My mugs sits empty with only a slight discolouring at the bottom. That sludge at the bottom of the mug is proof that at some point this morning coffee warmed the ceramic cylinder I call a coffee cup. The memory of the rich roasted scent lingers in my nasal cavity, and the warmth from my now empty mug clings to the palms of my hands.

I have been sitting over my empty mug contemplating what to share since our last coffee together. I can sum it all up in one word: exhausting. So, instead of going down that road and drowning my sorrow in coffee I think I will go a different way. However, I have to vent for just a minute about a piece of my writing that just came out in a magazine. I read it yesterday and was horrified, yes horrified by the editor’s changes. I’m not taking about changing words and making small omissions because editor discretion is part of the game. However, I think that there is an expectation that changes will better the piece, and what I have experienced is going from a piece I was proud of to something I am embarrassed to have my name associated to. For example, the first sentence was edited, or it was a typo on their part, into a sentence that makes no sense. Probably the one edit that makes my blood boil like a kettle screaming on the stove is that a paragraph was edited to make it sound as if I was participating in an action, but the following paragraph was left as I submitted it and these actions are impossible to do simultaneously (driving a police car and being in the passenger’s seat)! Anyway, that’s not all of it but I think you get the point. I am so upset!

Anyway, as I said I think we should go a different way. So, here are 5 questions I would love to hear your answers to as we sit chatting over coffee today.

1. What are you reading?
2. The Mists of Avalon
3. What is the last movie you watched?
4. Wonder Woman (It was Mom’s Night Out!)
5. What is the best part of your summer so far?
6. Camping with my family
7. What is your favourite summer drink?
8. Iced caramel macchiato with extra caramel
9. Ice cream or a Popsicle?
10. Ice cream, always ice cream (Have you tried coffee flavoured ice cream?)

By Shari Marshall – 2017