Heart Month and IWSG

 

In the shortest month of the year, time seems to have stood still just long enough for me to miss yesterday’s posting, yet again. And so I must start at the end of the IWSG list for the first time in seven years. I am very sad about this, but I have a great reason for being late, which I will share shortly. We are still in France. We leave later this month, and our last weeks here are already full. Luckily, we’ve had a few days to relax and recover from our latest adventure… being of help during the birth week of our new baby grandson! His name is Anael Gabriel Marcel, and is of course the most beautiful baby on earth. Holding him, being there when he and his lovely mother came home from the hospital was the greatest gift I’ve been given in a long time. Well, among all the other wonderful gifts I’ve received lately, Anael and his big brother Adel (3), are at the top of the list! We couldn’t be here in France when Adel was born, so being here for Anael’s birth made me cry, happy tears of course. I would post a photo of them, but their parents would prefer not me not to. So I, of course honor their wishes and indulge myself privately!

Link to trailer for Keep Breathing

https://youtu.be/pfhCEXLnQh8

As an author, I also wanted to write about a mini series, or limited series as Netflix calls them, “Keep Breathing”. Talk about insecurity. Talk about amazing writing. I wish I could write like this. It came out in July of last year but I’d never heard of it until two days ago. We binged it, with good reason. It is intense, beautiful, harsh, deep, profound, haunting, and as honest a portrayal of someone finding themselves as I’ve seen on TV. I highly recommend it. We finished it this afternoon and it lingers with you, I think because it touches on parts of all of us, experiences we may have had differently, but to which we can relate deeply. At least I did. I’d like to hear if you’ve seen it and what you thought…?

Please visit our IWSG co-hosts this month and thank them for co-hosting, even if you come at it late like me! Jacqui Murray, Ronel Janse Van Vuuren, Pat Garcia and, Gwen Gardner!

The question this month is: If you are an Indie author, do you make your own covers or purchase them? If you publish Trad, how much input do you have about what goes on your cover?

As an Indie author, I work with a graphic artist to create my covers. I tried making my own on my first published novel and later changed it because the second was soooo much better. Yes, I pay for it, but it is worth it. I want my novels to have the best covers I can provide (afford!), and I am not a graphic artist!

Happy Valentine’s Everyone! 

Fluttering February & IWSG

 

Good day to everyone! February, a time for love and madness, and, Black History (and my mother's birthday!). Weather is funky. Some look forward to celebrating with their special other, some rant because they don't have one. This month, leaning into spring, is one that feels like an "in between" month in the whole of the year. It's still winter, but we are teased at times with blue skies, then plunged back into gray. And we're all waiting for the cold to warm and the buds to begin showing their green promises of spring. And the ground hog doesn't help at all! Black History Month gives more meaning to February for me and I enjoy learning from all the resources that now abound about that missing part of this country's heritage.

Since I'm on break from writing, I've been concentrating on my other work with children (in before/after school programs with the YWCA) and find these little precious beings filling my soul. I am blessed to be appreciated by them, that they feel safe with me and my colleagues. Living on the edge of, well, fear-unrest-nervousness about Covid, we have to make sacrifices every day for their safety and ours and they do, too. I hate it for them, but am also glad because they still get to come to school. They still get this time to catch up on what they missed the years before. They are learning again to socialize and be a part of something bigger than themselves: their community. So far we haven't had to close any programs! Our parents are being wonderful and understanding and trusting us to help care for their children when they need us to do so. I feel like this work is helping me grow as a person (and it helps give me my "Kiddy " fix since my only grandchild lives in France!)

I wanted to share this and Black History Month with you, because I'm so very, very, VERY tired of "bad" news all the time. I can't stand to listen to most of it anymore because it's so off balance of "real" life. I DO read CNN's "Good News" newsletter every weekend and smile every time. It is so nice to read something positive and to see how many really beautiful/wonderful/gentle/loving people there are in the world. I count all of you IWSG'ers among them. You make me feel special and a part of something really good and much bigger than myself. I thank you for that and for being who you are.

The IWSG question of the month is: Is there someone who influenced or supported you that perhaps isn't around anymore? Anyone you miss?

Yes. My father. My Dad was a writer and great reader all my life. I've already mentioned on a different post here how, when we were kids our father had us write short one page stories for our allowance. He would then read them with us and correct our spelling or whatever. When I decided to listen to my soul and write, he was my greatest supporter (my mom too!) and he encouraged me, not only to write, but gave me the facts of how hard it would be. I miss him more than words can convey.

Please go and visit our co-hosts this month and thank them for helping out!

Joylene Nowell Butler, Jacqui Murray, Sandra Cox,Lee Lowery!

So, I hope February, BLACK HISTORY MONTH, is not just an "in between" month for you and that you find something precious and positive in it this year. Happy February!

February Already! IWSG

IWSG WEBSITE

Welcome to February! The weather can't make up its mind and neither can I. There is so much to think of these days and my dreams have been crazy. I guess I must be working out a great deal of stress in them, because I awake each morning wondering where the latest dream has come from.
When you don't know where "home" will be in five months, that can add a bit of stress to everyday life. The good thing is my hubby will no longer be a student! When he graduates in May, we will be free to find a new home. Just where that home might be is, as I said, in the air somewhere. Feels like my writing at the moment. In the air... I hope all of you are enjoying the new year and that writing or whatever art you make is enhancing your life with joy and accomplishment. I hope to hone in to my art/writing and finish this you-know-what book!!! Keeping this short this month...

PLEASE VISIT AND THANK

THE WONDERFUL CO-HOSTS FOR FEBRUARY:

Lee Lowery, Ronel Janse van Vuuren, Jennifer Hawes, Cathrina Constantine,

Tyrean Martinson!

Question of the Month: Has a singe photo or work of art ever inspired a story? What was it and did you finish it?
Photos were used in a writing workshop I went to once, and the one I chose inspired a flash fiction story. It was fun and I did finish it. I'd love to have someone publish it one day...