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Sunday Snippet: The Places I Love Most Edition
This might be a lazy way to blog but I’ve been thinking a lot about places that I love. Pal Carol and I are going to be going to France next fall (2027) and thinking about travel has made me consider all the places that I’ve been to and loved. This isn’t a travel memories kind of post, though. Rather, I’ve been thinking about places that have always been special to me. Places I return to for restoration and renewal. So here are three places that always make me happy and not surprisingly, they are all right here in the Midwest. Whitehall, Michigan: Wow… I’ve been going to Whitehall since…
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Sunday Snippet: The August 2026 Memos Edition
I do these every so often–these memos. I’d like to tell you it’s all about catching up, taking a breath, landing somewhere for a few minutes. I suppose it is all those things, but mostly, it’s because I can’t think of anything to blog about except what’s happening in our country and I need to not think about that right now. I don’t want this blog to be political–you all know my politics and I know most of yours. All we can do in that regard is keep staying alert and vote, vote, vote. So we’re going to do the August memos today. Dear Weather, Ummmm… could you pick a…
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Sunday Snippet: The I Miss My Mom Edition
I was just in the kitchen putting baked beans together and it occurred to me how much of my Mom’s way of doing things I’ve brought to my own adulthood. Like, for instance, baked beans. Mother was always horrified at the idea of dumping a can of baked beans into a pot and warming it up right from the can. Instead, she drained the beans, put them in a casserole dish, added barbecue sauce, mustard, a chopped onion, and brown sugar. Then she placed two strips of bacon across the top in an X and put them in the oven. She baked them until they were dry enough that when…
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Sunday Snippet: The Velveteen Rabbit & Memories Edition
Right off, happy Easter and happy Passover to all who celebrate. Yesterday, when Mary and I went for our daily walk, we headed north toward the pool and clubhouse of our neighborhood. We have a great pool and really nice clubhouse–it’s where we do yoga every Wednesday evening and where we spend summer afternoons after I’m done writing and working. It’s truly one of the best blessings of living in “The Nest.” Anyway, to add to our step count, we walked, as we always do, around the parking lot to the tennis/basketball courts and then back out to the street. On the way, we stopped for a moment at the…
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Sunday Snippet: The Red Boots and Style Edition
I’ve been working on becoming more confident and seeing myself in a new way. Clothes are part of this very slow transformation–wearing them, buying them, choosing them… knowing what best suits me. In the daybook Simple Abundance, Sarah Ban Breathnach talks about finding clothes that fit your lifestyle. That assumes I have a lifestyle, which I’m not entirely sure I really do. I’m a writer and editor. I pretty much live in comfort clothes–yoga pants, T-shirts with a sweater tugged over the top of them or a sweatshirt if it’s really cold outside. Slippers or socks and I’m good to go for the day. There are even days, I confess,…
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Sunday Snippet: The Author Life Edition (There’s a Giveaway!)
We have a winner! Linda May, you are the randomly selected winner of the holiday book bundle. I’ll be in touch! Thanks to everyone who stopped by to chat with me! So, it’s Sunday morning and Husband and I will be heading home in a couple of hours. We’ve been up at the lake, staying with pal Mo because our cottage is closed up and winterized, but I had a book signing at the winery here in town yesterday, so we needed to be up here. The event was such fun and I got to spend some time with my author friend, J.C. Kenney and his wife, Nancy, who is…
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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 My Language Is Deteriorating Edition
My language is deteriorating. No s#*t—it really is! I’ve always taken pride in the fact that I have a good vocabulary. My mom insisted we have extensive vocabularies and use them appropriately. We played word games voraciously when I was kid—Scrabble, Boggle, Probe—and to this day, family gatherings include word games. I’m a whiz at spelling, and usually if someone asks me what a word means, I can come up with the correct definition without running to a dictionary. My grasp of language and its appropriate use is part of why I’m a damn good copy editor (I have clients who’ll testify, honest!). I adore discovering new words and finding…
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Author Spotlight: It’s Me, Back in River’s Edge!
**We have winners!! Renee Simmons and Shari–you both won a $5 Amazon gift card Heather Farr–you are the winner of the goodie box. I’ll be in touch with all of you to get your prizes to you. Thanks so much for stopping by! Sure appreciate your support! Hullo, mes amis! Welcome home to River’s Edge! Reviews from ARC readers are already coming in and they’re loving this story! “Every word that Nan Reinhardt writes is a gift to her readers.” “As with all of this author’s books, the stories are clean romances with characters that you’d love to meet in real life.” “Wonderful, heartwarming story where the puppy really steals…
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Sunday Snippet: The Writing in the Information Age Edition
It’s been a week, mes amis. I’m working hard on my current WIP–the first book in the Dykemans of River’s Edge series. Liz and I went on a very fruitful, if extremely chilly, writer retreat, where both of us wrote words and did a lot processing. Even more of “what’s the word for this” along with a gesture or a motion. We do that a lot when we’re writing together. Liz is an invaluable resource and I can’t imagine writing a book without her input. We ate some good food, drank a little less wine than usual, and found a fab little place for breakfast right near our hotel. Otherwise,…