2025: Time to set those goals!

I'm filled with enthusiasm and a sense of thankfulness over the great receiption of Unleashed Pursuit, just released last week, already with 3 reviews! But, now it's time to set goals for 2025 -- a mix of writing and personal commitments. 

Here's my preliminary list, including deadlines (aargh!):

• Complete the first rough draft of Honeymoon in Egypt, an art crimes mystery, currently at 30K. Book 2 following The Seventh Tapestry, (now up to 149 reviews!) by June 2025.
• Continue blogging 2x/month.
• Send newsletter 1x/month.
• Read and review other authors 2x/month.
• Participate in writing groups (Zoom 4x/month, Spokane Authors 1x/month). Maybe resume working with the Internet Writing Workshop?

Am I being too ambitious? I truly don't know.

    Source: lolalambchops  

• OTHER:
• Go swimming and/or some other physical activity 3x/week.
• Continue making comfort quilts for those who need them, probably 1x/month.
• Come up with some way to make cooking easier (I really don't have a clue).
• Celebrate family commitments with activities 2x/week.
• Face down the MARKETING challenge (again, never sure what works or what I 'should' do to encourage new readers). 
• Do I offer a freebie for Valentine's Day? Hmmm. What do YOU think?

Ah, the truth is that I don't feel ready for 2025. Family illnesses are distracting, and I feel like each day brings a new and unexpected challenge. My favorite saying these days is that real life is much like fiction -- full of plot twists! I hope to support those who need me in the coming year -- and keep writing.

May 2025 be a good year for us all -- and, hopefully, a little less complicated!

 

Source:  Pinterest  

IWSG: Someone to admire . . .

2025 begins with many challenges. We'll need courage to face some of them down. Right now, the television news are focused on those horrific fires in Los Angeles. I can't help remembering the time I worked in LA's downtown financial district and lived in a small apartment off Wilshire Boulevard. Now a minimum of 80K people are evacuating what looks like four fires. I'm grateful to be living now in the snowy Inland Pacific Northwest, otherwise known as eastern Washington, even if we did get another inch of snow this morning.

The January 8 challenge question from the Insecure Writers' Support Group asks us to describe someone you admired when you were a child. Did your opinion of that person change when you grew up?

Whew! This question sent me down a rabbit hole, for my mother was a Hollywood starlet, beautiful, charismatic, and an alcoholic. I did not admire her. 

When my Aunt Liz offered me a chance to come live with her to go to college, I left and never went back.Yes, I admired and respected my aunt then, at 17, and now. Without her, I would not have begun that long journey to earn my degree and then a master's. I wouldn't have taught community college, with a special awareness of how education can change lives.

Liz was an artist and a beautiful person in her own right. Her paintings, more than 50 years later, still hang on my walls, inspiring me to be that person who sets goals and follows her heart. 

She overcame challenges as well, which truly began when she overheard her mother comparing her to Marion, my mother. "She's the leftovers," said my grandmother. I think sometimes that Liz spent the rest of her life, working to prove she was not the 'leftovers.' 

Her next challenge was becoming a recognized artist in a time when women were expected to be housewives. Once, she was shown a cupboard full of glasses, all in a tidy row. "This is what you should be doing. Not painting."

Yet she found time and resources to support me and my writing at a time when there was no one else. I will never forget her.

On the brighter side, I'm pretty excited to let you know that  Unleashed Pursuit is now available online. Click HERE to pick up your copy for half the price of a cup of coffee!

When newly appointed detective Cat Russo goes undercover at a shady nightclub in Seattle, she doesn’t expect her friend and partner, Sophie Morales, to be murdered. Threatening phone calls from strangers and a mandatory suspension push her to go on the run.

When she meets Officer Kevin McDonnell in a small town on the Oregon coast, Cat begins to believe she can solve Sophie’s murder. She’s determined to return to Seattle, despite everything that can go wrong.

Early readers have found Unleashed Pursuit a gripping read. As one reader said, “Just when you think that Cat is finally going to be safe, another heart-stopping twist occurs!”

