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.