This Life...
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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…
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Sunday Snippet: The Lake Life Reality Edition
We are in our 14th year here at the lake. It’s hard to believe we’ve had our cottage for so long, particularly given that we waited for so long to buy one. It seemed like whenever we were ready to buy, cottages were just out of our reach and when they were in our reach, we weren’t in a position to consider buying one. Fourteen years ago, when this marriage-long dream came true, we were overjoyed. We still are, although the realities of lake life are a little different from the fantasies. This is a rehash of the harsh realities of lake life, but I’m doing it again anyway because…
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Sunday Snippet: The It’s an Actual Snippet Today Edition
So, it’s been a week. Lots of editing work, a small amount of writing, and lots of yard work. My brain is tired and my old body is screaming at me, “WTH??” So today you get a real snippet from my upcoming novel, Forever Cowboy, which will be book 4 in the special Bad Boys of the Rodeo series that will be releasing each week all through September 2025 from Tule Publishing’s Montana Born imprint. Mine comes out September 25. It’s been such a treat to participate in this special series with four other authors, Sinclair Jayne, Nicole Flockton, and Jeanie Watt. It’s my first time writing in Montana and…
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Sunday Snippet: The Ode to Mom Edition
It’s Mother’s Day–a day that always gives me a lump in my throat as I remember my mom. Not this year, but about every seven years, Mom’s birthday (May 13) lands on Mother’s Day, which makes the day even more bittersweet with memories of her reading aloud to us on camping trips and her humor and intelligence and sense of fun. It also reminds me of the numerous times she and I crossed swords because we were both so set in our thinking–I hope I’ve outgrown that. I’m so grateful for the ten days I got to spend with her in CA six months before she died. Those days, over 37…
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Sunday Snippet: The Remembering to Be Truly Grateful Edition
I know that I post a paragraph of weekly gratitude each Sunday, but sometimes it’s hard to find reasons to be grateful. I write every morning in my gratitude journal–five things from the day before that I’m thankful for, but I find myself repeating–home, Husband, family, friends–all things I am truly grateful for. But these days are harder than most and only appear to be getting harder. Gratitude is a struggle when the news of the nation and the world is bad. So today, I’m going to focus on all the good in my life and how very blessed I am. (I promise not to be sappy–I’m probably lying about…
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Sunday Snippet: The Opening Weekend Edition with Chicks and Ducklings and Turkeys…Oh My!
There’s a particular scent that always pervades the first weekend of being at the lake–it’s a mixture of citronella and watermelon candles, mothballs (to keep the critters away) and pink antifreeze, bleach, and a slight mustiness that means you’re at the lake. This year, it hit us as soon as we opened the front door. We both inhaled deeply and grinned at each other and said, in unison, “We’re at the lake!” Pic is Husband in his happy place–the lake! We’ve been working most of the past two days getting the cottage ready for another summer. Husband turned on the water (which involves more than turning a knob–he has to…
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Sunday Snippet: The Author Event Edition
Did you really write all these books? How long have you been writing? How long does it take you to write a book? Where do you get your ideas? and interestingly, Do you like doing this? Do you like writing? Those questions and others came up from readers at the author event I participated in yesterday and the last one was the only one I hadn’t heard before. Yes, I did write all these books. I’ve been writing since I could hold a pencil; I wrote my first book at age 10, but I’ve been published since 2012. It takes me about four to six months to write a book.…