New Year, First Post

2023, new year, first post. 

Will I post more this year? Dunno.
Will I care whether I do or don't? Dunno, though, given that I posted all of two times last year, it's rather a low bar to surpass.

This is Maggie or Magpie, my daughter's dog. Pretty cute, right? Rhetorical question.
Also pretty unintentionally elegant with those paws and expressive with those eyes. Or maybe it's totally intentional. She's a rescue who they believe was feral, living wild from birth, based on her lacked of familiarity with the most basic rudiments of living with humans (like stairs, doors, refrigerators, etc.). Now that she's found a home, she wants to keep it.

A very sweet and special girl.

Some things I would like to do (ideally, pretty early in the year), well one I can think of, is finish the middle grade novel I've been working on most consistently of late, and am the furthest along with--Percival Place, Volume One. And maybe I'll be DR Rice, instead of, you know, Dorothy Rice, just because. I feel as if people see "Dorothy Rice" and there's a knee-jerk reaction, an instant "oh, I bet the author is a little old lady" reaction, because, you know, mothers haven't been naming their baby girls Dorothy since the fifties, so she's got to be in her seventies or more, and there's no evidence the name will be coming back in style anytime soon, or ever. I get it. Thanks bunches, Mom.

I'll be less of a schlub this year. I don't even know quite what all that entails. Well I do. But I honestly don't want to put it into words. I'll winge and whine less, kvetch and moan less, glower less, and while smiling may be a bridge too far, I'll maintain a placid visage.

How's that?

Some stretching along the way would be nice as well, a few side bends and forward folds. To massage the internal organs, you know, which I've heard is highly beneficial for a healthy digestive system, which is something I imagine we all aspire to. 

And because I'm a writer and can't help myself, here's a little shame-filled self-promotion. My latest flash fiction in Literally Stories, ORCHIDS IN THE SUN.