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Sunday Snippet: The Spring is Springing Edition
Happy Easter to all who celebrate! Spring seems to be springing already and you know, between covid hibernation and writing like a madwoman, I am more than ready. The gardens are coming to life–look at our peach tree buds–aren’t they pretty? We’ve had a typical March in the Midwest—warm, lovely, sunny days and then cold, gray, and chilly ones. But now it’s April, and somehow this spring seems particularly promising, because ever since this time last year everything has felt…I dunno—unsettled. I’m not the only one feeling a sea change—I think the whole world is in this boat on many different levels. Liz and I have had endless conversations about…
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Sunday Snippet–The Wardrobe Edition
My readings in Simple Abundance the past few days have all been about self–becoming more confident and seeing myself in a new way. Clothes were part of the topic–wearing them, buying them, choosing them…knowing what best suits me. Sarah Ban Breathnach talks about finding clothes that fit my lifestyle. That assumes I have a lifestyle, which I’m not entirely sure I really do. I’m a writer. 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, where…
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Sunday Snippet: The Writing Furiously Edition
And so I have been, writing furiously that is. Close to 8ooo words in a week. That’s pretty heavy writing for yours truly. One thing that has really helped up that word count is sprinting. If you don’t already know, sprints are timed writing challenges that writers do together. Sometimes it’s just Liz and me, other times it’s Liz, me, and several Tule authors that get together online. We chat for a few minutes (okay, whine), and then we turn off our cameras and mics and each spend anywhere from 25 minutes to 50 minutes writing. It’s not a time for editing or research, it’s a time for getting words…
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Sunday Snippet: The Muzzy Edition
Mushy mind—it’s a thing and wow, do I have it right now. I have a very bad case of mind mush—my ability to focus and function is seriously out of whack. I’m not sure if it’s pandemic weariness or spring fever or the sinus infection I’m nursing right now, but for some reason, my brain is muddled. Fact is, I’m just not able to focus on much of anything right now. My grandmother used to say she was muzzy—isn’t that a great word? I’m muzzy. My writer friend, Anne Stuart, often quotes Anne Lamott’s story about a time when her little brother was overwhelmed with a science project cataloguing birds…
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Sunday Snippet: The I Got Nothin’ Edition
Truly, I’ve got nothin’. I’ve had an odd week, a busy week. I wrote. I worked on editing gigs. I got my first vaccination–yay! I sent the final copy edits back for The Valentine Wager back to Tule and it looks like the title may stick, which delights me. I’ve been pretty good about doing my daily Simple Abundance reading and journaling, although I wish so much that I could sketch. Do you ever wish for a talent or skill that you absolutely do not have? That’s the one I want. I see these lovely pencil sketches and colored pencil drawings and I want like anything to be able to…
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Sunday Snippet: The Validation Edition
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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Snippet Sunday: The Here’s an Actual Snippet Edition
I know, I know, I’m calling these posts Sunday Snippets and I’m not always posting snippets. Mostly because I don’t want to give too much of the new series away, particularly since the first one isn’t due to release until early 2022. That’s a long way off! But I also want you to remain interested in River’s Edge and the folks there. So here’s a quick snippet from The Valentine Wager and a couple of pictures of River’s Edge in winter. Enjoy! A familiar frisson of excitement tingled through him as he approached the cedar-and-glass building that overlooked the river. It was the same adrenaline high he got when he…
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Sunday Snippet: The I-Think-I’m-Breathing-Again Edition
I don’t want to be political here–frankly, I’m tired of being political anywhere. 2020 was an exhausting year in so many ways, but especially politically. However, I will say this. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are a breath of fresh air in a world that had begun to stink to high heaven. I have hope that I will get to be with my friends again, go out to eat again, feel safe in the grocery store again, hell, feel safe in the world again. I’m desperate for vacations–the lake, writing trips with Liz, a wine-tasting trip with Husband, and a writer’s retreat with my fellow Tule authors in 2022. I…
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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,…