As you can see from the pics I've included in today's post, our yard should be, and is an excellent source of inspiration for any writer, singer or dreamer. These pics were pulled from my Hubby's archives of last year's "show" of colour on our acre and 1/3. Arend is the *in-resident* photog in the family and I'm so blessed to have his expertise for my own personal use--I love you Arend (smile).

But the delights of our yard and gardens are not exactly the focus of this post, on another bright (but chilly) Maritime morning.

Hubby keeps telling people that I'm writing a novel and that's halfway true, meaning the ideas and scenes are sitting in my head still, rather than appearing on my computer screen. You could say that I've got a case of "I'm not sure I can", resulting in a *stall* of actually jumping beyond my comfort zone and attacking this thing with vengeance!

I've been invited a couple of times to join a local writer's critique group, by one of the members (Linda Hall, who's been to our home and I've read all of her mystery novels) and at first I was thrilled to be part of such a creative bunch. As I read their e-mails and tried to take part in the business end of the publishing world, I soon became overwhelmed with all of the *author speak*. I had to ask myself, "Am I ready for this?"

On that note, I will confess that I wanted to retreat back to my comfort zone and leave the real writing to those who could, instead of wondering, "Am I one who can?"

I guess that sounds like a cop-out and maybe it is. I still want to write the story that's waiting in my head. I still want to go to the south shore of Nova Scotia and do my "setting" research. I still want to, and that has to count for something, right?

I think I will let you be the *critique* person today and allow you to read a sample first paragraph:

You can leave comments at the end of each post--just click on the *comment* in the lower right-hand corner. I would love to hear your thoughts today. Till the next *paragraph*, blessings to you and "yours",
Barb