Launch Party

Tuesday night, October 24th, was the launch of Johnston County Creates 2023 held at the Selma Civic Center. My essay, Nana's Porches, can be found on page 148. I shared the table with Dot LaMotta and Dr. Wanda Johnson (not pictured). Author Hope Dougherty is seen on the 2nd picture.

The red-headed lot

As of November 1st, 2011, I moved from Louisiana to my current  mobile home park in central North Carolina. There, I own my house. The lot rent has increased by a WHOLE LOT. The potential fines were raised as well. The current rate for violating any clause in our lease is $275. Don't know how the management company decided on that outrageous sum.

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About two years ago, the management company instituted a "Don't Park on the Grass" edict. If any cars were seen and/or reported violating this edict, renters would be liable to pay a $275 fine.

                                   💲

Therein lies my problem... 

All I've ever had is grass. 

                                                    ⾋⾋⾋⾋⾋⾋⾋⾋⾋⾋⾋

Around the same time, the landlord added gravel to nineteen parking pads, totally ignoring the needs of Lot 20 (my lot). My protests for having been left out resulted in exactly nothing being done. I feel as if I am - or my lot is - being treated like a red-headed stepchild.

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One cannot reach my house by entering the trailer park entrance. My driveway is a semi-circle with two entrances on the main drag.  You'd think that would rate me at least one gravel pad. It is too risky to back out of either entrance facing the busy street.

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So, for over a year now, I've been collecting discarded slabs of (what I assume is) marble to create a driveway into my lot. I could almost fit my sedan in the narrow space.

I bit the bullet this weekend and had my contractor widen the area where I'd had the slabs. The driveway is a bit wider and longer than what I had previously cobbled together. Now I don't overshoot the space when I pull into the driveway (most of the time). The old slabs were repurposed into a walkway to my front door. It's not done yet, but it is an improvement.

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Note: I took a bunch of pictures on my phone and shared them to "My Drive," but now that I want to upload them, they can't be found. Even tried to view my RECENT files; they weren't there.

Finally could access the driveway and pathway pics.

Finito!

Accountability Partners

Found an accountability partner to keep me on track with my writing. Ms. K and I had a rocky start, but we finally got going. (YAY!)

Week One - I waited for an hour, but got stood up at Dunn Library for our initial meeting. My partner forgot and went out of town.

Week Two - Mule Days Weekend. I did not leave my house. We agreed to meet next week.

Week Three - This time we were supposed to meet at "my" library in Benson. I forgot to bring my cell phone. Ms. K waited an hour for me at the museum next door. I called her back when I got home, ready to meet her. She decided to go to a Civil War reenactment. (WHY?) 

Week Four - Successfully met at Mary Duncan Public Library. Afterwards, we each had a waffle lunch at Cornerstone Cafe and Coffee across the street.

Future Weeks - Ms. K will work on one chapter of her book each week. Her homework is to review and critique two chapters of Merilee's Journey (my book). Meanwhile, I'm slogging through 41 chapters, trying to lighten the mood in my writing. Right now, it has more of a "Perils of Pauline" vibe. 

Thanks go to my Triangle East Writers critique team whose honest remarks keep me in line. We review up to ten pages of our works each month, so I share only the chapters where I know their help is needed.

It occurred to me that I am more of a mentor to Ms. K in this relationship. It's a unique position for me to be in. I never thought myself to be a font of all knowledge. Guess I learned quite a bit from publishing my first book.