In A Bookish, Quilty Mood

Nevada in the distance. Sometimes, as I'm reading one of my novels, I realize how dear are the characters and how grateful I am to slip into that fictional realm. I don't live near my kids or siblings, but in many of my stories, they are at my beck and call. For eleven years I dwelled in Yorkshire, England, and while we loved it there and would have liked to have stayed longer, it was never where we were meant to remain. Yet that decade plus one year taught my heart that despite distance, beloveds are never truly far away. And now, pushing twenty years since our return, the children we raised there have their own families, and that is how my existence has evolved. Except, lol, within my books. In several of my novels, sprawling families live yards away from one another, multiple generations residing in the same house. I grew up as the one of the youngest in my large clan, surrounded by many elders who inspired my sense of how necessary are all ages within one's related grou...

Our back garden in Yorkshire from the date I began writing the journal entries. It's a quiet start to the day; I went to bed early last night after being on my feet for two hours at a protest at the Courthouse. While I slept eight hours thereabouts, if you hit the hay before eight thirty, that means rising before five the next morning. Which is fine, smiley face inserted here. It feels a little incorrect to use more than that on Easter, not sure why. On my Ukrainian flag yesterday I had the names of Josiah Lawson and Freddie Gray . While Love Thy Neighbor and Remember flew off the flag, those names remained. My prayers for those family continue. My husband just woke, I'll finish this later.... So.... I threw blankets in the washer, will change out the sheets. A gray start to our day, but sun is forecast for later. I typed out the first of a series of...journal entries or devotional entries or whatever will come of several months of entries written in 2002. I truly do...

  Now I'm reading Gracious Mysteries, the second novel in my That Which Can Be Remembered series. The page below struck me, in my current predicament, the need for humility in moments of helplessness. How often when I feel helpless do I wish for an immediate end to the situation. Yet what would occur if I embraced the uncertainty, not reveling in it, merely accepting I am NOT in control of everything. Life slows to a near-crawl when illness intrudes, and it doesn't become faster waiting to rejoin typical activities. I have a long list of To Do's, augmented now by all I've been editing, lol. Again I need to remain right in this moment, even acknowledging this post wasn't planned, but I finished The Possibility of What If, and I don't have much else to do but read while waiting. So here's an entry about patience, awareness, and gratitude.

A binding being applied. First off, for the next five and three-quarter months, Gracious Mysteries is free on Smashwords! The second in my That Which Can Be Remembered series, it was originally released as a pre-order, hence the need for a price. However, I'm not really about charging for my novels, so I've set it as a freebie, but only through the Smashwords store. You can check out my entire catalogue on Smashwords, or find my books at other various online retail sites. Next, my goodness it's nice to 1) have finished my recent WIP. 2) Enjoy some warm temps! 3) Send off the Rainbow quilt and a mug rug to their new home. 4) Faff around with other coasters, binding strips, and myriad quilting hoo haa littering my big table. I did that today amid sunny skies, then went outside and planted six nasturtiums, about the extent of my gardening fever this spring. I truly have nothing in the tank in regard to seedlings, plants, etc. Instead I'm all-in for noveling and sewing. ...

While admiring the back of this fern, whoops I found a spider! Part of this pertains to real life. Part of it associates with my novel. I'm still writing, kind of an altered universe in itself. Also a relief right where I sit. And a wonder especially for my current well-being, compromised by an achy tooth and grateful weariness with our cold, rainy weather. I'm thankful for the precipitation but starting to feel beaten down by the chill, yet I can't begrudge whatever manner the rain falls, ahem. Gotta keep a stiff upper lip and just maintain the word count, which THANK YOU JESUS continues to accumulate. While I'm so appreciative of the rain and the prose, I am starting to feel the effects of such gracious mysteries, lol, which is something else I need to blog about, dude!  So my novel Gracious Mysteries is FREE this week on Smashwords. Hand on heart, I totally forgot about that until I just typed out the previous sentence. I barely have the wherewithal to keep straight...

My latest novel! Having returned home late yesterday, I gave brief consideration to releasing my newest book last night. However Future Me insisted I first get some decent sleep, and thankfully I listened. But on this beautifully sunny (and chilly) day, may I present the final installment in my latest series , the aptly titled That Which Can Be Remembered . Available on Smashwords , and soon enough on other fine online retailers, TWCBR concludes what began as a road trip for Brynn Dahl and her family to find one thought lost to a menacing plague. Along the way they reunite with old friends, then are led to a faraway ranch whereupon dwells a figure from Brynn's past who carries no memories of their life together. I don't recall from where this plot originated, but all these characters are dear to my heart, snippets of Brynn's Vodali language having made their way into my lexicon. Especially in conjunction with my clan's current travails, ohmah polise seems inescapable; ...