A special thank you to Alex Cavannagh, the force behind IWSG, that online writers support group that allows us to catch up on what other writers are doing. And more thanks to this month's co-hosts -- Rebecca Douglass, Beth Camp (that's me!), Liza @ Middle Passages, and Natalie @ Literary Rambles! 

Why not explore what 95 other IWSG writers are doing on this monthly blog hop! Click HERE.  

We cannot change what is happening in this crazy beginning to 2025, but we can work to make our world a better place. For now, I'm hoping for better news from Southern California.

IWSG: Beginnings and Endings . . .

First an update. November was fun. Yep. I wrote every day, just a little over 10K words on one of my current projects, Honeymoon in Egypt, an art crimes mystery now at 32K, and met my goal for National Novel Writing Month. It was especially rewarding to simply draft, relish the details, develop the story, and not worry about editing. However, December begins with renewed focus on my other wip, Unleashed Pursuit, currently at 62K. Those generous beta readers came through with with serious editing challenges that will require me to drill down into conflict and find new ways to build tension. OK, I'm intimidated.

This month, IWSG's challenge question asks: Do you write cliffhangers at the end of your stories? Are they a turn-off to you as a writer and/or as a reader?

At least, this question is easy. Depends. Most of the time, I do like writing HEA. Don't we need that some of the time? Just because my characters wind up happy, we all know real life will present us with challenges, and not all of them end well. But why not let that challenge emerge in the next story, as in the beginning? When I'm reading, does the story satisfy on all levels? Ending with a cliffhanger often reads like a carrot, as if the writer were saying, "Come on, read the next story!" But if I really care about the characters or the story, cliffhangers don't bother me!

Now, I'd like to go see what others have written.  Hmmm. Is that a cliffhanger?

Other challenges. You already know that quilting is a balance to my writing. So, this month, I'm back working on the design for an Australian quilt. All of the patterns I've found are geometric, so that's where I started. 

But . . . aboriginal art is about a journey, whether real or internal. I'm playing around with combining the geometric with some kind of a circular design. Let me know what you think!

Circling within, so internal, but not a journey?

Perhaps an unplanned journey, not a map?

And December is my birthday month. This year, I'll be 81. That's pretty much an achievement in itself, but I wonder: How many books/quilts/time with family do I have left? For now, I hope to cherish each day and persevere! And thank YOU for being part of my writing life.

NOTE: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group (IWSG) day, an informal blog gathering of writers who share updates and encourage each other.

Why not join in? Check out the IWSG website to read what 97 other writers are up to. Leave a few comments. Share what's going on with your writing life on your blog. Special thanks go to Alex Cavanaugh and this month's co-hosts for encouraging us all: Ronel, Deniz, Pat Garcia, Olga Godim, and Cathrina Constantine!

May the coming month be a good one for us all.

IWSG: What brings you joy?

This month's challenge from the Insecure Writer's Support Group (IWSG) asks writers to respond on their blogs to the November 6 question: 

What creative activity do you engage in when you're not writing?

I've quilted for so long, I can't imagine not quilting. Making quilts for others -- family, friends, and comfort quilts for those who need them, is a perfect balance to writing. Playing with fabrics (colors, shapes, patterns) is much like playing with words. Sometimes, we're never really sure what will happen if . . .  Like this "Arizona Sisters" quilt (my own pattern) I made for a dear friend to help her remember the wonderful times we've shared traveling from snow to sunshine.

My grandmother made quilts. When I was about ten years old, she taught me how to sew on a treadle machine. In fact, I made money through high school sewing outfits for others. When my daughter was born, I made my first real quilt -- and still have it today, though it's somewhat worn. When she was old enough, I taught her to quilt, a joy we share even now.

My office is a bit of a mess. One side has bookcases filled with books and my writing workstation. The other, my sewing machine, all ready to go, with the closet filled with fabrics, somewhat organized by project and/or color.

