RECENT BLOG

Blog 4   YOU ARE HOW OLD?

Two weeks ago, I turned sixty-eight.

And I am not feeling good about it.

Every show I watch or famous person I read about has me looking them up to see if they are my age or older.

It’s a bad habit.

I suppose I should be happy I have lived a solid life.

My daughter asked me the other day why I was so afraid to die.

I laughed.

This isn’t about dying or fearing it.

It has to do with the fact that I don’t feel like I am finished yet.

I want time to stand still while I complete my dreams.

I like to continue to look ahead and say, ‘someday I am going to do this …or let’s go there.’

I think I feel that time is fleeting; the window seems smaller.

Cranking out 2 novels in one year is a crazy accomplishment, yet it is driven by anxiety.

I want a legacy.

When I worked with some middle school students in Benton Harbor years back, I asked them to repeat this mantra in the mirror:

WHAT MATTERS MOST?

HOW DO YOU WANT TO BE REMEMBERED?

WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS TO GET THERE?

I guess I need to follow my own advice.

At this stage of the game, I need to remind myself that it ain’t over until it’s over.

I still can look forward to events and travel.

Reality checks are for the weak.

Because I am IN IT for as long as possible.

LET’S GOOOOO.

Thanks for listening.

Happy New Year everyone.

December 10, 2024

Blog 3

So You Want to be a Writer

First, I have to tell you, writing the story is the easy part.

Self-publishing is not for the faint of heart.

The thing is it seems so easy.

Cut and dried, really.

Until you hit a minor snag like:

Your cover is too large, then it’s too small, then the words don’t fit on the page, then the page disappears, then the help center doesn’t have live people.

I can see why there aren’t living people to call. It would be a rough customer service job.

It's easy to see why potential writers give up the process and place the thing they created on a shelf for later. 

Because after spending 13 straight hours in my pajamas on Saturday … and I’m not going to lie, there was cursing and crying, and I believe my dog thought I was out of my mind and hid… I finally wrapped it up and sent it in to be reviewed.

This is after, writing, reading, re-reading, changing some parts, and submitting to the editor to fine tune and find errors.

The manuscript gets modified over 20 times, I bet, before anyone actually sends it in.
Honestly, I have forgotten the names of characters and may need to read the content again cover to cover.

If this process has done anything but make an old woman older, I can honestly say that it has, I want to warn all the fancy New York Times best-selling authors that even with your publishing houses and teams of people to pore over your book for mistakes, I still find them.

And when I do, it is so stinking gratifying to me.

So much so that I might get the red pen out, as Karen Palmer reminded me about yesterday, and I might go all teacher mode and mark up that book.

Some of the best books I have ever read were self-published novels. Or stories by students that they never intended to write. Drew Pursley wrote a story once about the time he got stomped in the chest by a cow. It was a 10-year-old's nightmare, but I remember the story to this day. 

Amazon carries many good authors who would like to be picked up by an agent.

I include myself among those folks raising their hand to be noticed.

If it happens, it happens.

But one thing -I can say is with all sincerity- I believe the labor of years of tabling, bringing back out, writing in new books before finishing others, is far more tedious than birthing a human baby.

You have to be ready for both. 

That’s right. I said it.

Thanks for listening. Mitten will be live by Thursday. Order your copy on Amazon.

December 1, 2024

Blog 2 

Winter Winter Winter

Well, Lady Michigan turned the page on Fall this week. 

Am I happy about it? 

Not so much.

I have suffered with Reynaud's Syndrome most of my adult life. My body seems to have a hard time regulating its own temperature. I have lost my fingerprints due to the constant shriveling of my cold hands. You would think at this time in my life I might have moved into sunnier climes. 

Sometimes I think I might do this next year. There have been many of those next years.

But this week I turn 68. It's mindboggling how this aging thing is screwing with my brain!

It is as if my past is a movie that happened to someone else.

MY message to myself should be to LIVE FOR TODAY. 

IN THE MOMENT. 

Blah, blah, blah!

Really? That's it? So many affirmations ...So little time.

I want to go back to the memories I have; to unwrap the things that make me who I am.

Everyone has a story to tell. Experiences felt through the eyes of one individual often appear differently from others. One has only to follow social media posts to figure that out.  This is what is so great about writing books. Although the events are mostly the same, perspectives change emphasis and meaning.  

So, as I traverse on in the writing phase of my life, I invite you to see things as they occurred through my eyes. You might think I am talking about you. Maybe I am, but I doubt it. 

Take a minute to write down your story. Read it to your kids or the significant people in your life. 

Thanks for listening.