IWSG January 2022!

 So, of course I start the year off late on IWSG! Bad habit lately, but one I'm willing to work on, even if I do a terrible job sometimes! I haven't made any "New Year Resolutions" because I don't do that anymore. Instead I reflected at the end of 2021. I am not out to try to "fix" the problems of last year. I'm out to work on bettering me/my life/life in general and I think looking back is a good way to plan going forward. What do you do? Reflect? Resolve to change? Both?

My plans for this first half of the year are to work as I have been, meaning outside the home, until the end of the school year (May). Then put my energies toward finishing my WIP. I'm not making any other plans. I just want to stay healthy, be with my loved ones (whether by Zoom, FaceTime, WhatsApp, or in person, and Be. Here. Now.  Which leads, kind of, into the first of the year, question-of-the-month for IWSG. 

What's the one thing about your writing career you regret the most? Were you able to overcome it? 

I regret not making a living at it. I don't regret the books I've written AT. ALL. In fact, I feel proud of what I've accomplished so far. 

I have not overcome my regrets, yet. I hope I can at least become popular enough that I can make a living from it. I don't need to be on the NYTs list. I do want to please more folks with my stories, and have a legacy to leave when I'm no longer here. So, if you're like me, hopefully you'll continue to love what you do instead of berating yourself for not making ("enough") money at it (which I do and have to remind myself not to do all the time) and give this new year a new chance. Life is good, in spite of the state of the pandemic right now. Life is still VERY good compared with the alternative!

Please go and visit our wonderful co-hosts this month and thank them for reading our blogs!

Erika Beebe, Olga Godim,Sandra Cox, Sarah Foster, and Chemist Ken!

Happy New Year!

Reflections On Time 2021

Waking at 4:20 am, I find myself thinking, no almost obsessing on a multitude of things I am not doing instead of thinking of the things I have done or am doing. Maybe it's an age thing, feeling as if I'm running out of time. Time. Is it friend or foe? I'm not sure how to make it feel as if it's on my side. My father used to do this, worry and dwell on all the negatives instead of the fact he was alive, well and had a lot to be thankful for.

Is it the time of year? The holidays, the beginning of a "new" year? I'm not thinking of what I want to do in the new year. I'm thinking mostly of the people I didn't send Christmas cards to (everyone), the calendars I didn't make as gifts for the coming year. I'm dwelling on the things I want to make, the knitting and crocheting and mending I have to do, the book I'm not finished writing, all the books I didn't read in this last year. All the things I haven't done, yet.

What have I done with my time? I worked full-time all summer and this school year taking care of other people's beautiful children. I worked in my garden/yard a lot. I took care of my son (as I have for the last two years), who is doing so much better now. I am still (two months in) taking care of my husband who has a new knee that will be healing for quite some time. I realize this year has been one of taking care of others, which has narrowed my focus to this place. I have friends/family farther away than ever because of the pandemic, as we all do, and I feel I've let them down for not staying in better contact. See how that works? Chastising myself because of the things I didn't do while playing solitaire games on my phone, or hiding in TV programs and movies, thinking I was giving myself "a break", practicing self care. Somehow I don't feel rested, my body aches, and my emotions are at a loss. 

I love the people in my life near and far. They make life worth being here for. I don't want to lose them, or have them feel in any way that they aren't important to me. My sense of failure makes me cry. My love is keening for the chance to express it. My soul is lamenting the balm of reaching out to those who mean so much to me. And yet I also want to curl up into a ball and have time move on to a new and better place. I want the whole world to (still) stay away for awhile. Is this wrong? Am I just whining?This inner battle I don't really understand. I guess this reflection needs more time for me to figure out what it means. Time. Again. Friend or foe? Or neither?

My children, and me with my husband, lights of my life that remind me of what's important...

Emma, Adel & our son Robin 

Adel, our grandson

Our son Tristan & our pup Boney

My wonderful husband and me

Our daughter Marjorie & her fiancé Jon

Hello December 2021! Hello IWSG!

 

Good morning Everyone! The beginning of the end of this year is today and what a way for this year to go out. At least we had (well, my family did) a more or less "normal" Thanksgiving, especially compared to last year. A new variant on the horizon is putting to bed the idea we can look forward to a new year without Covid, but, oh well. If this doesn't prove how "global" our world/economy/society is, I don't know what else can!

