centers around the Charles and Elena Dupee family. Charles is Cy Dupees younger brother. Charles and Elena are aunt and uncle to Lauren, Freda, callie, Meggs and Clyde. Their sons, Ira and Sandy, are first cousins, although much younger.

I like this family because ...well, because Elena is a hybrid of my mother and my sister. She says the goofy things they have said. They are a little more upscale than the other Dupees. Sandy is an interesting character-- a late in life baby who pretty much has his doting parents wrapped around his finger but not a total worm. He likes things his way but in the end he is a good son, a good father and husband enough for two women. 

Ira is a failed author, so of course that part of hime is me. I do like White Russians although gin and tonic is my drink of choice. I don't pilfer other people's kitchens but I would argue evolution with Aunt Connie. Tori is pieced from five or six cowgirl students I have had over the years. Joan and Eldon are bar buddies of mine. Marie is my hero. Wheelie is me.

Some major family drama over the holidays. I don't want to talk about it or even remember it. Things are calm again and that's all that matters. The tree was a pain, not at all what I wanted to deal with at the time. It didn't go up until the 24th. Our ornaments were spread out over two counties--a scavenger hunt to find them. It was a new tree and too expensive. Anne and I put it together backwards twice before we got it right but working together we did it.Once the lights were on the whole mood changed.

It was more than worth it when Mazzy came through the door and started picking out her favorite ornaments. She remembered them--the ones Aunt Kitty gave us in the seventies; the florida ornaments; the ones her mom cross stitched in the eighth grade; the cars, airplanes super heroes, , girls, cowboys; the bicycles that Lois and i bought together  and my Hopalong Cassiday. Maz wanted the story for each.  I love that every ornament has a story. How did I forget that? For the whole week  I sat in the dark and watched the lights just like I did when I was six and Kim and I used to fall asleep under the tree.

It was the same with the Christmas dinner-- roast pork loin, cornbread stuffing, ensalada de noche buena and sweet potatoes. Easy enough for a cook but a major challenge for me. I was stressed enough to wish the whole damn thing could be cancelled and I could spend the day vegged out over a true crime show. But it was a quiet joy, enjoying good food with family, comparing gifts, sledding with Mazzy. I'm so glad that Annie and I wrestled that tree out of the box . The thing is, it isn't a holiday if it  isn't a pain in the a** for someone. 

Thanksgiving has come and gone. The schoolyear is chugging towards Christmas break. Don't ask about the tree. I don't even know where it is at the moment. Usually have all my Christmas shopping wrapped and ready by Thanksgiving. Not this year. So much has happened, so much I haven't had time to record. The time squeeze is on. 

I'm not doing any creation writing. I have ideas, i see scenes and hear dialogs in my head but I don't have the time to write them down. Sad to say but my writing time is gone.. I teach. I peddle books. I submit. I edit books I have written. I took the T-giving break to really clean house and that should give me more time on the weekend mornings. Morning is always my best time. Dentist appt. today so I am home for a little bit this a.m. I should set up a couple of posts to sell books but really need to catch this up. And all in 34 minutes.

I have been driving to local libraries and dropping off copies of my book. Probably an antiquated strategy in this day and age but people out here still read old fashioned books. And the people I write about live out here. Better go, Dr. Hopkins is waiting for me. Routine cleaning and check up so no sweat, just wish I could write while I'm in the chair.

Turns out I can run an infirmary for sick kids and teach Spanish--also proof term papers and essays and sponsor the scholar's bowl team  in my spare time. This week wasn't nearly as rough as last week. In fact the latest exams were passed by all with only three C's. Now that we are finished with the Chapter Tests, the kids and I have been going on Google Earth searching places that we know or have read about. We found the street corner in Parral where Panch Villa was shot down. We could almost read the plaque on the sidewalk. We found the universidad in Puebla where I attended one summer and el museo del cinco de mayo--Viva Puebla!.

Mainly we look for the kid's grandparent's homes. What with things like they are with the border and the violence and the economy most of my hispanic students haven't seen their grandparents in years. We have been to Montana, too. One of my students lived there for a while and wanted to see her old house and school. She was telling us flatlanders what it was like to live in the mountains.

