Posts

A New Year to CREATE

-
Image
 Oh, readers. I have been away from my blog for far too long. Hopefully that is something that I can amend in the coming months.  Here's a quick recap of 2021: Writing wise, things didn't really start moving until the holidays. The need for some R and R was pretty compelling. I joined my dear friends Franky A. Brown and Rachel A. Andersen to write a trilogy about the Hughes sisters. Rosalie, the youngest sister, was the main character of my book His Mistletoe Wallflower . She is so much the opposite of me in many ways, but I truly enjoyed bringing her story to life. Mistletoe Mishaps includes Their Mistletoe Baby Surprise, Her Mistletoe Mistake, and His Mistletoe Wallflower. In November I had the sudden idea to write a series featuring ballerinas and The Nutcracker. With not a lot of time to write, I made the choice to write these stories as novellas rather than full-length novels. It was definitely a challenge and required several very late nights and early mornings, but I got
1 comment
Read more

The Undervalued Glory of Sabbatical

-
 I've debated for a while about whether or not to write this. It's not totally related to writing and it really doesn't even relate to my books. But this topic is weighing heavily on my heart, and the more commentary I see, the more I feel the need to speak. There has been a lot of discussion about a certain Olympian and decisions which were made. If that alone tells you who and what I'm referring to, great. If you're stumped, that's all right. I'm not going to give the details because frankly the actual event that is being discussed is not the issue. The real issue is the way people have responded to it. As a member of the Millennial Generation, I see a lot of talk from Boomers, Gen X, and a bit from the Greatest Generation about how we're destroying all things good that ever happened. For the most part, I choose to be the type of millennial who rolls my eyes and moves on with my day, because quite frankly I have better things to do than defend change
1 comment
Read more

She-Shed Update: The Family That Works Together

-
Image
It seems like it's been forever since I've had an update. Track season kept Prince Charming busy (congrats, Mustang track for all your hard work and progress!), and life in general kept the rest of us busy.  School's out! But between track meets, field trips, and family visits, we managed to get some work done. School's out for summer which means progress should speed up.  This month Prince Charming got the trench dug for burying the electric line. He definitely had some little supervisors wanting to make sure he did it right. The trench went in sections. Dig a long part, put the electric line through part of the conduit, glue the conduit pipes together, dig the next part, bury the previous part, repeat.  Burying the line, with a little supervisor. Digging the trench. Daddy's best helpers. Where the wiring comes into the shed. Carrying the conduit pipes. The conduit, line inside, before being buried. I think our whole family gained a much deeper appreciation for the
Post a Comment
Read more

She-Shed Update: Making Things Pretty

-
Image
 Progress on the she-shed this month has been slow going. Prince Charming is taking a master's class right now, it's track season, and we're hitting the end-of-school slump. So rather than tackling the larger projects such as wiring and drywall, we've focused on smaller projects. One of the things I desperately wanted for my office, was an old-fashioned roll top desk. They're sturdy, have tons of storage space, and there's something about them that just says "author" to me. Prince Charming, being the amazing man he is, found me the perfect, used desk at a fraction of the cost a new one would have cost, and not at all far from where we live. He drove out to pick it up after school one day and brought this beauty home. Roll top desk It has a few minor flaws on it, one of which was a small spot on the backboard which had peeled away. So I scoured Amazon for some stick-on wallpaper. I found a beautiful peony pattern in the same colors I plan on using insid
3 comments
Read more

She-Shed Update: Adding Personality

-
Image
 Time just seems to keep going faster and faster, doesn't it? This past month has seen slow progress on the shed as we've dealt with inclement weather and minor setbacks. Thankfully we've learned along the way, and progress continues. Daddy daughter paint date. One of the things we've been focusing on over the last month is getting the exterior done. The last door and the doggy door were put in. Then for the fun part: painting! Because we want the shed to match our house, especially since it is mostly visible to the street, we chose a bright white for the bulk of the siding. Putting in the accent front siding. Because this building was once a one-car garage, there had been a garage door to the front at some point. That had been replaced with plywood boards long before we moved in. We covered those boards (and replaced damaged ones) with housing plastic and then added an accent, vertical siding. It took a few tries to get this part just right. The "measure twice, cu
Post a Comment
Read more