I'm old school. I still blog. LOL. Just in case you have any interest, here's my latest post: about my recent travels in Ireland. https://samanthadunawaybryant.blogspot.com/2022/07/travels-in-ireland.html

I got to go to The Carolina, tonight, a hundred-year-old theater in Durham, NC, USA. I'm a regular for their Retro film series. Tonight, it was another pirate movie in Movie Diva series: Frenchman's Creek 1944. Any other old movie buffs here?

We got a reprieve from the heat in my corner of North Carolina today, so I've been out for a walk twice. Early morning with the doggos, and evening with the kiddo (and doggos). I wore out my dogs. The heat is the hardest part for me about summer in the Southern US.

Good morning CoSo! I'm having a get-back-on-track day in my writing life. How do you fold yourself back into a project after a hiatus? Advice welcome!

Generally, I try to read 52 books a year, roughly one a week. June was a little light for me for reading, but all four books I read were quite good. What have you been reading? #CoSoReaders #Books

I just finished reading Akata Woman by Nnedi Okorafor, the third in her Nsibidi Scripts series. I picked them up because I'd read Who Fears Death. They're VERY different in tone. Much lighter and more hopeful. Playful even. I love finding fantasy works that play in less familiar sandboxes, and I've had very little exposure to Nigerian mythologies and folklore, so this all felt very fresh to me. Any other Okorafor fans out there among #CoSoReaders ? I'd love to hear what you thought.

So, hello again lovely people. I got started here, then left on a trip to Ireland and lost all my momentum. But I'm back now and trying again. My head's still in the wrong time zone, but otherwise it's good to be home. How are you this morning?

So, Tuesday, I start a whole new career, having finally given up teaching. There are a lot of small things I'm looking forward to: actual lunch breaks, the ability to go to the bathroom when I please, finishing my workday without feeling like a wrung-out dishrag, finishing sentences on the first try. It's a whole new world, guys! #myjourney #leavingteaching

Today was my #lastday as a teacher. #bittersweet I love the work. But it was doing its best to kill me. And I finally decided to value myself more highly. The feeling of relief reminds me of the feeling when I divorced my first husband. That’s gotta be a sign that this must be the right thing to do.

Listen to that #frogsong They sound like sheep!

#newbloom #inmygarden today. Sometimes it’s the little beauties that get me through the day.

Split pea soup for dinner. Now I wanna watch the exorcist. But it’s bedtime. #CoSoCooking

One of the things I do to maintain my sanity is to walk in parks or the woods as much as I can. I live in North Carolina, USA, and bamboo is not native here. In fact, it’s considered an invasive species and it’s illegal to plant it anymore. But there are some stands of bamboo in some of the parks and it always makes me so happy to see it. This week, the bamboo had babies.

Where are you cosonauts? Does bamboo grow where you are?

I had a short story contracted today for publication in November.

Now, that alone is cause for celebration . . .but the praise they lavished on this piece will have me floating for weeks.

Wowzers--she really got my piece. *This* makes all the struggles of a writing life worth it. #writinglife #amwriting #publicationnews

Y’all, my kid done graduated! #proudmama #graduationday

The kid and I in our team colors for #fridaythe13th It’s a lucky day in our family. We might look like the Ingalls on the outside, but we’re pure Addams family on the inside.

The Bryant family is not that dissimilar to the Addams family, at least an attitude if not appearance. So we’ve been busy today getting ready for a special day tomorrow. :-) Maybe it’s a little weird, but I’m quite fond of Friday the 13th. #fridaythe13th #luck

Tried to cut my husband’s hair and cut a chunk out of my own knuckle. So I got to spend the afternoon at urgent care. And writing should be a little more challenging this evening given that I write on a keyboard. How was your day? #dumbaccidents #clumsygirl

A favorite recent picture of me (striped hat) with my mom and sister. Neither of us was with her for Mother's Day this year, but we'll spoil her this summer! #happymothersday

Feeling much better today. I got to go to #freecomicbookday AND out to lunch. Now to decide what to read first.