A sample of my efforts from this past week, the center of a Myrtle block. Currently Gracious Mysteries , the second novel in my That Which Can Be Remembered series , is available at no cost on Smashwords during their annual End of Year Sale. I had planned to release the final book in the series to immediately coincide with the sale, but I am still away from home and hope to have That Which Can Be Remembered released perhaps on Saturday? Fingers crossed for that publication. This series does take place in a different.... Universe, planet, solar system, you make the call, however their tragedies and triumphs are closely aligned to what we on Earth experience. There is no moon attached to their planet, which isn't a major plot point, but something I paid attention to while writing when a character trekked outside to admire the night skies. Only stars shone, proffering a distinction between our world and that of Brynn, Pollette, Finn, Strivek, Timral, Mo, and the rest. This past week...

This morning's sunrise approaches, reminding me to embrace where I am right this minute. Despite setting aside one story, others remain, lol. One is definitely a work in progress, although it is completed and has recently been through yet another wringer, which all drafts require. But I am nearing the end of possessing That Which Can Be Remembered ( TWCBR ), both as a series and book. And in reading it now, a few weeks away from its release, I am enjoying the story and the sense of closure, which admittedly is a good feeling, having just jettisoned 20K for the hinterlands. Especially since TWCBR comes from a similar start; I gave up on those characters twice before finally committing to their story, dude! It was painful, aggravating, at times depressing. I so wanted to explore their hurts and triumphs, yet it took a good year before I could reclaim that book. When I did, I wrote like Past Me, pounding out a chapter daily, sometimes more, hehehe. A four-part series was trimmed to ...

Releasing a new book is more than dotting i's and crossing t's . It's the culmination of craft and tech blended into twenty-first century art; writing novels will hopefully remain a timeless manner of expression now enhanced by an author's ability to self-publish. Gracious Mysteries , set in an unnamed world in what could be deemed several decades ago, continues the tale of one woman's search for her beloved and the experiences of others caught in a devastating plague. Yet a long-fought war has tempered these characters, and now finding themselves in a relatively safe place, Brynn Dahl and her family can finally set roots on a vast ranch, although not everyone initially joins them; Brynn's eldest daughter Ronan takes a different path, attempting to find peace after years of abuse. Love emerges between Polly and Mo, as well as Ava and Seti. And for Timral and Nasri, budding affection is threatened when Nasri intervenes as one man attempts to cause harm. A novel ...

  Tomorrow is already today for some on this planet; on the tenth of October my next book goes live, WOO HOO! Yet for some nations it is the tenth, so here's a brief post about Gracious Mysteries , with a small personal notation of how odd this life can be. In the second novel of my That Which Can Be Remembered series, the whereabouts of one man become clear to his family while to those who have known Strivek well, a new background must be accommodated, which is especially hard for Yasbek Timral, who is greatly disturbed by considering her Yunka welder had married a Vodali. Overcoming biases is one theme of this story; another is accepting the Vodali term of ohmah polise , which translates as being grateful for the unknown. As Vodali elder Da Miri says, sometimes knowledge is a dangerous gift. Love abounds within this novel, as do unremitting personal strength and reliance on faith, of which I am clinging to in my own day-to-day; a much beloved family member is battling lymphoma a...

For the eldest grandgirl; attaching one side of the binding, which was then sewn on via my machine. Family is heading our way for the week, so best I write a post now, little time to do so once they arrive. The pattern for the coaster pictured above is courtesy of Jodi Godfrey , from her Cornflower Quilt in the marvelous book The Seedling Quilts . Over the summer when I visited my eldest daughter and family, I took along the little paper pieces, then asked my granddaughters to choose fabrics so I could make them each a block. Those blocks were sewn together once I got home, then floated around the sewing hoo haa that needs to be cleared before family arrives today, ahem. Anyways, I completed these coasters, they are now in the dryer. Very pleased for how they turned out and I hope the grandgirls enjoy using them both here for tea parties and when they again reach home. A finished mug rug for my youngest granddaughter; we're planning on some tea parties this week and they can break...

  I have five chapters left of my next book to read through, then I'll make sure there are no extra spaces at the end of paragraphs. Then I will upload the final version of Gracious Mysteries , which is available as a pre-order from various online retailers. It will be released on the tenth of October, the second novel in my current series That Which Can Be Remembered . I just spent several minutes gathering notes that I cleared off my desk in yesterday's computer swap. Arranging some decorative rocks near my monitor, I wanted to put away scraps related to this collection of stories. If I really wanted to get some cleaning done, I could try to do the same on my sewing table, ahem. But pieces of paper with ideas scribbled in longhand were much easier to sort, stuffing them in a folder, then putting that in a desk drawer. Fabric scraps require more attention; depending on their size and weight on my heart, they would go here or there or way over there. Much simpler to place plot ...