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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 Reflections on Aging Edition
I turned 72 on Friday. 72. It is a number I never expected to see because when my mom died suddenly of a massive heart attack at the tender age of 60, I became convinced that I would follow in her footsteps. After all, I’m a lot like my mom in other ways. When I passed 60 … and continued on for another almost ten years, I was always kind of surprised that the next birthday happened. Surprised and oh, so very grateful. In December of 2022 when I was diagnosed with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) at the age of 69, I was pretty sure that I…
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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 More Questions for the Universe Edition
Summer is almost over, and I’m damned if I know what happened to it. One minute it was April and we were opening up the lake cottage, and the next, it’s September and the leaves on our little sweet gum tree are changing. My personal life has been an upheaval of joys and sorrows lately, but I’ve been working practically nonstop all summer long. Editing gigs are always a good thing, except they interfere ferociously with my writing time. If I work for eight or ten hours, I’m loathe to sit down at the computer again after supper to write some more. But this week, I’ve been working on the…
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Sunday Snippet: The What Makes Me Interesting? Edition
Several years ago, I did an interview on another author’s blog—in the hot seat myself after all the interviews I’ve asked my guest authors to do. I had a good time answering the questions, and they were great questions, ones that really made you stop to think. One that particularly intrigued me was this: If someone wrote a book about your life, what would it be called? Hmmmm… that was a tough question because I had to start with the whole concept that someone would be interested enough to want to write a book about me. I can probably count on the fingers on one hand—maybe just using only three…
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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 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 Father’s Day 2025 Edition
For many years, Father’s day was an…uncomfortable holiday for me. My dad left our family when I was 6 years old, and was never really in my childhood, except for the occasional times when we went to where he worked to pick up the few dollars he was willing to give us. He rarely paid support, and my mom worked her tail off going to school full time to get her nursing degree in addition to being a cashier at a grocery store to keep food on the table. I honestly don’t know how she did it. The woman didn’t sleep for over two years. Mother’s Day was huge for…