So this guy I knew wayyyyy back in college recently resurfaced. He was quite a talented musician, but last I knew he was giving that up to pursue another (I think less adventurous) path. I was pleased to hear from him, and, best of all, to discover that he’s writing and releasing his music again. He is a one-man operation, laying down track after track, until what is in his head makes it out into the world for the rest of us. Go listen, and, if you like what you hear, by God, buy it!!

Some of us worry more than others. For my part, I do it a lot. So much, in fact, that I’ve taken to wearing a rubber band around my wrist, and, when I catch myself borrowing trouble from the future, I give my wrist a wicked snap. I have gone through four rubber bands so far. They start out nice and stretchy, but, eventually, they become slack with overuse.

 Anyway, one of my favorite people has had some extra things to worry about lately, so I made her the Worry Man above. To employ his services, you simply scrawl your worry du jour on a tiny scrap of paper, fold it up, and pop it into the Worry Man’s creepy, gaping maw. There is no way to retrieve your worries, by the way. They remain permanently in the Worry Man’s guts, and I made sure he has space enough for a few years’ worth of worries at least. Once they are in him, the burden of your worry has been transfered to him — leaving you free to come up with some new worries, I suppose.

–S.

First, Happy Fourth to those who celebrate it! (This calls for jam!!) Allow me to explain.

Last year wasn’t a good berry year, but this year, well, I’ve never seen anything like this. The king and I have been picking black raspberries from the hedge I installed to keep trespassers away from the honey bees. We’ve been mashing them into jam and canning said jam. It would appear that we have enough to keep ourselves in jam for the next 10 years

By extension, everyone we know will be receiving jam, no matter the occasion. It’s your birthday? Jam. Your anniversary? Congratulations! Here is some delicious jam. New baby? Jam is the perfect gift for an infant boy or girl, no? . . .

Sure. As long as they aren’t too spooked by the labels we made for the jam jars, that is. What began as a play on words came to life as a disturbing nod to the bubonic plague. Good times!

So it’s like this. I just got married. Thought I never would, but there it is! Anyway, we hardly told a soul and had a teeny “wedding” in a romantic courtroom. And now I am really in the doghouse with some people for not sending out fancy invitations, for not alerting them to our plans, for not having a “proper” wedding in the first place. The funny part is, we’d hoped to minimize the drama often associated with weddings, but, in the process, I guess we made it worse? Hey, at least we tried.

So I have a new holiday to celebrate: June 13 marks the Coronation of the King of SusanLand. Here’s the best our imaginary wedding photographer could come up with. . .

–S.

I just finished the manuscript for my next book, which is slated to come out in the spring of next year. It’s all about the mercurial world of honey bees and beekeeping, and, as such, I’ve really had bees on the brain lately!

But, before I get too far into that,  I wanted to let you know that I should be here a lot now, and I could use your help with something. Namely, I really miss having the old Lost Soul Companion forum, and I think it would be a shame not to reinstate it. So, weigh in, if you don’t mind, with a comment — or send me an email behind the scenes to let me know what you think. . .

So, back to bees. Besides my honey bees, I have become quite interested in all of the wild pollinators out there — feral bees of many stripes, bumble bees, solitary wasps, and so on. As such, I’ve joined the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, and I grabbed a copy of Kenn Kaufman’s Field Guide to Insects of North America. I’ve been snapping some good photos around the place and trying to identify the beneficial bugs when I am able. Here is someone I caught in the act:

I initially thought she was some kind of tiny bee,  but Father Knows Best. This is more likely what’s known as a Toxomerus hover fly. Here is an especially lovely one.

–S.

It’s been pretty quiet in here because I am finishing up a new, non-fiction book on bees and beekeeping. And when I’m not working on that, I’ve been messing in the garden. I’ve also been thinking quite a bit about The Lost Soul Companion Project forums. I miss having them, and I wonder if others don’t miss them, too. If I could find some iron-clad software, I would happily launch them again. Does anyone out there have any suggestions for me on that front? Let me know. . .

World traveler and amicable companion, T.S. Turtle, Esq. will soon be joined by this little fellow. . .

I knitted him from a pattern in the (sadly) long out-of-print Unusual Toys for You to Knit and Enjoy by Jess Hutchison. He is such a friendly thing. I think he’ll do well for himself.

–S.

Lots of people have asked me how they should go about finding a publisher for their own projects, and this is what I usually say. . . (Well, first I should note that I mentioned the self-publishing route a little while back. I meant to go into more detail, but didn’t.) Anyway, if you think you have a good book or two in you and you’d like to be published by a traditional house, here are my two cents.

First, you aren’t really looking for a publisher. What you actually need is an agent who will present your proposal to his or her stable of editors. The best way to find an agent who would fit well with your voice and content is to study books already on the market that are similar to your project in subject, tone, and presentation. Check out the authors’ acknowledgements sections for the names of their respective agents. Then find those agents and contact them directly with your credentials and book proposal.

Writing a good book proposal is its own animal altogether. 78 Reasons Why Your Book May Never Be Published & 14 Reasons Why It Just Might and Think Like Your Editor are said to be good titles worth looking into, for what it’s worth.

 –S.

I’ve come to admire mixed martial arts cage fighting in general and Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioners like Forrest Griffin and Diego Sanchez in particular. So I jumped at the chance to catch some live MMA action at my area AMVETS hall. I expected to see local fighters in peak condition accurately executing devastating strikes, takedowns, and the occasional rear naked choke, but, save a couple of bouts, most of the fighters looked like this guy. . .

He weighed in at 316 pounds and pretty much laid on his opponent the whole time. Complete with sloppy, looping blows and easily-winded combatants, many of the other fights could’ve just as easily taken place at TondaBeth’s Hideaway Lounge. A spectacle for all the wrong reasons.

–S.

Ah, happy, inexorable decay! This morning my toilet broke, but by early afternoon, I had that bastard schooled. Thanks goes to the handy Dare to Repair: A Do-It-Herself Guide to Fixing (Almost) Anything in the Home.

I tip my hat to authors Julie Sussman and Stephanie Glakas-Tenet — and to the grizzled man at Kleindorfer’s who sold me a replacement Fluidmaster 400A fill valve seal for $1.39. I am especially pleased that the problem was not with my septic tank. . .

–S.