This Life...
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Sunday Snippet: The Cover Reveal & A Real Snippet Edition
It’s been a writing week, mes amis. Liz and I went on retreat and we wrote words–lots of words! We also processed stories and okay, we had a little wine and a little chocolate and we enjoyed a hair & history day where we got our washed and blown out and visited some of the historical sites around Galena, Illinois. It’s a lovely town, full of history, shops, and beautiful trees and hills. The perfect place for a writing retreat. Today, a new week begins and since I’ve started book 3 in the Juniper Falls Ranch series, this feels like a good time to reveal the cover for book 2,…
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Sunday Snippet: The What Day Is It Again? Edition
Remember when Tuesday meant you had a good start on the week, it was a pool day, and you knew Husband would be at work and the kid would be at school? When the weekend was well and truly over and you were into your week? All was right in your world. I have a confession—Husband’s been retired over ten years and I rarely know what day it is. Seriously, I don’t. Most of the time I couldn’t tell you whether it was Sunday or Thursday. It’s even worse at the lake because every day at the lake feels like Saturday. Weird phenomenon, but it’s true. The only way I…
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Sunday Snippet: The Autumn at the Lake Edition
Autumn is my favorite time of the year, even though I’m often restless and sad in the fall. It’s an ending in so many ways, and yet there is that feeling of joyful beginning that comes with Thanksgiving and the start of the holiday season, even when the world is suddenly a scarier and more uncertain place. Fall is sweatshirts and jeans and corduroy jackets and yoga pants and maybe even scarves now and then, but not yet heavy winter coats and gloves and hats. It’s walks in the neighborhood that leave you feeling smugly exercised, but not particularly sweaty. It’s trips to the orchard for apples and cider and…
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Sunday Snippet: The Imprinting Edition (A Peek into the Writerly Mind)
So many authors I know often talk about how much they love to write and how it seems as though every situation–good or bad–gets filtered through their inner writer. That’s so true. I’m wondering right now if it is a bad thing that even when I am in the midst of chaos and crisis, sickness and grief the writer is still creating–inventing scenes, conversations, and scenarios. I’ve thought it about it a lot as we’ve been in such crisis in our country, and I’ve been trying to decide if it’s something to feel guilty about or not. I think it’s not. It’s never a bad thing when our gift kicks…
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Sunday Snippet: The Canal Boat Edition
Husband and I are on a new kick–canal boats and narrow boating. No, we’re not doing it (although I’ve added it to my bucket list!), but we’re totally hooked on watching shows about canals and narrow boats on Prime. We started with Great Canal Journeys, which we found while wandering around on Prime one night. Two episodes and we were enthralled. Timothy West and Prunella Scales were darling together. To watch two people in their late seventies and eighties, married 60 years, travel the canals of Great Britain together is just delightful. (If you’re an All Creatures Great and Small on PBS fan, you’ll recognize Samuel West when he shows up…
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Sunday Snippet: The It’s a Real Snippet Edition
It’s been a healing week, mes amis. Trying to fight back the unholy tiredness that Covid has left me with and it’s slow going. Still not much appetite yet either, although that’s improving. I’ve found some things that sound good–cottage cheese, bread, fresh tomatoes, almonds, and water, always water. Had a glass of wine with lake pals, Mo and Cindy, last night and that was nice, too. On Thursday, Husband and I went by the winery here in our lake town to listen to music and discovered we were the only ones who were willing to brave the heat. We were so glad we did because we met an amazing…
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Sunday Snippet: The Pure Joy Edition, Plus A Real Snippet!
It’s been hot and sultry here in the Midwest–temperatures in the nineties every day with humidity to match. T-storms come out of nowhere, shower us for a few minutes, and then the blazing sun returns to make the atmosphere even more heavy. It’s hard to even catch your breath outside. Except for morning or evening walks with my neighbor, I mostly stay inside in the AC and work and write. I set a goal each morning–this many pages done on an editing gig or this many words written today. I pretty much accomplish whatever goal I set. I mean, after all, when it’s too hot to be outside in the…
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Sunday Snippet: The July 4th Edition
I considered writing a long post about July 4 and what it means to be a true patriot right now, but someone else already did that. So go here and read Robert Reich’s message about what it means to be a patriot. I’ll wait. You’re back! Wasn’t that a terrific post by Professor Reich? I really have nothing to add this holiday weekend. I’m simply going to share this photo from July 4 a few years ago–Son and Grandboy celebrating America’s independence at the lake 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…
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Sunday Snippet: The Memorable Days Edition
My friend Liz is a great source of inspiration, especially when it comes to blogging. When I don’t know what to write, she gives me fantastic ideas and one of her best is “Do a list.” Lists are always fun and something y’all can participate in, too. Today, I’m pulling this idea from a writing prompt that we used a few years ago on the Word Wranglers–telling about our five most memorable days, but the trick was that we couldn’t use the usual Pollyanna days–like our wedding day or the day our kids or grandkids were born or the day we signed our first book contract. Those are givens. So…
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Sunday Snippet: The One More Embarrassing Moment Edition…Sigh
Holy cats, kids, it’s Sunday again! No idea how that happened. It’s been an eventful week here at casa Reinhardt, although as I look back on the last few weeks, what sticks out is work. I’ve been working a lot this month of June and now as July appears on the horizon, I find myself wondering what happened to the first third of summer. But this week has been all about fun and lake life because I had my dear friend Minnie with me for a few days up at the cottage. It was delightful to share the lake with her and I think she had a good time. I…