Writing Update: Good news! My police procedural mystery, Unleashed Pursuit, is in final draft and out to beta readers. I'm excited for those comments that will come my way in another few weeks. Meanwhile, I belong to a Zoom Crit group; each week, we tackle another chapter. Progress is steady . . . but . . . that's not really writing.

So, I signed up for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), and set my goal (to write 10,000 words) for Honeymoon in Egypt, book 2 in my art crimes series. Now, I'm having fun.

The story begins in Cairo among the pyramids, featuring newly married Sandra and Neil who are tasked to find missing artifacts from the Grand Egyptian Museum. Here's my new cover that I made with PowerPoint. Do you like it?

Are you writing with NaNoWriMo this month? Please let me know by e-mail or in comments below.

NOTE: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group (IWSG) day, an informal blog gathering of writers who share updates and encourage each other.

Why not join in? Check out the IWSG website to read what 101 other writers are up to. Leave a few comments. Share what's going on with your writing life on your blog. Special thanks go to Alex Cavanaugh and this month's co-hosts for encouraging us all: Diedre Knight, Lisa Buie Collard , Kim Lajevardi, and JQ Rose!

May the coming month be a good one for us all.

October brings a new read . . .

These sunshine days are ending. Fall leaves turn trees into works of art, rich colors from brown to bright yellow, splashed with red. Been busy this month. Finished the first rough draft of Unleashed Pursuit, now at 62.5K, with many revisions ahead. A friend invited me to a poetry reading in November. What should I read?

So I dug into back files to find a nearly forgotten travel memoir of that amazing trip around the Horn of South America, some five months on the road. The result, South American Journey, a mix of poems, photographs, travel notes, and memories, perhaps more poignant today since we are less able to travel.

Here's just one poem from South American Journey, hopefully to brighten your day with that sense of faraway, yet very familiar places in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

For Richer . . .

As I walk along Sao Paulo streets,
the people stroll, no rush here,
arm-in-arm they wander as slowly
as if they were in a museum,
talking softly as they go
from one block to the next.

Later, I stroll as they do,
past orchids growing wild in trees,
bougainvillea, impatiens pink and white,
and margaritas, yellow hibiscus, nameless others;
the smallest yards tell me stories
of fallen palm trees,
clipped shrubs, and forget-me-nots.

I climb the yellow brick stairs to the Museo Pinacoteca,
walk past portraits of another era, painters
as unknown as flowers, 

who see with brushes
grasslands, mountains and the people there,
who sit in transplanted Victorian living rooms, 

some sighing in sadness.
some singing with joy.

Parque Anhangabau, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Columns from the Teatro Municipal

October is close to ending. On Halloween, fewer and fewer children knock at our door so I can surprise them with my witch cackle. I wonder how many will come this year. November brings the election (I'm holding my breath) and Thanksgiving, my favorite family holiday. 

May we all have much to be thankful for. 

NOTE: After some work on revising and formatting, and some heavy lifting to get those files out of the dark back drawer, South American Journey is now available on Amazon and free on Kindle Unlimited. Let me know what you think . . . and if you're so inclined, consider leaving a review.

 

WEP October: In My Pantry

 IN MY PANTRY

Image by Benjamin Balazs from Pixabay

Three things you'll always find in my pantry are garlic salt, garlic bulbs, and granddad's handgun loaded with silver bullets.

I don't trust the garlic salt by itself, but those garlic bulbs are too cumbersome to wear by themselves, even this time of year. I just don't see them hanging around my neck. So, I keep my garlic salt handy, right behind my old-fashioned breadbox, the one that Clem threw at me before he left. He didn't listen. He made it all the way out past the front picket fence before they got him.

I mostly stay inside now. Neither the TV nor the radio works. I'm thinking I may have to make a run to the city. Not sure how I'll make it past the front yard unless I wire the car up with garlic. 

I'm worried about my sister. She lives in a high rise with five cats. Clem never cared for her that much, so I haven't seen Sissy for far too long. Last time I saw her, she was telling me to remember granddad's stories about when the moon turned red. That's when I started cooking with garlic salt.

Have you ever had oatmeal with garlic salt? It's not so bad if you mix it with raisins and peanuts. 

