I did something this week I’ve not done in a long time – threw in the towel on a really awful novel.  A part of me wanted to finish all 19 cds just to see where the author was taking this train wreck, but after 10 I honestly couldn’t stomach any more.  The book initially had great reviews – one of the reasons my Rowdy Readers picked it.  None of us liked it.  What made the agony worse is while I was listening to that one, I was reading another.  Rose’s Garden is a lovely book.  I’m not even mentioning the title of the train wreck.

The author of Rose’s Garden is Carrie Brown.  I’ll be attending a week long writers’ workshop this summer and Ms. Brown will be my instructor.  I wanted to check her out!  She told a beautiful story and didn’t distract from it by including sub-plots of pedophilia, adultery, homophobia, drug abuse, cyber bullying or any other current hot topic.  I’m no prude and those topics have their place, but it was refreshing to read a story that was just, well, a simply interesting story.  That’s why Rose’s Garden is On the Bookshelf.

I mentioned in my first post a friend assumed I just sat around writing all day.  Well, her idea of writing all day is a bit different than mine.  So take a peek in A Writer’s Window and see how I Wrote a Poem on Wednesday.

Simple pleasures.  What qualifies as simple pleasures for you?  Spring has blossomed in South Carolina and Cottage Quotes reminded me to notice some of mine.