This Life...
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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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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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Sunday Snippet–The Real Snippet Edition
I keep thinking I should be inventing cute titles for these weekly posts–something to pull you in, make you sit up and take notice and think, “Oh, oh, I want to read that!” My first title here today was “The Post-Insurrection Edition,” however, I’m not completely convinced we are in the post-insurrection mode quite yet, so I’m going to go with a real snippet today from the first book in the new Langes of River’s Edge series that will be releasing from Tule Publishing in 2022. Beats heck out of rehashing the past week’s political chaos, don’t you think? Everyone loves Mac’s Riverside Diner and Mac and Carly are still…
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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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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 Canine Version
If you know me at all, you know I’m not particularly a dog person, in spite of having three–yes, three–granddogs. They are all sweeties, but I’m very glad they live at Son’s house and not mine. (I realize the photo below shows four dogs with Son–it was Thanksgiving and his parents-in-law had brought their two critters over for the holidays, so four in the picture, five altogether that day!) We have four dogs living on our cul-de-sac. Cooper, a large red Irish setter and Bo, a very large snowy retriever, belong to Jan. She takes them with her when she runs errands–apparently they enjoy car rides. Bo loves to run,…
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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…