Clem didn't like my cooking after I saw my sister. He said I should watch the cooking channel and make some changes. I just kept my head down and kept on with what I wanted. 

We didn't ever fight exactly. He just threw things around, and I kept cooking with garlic salt. And, of course, the entire front yard and back yard is planted in garlic. Nothing bad is coming in here.

Did I say this all started the week before Halloween? I attribute it to the blood moon we saw all through September. Can't say I'm going to have much for those trick and treaters this year. Not even candy corn, my favorite. I'm keeping it for myself. Though this year, it tastes a bit salty. You know, like garlic.

And then this morning, I heard knocking at the door. I recognized Clem’s knock, but I didn’t answer.

This flash fiction is in response to WEP's October 2024 Challenge, and also inspired by my daughter who always says I use too much garlic salt! Happy Halloween! 

Pantry staples, like garlic salt, take on special meaning at Halloween.
362 words.
FCA

Welcome to the WEP Halloween Flash Fiction Challenge

 

1. SUBMIT your Direct Link between October 1st and October 16th
2. POST your edited entry, making sure 'WEP' is in the TITLE along with the badge.
3. STATE feedback preferences
4. READ other entries, giving positive feedback. Refresh on WEP Critique Page.
5 SHARE THE CHALLENGE on social media. 

PLEASE NOTE: ENTRIES CLOSE October 16th (NY Time - check WEP blog clock)

ALL GENRES WELCOME except erotica - 1,000 words maximum 

FURTHER ENQUIRIES VISIT writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com and leave a comment or: email: yolandarenee@hotmail.com or any of the admins with your questions.

1.  Denise Covey   6.  C. Lee McKenzie   11.  DONNA HOLE   2.  Renee Poem 1   7.  J Lenni Dorner   12.  Olga Godim   3.  Renee Poem 2   8.  Sonia Dogra   13.  Christopher Scott   4.  Roland Yeomans   9.  Pat Garcia   14.  Roland R Clarke   5.  Nilanjana Bose   10.  Beth Camp   (Submissions close in 7d 9h 54m)

IWSG October: I'd Rather Not be scared, Thank You.

 IWSG October 2 Question: October 2 question - Ghost stories fit right in during this month. What's your favorite classic ghostly tale? Tell us about it and why it sends chills up your spine.

I'm not really sure I have a response to this month's question. Ghost stories have never appealed to me, and if I'm at the movies, and something horrific leaps off the screen, I just want to go home. I do have a very nice cackle, though it tends to scare small children when they come to the door on Halloween. Perhaps this reaction comes from my own childhood experiences when things truly did go bang in the night. So, for this month, I'm wishing you well, and hoping all scary things stay far, far away.

Now, if we're talking about writing, I do enjoy, read and write stories that sometimes have a dark edge. a twist that invites the reader and the main character to confront and overcome a challenge, yet still somehow manages to achieve that happy ending that says no matter what we may face, we can overcome.

I do admire stories by Matthew Doggett who writes zombie apocalypse novels. Somehow his heroes face down their inner demons to find their way to what is right. And, a good gritty police procedural draws me right in, see stories by Colin Conway and Frank Zafiro.

Now, let's go explore what other followers of the Insecure Writer's Support Group think. Click HERE to find out more! And Happy October!!!!  

Oh, and check out that POSTSCRIPT below. I'm asking for your advice!

The purpose of the Insecure Writer's Support Group is share and encourage writers at every stage of their writing life. We can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. IWSG is a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. You can participate by posting your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writers - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. This group is all about connecting!

Just one more postscript: This month (if you've read this far), I'm struggling a bit with the difference between drafting and revising. My very helpful crit group gives me weekly feedback on my current wip, chapter by chapter, but . . . I truly want to finish the rest of the story, so when comments fly in, sometimes they take me away from writing what comes next. So, do you have any advice???? I do like the advice of Savannah Gilbo who suggests just jotting down a few words, maybe in all CAPS, so you have a starting point next time you tackle a scene. What tips do you use to keep you writing????