Category: Blogging

It's only been forever...

5/30/2021

The time when I was able to commission Simini Blocker

Hi. Remember me? Remember when I used to blog? No? That's okay. We'll just start fresh. I'm trying to make sure I'm more on top of my own things. Since I hired someone to help me with social media and my website, I'm on my website a lot less. Hence, the lack of blogs. Which I'm guessing, you've managed to live without.

But because I fought hard to remember my own passwords (and then had to go through my Facebook account settings) to get in here, I figured I better say something.

How is it possible that the last time I blogged was when my last baseball book came out. Time has a very magical ability to stand still and race forward all at once. As many of you know, I'm now writing under a pen name, Sophie Sullivan. I managed to crack the passwords on that one too. I'm enjoying this very much-- the writing under two names, not the inability of my brain to retain the most basic of information.

My youngest daughter turned fifteen this month. My oldest is eighteen and off to university in September. I still teach full time in addition to writing books and I'm still married to the same wonderful man who provides me with endless food and delicious snacks (including Danish apple bars this weekend).

I'm excited to say that I'm working on a new cozy mystery series for Tule Publishing. I've wanted to work with them for a while now and I'm so excited I'm getting to do another small town sleuthing series. The first book will be out next August. It's called Home is Where the Body Is. I think you'll like Annie Abbott and the cozy little town of Rainbow Falls.

Like all of you, we've been living a pretty low key pandemic life. We're navigating some ups and downs that come with age and life. I'm reading books, painting rocks, and writing as many words as I can. Isn't it funny that I can write a book but not remember my passwords?

Summer is coming close. By the end of this month, I'll be finished my second cozy for Tule which is tentatively titled High School, Homecoming, and Homicide. I'm looking forward to having time with my family, hopefully enjoying some summer sun, and being able to see small groups of people again. We were supposed to go to New York this summer to celebrate my oldest's graduation. We can't, which is sad but certainly not as sad as other things so we'll just hang out this summer and make plans for the next one.

I'm turning 45 this week. I thought I'd feel....not older but maybe more mature. Like maybe I would have more answers than I do. Like my passwords, maybe I should find some and write them down, keep them in a safe place for when I need them. Even if I had a secret stash of reasons for some of the questions my brain goes through daily, I guess there would always be more to know. More to wonder. Am I doing enough? Am I doing a good job? At writing? Friending? Momming? Wifing? Teaching? Definitely not peopleing. I'm pretty sure those skills have been tucked away into a corner. I'll find them eventually, as the world opens up. Hopefully I'll be able to have conversations that aren't a collection of quotes from the shows we've been binging.

Since I last blogged, I feel like everything and nothing has happened to all of us. I have no words of wisdom or identifiable message. I just figured, it's been so long, I should say SOMETHING. Even if it was nothing.

Wait...it's April?

4/2/2018

I've been on spring break for the last two weeks. I actually just typed years...because that's what happens when you're on a break. Your brain stops working. It's been awesome and in fourteen weeks, I'm going to do it again. For ten weeks.

It's hard for me to transition from break back to work. Not just because I'm a little lazy, but I really like staying home with my family, staying up too late reading, spending the days alternating between writing and watching Friends on Netflix. I'm, unfortunately, one of those people who think that obsessing over time can actually allow me to control it.

Alas, I am not a wizard. I am also not rich, so back to work I go. We're working on "changing our mindset" in my house. A house full of girls/women who all have anxiety makes for some interesting fun for my husband (don't worry, he has craft beer), but we're going into the last part of the school year with the goal of being more positive, seeing things differently, and focusing on what's actually happening rather than what might happen. What does this mean? It means we're going to try to be more grateful. I am grateful. Let me just say that up front. I'm incredibly grateful for everything I have. The top of that list includes a family and friends, a roof over my head, and a good job, along with a pretty decent writing hobby. But I'm not actively grateful, if that makes sense.

For me, and hopefully my daughters, it means we're going to devote more active time each day thinking about the things that make us happy and lucky. Changing conversations to realize, in Old Dominion's words, "It's what I have, not what I had", or in our case, what we wish we had or worry we might have. I'm not going to list all the things that make me grateful on a personal level, but I thought it would be nice to share some of the things that have made my spring break great, outside of my family and Netflix. So, channeling my inner Jimmy Fallon, here's my own version of "Thank You Notes".

Thank you...

Thomas Rhett, for being adorably in love with your wife and having great lyrics. Very helpful while I'm writing books with mushy, romantic moments.

Thank you...

Cadbury mini eggs for making me feel like I'm only eating a little bit-- it says MINI right in the name. And for being this amazingly delicious burst of chocolate in a candy coated shell.