March:
- Saturday, 03/02: It’s our annual neighborhood chili party, and for the first time ever, I’m going to enter a chili into the competition. (Bob has always made one.) I don’t like beans, so I’m going to make this recipe from allrecipes.com: Bacon Chili without Beans. There is a theme each year, and this year’s is “Barbenheimer.” The theme informs the name of your dish, and I ended up calling mine “I KENnot Abide Beans.”
- Friday & Saturday, 03/08 & 03/09: I’m attending the 2024 Carolina Writing Workshop on both Friday (in Charlotte) and Saturday (in Raleigh), during which I’ll attend workshops/sessions like:
- How to prepare your query package
- Writing in flow state: How mindfulness can make you a more productive writer
- Understanding the publishing industry in 2024—from hybrid publishing to artificial intelligence and everything in between
- Beginning with power: Tips on how to start your novel
- How to sell a nonfiction book
- Editing your novel from an agent’s POV
- Social media for authors
- 10 evergreen keys to writing success
I will also have 3 15-minute critique sessions with two literary agents and one published author to get some feedback on 10 pages of my work that I’ve submitted for review. - Tuesday, 03/12: I have tickets to see Neal deGrasse Tyson at the Durham Performing Arts Center with my sister.
- Monday, 03/18: It’s our March Mostly Social Book Club meeting. We’ll be discussing Jane Eyre, which I read in January and rated 5 stars.
- Saturday, 03/23: I’m looking forward to seeing the musical Matilda, in which a good friend of mine’s daughter is starring.
April:
- Wednesday-Thursday, 04/03 – 04/11: We are super excited about visiting our good friends Wayne & David in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. They bought a place there and have graciously invited us for a visit. We know it’s going to be a fun week, because they’re fun, and we’re a little bit familiar with the place (the vibe, at least), as Cabo was a port call during the “Halloweenie Mexican Riviera” cruise that we took in October of 2022.
- Monday, 04/15: It’s our April Mostly Social Book Club meeting. We’ll be discussing The Sense of an Ending, which I read in January and rated 5 stars.