Welcome! With this site, I hope to give more attention to my writing as well as
to keep information on hand in a way that is impossible on a blog. Please get comfortable, grab a glass of something you like, and enjoy looking around!
February update:
Hubby and I have been lazy about getting a 2010 calendar for the kitchen, so for the past four weeks, we've been looking at December 2009 and wondering what date it is for a moment before checking the tiny January box at the bottom. I finally gave up yesterday and put up one of the free calendars we got in the mail toward the end of the year. There wasn't a February box, and I just didn't feel like checking my phone all the time.
I'm wondering if part of the reason I haven't quite moved into 2010 -- and yes, I'm still occasionally writing 2009 for the date -- is that I didn't quite meet my writing goals. I had aimed for 25 rejection letters by my birthday at the end of the month, and I'm close, but not quite.
To that end, I've been focusing on my writing the past two weeks, both with starting a Friday Flash serial (see the More Fiction! page on this site to read it all together) and taking an online query letter course. I'm collaborating on a mystery series with a friend, but we both have real-life stuff that interferes, so it's going to be a slow process. I'm feeling the need to write some more short stories, but my ideas have been slow to come or have appeared at inconvenient times, like when I'm driving. That reminds me -- I really need to get that digital voice recorder out and put it in my purse.
On the wine side, I've had the opportunity to try more European wines, as I had resolved to do. Now that's an easy to keep resolution! Check out my blog for tasting notes for the Italians and others we tasted at the Montaluce Wine Conclave and the French wines we had at JavaMonkey on February 4th (should be posted the weekend of Feb 6-7).
Other goals for February: stay healthy and stay warm. My bulbs are starting to come up, so spring is around the corner. I'll let you know the final rejection count when I get to the 26th -- there are still a few things out there that I'm waiting to hear back on. Who knows? Maybe I'll actually sell something.
January update:
One of the reasons I started my blog was because I wanted to have a
place for non-professional wine and food lovers to go to for thoughts
and descriptions that aren’t incomprehensible if you don’t speak that
wine expert dialect. That also means I have a lot to learn, and I
recognize my shortcomings. So, here’s what I hope to accomplish in
2010, both for me as the Random Oenophile and for the blog:
1.
Drink and write about more European wine. I fell short on this one last
year and plan to do better. I need to not be so easily seduced by
labels with those magic words Lodi, Willammette, or Walla Walla
(although I do get excited by Bordeaux blends and wines from the Cotes
du Ventoux region – that counts for something, right?). Have been more
intrigued by French pinot noirs lately, so this is a good time for this
resolution.
2. Following from number one, drink and write more
about wine from interesting places. Like Texas. Yes, my annual
professional conference takes me to San Antonio this year, and we’ll
likely be going up to Austin as well in search of wineries. If you ask
anyone from Texas, their state is way more interesting than any other
state, so it counts toward this resolution. That will be another check
on the “states I’ve visited wineries in” list.
3. Post a little
more regularly on my blog. Going to aim for 1-2 wine/food posts per
week plus one Friday Flash fiction post. Regularly updating my web site
goes under this number, too. I’m also excited by a new opportunity, to
contribute to
Decatur News Online. I hope for that to be a mix of regular blog posts and other articles.
4.
Have at least 10 pieces of writing, whether they’re novel queries,
short stories, or other things out for submission at all times.
5. Take the train to work more.
What?
You thought it was going to be lose 10 pounds? Not quite – I’ve got
more wine to drink and more desserts to eat! Hopefully my regular
visits to the Decatur/Dekalb YMCA and the half mile walk between home
and the MARTA station and the other half mile walk between the station
and work (for a total of 2 miles round-trip if you’re counting) will
help to offset that.
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here.
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here.
(Pictures above from left to right: Old Vine in Lodi, Red and White Tasting Flights, Homemade Spinach Soufflé)
