October Has Blown In With A Vengeance IWSG

IWSG

 I didn't know what I was going to write about this month. I waited until the words came, now, and the first word is Helene. This world has so many disasters happening in it right now, that to say this one is so completely horrible and devastating feels almost surreal, not reality. But most of my family, and a LOT of my friends have been hit hard. I am so grateful that so far everyone is alive and doing all right, everything considered. My sister has power again, but no internet. The roads are starting to be cleared so my parents can come down off the mountain they live on, for now, but cousins are stuck, brother and sister in law are stuck, can't get out to get food or water or internet service, and are hoping to be relieved soon...

My issues are so small, except for this. My family. My friends who lived through the devastation are very important, and so their issues have become paramount for me. Please, help in any way you can, donating, sending prayer, sending positive and healing thoughts, whatever you can, please do it. And, not just for this most recent disaster, but for all of the conflicts happening all over our planet. Because we are all human, and eventually, what happens "far" away from us, affects us in one way or another. 

Life lines are a part of healing and rebuilding. IWSG is a life line for a lot of us, keeps us in, even if it's only a toe in the water at times. I am grateful for this medium and all it offers to us. So, on to that part of this post.

October 2 question - Ghost stories fit right in during this month. What's your favorite classic ghostly tale? Tell us about it and why it sends chills up your spine.

Well, my favorite ghost story is Evangeline's Miracle, my first published novel, so guess I don't need to give the reason why! Please give it a shot if you like ghosts, from the past and present...

And, please go and thank our other amazing co-hosts this month for being there for us!

Kim Lajevardi  http://kimlajevardi.com/  

Diedre Knight  https://pensivepenspost.blogspot.com/ 

J Q Rose  http://www.jqrose.com/ 

An Oregon Coast Sunset September 2024

March Is Marching On Without Me On IWSG So On To April!

 

IWSG

I had planned to post last week for IWSG, but somehow I didn't. So I'm posting this week (for April evidently!). Life has taken off in such a good way (mostly), that I would forget my head if it weren't permanently attached. This is good and bad. Because I'm not writing it's bad. Because life is so full right now it's good. I am reading like I haven't read since before Covid. I've read over 18 books in the last two months which feels amazing. I also feel it is the beginning of loving writing again. 

I am working on fixing some issues in my family, going to therapy and this is good. I can still learn. I love that part of "issues". Yes it can be painful, but the joy that comes from fixing the issues is not to be underestimated. The work is greatly appreciated and makes me feel like a better human being, not to mention mother and wife.

I hope all of you had a wonderful Wednesday last week during the usual posting time, and I hope you continue to have a wonderful spring. 

Please visit the wonderful co-hosts for April...

Janet Alcorn, T. Powell Coltrin, Natalie Aguirre, Pat Garcia!

I also went to Puerto Rico and it was fabulous!!!

With my sister and my sister from another mother! Loved Puerto Rico with Cat and Alma!

Puerto Rico

Swimming with sea turtles!! With a disposable camera so not great quality photos... But still!

November, Sorry I Missed October!

 

Fall this year has taken its time in coming, but has finally arrived. The colors, the coolness, and the soon to come time change all contribute to Autumn moving-into-winter. I've been traveling A LOT due to all sorts of reasons, but mostly taking care of family and seeing friends not seen since before the pandemic. I've shed tears seeing these dear folks, of happiness, and the fact we're all getting older. How many of us will be here in the near or far future? It's a sad thought, but also galvanizing.

I wrote while on the road and it was another long lost friend regained. The novel is progressing. We travel again soon, and won't be home for months. Luckily our son will be staying in our house. I will have time to write again and I look forward to the time I'll spend with the characters. I hope to do them justice with new inspiration.

Our IWSG co-hosts this month are the wonderful and daring: 

Diedre Knight, Douglas Thomas Greening, Nick Wilford, and Diane Burton!!!! 

Please drop by their blogs and thank them for their service this month!

The IWSG question this month is: November is National Novel Writing Month. 

Have you ever participated? If not, why not?

Yes I have a few times and written either first drafts or completed novels already started. It was an amazing experience every time I did it. I'll be participating in my own way this year, just not in November. I'm planning on Do-It-In-December this year! What are you working on this month?

Halloween decorations on our street

Old Man's Cave Park in Hocking Hills, Ohio

My husband enjoying our first back yard fire of the season

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

Rain Has Finally Come

Rain has finally come to the dry desert of my writing life. I can't believe with all that happened in 2020, that this is the year Rain chose to come to fruition. A blessing. An accomplishment I thought I might never see. I almost gave up. Family decided otherwise and gently prodded me to finish. Family stood behind me. I stood up to my indecision, to my fear, yes, fear, to finish this story. I feel so insecure about this novel, but I needed to give light to the vision in my mind that first sparked as long ago as the late 1990s. Yes, it took that long for it to all come together.

Often we don't talk as much as we should about family hurts or secrets. Sometimes we don't share our fears with those who love us most, because we fear not being understood, because society tells us not to talk about "Things Like That."

We, I think, during this year have learned that talking about "Things Like That" can be helpful, can help us heal, can help us deal with new or ancient pain. Pain doesn't stay silent if we don't "talk" about it. It speaks in our brains and buries itself deep, changing and sometimes warping who we are. 

I hope that in reading Rain you are inspired to love yourself for who you are and to not judge others too harshly. Compassion and Empathy are two vastly underrated emotions/actions we as humans do actually excel with, especially when we listen.

The past is not an easy force to be reckoned with. 

 

For Annalyn and Jack heartache is unexpected. After a whirlwind romance and marriage, a shattering secret tears them apart. Desperate to escape, each embark upon separate journeys to try and heal, to rebuild faith in life with new loves. But moving forward, they discover that rebuilding their futures depends upon coming to terms with their past. Will facing the truth allow them to find, and accept, the love and healing they each so desperately need, or will the secret continue to break lives—and hearts—apart?

Rain is available on Kindle right now (in time for Christmas!). It will be available in paperback by New Years.

http://bit.ly/BUYNOWLBC

Please, if you read it and like it, leave a review/comment for me on Amazon and/or Goodreads.

Thank you, and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!