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Hanging out in Santorini

Hello, my name is Laura.

Some days I think my life is one long, inner monologue. I’ve stuffed my head full of so much fiction and let so much more out through my fingertips, I have started thinking in narrative. If you want to listen in, here is your chance.

I live in South Dakota with my wonderful husband, naughty cat, and dead garden. I’ve been fortunate to travel through the United States and Europe. I’ve studied in Iowa, France, and Belgium. I have degrees in Anthropology and Archaeology, which I stopped putting to use when I discovered that doing archaeology in the United States means traveling to remote areas of nowhere, digging for endless hours, and finding nothing. Some day I’ll go back to Europe and dig stuff up there. Much more rewarding.

Until then, I’m working for the family business, planning to be more successful with next summer’s garden, and learning sign language.

This blog will be devoted to whatever tickles my fancy at a given moment. Consider it a grab bag. You’ll likely hear about my adventures in homemaking (thus far, I haven’t proven to be especially talented in that regard), working with family (but only so far as I won’t offend anyone), and getting along with other people (I do the best I can). You’re also bound to hear about my opinions on language, writing, and reading, three of my favorite things.

Enjoy.

To see my musings about life and travel in the Black Hills of South Dakota, check out the Black Hills Travel Blog, where I am a contributor.

9 Comments »

9 Responses

on November 16, 2007 at 11:06 am writinggb

My son and I passed through S. Dakota on a 10,000 cross-country road trip this summer. Beautiful countryside in the Black Hills.

Where are you in the photo you include above? Reminds me of some of the places we visited on our trip….
on November 16, 2007 at 11:36 am snukes

That picture was taken on the island of Santorini, in Greece, the day before I got married. It is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. No islands quite like that in South Dakota, though you’re right – we do have our fair share of fantastic scenery.
on November 17, 2007 at 1:28 pm writinggb

AH!! Now I see it. I’ve been to Santorini. I have a photo of me at sunset on the tip of the island. Very easy to take good pixs in such a place.

I had thought the picture reminded me a little of Glacier in Montana, but it didn’t seem quite right. Thanks for clearing that up!
on February 22, 2009 at 3:18 pm Chrystal Gant

So…I was doing a google search for an email name that I have used in the past. I was contemplating changing it. I found references to my real name and thought I would do a search on that. What did I find?
I found that you had given me credit on a paper you wrote on Sex and the WC. I don’t really remember that, but thrilled that I’ve finally found a way to get a hold of you. I just hope that you get this message so that we can catch up.
You should know that you were the single most favorite part of my time there. I’ve missed you!
on February 22, 2009 at 11:55 pm snukes

Hey chicky! Great to hear from you. I’ll shoot you an email shortly.
on April 1, 2009 at 5:23 am Gwyneth Jane Westmoreland

I have to ask; how many times have you tried to get your novels published?

Yes, I am a new writer. A friend of mine gave me the link to your site to read your advice.

I found it very helpful and I appreciate your honesty, I am about to proof read my story to see how many times ‘just’ and ‘actually’ appears

Is there a link you can share where one can read some of your finished pieces?

Thanks again.
on April 2, 2009 at 12:20 pm snukes

Thanks for the nice note, Gwwyneth!

I’ve submitted four short fiction pieces for publication without any luck so far. Publishing non-fiction is so much easier, because there are so many more venues for it. I’m occasionally depressed that I missed the glory days of fiction magazines, but there are still a few out there who will take submissions. Many colleges or universities also publish short fiction collections. There are some websites out there that specifically catalog such opportunities. I don’t have any of them bookmarked on this computer, but they’re not too hard to find by doing a regular search.

I have not yet tried to publish any novels, though I have every intention of getting that figured out one day.

I also don’t have an online portfolio yet, but it’s something I’ve thought about doing. When I get something up, I’ll let you know.

All the best with your own writing projects!
on August 24, 2012 at 3:59 pm Amanda Fanger

Hello Laura! I just stumbled across your blog via NaNoWriMo – I’m participating this year and saw that you were the ML for our great state of South Dakota! There has been mention of being some 700 other NaNo’ers in SD – some of them from Pierre… Is there any sort of listing that I can go about finding to meet any of these other writers? (I live near Pierre)…

Thanks!
on August 30, 2012 at 9:45 pm snukes

Hey Amanda! I’m excited to have you on board this year for NaNo. I don’t have the opportunity to participate in the Camps, so I can’t give you much help with finding folks there, but once October rolls around, the regular NaNo forums should start picking up some speed. We’ll have some topics in the forums to help folks find each other within the different communities. I’ll be looking for folks in each area to help out with planning local write-ins, so maybe give that some thought. (eyebrow waggling)

You’re welcome to stop by the forums any time and do a shout-out for Pierre folks, I just suspect it’ll be a little quiet until we get a bit closer.