It's been a busy week! Two of my writer pals and I went to dinner last night to celebrate our birthdays. Shauna is the 16th, I'm the 18th, and Leslee is the 20th. We decided to cancel the Wednesday meeting at Borders and head for dinner instead. Shauna found a place called Formaggio Wine and Cheese Bar. It's a hidden treasure, so far off the beaten path that even people who've lived in Hawaii for 20+ years (like Leslee and Shauna) had trouble finding it.
The atmosphere is like being in a European tasting cellar. It's a small, dark place with good food and excellent wines that you can order by the taste (2 oz) or the glass (6 oz). A man with a grey, braided beard played classical guitar at one end of the room. I didn't count the tables, but they were all taken. It's not a dinner place so much as a tapas and wine tasting place. People swirled and sniffed and chewed their wine. I loved it. I'm a wanna-be wine snob. I know what I like and I know how to swirl, sniff, and chew, but other than strong flavors like oak or cherry or blackberry, I can't breakdown all the nuances of a wine. I don't know the origin by taste, and I can't give you the history of the vineyard in question. I wish I could.
First, I ordered a taste of a Petite Syrah. Can't remember what year or vineyard or country. Bad wine snob, bad. Next, I ordered a glass of a California Cabernet, 2001. I had a second glass of that I liked it so much. I am a full-bodied red drinker. Whites have too much acid for me, and delicate reds are too fussy. I like flavor.
Anyway, we dished on Leslee's love life and on writing. Leslee is working on the 6th rewrite of a novel. Shauna is working on the second rewrite. We agreed that lately it hadn't been easy to write for any of us for a variety of reasons. Shauna and I are both full-time writers with supportive husbands. Leslee has a day job. Still, we keep at it, that elusive dream of publishing contracts refusing to fizzle away and die for good.
Ultimately, however, you take life a day at a time. A friend of ours has been given 2 to 5 months to live. We decided to count our blessings and to live in the moment. I can't give up writing. I don't want to. But I'm going to try not to beat myself up when I don't get the pages done. I'm going to be thankful for each day. God gave me a desire and a talent, however small. Perhaps He only intends that we use what He gives us, not that we achieve what is ultimately a human standard of success.
But I still want the contracts. 😉