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| IWSG |
Every month there is a question we can answer if we choose to. I won't this month because I've already answered it before, Charlotte's Web. But I will put in one of my favorite quotes from the story, because I need to here this today.
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| from the Audible website |
Here are our lovely and wonderful co-hosts for this month:
PJ Colando, Pat Garcia, Kim Lajevardi, Melisa Maygrove, Jean Davis!
Please visit their sites and thank them!
Enjoy summer. It is now upon us! From my garden to you...
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| IWSG WEBSITE |
Bonne Annee as they say here in France, but with an accent on the first "e" in annee. It looks funny without it. Happy New Year, as we say in the States! We've been traveling since December 5th, 2024, so I missed December's post. Can't say I'm sorry because, yes, traveling! I'm sitting in the Pyrenees mountains in a "gite", like an AirBNB and it's quiet and beautiful, serene and a good place to start out the new year. I miss my children, yet know they are doing well and are happy in their lives. I miss wanting to write and have decided to talk to my doctor about some meds I've been taking to see if what I am suspecting is true. Since I started taking them I have no desire to use my imagination. It's disheartening. So, that is what I plan to do after my return to the States.
Meanwhile, the question for this new month in this new year for the IWSG group is:
Describe someone you admired when you were a child. Did your opinion of that person change when you grew up?
My Dad. I admired him greatly. He was strong, handsome, loved my mom, and seemed a good role model. He was my Dad. As an adult my opinion did change, but not in a cut-and-dried sort of way. He was still my Dad. I loved him greatly and respected his force of character. Yet, as an adult I could also see less positive traits and I became aware of how his anger had played a real part in my growing personality. So, I saw him as a man, a human who had failings as well as strengths. I think perhaps we all go through this with our parent, and also idols along the way in life. People are, after all, perfectly imperfect.
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| The cathedral in St Bertrand de Comminges |
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| My husband in the Pyrenees, his heart place. |
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| The Pyrenees... |
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| Engres & Bourdelle Museum in Montauban |
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| A Bourdelle sculpture in the museum |
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| Us in Toulouse |
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| One of the many light figures at the Village de Noel! |
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| Projected on the side of an historic building |
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| My husband and me |
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| With our friends Titou and Gilles in Perpignan, in the JOB mansion |
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| My favorite meal: Confit de Canard! |
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| On the Mediterranean... |
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| IWSG |
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!!!
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| With my sister and my sister from another mother! Loved Puerto Rico with Cat and Alma! |
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| Puerto Rico |
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| IWSG Onward into March. Today I sit thinking about writing. About what it used to mean to me. Does it still feed my soul the way it used to? Is it still "worth" doing? Was it really all about money and not about who I want to be/what I want to do? Doubt is rising like the sun this morning and there are no clouds masking it from my sight. Do I want to write anymore? |
So far, life outside of writing has been so incredibly interesting and mostly fulfilling lately that I really don't know the answer to these questions. There is a hole in my soul. I'm not sure writing fills it anymore. And yet the thought of not writing; I'm always thinking, "when I get back to writing I will...", is daunting. Writing has been so much a part of my life for so very long that I don't know how to think about not doing it. Procrastination has taken the place of my love for writing. I feel like I'm whining, "It's sooooo hard," and that is true at times. Then I go into the downward spiral of "I don't want to market my work. I want someone else to do that part. It's so expensive." Poor me. I'm having a pity party.
All these thoughts spin me around like I'm on a merry-go-round, but it's not nearly as fun. So, after my daughter's wedding in 17 days (which I am hugely excited about!), I will sit down with myself and make a decision about what I want to do with my life and my writing.
Anyone else feeling like this? Any advice for this "mid-life writing crisis?"
I'm skipping the IWSG question this month and going straight to...
Please visit our co-hosts for this month and remember to thank them!
Diedre Knight, Tonya Drecker, Bish Denham,Olga Godim, and... JQ Rose!
Hello and welcome to September’s post, including for IWSG. https://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/iwsg-sign-up.html
I have so many things I want to write about today, and none of them have to do with my current wip. That being said, I will only write about one thing at a time and space things out over a couple of posts.
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| Boney and (my husband) Geoffrey in France. |
I wrote in April about losing our little furry love Boney, short for Bonaparte. Four months later, after looking all over (on the internet) for a new little love, I found one and he is a literal dream come true. Meaning, I found him, applied (he is a rescue!) and set the appointment up to meet him. This was beginning of August. Then my “other” father was hospitalized and diagnosed for bypass surgery (Eyes bugged out at this news). I wrote to inform the shelter (Kind Hands 4 Paws in Zanesville, Ohio) that we’d have to either postpone or cancel the appointment because we needed to leave almost immediately to go help my mother during my father’s recovery in North Carolina. She wrote back completely understanding the situation. While in NC, about two weeks later, I dreamed about the little one I’d found, then named “Jack Jack”. Out of ALL the dogs/puppies I’d looked at and applied for, this one came to me in a dream. When I woke up I immediately emailed the lady, Becki, to ask if he was still available. I cried when she responded “yes.” That morning when I went down stairs to tell my mother I tried to look him up again to read to my mother what his description was, only to find he was “no longer available.” I was shocked and couldn’t understand since it had only been half an hour or so since I’d received her response. I called. I emailed again. That afternoon I called again. I never heard back and was beginning to despair. The next morning she called to explain why she hadn’t been able to respond to me the day before. Whew! She was sooo nice and apologetic and she’d had to take a day off for personal reasons, but she asked first about how my father was (he’s doing REALLY well after a quadruple bypass!!!) and said that she’d loved my application so much that she had taken Jack Jack off the site… after I’d had to cancel! Two weeks ago! I cried again. We set up a new appointment, and on September 1st, she brought “JaiJai” to our house in Columbus. We’d already named him! He started as he meant to continue, friendly, curious, loving and affectionate. We stayed home three days then left again for NC for another week to be sure my parents were up to us not being with them anymore. JaiJai is adapting to us as we are adapting to him. He is a joy and delight and we feel so very lucky. I am glad I listened to my dream self and didn’t let him go. He is perfect for us, helping heal the hole in our hearts left by Boney, and filling it with love and wonder again.
There is a lot more to JaiJai’s story, but this is enough to read on a blog post! Finding true companionship is such a blessing. I wanted to share this with you hoping you too, have experienced listening to your heart and finding a beautiful story that heals you.
Our IWSG co-hosts today are: http://kimlajevardi.com/, http://cathrinaconstantine.blogspot.com/, http://www.literaryrambles.com/, http://www.writer-in-transit.co.za/, https://selkiegrey4.blogspot.com/
Please visit their sites and thank them for helping us all out!
And here is little JaiJai (JJ)…
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!
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