This Life...
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Sunday Snippet: The I Did It Edition
I did indeed do it–the book signing at Whyte Horse Winery and wow, was it a blast! Right off, there isn’t a more welcoming venue than this winery. The owner, Amanda Thomas, is so very accommodating and welcoming–just ready to help you in any way she can. Plus her winery and bistro has some of the best food and wine around. The folks who come there are looking for fun, so to be part of that is a treat. Lots of laughter, lots of conversations, lots of noise, and lots good wine and of wonderful scents from the pizza oven! We had a great day, both selling books and talking…
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Sunday Snippet: The Rethinking My Energy Edition
This week I had a long conversation/catch-up with my dear friend and former editor, Lani Diane Rich. She is an amazing writer, teacher, editor, person, who always inspires me to be better. We’d lost touch for a while and seeing her face again warmed my heart and restored my soul. Writer friends, if you haven’t gotten into Lani’s How Story Works podcasts or the book, I highly recommend both or either. You will rethink how you tell your stories, I promise. Among the many things that Lani and I talked about for almost two hours was how we spend our energy–are we truly spending energy on what we value or are…
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Sunday Snippet: The Hey, It’s Just Me Edition
Yeah, sometimes a blog post is nothing more than “hey, it’s me!” Today is one of those Sundays, mostly because I have very little to say. I’m writing, I’m editing, I’m taking walks and swimming, and doing the usual stuff. Authors may have wonderful fantasy lives, but our regular lives are pretty ordinary. Even my news is sorta meh–I got new glasses and new contacts. The dentist decided not to do a root canal on my aching tooth, and instead is having me use a mouth guard at night, so I have one–it makes me sound funny, but since I wear it at night, who really cares? We have a…
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Sunday Snippet: The QOTD and a Snippet Edition
Yeah, again, I’ve got nothing. Writer bestie Liz says when you have nothing, make a list. I thought about a list, but then I remembered that I have a list–“A Year of Journal Prompts.” Why wouldn’t that work for a blog, too? So I dug it out and found the one for March 27. “Pick a movie character you identify with.” Really? Argh! I was going to skip that, but then I thought–you know, this could be a good exercise. A movie character I identify with… the one I truly identify with, not the one I’d like to be. I think my answer would have to be Jo March in…
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Sunday Snippet: The Learning Curve Edition
You know, if you’d asked me, say 10 or even 5 years ago, if I still had tons of stuff to learn, I might have told you, “Nope, I’ve lived and loved a lot of years…I think I’m pretty well where I should be knowledge-wise.” And wouldn’t that have been arrogant and presumptuous of me? I discover, pretty much daily, that knowledge is a growing and expanding thing. When there is something I feel I’ve learned all I can about or more specifically, all I care to learn about, well, the Universe laughs. Case in point–book promotion. Something I sorta suck at and yet, I must do, so I’m learning…
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Sunday Snippet: The Snap Judgments Edition
I was thinking about snap judgments–how we all make them and how we all have them made about us. Here’s what got me started–social media trolls. Bear with me, I promise I’m going to make this connect. At least ten or twelve times a week (sometimes that many in a day!) I get friend requests on Facebook and even more on Instagram from trolls–either random bots or really bored and kinda sleazy guys looking for attention. No, I’m going to be your friend because you “like my smile” or you think I’m “gorgeous” and you “can’t stop thinking about me.” Seriously? You don’t even know me, dude. Being blonde and…
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Sunday Snippet: The I Might Need a Vacation Edition
It’s been a crazy month so far. With the release of THE VALENTINE WAGER on February 1 came a flurry of promotion, blog appearances, giveaways, interviews, and book signings (one canceled due to weather, the other, a great success!). In the midst of all this, I’m still working on editing gigs for clients and doing revisions on the first Weaver Sisters book. My mind is a bit on overload and my brain is…well…tired. I was thinking last night how much I’d love to go to that cabin in the mountains of North Carolina where the Word Wranglers had their retreat last August. How I’d love to rent it for a…
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Sunday Snippet: The First Real Snippet for 2022 Edition
It’s cold here–like really cold. Single digits cold. We went up to check on the lake cottage on Thursday and discovered that the pilot light on the furnace had blown out in the high winds they’d had on Tuesday and Wednesday. It was 23 degrees in the cottage and the antifreeze in the toilets had a skim of ice. Yikes! Husband relit the pilot and then we went to friend Moe’s (she’s a year-rounder) and stayed in her warm house until ours got up to a decent temperature. The cottage is totally winterized, so all is well, and the time away from my computer gave me the opportunity to sit…
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Sunday Snippet: The New Year Edition
It’s 2022. I’m celebrating, but very quietly. It’s almost as if I’m tiptoeing into the new year, holding my breath, not touching anything, and looking around for whatever is going to fall on our collective heads next. I hate that this is what I’ve become–a person who approaches everything with such caution, even a new year. But if the last two years have taught me anything at it, it’s to pay attention, to be careful, to know what’s happening in the world around me. There is a lot happening this year for me–I have three new books releasing in 2022 and I have two book signings that I hope can…
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Sunday Snippet: Holy Cats! It’s December!
Wow. It’s December! How did that happen? Just last week, it was Halloween, right? Somehow, days slip by and the holidays are nigh and I have a book due in about 6 weeks… So, I’m writing in the mornings, working on editing gigs in the afternoon, and trying to get holiday stuff done in the evenings. All in all, breathing is out of the question until after January 15, 2022. That’s not really true…I am taking a breath now and again, and as I look at my December calendar, there isn’t all that much on it. The overwhelm only feels…well…overwhelming. But I can do it. I’ve done it before and…