An Editor's Life
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Sunday Snippet: The Red Boots and Style Edition
I’ve been working on becoming more confident and seeing myself in a new way. Clothes are part of this very slow transformation–wearing them, buying them, choosing them… knowing what best suits me. In the daybook Simple Abundance, Sarah Ban Breathnach talks about finding clothes that fit your lifestyle. That assumes I have a lifestyle, which I’m not entirely sure I really do. I’m a writer and editor. I pretty much live in comfort clothes–yoga pants, T-shirts with a sweater tugged over the top of them or a sweatshirt if it’s really cold outside. Slippers or socks and I’m good to go for the day. There are even days, I confess,…
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Sunday Snippet: The Five Fun Facts Edition
William Harris and Julie Syers, you are my e-book winners! My publisher will be sending you both e-books of The Cowboy’s Comeback. Thanks so much for coming by! Okay, right off, I confess I’m truly down-to-my socks tired. Between book release promotion and heading to THE END on Book 3 in the Juniper Falls Ranch series, and working on editing gigs, my brain is basically mush today. Sometimes, that happens on Sundays–whatever intellect I have left goes into hiding and even remembering how to use my new coffeemaker is a reason to stop and pause. (I remembered and I now have coffee–yay!) When that brain drain happens on a Sunday…
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Sunday Snippet: The Thanksgiving Break Edition
Très Chers Amis, I’m taking a break from posting this Sunday to spend time with Husband decorating our Christmas tree, eating leftover turkey and pie ,and just breathing… see you next week! ~~Nan~~
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Sunday Snippet: The Writing a Book Is Hard Edition
Writing a book is hard. A few days ago, as Liz and I had our usual morning g-Chat she said, okay, she typed, those words. Simple as the words are, the idea is huge because of the truth of it. In these days of indie publishing, where anyone can put a book up on Amazon, those words need to be said. To repeat: Writing a book is hard. I’m not going to rant about the folks who put up the books that haven’t seen an editor, the books that are full of misspellings and bad punctuation and lousy story structure. The folks who read a book, think well, I can…
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Sunday Snippet: The What Day Is It Again? Edition
Remember when Tuesday meant you had a good start on the week, it was a pool day, and you knew Husband would be at work and the kid would be at school? When the weekend was well and truly over and you were into your week? All was right in your world. I have a confession—Husband’s been retired over ten years and I rarely know what day it is. Seriously, I don’t. Most of the time I couldn’t tell you whether it was Sunday or Thursday. It’s even worse at the lake because every day at the lake feels like Saturday. Weird phenomenon, but it’s true. The only way I…
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Sunday Snippet: The July 4th Edition
I considered writing a long post about July 4 and what it means to be a true patriot right now, but someone else already did that. So go here and read Robert Reich’s message about what it means to be a patriot. I’ll wait. You’re back! Wasn’t that a terrific post by Professor Reich? I really have nothing to add this holiday weekend. I’m simply going to share this photo from July 4 a few years ago–Son and Grandboy celebrating America’s independence at the lake exactly the way Husband and Son did more years ago than I care to mention. I love our lake life together and how much Son…
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Sunday Snippet: The Easter Memories Edition (Redux)
I’m doing a rerun today, although it will be new to Substack readers. Easter memories abound, and today we will make more as the family gathers here at our house today for food and fellowship. So if you remember this one from a couple of years ago, go ahead and read it again anyway and Happy Easter to you! The night before Easter, we colored hardboiled eggs with the Paas Easter egg dye kits. Remember those? After we kids went to bed, Mom, who was probably already exhausted from working at the grocery store all day and studying whatever courses she was taking for her nursing degree, hid them around…
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Sunday Snippet: The Wildflowers and Memories Edition
Neighbor and pal Mary and I have been walking in between raindrops this week, admiring all the spring flowers in folks yards and the magnolia trees and other flowering trees that are blooming. Some wildflowers are showing up in yards as well because we live in a neighborhood with lots of huge old trees. Wildflowers like delicate spring beauties, violets, and the little white blooms that look like stars. They’re so beautiful and they reminded me of when PJ and Kate and I used to go out into the woods behind our church when we were kids and hunt for wild flowers. The woods there was gorgeous and full of…
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Sunday Snippet: The I Might Need a Break from Technology Edition
Do you ever wonder how we survived before computers and cell phones and social media? I can’t remember when I last dialed (literally dialed) a telephone or got up from the sofa to change the TV station. Or took a picture with an actual camera. When I last typed something on a typewriter or used a paper roadmap to figure out where I was going or opened a recipe book to find a new way to cook chicken. I google every thing now. Texting is second nature now, too, as is taking pictures with my phone, and FaceTiming with my sister. Life has changed so much in the last twenty-five…
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Sunday Snippet: The Am I Losing It? Edition
Talked my lake friend Mo the other day. We covered everything–health, weather, writing, reading, her lake news, my city news… After we hung up, I thought of something I’d meant to tell her, but the oven timer was dinging, supper was ready and I figured I’d tell her next time I talked to her. I’ve talked to her, but I still can’t remember what it was I wanted to tell her… and that seems to be a theme in our lives. I took a silly online test for dementia yesterday–the results of which were, “You have the memory of an elephant.” The test had no idea how frequently I say,…