Now these are high school kids--juniors and seniors even get a little chokey when they talk about their grandparents. Once we got all turned around in a little town in Chihuahua. We were about to give up the search when the girls gasped "Oh my god! There's my aunt's house!" Technology--  it's a great time to be alive--s6

I haven't made a post in a while. My day job is draining me. I can either run an infirmary for broken kids or teach young people to read, write and speak Spanish. i cannot do both. Not any more. i'm too old and tired.

I lost my dog this week. She was 13 but still in good health. I found her on a Jack Russel Terrier site ten years ago. She was a rescue dog and the best mannered dog in the world. Here she is in a garden that I planted just for her when we lived in Ingalls. She kept the varmints out of my flowers. Guess she's chasing that big jackrabbit in the sky now.

I am broken up --as broken up as I was when I was six and lost my first dog. The tears come just as hard and fast at sixty. You just looka  whole lot worse with them streaming down your face at sixty.  I was sitting at my desk crying--my kids got online and found me another dog. I was sobbing "I only want Molly!"--some things never change--s6

My novel is out. I saw it on the B&N site. I'm too tired to say much. Long time coming---ss

A little late with my post tonight. Liv the cat took a nap on my keyboard while I was doing the dinner dishes. I was on page 170 of  'Robe & Crown" the novel I am editing. His nap created 149 pages of the letter U, snapped off a key labeled Fn, and turned off my wireless connection. It took an hour for me to undo the Us and figure out how to reconnect the wireless router. It is a little button at the top of the keyboard that looks like a toaster burning toast. Or a chunk of radioactive debris. I don't do well with symbols.What the Fn button does I have no idea. i'll ask one of the kids tomorrow.

I've been working since six this a.m. today  and most of yesterday on this story, cutting, adding, trying to tie all the threads together. The story revolves around a family funeral. A lot of different stories to weave into two afternoons and a morning. I really like this story. I feel like it is one of my best and yet, I don't see it fitting into any niche. Strange how something I enjoy doing can be so exhausting.

It has been raining all weekend.--dreary but welcome. I did get out for about half an hour to plant iris and strawberries in the rain. Cold and muddy but it should be worth it this spring--s6

I submitted the first and last chapter of another novel last week. It is one of my favorites but gooey in the middle like a cherry mash in July. I expected that I would have time to solidify the middle before I heard either way on it. Surprisingly  fast on the return and they want the full thing to read.  I had a workshop all day Saturday for school. Spent a good 4 hours in a car going to and from Hays and did nothing writing wise. (Workshop sucked too.) 

The weather has been so nice today  that I had to go outside and play (garden) a little. Like a college kid I kept putting the writing off.  Now it is Sunday night and I have 70 pages finished, something like  180 to go.  My details page shows me that this is the 59th revision of this particular story. I'll probably write until I fall asleep on the keyboard. Just like college.--ss

No posts for a week. Last week Magnolia was hurt in a traffic accident. Anne and I were starting the dinner dishes when we had a phone call. Mazzy was being taken to the hospital in an ambulance. It is an hour drive to her town and it was a tense one. It was dark when we got there; after midnight before we got back home.

She had been riding on the back of a scooter piloted by a family friend named Bill. They were on their way to play practice when the car in front of them slammed on its brakes. They slid instead of flipped, so things weren't dire, but the visor of Mazzy's helmet snapped. Her face was all bloody, she had a giant goose egg on her forehead, her knee was twisted and she lost a tooth. When I saw her in the hopsital bed I nearly fainted. Her mother's shirt was covered with her blood. Pretty scary. Her mom had been at her evening job but made it to the scene before the ambulance. The kid in the car was in tears and poor Bill was feeling terrible. His wife has been saying he's too old to ride the scooter. He's my age so I empathize.

It was one of those terible evenings that could go either way. Thank God Bill managed to slide instead of crash.Strange how life can make a U turn between dinner qnd dishes.

Anyway Maz  was released after a CT scan. She missed a couple of days of school.  I've been driving up after school to give her mom time to run errands and do her lesson plans. Today we went to the zoo. Except that her face is scratched up she is doing fine. She climbed all over the reptile house looking at snakes, tarantulas and lizards. The kid loves anything with scales.