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Sunday Snippet: The Book Signing Edition
This post is going up before I do a book signing here in the Ohio River town that is the inspiration for my fictional town of River’s Edge. I’m speaking to a writers group at 2 p.m. and then signing books at a fun coffeeshop right on Main Street. I’m really looking forward to this event, although I confess that the butterflies in my tummy have butterflies. Speaking is so far out of my wheelhouse, but I think it’s a good exercise to do it, and I’m hoping to do more of it at libraries and book clubs. Today, I’m talking about what a copy editor does and what we…
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Sunday Snippet: A July Check-In
Every couple of years, I break out my copy of Sara Ban Breathnach’s Simple Abundance. She calls it “A Daybook of Comfort and Joy,” and it truly is. If you’ve never read the book, I recommend it highly and it’s even available as an e-book! I downloaded it to my Kindle a few years ago, which makes it easy to have wherever I am, but I’m still partial to the hardback book because it has my notes in it from previous years, and it’s cool to read those, too. I’ve been doing the Simple Abundance meditations this year because I need that centering right now. Part of the meditation is…
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Sunday Snippet: The Me & Writing Edition
Someone once asked me to share something I learned since becoming a writer. The list is endless, but there a couple of things I can name right off the top of my head. The first is writing is hard work. Anyone who tells you different is either lying or not a writer. It doesn’t matter whether you’re writing a novel or a back cover blurb, a short story or a 500-word magazine article. Writing is hard. It requires discipline and creativity, time and research, and most of all a love of the game. If you don’t love to write, if the process itself isn’t an intrinsic part of who you…
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Sunday Snippet: The Anniversary Edition
It’s our wedding anniversary. Husband and I have been married 51 years today. Last year for our 50th, we took a trip to Oregon and celebrated our day with wine and supper on a beautiful deck overlooking a gorgeous vineyard. It was heaven. Today, we’ll have another kind of heaven, celebrating with homemade flatbread pizzas and a good chianti. Maybe a walk down to the lake in the moonlight. 51 years. Wow…that sounds like a long time. Probably because it is a long damn time. Marriages in this country don’t usually last for over 50 years. We are a nation of disposable everything, including marriages. Folks seem to me to…
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Sunday Snippet: The I Hope I’m Not Irrelevant Edition
As I write my 30-something characters this week, I’ve been thinking about how much of the world I am not a part of any more—specifically, pop culture. Liz and I talk frequently about how we are aging out of many things. She wonders if she’s aging out of romance novels–reading and writing them. I sometimes wonder if I’m aging out of being able to keep my plate as full as I do with editing gigs and writing deadlines and book promotion because stuff falls off sometimes, and more often than I like, it’s fun stuff like time with family and friends. Every now and again, I watch younger writers who…
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Sunday Snippet: Heart Update # Ummm… Whatever…
Good Sunday morning, mes amis, and I hope you’re enjoying this long holiday weekend. It’s the weekend when we honor all those soldiers who died in service to our country. I am so grateful to anyone who fought and currently fights for the security of the United States and to protect our constitution. A smile and a salute today to all those brave men and women who died fighting for to keep America and the world safe and free. Now, to the update: As you all know, although I try not to dwell on it here, I am in heart failure–Heart Failure with Reduced Ejection Fraction–HFrEF. Don’t you just love…
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Sunday Snippet: The May Memos Edition
I do have fun with memos, especially when they are good news, so here goes! Dear Readers, ARCs for Make It Real, book 2 of the Walkers of River’s Edge series are now available on BookSprout! Click this BookSprout link to nab an e-book ARC to read and review! Merci, et bisous toujours, Moi ~*~*~*~ Dearest Office Garden, Oh, how you are growing and looking so very lovely! It was delightful to come home to all this amazing color! Happy, Happy, Nan ~*~*~*~ Dear heart, Hey, I’m doing everything I’m supposed to do–taking the meds, exercising, eating right–so what’s with the breathlessness when I walked the hills at the lake?…
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Sunday Snippet: The Aging Sometimes Bites Edition
Yes, yes, I’m going to whine. This week, I’m entitled just a little, so grant me a moment and then sunny Nan will be back onboard. I fell off my garden stool a few weeks ago–putz move. Just lost my balance, toppled backward and bruised the living crap out of my hip and thigh. A fall that 10 years ago would’ve been silly, but not awful. I’ve had a giant bruise on my hip and thigh for three weeks now…I mean the whole back of my leg is black-and-blue and it drifted down to my knee (thanks to my thin blood). I showed it to my doc when I went…
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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: Another Deep Breath Edition
How did it get to be April 14 already? I mean, seriously, wasn’t it just Valentine’s Day and the ground was covered with a light blanket of snow and my gardens were still sleeping? Now everything is popping up, flowers are blooming, bushes and trees are leafing out. These are my gorgeous tulips that my sweet neighbor, Mary, gave me for my birthday in September. As you can see, my office garden is starting to wake up. Husband has already mowed twice, and y’all know he’s happiest on his mower. We’ve had torrential rain this week, so the lawn is lush and green and as soon as it dries out…