Summer blog series: extending hope through the gift of laughter
Humor is hope’s companion in arms. ~ Ogden Nash Welcome to week no. 3 of my summer blog series! In the first two posts, I talked about extending hope through words of encouragement and acts of service. Today, I share how humor produced hope after my husband, Bob’s near-fatal car accident. As many readers know,…
Summer blog series: extending hope through acts of service
Sometimes it’s easy to lose faith in people. And sometimes one act of kindness is all it takes to give you hope again. ~ Randa Abdel-Fattah Welcome to week no. 2 of my summer blog series! In my first post (click here if you missed it), I discussed extending hope through words of encouragement. We…
Summer blog series: extending hope through words of encouragement
Welcome to my summer blog series! If you’ve been following me for a while, then you know I believe it’s always the write time for hope for new beginnings, humor in the messy middle and heart for happy endings. I’m kicking off the series with a focus on hope—and how it relates to The Letter…
Work hard, play hard: refueling our ‘output’ with ‘input’
I don’t think of work as work and play as play. It’s all living. ~ Richard Branson I was in the middle of a major household move, COVID and life in a new community when I wrote and submitted my debut Love Inspired novel (“A Father’s Vow,” April 2024 release) in August 2022—celebrating with a…
Guilty pleasures: nothing to prove, everything to gain
I heard a story about a woman who was feeling guilty for binge-watching a “stupid” TV show. A friend then asked her if she’d enjoyed herself, to which the woman replied, “I really did.” I’ve contemplated that conversation many times—mostly when I’m engaging in my own “decadent” pastimes, whether reclining on the sofa with a…
Head vs. heart: identifying the space from which you operate
A couple weeks ago, a writing podcast I listen to focused on “MerPeople.” The host of the podcast mentioned a documentary she viewed on Netflix about these professional mermaids, and how she could easily discern when a particular mermaid named Mermaid Sparkles would be operating out of her head space during a performance opposed to…
Showing up late to the party: when you feel unseen
As a late-blooming writer (aka mid-life), I often compare myself to prolific authors with five, 10, 20+ books in their backlist, while I eagerly await the release of my Harlequin Love Inspired debut novel (releases April 2024). I have to remind myself to acknowledge the small beginnings; e.g., my stories in Woman’s World, Chicken Soup…
Decision-making made simple: determining your priorities
When you know what’s most important to you, making a decision is quite simple. ~ Anthony Robbin Recently I was invited to join other ladies in my community for games and lunch. Despite a full day of writing on tap, the first thing I did was try to figure out how to make it happen.…
Between a rock and a hard place: making peace with your stuckness
Noun. stuckness (uncountable) (informal) The state of being stuck (in all senses) When I recently found myself experiencing a state of stuckness, my type A personality jumped in to invent a solution. Did I need a change of scenery? To take a hike? To get lost in a feel-good movie? Check, check and check. Yet…
When life throws you lemons: ‘squeezing’ the most out of it
Our neighbors own a second home in the Phoenix Valley. This past winter, they transported bags to the mountain teeming with sunshine-yellow lemons from their backyard. It gave me a pang of homesickness and the four citrus trees we once had. But when they offered me a share of their haul, it was like accepting…
The only gift I want or need: a momma’s thoughts
This latest Mother’s Day has consumed my thoughts, my heart overflowing with gratitude as I smile at the memories. Although we’d seen our daughter two months earlier and we visit almost daily, she made the three-hour trip to our cabin—apologizing for not getting me a gift. Oh dear child, you are the only gift I…
5 favorites: cutting out the ‘fluff’
While scrolling through my Twitter feed one afternoon, an author I follow posted her five favorite things. Several years ago, I challenged myself to share an image on Facebook of a simple pleasure I saw or experienced daily. It turned out to be a fun but oftentimes tricky exercise to discover something new for 365…