Liz Flaherty
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Sunday Snippet: The How Did It Get to Be Mid-January Edition
Yeah, I really am wondering how it’s already January 17? Wasn’t it just Thanksgiving? Heck, wasn’t it just summer, for heaven’s sake? Time is going by too quickly. Basically, we’re hunkered down until we are both vaccinated and even after that, we’ll continue to be cautious. I feel as if we’ll all be coming out of our house this spring, blinking in the sunlight like people who’ve been trapped in a cave for months. And so perhaps we have in a way. But these are the last days of darkness, politically at least. We are looking into the light–I pray for the safety of every government official on January 20,…
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The New Year Has Arrived, Full of Things that Have Never Been
And now let us welcome the New Year; Full of things that have never been. ~~Rainer Maria Rilke Sarah Ban Breathnach’s Simple Abundance begins with this January thought: “January, the month of new beginnings and cherished memories, beckons. Come, let winter weave her wondrous spell: cold, crisp, woolen-muffler days, long dark evenings of savory suppers, lively conversations, or solitary joys. Outside the temperature drops as the snow falls softly. All of nature is at peace. We should be, too. Draw hearthside. This is the month to dream, to look forward to the year, and to journey within.” “All of nature is at peace. We should be, too.” What a lovely,…
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Sunday Snippet–The Post-Holiday Version
I’m tired. The holidays were lovely, if odd for not doing all the usual stuff like baking for friends and neighbors and spending a cookie-baking day with my sis, lunch with Liz, shopping in an actual store, doing Christmas Eve chicken-and-noodles and Candlelight service with my family and Christmas day with all the Reinhardts in the same room, but now…well, I’m tired. Physically, mentally, emotionally exhausted. I’ve currently got a butt load of work and I need to get back on my morning writing schedule. To that end, I’m going to take a social media break for a while, so if you want me, email me or text me or…
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Snippet Sunday–The Pandemic List Version
My writing bestie, Liz, and I are big ones for lists and okay, yeah, it’s a cheap and easy way to get a blog written, but you know, sometimes we just need to stop and count our blessings. So that’s what I’m doing today—I’m going to make a list of all the stuff I’ve discovered about me as a writer and as a person since the Quarantine started. Ready? Here we go… I can sprint. I mean, seriously, I can write up to 861 words in 30 minutes if I’m focused and on the clock. It’s actually how I write, although I’d never given it a name before. I may…
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Sunday Snippet–The Holy Cow, It’s December Version
How did it get to be December already? And yet…life has moved slower this year because we’ve been pretty much on lockdown since March. We have chosen to live the be-safe-be-well life and so we stick pretty much close to home and to our little pod of seven. However, I’m still writing and editing and talking to Liz every morning on Gchat and keeping up with lake pals and other friends via text and Skype and visiting with sis on FaceTime. I’m walking every day–either outside if the weather permits or on the treadmill, which means watching The West Wing or Gilmore Girls while I get some activity in. I’ve…
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Sunday Snippet
I’m finally breathing… with about five thousand words or less left to write on my current WIP, I can see the end and it’s full of light! The other day I was telling Husband that as I’ve gotten closer to The End on this book, I think I’ve discovered that pandemic writing is much harder than I ever realized. So much of what I, as a writer, depend on to prime the creative well has been unavailable to me through all of the writing of this first book in the Langes of River’s Edge series. People-watching and eavesdropping in restaurants and airports, writing trips, get-togethers with friends and family, wandering…
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Focused on Writing
I’m in a weird place with this new work-in-progress. I like the story, I like the characters, but somehow I’m having a problem getting them to move along. I have more notes about this story, this new series, than I did starting out the Four Irish Brothers Winery series, mostly because I’m coming off those stories with this series, so character lists, place descriptions, etc. are already created, I’m just adding to them. But I also have more word notes, more conversation notes, more scene notes than any book I’ve ever written. It’s almost as if I’m writing the book in my notes, but when I get to the computer,…
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Let’s Head to Last Chance Beach
Come to Last Chance Beach… “Because there’s nothing more beautiful than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline, no matter how many times it’s sent away.” – Sarah Kay ~*~*~*~ My writing bestie, Liz Flaherty is part of a fun summer anthology that releases on August 4 and I got to read her short story in advance. If all the others are as great as Something New, then I’m all in! Welcome to the blog, Liz. Please tell us all about Last Chance Beach and your story, Something New… Although I left my “beach body” behind me many years and pounds and saggy inches a long time…
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Happy Independence Day!
I considered writing a long post about July 4 and what it meant back when and what it means now, but someone else already did that. So go here and read Liz Flaherty’s message for July 4. I’ll wait. I’m simply going to share this photo from July 4 a couple of years ago–Son and Grandboy celebrating America’s independence 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 wants to share that world with his son. One of the blessed freedoms we have–to be able to share our history and our traditions with new…
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The Famous Sister
I love that I’m currently ranked #33 among all of Amazon’s Best-Selling Contemporary Romance Authors–what a wonderful feeling that is! My sister, PJ, teasingly refers to me as “my famous sister,” which I find delightful and hilarious because although I treasure her pride in my writing, I’m hardly famous. I’m simply a midlist romance author, although I do have a small cadre of loyal readers to whom I owe any success I can lay claim to. My publisher, Tule Publishing, has added to that group and I’m ever always grateful to the team there who work so hard on my behalf. But I have to tell you honestly, as I…