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Weekend Writing Warriors
This is my first time to try something like this, but the idea intrigued me. So here are seven sentences from my current WIP, Like Fine Wine. Julianne Miles has just arrived in Chicago to stay in her friend’s apartment for a few weeks. She’s believes she’s alone until she hears a man come in…uninvited… I was supposed to be here, this guy certainly wasn’t. He was tall and his spiky blond hair, backlit by the sun, shone in a gold halo around his head. “Do I know you?” he asked. “Are you Jules?” I brushed past him and headed for the kitchen. “I’m the widow fucking Miles,” I said.…
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January Memos
Dear Orthopedic Surgeon, Okay, I admit, it’s not your fault (even though you are the one who cut my foot open!). You never said this would be a piece o’ cake. I was the one who stupidly assumed I’d be healed and back on my treadmill in two weeks. You’ll be proud of me, though. I’m tolerating more weight on the foot, and my cane and I look quite jaunty when we go out together. Healingly yours, Nan *** Dear Muse, Welcome back! We’ve almost gotten Like Fine Wine finished, and The Music Is You is steaming ahead with revisions. We might just have a new book out by summer!…
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Places I Love
This might be a lazy way to blog, but I’ve been thinking lately about places I love and I thought I’d share a few of them with you. These are all places I’ve been, so the pictures are mine. I’d love to hear about places you love, so share, okay? This one is too easy, but honestly, Paris is right at the top of my favorite places list—it was at the top before I ever got to go. Paris didn’t disappoint, it was wondrous! I’d go back in a heartbeat! This is a castle that we stopped at along the way to Killarney in Ireland. So amazing! There are abandoned…
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Healing
I’m currently healing from surgery on my foot. Not major surgery, but surgery nonetheless, and I’m surprised at how much it’s affecting me. I guess I had it in my head that I’d be bouncing around a week after the surgeon removed several bone spurs, a cyst, and arthritis from the joint on the top of my foot. Um. I was wrong. I’m not bouncing. Hell, I’m not even walking all that well. It’s painful to put much weight on the foot, which is ugly with stitches and wrapped up in an Ace bandage. I’m disappointed that going up and down the stairs is work and that I have to…
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An Abundant Life
Every couple of years, I break out my copy of Sara Ban Breathnach’s Simple Abundance. She calls it “A Daybook of Comfort and Joy,” and it truly is. If you’ve never read the book, I recommend it highly and it’s even available as an e-book! I just downloaded it to my new Kindle Fire HD because this year, my pal Marta and I are reading the meditations together each day and discussing them. We give ourselves a few minutes each morning on the phone to talk about what we’ve read and how it affects us. Part of the meditation is to write in a Gratitude Journal. Believe it or not,…
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So…What? No End of the World?
Okay, I confess to clutching just a tiny bit Friday when I woke up, thinking that it was that day—the day the Mayans supposedly predicted the end of the world. However, this week, I’m at Son’s house, so I figured that if the world was going to end, at least we’d all be together for it. But, it was an ordinary day…well, extraordinary because we’re here with Son, DIL, and Grandboy, but no apocalyptic storms or earthquakes or fire falling from the sky. Just a rainy day made sunny by Grandboy’s sweet smile and giggles. I’m a usually not a person who worries about the fate of the world overmuch.…
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Learning Structure
I’m learning about structure, about how to build a story so that characters, events, reactions, and outcomes all come together to create a cohesive plot. I tell a great story, I truly do, but I get bogged down in the details of my characters lives—especially their pasts. It’s a common thing for a writer to do. I sent one of my manuscripts to my favorite book doctor, Lani Diane Rich, who is an incredible writer and co-host of the StoryWonk podcasts. If you aren’t already listening to StoryWonk, you should be. Lani and her husband and partner, Alastair Stephens, know their stuff. Their weekly podcasts are informative and very entertaining.…
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It’s Back . . .
. . . that wicked restlessness. I have to tell you, I’ve always been pretty content—a wife, a mother, an editor, a writer . . . my life’s been stable with very little drama. And that’s been deliberate. Growing up, my family was all drama and chaos, so when I met this lovely man who was rock steady and low-key, I was immediately attracted. Our almost-40 years together have been a peaceful, easy journey with only a few bumps along the way. Perky has always been my job; tending to everyone else’s needs is what I do best. My Nana told me that the woman sets the mood for the…
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The Next Big Thing–My Version
One of my favorite authors, Liz Flaherty, tagged me in a blog-trek called The Next Big Thing, so here I am answering questions about my current works in progress (WIP). This is a first for me, I rarely talk about what I’m working on, but maybe I need to do it more often. I’m tagging five other authors, so be sure to check in with them next Wednesday and see what’s new in their lives. Okay, here goes… What is the working title of your next book? There are two of them: The Music Is You and Like Fine Wine. They’re not a series, but they are connected because I…
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Thanksgiving
I was extremely thankful yesterday, but I was being thankful at sister PJ’s house with family and wine, so here’s the Thanksgiving Day gratitude list a little late. 1. Family, both nearby and extended 2. Turkey because really, what’s better than turkey? 3. Wine (see #2) Skyping with Grandboy, Son, and DIL and sharing the Skype with everyone at sis’s house yesterday My nieces, Kate and Meg, who are beautiful, charming young women and always good fun! Today’s list looks like this: Prayers for Dee’s comfort through the holiday yesterday were answered Dropcam that lets us watch little Grandboy while he sleeps in his crib Playing on…