Loving Life, Embracing Changes

When I went on sabbatical over two years ago, my life fell into a rut. It was nothing that I recognized and went unnoticed as most gradual occurrences do until my husband pointed out my dilemma. Once I was able to stand back and look at my life, I realized how easy it was to get sucked into life’s false drudgery. There were blessings and miracles around me every day but I had been focusing on the things I didn’t like. So I decided 2015 is going to be an amazing year, went back to writing and even decided to build my own recording studio so that I can create audio books for myself and fellow authors. I also decided to ride my horses more and my lovely husband bought me an amazing horse trailer so that I can join my friends for trail rides. Does that mean that the bad stuff went away? Oh, hell no. And I got sucked back in again, until yesterday.

I won’t go into details of what has happened because that’s putting the spotlight on the things that shouldn’t be important but I will tell you that just with changing my thought process on how I was going to deal with the issues has already made things easier. And the changes will be positive. We have decided to public home school our daughters this fall. I’m very excited about how far home education has come. When I was home schooled, it was books placed in front of me and I had to figure it out. Sink or swim. My girls will actually be Skyping their teacher every day, going over lessons, tests and what goals need to be met. I’m there to help with the easier questions but if there is something too hard, they call their teacher back! They will also be able to advance at their own level, which will be a blessing in itself. My youngest daughter is a science whiz and I half-jokingly fear she will graduate high school by the time she is twelve. And they will be learning actual life lessons. My eleven year-old already knows how to change brake pads on a car and they both know how to change the oil. They are learning how to garden and horticulture and this fall, they will be actively participating with canning our food for the winter. And because writing is my passion, they will be publishing their own books. They will learn how to format their book for the different publishing platforms, interacting with illustrators, editors and learn how to market. They will have their own checking accounts so that when their royalties are paid, they can balance their checkbooks.

On my own journey, I’m branching out. I went to my first writer’s convention and met some amazing people. I’ve said that I’ve always wanted to be a Harlequin author if I ever signed on with a traditional publisher and no one else. At this convention I listened to Chief Executive Officer and Publisher, Liz Pelletier, give a seminar on editing, how the publishing market has changed and the key ingredients of a best seller. This woman is amazing and inspiring and I swear she could sell sand in the Moab Desert. Honestly, if I were offered a contract with Harlequin and Entangled Publishing at the same time, there would be no hesitation, I would be signing with Entangled. She really has her finger on the pulse of today’s market. I’m also striving to finish sequels to books that my fans have been literally begging for. Shadows and With Love sagas will be continuing on, along with some new, stand-alone novels that I have been working on. Twisted Eidolon will be released this year but is currently being reviewed by an incredible editor, Lydia Sharp, who works for Entangled Publishing (yes, I’m SQUEEEEEING inside!!) and hoping that they find it worthy of their name.

While troublesome things are still popping their ugly little heads up in my life, I’m choosing to ignore them and embrace and recognize even the smallest miracles that happen. It keeps me from falling into that rut and keeps the excitement flowing. I’m sure I’ll fall back into a rut at some point, I’m far from perfecting this life, but when I do I hope I have the ability to recognize it and change it, or have another wonderful soul in my life to point it out to me. A 2×4 across the head is okay too.

Life is meant to be fun; Enjoy the journey!

Happy May Day

I used to make fun of “older” people, like my mom or dad, who used to say that as you get older the time starts slipping away. Being ADHD and slightly, ahem, immature for my age, time felt like it took forever and certain days, activities and accomplishments were always just beyond. Now I’m part of that “older” group as my eleven year-old and eight year-old daughters like to point out and I have to admit, my mom and dad were right. Time slips by faster and faster each year.

I know we can’t bring back time, recover lost years or create more hours in a day but I’ve decided to start weeding out the things that I thought were important and giving that time to the things that really are important. Happiness, health, family and friends. A little over two years ago, as you may remember, my then nine year-old daughter became ill. After biopsies and a very scary endoscopy, we found she had a large stress ulcer. It was during this time that I stopped writing; no blogs, no novels, no journals, nada. I stressed, I fretted and I worried as any mother would. I lost myself and became the “worried” mom. This past Christmas, my lovely husband pulled me aside and informed me that I was sad, I was not the happy-go-lucky person I used to be and he suggested that I get back into my writing. I was happy when I wrote and he wanted to see me happy again. “Happy wife; happy life” he joked. So I picked up a novel that I had almost finished a few years back, tweaked and changed and completed it a couple months ago. I sent it off to one of my editors who informed me that she saw huge growth in my writing and believed that this was possibly my best novel yet. Words every writer loves to hear, no matter how long you’ve been writing.

So this spring, I will release my latest novel, the first in over two years. I will also be getting back to writing on my blog and while I won’t promise you every day, I will be more dependable than I have been in the past. But be prepared. It’s not going to be just about my writing, or my children’s health. It’s going to be more about life, the time we have here and what we choose to do with it. I’m getting back to my basics, baking my bread, growing my vegetables, raising my chickens and loving the blessings I have in my life. I’ll also introduce you to some pretty interesting people who have agreed to be a part of my crazy journey. Again, I’m very blessed that I am surrounded by those who embrace my wacky thoughts and “younger” ideas on what time really means.

Life is supposed to be fun; Enjoy the journey