Liz Flaherty
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Sunday Snippet: The Post-Retreat Musings Edition
I’m in a post-retreat haze. It happens every year after Liz and I get back from our semiannual (it means twice a year, I looked it up!) writing retreat. We do one in January in a little town in the hills of Southern Indiana and we do one in October, usually somewhere in Michigan. At every retreat, we write and talk and eat and drink wine and write and process and talk endlessly and write… Oh, and did I mention that there’s always great wine and chocolate and lots of good food? (I think I might have, but it bears repeating.) We don’t do restaurants quite as much as we…
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Sunday Snippet: The We’re on Retreat Edition
I think there’s a chance that this is the most-anticipated writing retreat Liz and I have ever had. Seriously. We both have been beyond ready for this getaway. Not sure why this one has been such a star in the distance for both of us. Maybe because it’s been a long time (January) since our last retreat or maybe because we’re both feeling our ages a little more this year and life somehow feels shorter. Or maybe we both needed a getaway. Whatever, we’re here and it’s already been nearly twenty-four hours of bliss. Oh, we both miss the husbands–so each retreat evening we spend some time on the phone…
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Sunday Snippet: The Don’t Faint, But It’s a Snippet Edition
I know how infrequently my Sunday Snippet actually features a snippet from a book, but that’s because I’m trying not to let each Sunday be all about my books. I muse and whine and talk about other stuff a lot more, and I think that’s okay, don’t you? It’s been a week… but this whole summer has been, I dunno, weird. I’ve been in a strange mood. I think it has more to do with the state of country instead of the state of Nan. For the first time in a very long time–probably since 2008, I feel hopeful again about the United States. Hope has been at a premium…
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Sunday Snippet: The Procrastinor’s Oh, Hell, What Day Is It Edition
I’ve been procrastinating…okay, no big news, right? I am a world-class procrastinator. I passed amateur status years ago and have gone into full-time professional procrastination. Nobody wastes time as well as I do. And honestly, it doesn’t even have to be time spent scrolling around the Web. I can put off doing anything that needs to be done with something as basic as folding laundry—oh, excuse me for a minute, I do have to get some stuff out of the dryer… brb… Fifteen minutes later…I’m back, clothes folded and put away, next load is in the washing machine, and while I was in there, I sorted the recycling, which I…
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Sunday Snippet: The Summer of the Sundress Edition
I confess, I got nothin’ for this week–I mean seriously, between editing gigs and revisions and book promotion and book signings (That’s Lizzie and me at Whyte Horse Winery last Sunday!), and getting into discover for book 1 in my new Dykemans of Rivers Edge series, my brain is exhausted and empty. So… I guess I’m going to tell you about something fun that I discovered this summer… ya ready? This summer, I’ve rediscovered dresses. Okay, so not fancy, like-we-use-to-wear-to-church dresses. You remember those? They required ironing and pantyhose? No, not those dresses. I’ve found sundresses. Cute, knit ones that have an empire waist and come in fun colors. This…
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Sunday Snippet: The Photo Dump Edition
It’s been a week, mes amis. Book release on Tuesday, promotion, promotion, promotion… and I capped off the week with a book signing at a local author event. In between the bookish stuff, I’ve been working on two editing gigs and helping with spring yard work. My brain and my body are pretty fried. I need a day of doing nothing and doing it well. That day might be today. The sun is shining, temps in the mid-fifties are predicted, but the no wind, which means a walk with pal Mary will be in order for sure, and maybe Husband and I will take a drive out to see blossoming…
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Sunday Snippet: The March Memos Edition
March has been an incredibly busy month so far–finishing a book, starting a new one, editing gigs to do, promotion to get lined up, plus housework and laundry and keeping fit. Thus, I do have a few things I need to get off my chest–the first one is a yay, though! Dear Gal’s Guide Library, Congratulations on your 2024 anthology–Nourish. It releases April 13 and I can’t wait to get my copy! And huge congratulations to bestie, Liz Flaherty, whose essay “The Rickrack Chronicles” won a second place medal in the anthology! Nobody does it better, my friend, and I’m so proud of you! Beaming, Nan Dear Spring, Are you…
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Sunday Snippet: The Validation Edition, II
You know who I envy? Writers who have complete faith in their work and themselves. The ones who write a book and always know immediately that it’s great stuff and is going to sell like hotcakes. Or the ones who may know their work needs help, but believe so strongly in their own stories that they push on, striving to make them better. They never doubt their abilities or spend days wondering what they’re doing trying to write a novel, for Pete’s sake. They don’t wonder if they’re fooling everyone, including themselves, with this whole author thing. Sometimes, I can be that writer. When a scene works perfectly, when I’ve…
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Sunday Snippet: The Annnd… We’re Off! Edition
And so we are. Today, Liz and I are headed down to the hills of Southern Indiana for a writing retreat–our annual winter event. This is our third January retreat. We stay in a beautiful and comfortable inn in the center of the cute little town of Nashville. The Artist’s Colony Inn is the perfect place for a winter retreat with large cozy rooms and a fab restaurant, plus breakfast is included with our room. Our first Nashville retreat was in 2022 and we happened upon the Artist’s Colony after our original hotel turned out to be … well, not really prepared for our visit. Anyway, we scooted into town,…
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Sunday Snippet: The I Shall Thole Edition
It’s here. The New Year. It snowed yesterday and I opened the front door to take a picture and to inhale the crisp, cold scent of it. Snow brings a hush to the world and peace to my heart. So many people my age leave the state for warmer climes and I totally don’t get it. I like the change of seasons here in the Midwest, I don’t mind the snow–I don’t even mind being stuck inside if the snow makes travel hazardous. I’m writing the third book in The Walkers of River’s Edge series. It’s Cameron and Harper’s story and it’s coming hard, I confess. I’m not sure why…