Not gonna lie: this is shaping up to be the Worst. Summer. Ever.

I wish you could have seen my garden yesterday morning. All the prior week’s rain had turned it into a giant weed patch. Before the humidity forced an early retreat through the excess of sweat dripping down my face and stinging my eyes, I managed to pull the weeds around my cucumbers, tomatoes and Minnesota midget melons.

You guys, it looked so good! Even though my body was sulking in resentment, I basked in the pride of a job well done.

Fast forward 24 hours. Entering the garden again early this morning to conquer the remaining weeds, I was shocked to see mere remnants where, just twenty-four hours prior, there’d been hope for a decent harvest.

You’ll notice all the repellant granules I rage-dumped over the poor wounded cucumbers, but focus, please, on all the decapitation. #sorrynotsorry

I’ll stop here for all of you who were hoping for some light, inspirational reading and direct you back to my newsletter from a year ago when I was able to capture simple joy from a summer morning.

Sorry, I’m just not feeling it at the moment.

I know all the things I could say:

The obstacle is the way.

This too shall pass.

Everything for a reason.

For some reason, those little words of inspiration feel trite and not at all helpful. I’m also not interested in practicing toxic positivity, which I wrote about here:

It doesn’t help that the world at large feels cruel and quite hopeless. I once read that hope and fear are the same thing, because they are feelings about that which is yet to come. I also read that thinking about the past can make us depressed and thinking about the future can make us anxious, so what’s a person to do?

In my case…take another look the next morning:

🙂

One of my favorite songs is Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield, because it’s such a reminder that we can’t get ahead of our skis, especially when we’re feeling pessimistic.

It’s hard for me to imagine that I’ll get a repeat of my pickle abundance from last year, but maybe I won’t be completely wiped out, either. An added perspective: this is something my farmer neighbors deal with every single summer. And unlike them, my livelihood doesn’t depend on producing gobs of vegetables.

I’ll be okay…I hope you’re okay, too.

Until next month,

~ Debbie

This Writer’s Life

A couple of weeks ago, I participated in an author event up in Park Rapids, MN. Despite the storm the night before, the wind and obscene heat during the event, I made some new delightful author friends and sold EIGHT books!

I also enjoyed a lovely three-month marketing campaign and engaged with new readers. Here’s a link to a radio show I did on KAXE, called “What We’re Reading.”

As I work on my next book, I’m sketching out scenes and am excited to see where this story goes…

If the weather continues in its current abominable iteration (torrential rain followed by heat warnings), I’ll have no choice but to spend most of my days writing. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing!

July Podcast Recommendation:

I know many of you, like me, are Gen Xers. I stumbled upon this podcast on Instagram - kudos to them for good marketing! I’ve listened to a couple of episodes and really like this couple.

July Book Recommendations:

NONFICTION: On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons From the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder.

I’m always looking for lessons…perhaps it’s why I’m feeling as uneasy as I am right now. This is an important read for our time, regardless of your political leanings. Consolidation of power is never a good thing. Anywhere.

FICTION (HISTORICAL): Mockingbird Summer by Lynda Rutledge

For those of you OG subscribers, you may recall, I recommended West With Giraffes early on. Lynda Rutledge is a great writer, and this book is quite good. It’s a coming-of-age story set in a small, segregated town in TX in the 1960s. As we endure the turmoil of the present day, a look back is sometimes helpful.