Clutter

Daily writing prompt
Where can you reduce clutter in your life?
View all responses

Clutter is the bane of my existence. We have clutter everywhere in the house. The coffee table is piled a foot high at the moment, and the kitchen counters are covered with soup cans and boxes of cornbread mix. There’s not a place for everything unless it’s at the bottom of a pile.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

We’ve considered Swedish death cleaning, but we’re sure we might need all these things someday. That’s what you get when hobbies and projects take over life. I’m sure there’s a fishing reel winder at the bottom of the table clutter that I could never get to work. The seed-starting materials are piling up by the couch where I swear I will take them down to the basement eventually.

I could reduce clutter anywhere in the house if I could only find a place to start.

Unincorporated Areas

Daily writing prompt
Name an attraction or town close to home that you still haven’t got around to visiting.
View all responses

I have this fascination with unincorporated areas in the US — these are not quite towns, but places that have names and very little population. They fascinate me because they obviously have a history and, at least at some time, an identity, yet many of them are forgotten now.

Some of them have road signs, such as Quitman, which is in the county where I live. I have been to Quitman and seen the small collection of houses there. According to Wikipedia, there are 45 people there in 23 households as of the 2010 census (Wikipedia, 2025). However, an unincorporated area’s road sign doesn’t have a population posted, which is part of how one can tell it’s unincorporated.

Other unincorporated areas are unmarked, but can be found in the memory of people who lived there. Wikipedia may have information on unincorporated areas in a county. Having the name of the unincorporated area, one can often locate them on a maps app on the phone. Even Gaynor, MO, which is listed in Wikipedia as ‘extinct’, can be found on Google Maps.

I have not been to Gaynor, but I have been to both Quitman and Wilcox, the two other unincorporated areas in Nodaway County, Missouri. And I remain fascinated by these former towns and not-quite towns that haven’t quite disappeared from human memory.

No Claws, Kitty!

Daily writing prompt
If you could make your pet understand one thing, what would it be?
View all responses

I have three cats, and all three have very sharp claws. They work hard to keep these claws in perfect working order, and I can attest to the functionality of these appendages. The three use their claws in unique ways to keep me in line.

Chuckie reaches out with his claws when I haven’t petted him enough. He reaches with just enough claw to sting, hinting at how much worse he could apply his claws. Sometimes he reaches for my face, and I suffer five tiny points of pain.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Pumpkin lurks in the kitchen and claws at my feet as I walk by. She’s not a very social cat, and she’s asserting her boundaries. My feet are trespassing in her space. The entire kitchen is her space.

Chloe likes to dig her claws into me when she’s jumping off my lap. I appreciate her need for leverage, but I appreciate her claws less. I have claw marks on my thighs because she digs deep.

I could clip their claws — ha! Have you ever tried to clip a cat’s claws? My cats aren’t highly trained sweethearts — they’re cats. I would be shredded if I tried to clip their claws.

Claw marks are a small price to pay for the privilege of being owned by amazing creatures.

What I Write

I want to remind my readers that I write books. I don’t mention that much.

I write romantic fantasy and fantasy romance. The difference between those is the emphasis; fantasy romance is mainly romance and romantic fantasy mainly fantasy.

The fantasy romance novels concern the Kringle Society, a secret society of Santas that infiltrate towns with good deeds. Quirky people fall in love and become involved in the community. You will find Santa scholars, Renaissance re-enactors, toymakers, college professors, and the occasional accountant among the people featured. These are sweet romances; ‘closed door’ in romance parlance.

The romantic fantasy novels feature an agricultural collective, what some might call a commune. The residents are hard workers; they are pacifists, back-to-nature sorts, and people who seek community. Add to the mix immortals, the earth-soul Gaia, and the possible demise of humanity, and you have a people with life-changing secrets hidden in plain sight.

You can find my novels here. Just click on this sentence.

My First Name is Lauren

Daily writing prompt
Write about your first name: its meaning, significance, etymology, etc.
View all responses

My first name is Lauren, which I’m sure is buried somewhere in this blog. (My full name is Lauren Jean Leach-Steffens, in case you care).

The name ‘Lauren’ comes from Latin, meaning ‘crowned with laurel’, or so I was told as a child. Interestingly enough, it seems to be one of those deterministic names, the ones that shape one’s future. These typically are last names, like the doctor my mother had whose name was ‘Dr. Sickley’ or the undertakers ‘Blood and Wolfe’ in our hometown. But the Lauren who got all the academic honors in high school seems like another deterministic name moment.

I often wonder if I would have been less clumsy if my parents had named me ‘Grace’. I really am a very uncoordinated person, to where I have fallen off chairs and tripped over invisible turtles. Maybe the right name would have fixed it. But no, I’m Lauren, and at least when I was younger, that meant something.

My Dream Job

Daily writing prompt
What’s your dream job?
View all responses

My dream job, which should not surprise regular readers of this blog, would be an author. I am an author now; the difference would be that I actually received enough money from my writing to live on.

Photo by Ketut Subiyanto on Pexels.com

Making a living as an author is difficult, especially when one is an indie author. The indie writers I know who support themselves write romances and publish several a year. I will never be that prolific, although I’ve had years where I’ve written two novels.

The odds of my being able to support myself as a writer are infinitesimally small. The only way I will write full-time is after I retire. I have accepted this.

Un-Inventing WMDs

Daily writing prompt
If you could un-invent something, what would it be?
View all responses

If I could un-invent something, I would un-invent weapons of mass destruction. I would just eliminate them from the earth. I would un-invent mutually assured destruction, the arms race, the nightmare of my childhood during the Cold War.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

I remember reading a science fiction series where the premise of war was that the only weapons you could use were those that brought you to arm’s length from your opponent — in other words, swords and spears. With the books, this was to prohibit psychic warfare, but it makes sense to me. Weapons of mass destruction kill thousands, even millions of people while keeping one’s hands clean.

One could argue that this would eliminate all area bombs. I’m fine with that. If it gets rid of assault weapons, even better. I could get rid of all weapons, but I think hunting is a legitimate use of weapons (I am not a vegetarian).

What would war look like if we could get rid of looming threats? I hope it would be shorter. And less lethal.

As Ready As I Can Be

Not much to say here — I’m back to work today. Think of today as an inservice day, where I spend the morning in informative sessions and my afternoon in meetings. In other words, I will sit a lot.

I don’t know if I feel ready for this semester. That’s the question faculty all ask each other during the beginning of semester meetings: “Are you ready for classes?” And nobody ever says yes. I say, “About as ready as I can be” because some things one can’t prepare for.

What are my classes going to be like? Will I have a bunch of students ready to learn? Will my students read the book? Will they be prepared for class? These can make a difference in how well the class goes.

My classes are online, my schedule is laid out on my computer, and I’m about as ready as I can be.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Last Day of Freedom

It’s my last day of freedom, and I am going to use it to accomplish absolutely nothing. I’m going to store up on rest as if it was a rare commodity (which it is). I got all my work done on classes early and even have my schedule for my door prepared. (Oops, it’s not quite done; guess I have a bit to do).

This week will be easy; inservice and meetings tomorrow, followed by the next couple of days of work-at-home. The fun starts next week as we start classes.

I’m not ready for this!

Of course I am. I’ve been doing this for over 30 years. I got this.