Gratitude
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Best Friends
Yes, it’s me, looking for peace again . . . You see, my dear Dee died on Monday–quietly and surrounded by her family, she moved on. I don’t deny I’m grateful that she is finally free from the cancer that has racked her body for five long years. I’m happy that she’s finally reunited with the love of her life because she’d been longing for that. I’m glad this horrible siege of illness is over for her sons, who can now remember their Mom as the vital beautiful woman she was, even when cancer stole that from her. Honestly, I’m even a little relieved that my life may return to…
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Done . . . Begin Again
Saving Sarah is with my editor, which means it’s out of my hands for a few weeks, which also means it needs to be out of my mind for the next few weeks. Honestly, that’s a really hard thing to do–release a book. I keep going back through it . . . but it’s time to stop because until I get the edits back from Lani, it’s pointless to make changes. I’m fairly certain that she’ll have plenty for me to do on the manuscript when she returns it. My challenge is to let go and start something new. To that end, I’m working on a new story that I…
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The Last 4,000 Words
I’m in the home stretch with Saving Sarah, book 4 of the Women of Willow Bay series. I can’t wait to finish it, but there is a little bit of bittersweet involved, too. I’m not positive, but I think this will be the last WOWB book. I have another woman in the village who could have a story, but I’m pretty sure it’s time to close this one out. I have a new book already started and I like the characters and the setting, which is Indiana, not Michigan. Of course, we’re up in northern Indiana near the dunes and Lake Michigan because I can’t imagine a story without a…
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Last Day of Lent
Today is the last day of Lent. Tomorrow is Easter and I can get back on social media. This has been a fascinating journey for me–an eye-opener, frankly. I had no idea I was so attached to Facebook and Twitter, no idea that so much of my social life was online. If you had asked me forty days ago if I was on social media much, I would’ve said “no, not much.” If you had asked me if I would miss it, I probably would’ve laughed. “Oh please, I have a life–I don’t need FB.” Well, apparently, it has nothing to do with whether or not you have a life–at…
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Wednesday Chipperish Reminder
Lani Diane Rich’s fabulous podcast, JED BARTLET IS MY PRESIDENT, episode 6 is up! I’m headed there right now after getting a great report from the doc at my 6-month checkup–I’m healthy and strong, and my hair is adorable. (Yeah, my doc is a woman, so she notices stuff like that.) Gratitude for today: I am healthy and strong and my hair is adorable. 😉 Great time opening the lake cottage–we’re good to go for the summer. Wonderful to see the lake friends who were there this weekend–can’t wait to see the community all back together again. Terrific day Sunday with Liz and Duane–sure hope they’re frequent visitors this summer!…
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Wednesday Chipperish Reminder
It’s Wednesday, folks, and time for another episode of Jed Bartlet Is My President. Given the state of our current administration, a little political fantasy is unquestionably in order, don’t you think? I’m in, how about you? The amazing Dr. Kelly Jones–one of my dear pals from Betty days joins Lani for a discussion of “Six Meetings Before Lunch.” Kelly is delightful and I’m so jacked about her new podcast Southern Fried Scholar. I’m in, how about you? Also how about some gratitude? Today, I’m excited about my WIP, which is coming together like magic–the hero and heroine wrote their own love scenes, which made my job so much nicer.…
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It’s Wednesday . . .
. . . which means it’s a Chipperish day! YAY! A new episode of Jed Bartlet Is My President is up, so I’m off to listen. Hope you are too! Gratitude today: Sunshine! A day with Dee and Di–always a treat. My new mug that Husband got me–it’s got the Eiffel Tower on it! Pictures later. A terrific three-hour lunch with Liz on Monday! I’m into my new knitting project and it’s already really pretty!
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Day Two
I’ve decided not to think of this hiatus from social media as “going dark.” Rather, I’m going to consider it stepping back into the light. Here’s the thing. I have a tendency to be a hermit–particularly in the winter. I write, I work on editing gigs, I knit, I binge-watch shows on Netflix, and I spend way too much time on Facebook and Twitter. Oh, it’s not that I don’t go anywhere at all. I have the occasional lunch with my friends, I do go the pool at least twice a week, I go up to see Dee, and Husband and I do things like the rare movie out and…
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On 2016 . . .
It’s almost the end of 2016–something I’m kinda grateful for because it’s been a crappy, crappy year. From politics to my own health, 2016 has been hard. The politics thing is going to have to work itself out–I can’t control it nor would I choose to, but I will say that I’m happy I live in the United States, it’s a great country. However, I’m not one bit happy about our new president, but you know what? I’m not the first person to be unhappy about who got elected president of this great country and I won’t be the last. The difference is that this election has affected me more…
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A Heartening Tale
Man, I’d so love to write an update blog that has nothing whatsoever to do with my health–sadly, it’s not this one. But happily, there is good news to report. I haven’t shared this particular issue on social media, mostly because I’m kinda sick of my own issues, but also because I’m trying to keep social media a happy place where I talk about writing and books. About three weeks ago, maybe a month, I started having dizziness and chest discomfort–ack! I’ve been really tired for about a year and have chalked that up to grief and other body issues that we won’t go into and of course to my…