I am going into December with the mindset that I can finish this year with the love that I went into it with. For my family. For my friends. For my little lovey dog, and those in this world who make it such a bright place to be, even in the midst of chaos. I wish for all of you to have this brightness in your lives and outlooks on our world as well. May kindness, generosity, love and peaceful happiness be yours in these last days of 2021. May they overflow into the new year coming and continue on as long as possible.

I am grateful also to this community of writers who keep coming back, and keep supporting each other. I love being a part of IWSG even if I don't blog as much as I want. I am looking at next year as one of change and my writing will be a part of that change. More on that next year! I just wanted to acknowledge Alex, and all the wonderful folks/writers who make this blog hop possible for us to participate in. You all rock the writing world! 

Please visit our co-hosts this month and thank them for being such a wonderful part of our community:

PJ Colando, Diane Burton, Louise – Fundy Blue, Natalie Aguirre, and Jacqui Murray!

Question of the month is: What about writing stresses you, and what delights?

Thinking I have to make money with my writing stresses me. 

Not being able to put into words on paper what is in my head stresses me. 

Not being "good enough" stresses me.

Finding the mind link with the protagonist (s) in the story delights me! 

Writing a sentence and it comes out exactly as I hoped it would delights me! 

Finishing a novel delights me! 

Working with my graphic artist, formatter and editor delights me! 

So in the end, it's all good!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO EACH AND ALL OF YOU

Hello November and IWSG!

 

So, I have to begin with the best news first. I WON!!! My entry "Rain" won first place (Gold) in the women's fiction category of the Royal Palm Literary Awards this past October! I'm still feeling the high... I've received the actual award and included a photo of it below. This was so heartwarming for me since it took me SO long to finish this novel. Whew. Talk about a WORK in progress. We're talking years here. So, to have it recognized in this way was more than powerful. It was an acknowledgement by others that the work was worthy. I am so incredibly grateful. (In case you'd like to read it, click on the links Rain and novel in this post!)

On the home front, my husband is recovering well from knee replacement surgery and I'm hanging in there as his nurse, cook and bottle washer. It's tiring, but worth it when after his first Physical Therapy session Tuesday, he came home feeling so much stronger and happier with his choice (as if he had a choice) to do this. He'd tried everything else first over the last two years. Surgery was the last choice and he finally made it. I am thankful he is healing well!

And again on the home front, our retaining walls are done! I'm going to post a full album (on FB) of the beginning, progression and end, but here I'll post just a few to give you an idea of what we had done.

Before...

During, first & second walls done

Planting first bed!

Besides all this wonder and work, I'm tired, but still happy to see the kiddiewinks I tend in before/after school care in my "day" job. I'm off to bed, but wanted to thank all the wonderful well-wishers who cheered me on last month when I told you I was in the running for the RPLA award. Thank you thank you thank you! I won! Rain won! I'm still over the moon about it. 

Now, on to the IWSG. Please go and visit our wonderful co-hosts this month! Thank them for doing a great job!  Kim Lajevardi, Victoria Marie Lees, Joylene Nowell Butler, Erika Beebe, and Lee Lowery!

The question of the month is: What is harder to do, come up with your book title, or write the blurb?

BOTH! For me each one has its difficulty. Though sometimes titles come easier, blurbs are never easy, at least for me. I struggle, and I send it out to many writer friends to ask for input. Thank goodness you all are there! How about you? Which one is easier for you?

I wish you all a November full of colors and food and good times with family. See you in December!

So October Is Here IWSG

 

A day late, but not a dollar short. A new take on an old saying to start this post off. Perhaps funky, but I've been up since three something so go figure!

This is the month where I find out if I've won the Royal Palm Literary Award! I'm excited and trepidatious. I'm posting the link to the YouTube video of those of us who are finalists. I show up around 6:07 for about 2 seconds. I'm glad they posted it for us to see ahead of the conference which will not be live this year, thank you Covid...again.

RPLA FINALISTS FOR 2021

On to IWSG!

Our wonderful co-hosts this month are...

Jemima Pett, J Lenni Dorner, Cathrina Constantine, Ronel Janse van Vuuren, 

and Mary Aalgaard! 

Please go by and give them a thanks for being there for us, if you haven't already. I'm sorry this is so short, but have to go get ready for work! Hope all of you are doing exciting things and staying safe and healthy! Fall/Autumn, here we come!!!