Cynthia Harrison's Blog, page 46

Golden Years

I had a professor who one day talked about the theme of aging. She was lecturing to a bunch of kids and one twenty-something (me) about this topic. She started out by saying that youth is wonderful, life is vibrant for the young, without responsibilities and duties and desires left unfulfilled. We were with her. Oh, yeah. We got it.

Then she said “but there’s an upside to growing older, too.” and all the nodding heads stopped so fingers could scratch scalps. We lost her there. Could not think of an upside to aging. She asked. Nobody raised their hand. Not even Miss Smarty Pants. (Who was not ME btw.) Then she did the teacher thing where she calls on individuals but each of her stars shook their heads. Sorry. No clue how there could possibly be an upside to old.

She was pretty old. We felt bad for her about that, even though she wasn’t the nicest teacher at the college. So we sat there with our blank sad-for-her faces and she screamed “WISDOM. With age comes wisdom, yes?” Oh that, okay. Well, we were not going to tell her we already knew all about life, probably more than she did, as we were in the thick of it, but obviously she drew great solace from this wisdom riff.

Flash forward to me, old but still not wise. There’s so much I don’t know and I want to know it all. Because everything is so interesting. Well, okay, not money or politics, but everything else. For example, why are the sunset years called golden? I know from our Michigan shores that when the sun melts over Lake Superior there is a golden effect low in those layers of color.

This is what I’d say about getting older. It’s beautiful like a sunset. Not because of wisdom so much (although when you’ve been through the same shit several dozen times it does become easier to cope) but because it just keeps getting better and better. I’m continually amazed at this fact, but it’s true. You’ll see. Unless wrinkles really freak you out, then maybe not.

I’m 59, but my personal sun is not setting yet, not even close. I feel like I have so much left to do and see and figure out. More students! And poetry! A grandson! Laura Zera! (Laura is a social media friend who I am meeting for lunch in RL while in Seattle seeing baby:) Why not add meeting social media friends in real life to the list? So much fun. And Skype! More books to write. And read. Some of them to Baby J. Music. Love in every form. Many many more sunsets await me.

Also I really like figuring things out. Why am I here? What more will I learn about myself, dharma, and about the world? What will happen tomorrow? Will there be a tomorrow? And if there isn’t … what comes next? Anything? I’m hoping next means learning the secrets to the universe. Isn’t that the real question everyone wants the answer to? Where does infinity end and if it doesn’t how can that be?

I don’t know the answers but I do know that the questions bring a glowing light to golden.

Tagged: golden years, life journey, living the questions

Lisa Plan Over Easy

Key parts to Lisa’s food plan (not a “diet” but a way of eating for life.) are mini-meals and exercise. Just trying to stay even is a struggle as we age. I had an early, surgical menopause, and then weight loss got really challenging. About the same time, I transitioned into many more writing hours after an super-active life. These events did not do my body any favors. Hence, the plea to Lisa for help.

Mini-meal Basics

Lisa’s mini-meals are 150 calories (600 calories for four) then a normal dinner (depending on how many calories your body needs to consume to lose weight). I tried eating just 150 calories and was hungry after an hour. Always. Lisa said if you play with your plan, you won’t be hungry, but you have to find what works for you. She eats at 8, 10:30, 12:30, then 2:30 or 3. If dinner is after 5, she’ll have another mini and take it off her dinner calorie count.

When I told her I was hungry after an hour her advice was to not just have a small yogurt or piece of fruit but combine protein and carb. Her suggested menu for me was a whole cup of cooked oatmeal at 8 am, cup of yogurt mid-morning, a sandwich using those great wheat rounds (tuna salad made w/yogurt, egg salad, peanut butter w/sliced banana) at noon, and another snack at 3 with a regular dinner. And you know, that works for me. I swap out the first meal, and just have yogurt and fruit, then later, when hunger kicks in, I’ll have oatmeal or a sandwich, depending on what time it is. I eat more than 150 for my mini-meals, maybe 200, so I have three instead of 4. It’s important to listen to your body and what IT needs when. Everybody’s different. Find your own mini-meal path.

Exercise

It’s no secret yoga is my exercise of choice and as my teacher said last weekend “you’re as young as your spine is flexible” so, you know, yoga is good. It’s good for mind and body and I love feeling open, balanced and at peace, all of which yoga gives me. But I do want to add in some cardio, because one of the things I want to do more of is get out into the world. Lisa loves dance, she went of U of M for dance back in the day and has always been a dancer. I like to dance at parties to music, not in classes where everyone has to follow a pattern. Patterns confuse me. Lisa swears by Zumba. Maybe some day I’ll try it but for now I’m going to walk.

One of the things that inspires me is to have the right equipment for the job at hand, be it a good kitchen knife and cutting board (for all those veggies I chop) or a pair of sneakers that really do the job. You know walking shoes are ugly, right? Well, my last pair were. So I was thinking, hmmm, maybe hiking boots. But really, me, hike? I want to, I really do, but I don’t think it’s going to be happening before our Seattle trip, where we will be walking a lot, so I took myself to Kohl’s and got these babies pictured above. They’re stronger than they look, not canvas but a thick soft material and all gel inside. Toe heaven:) I’m so excited about these shoes I’ll probably go for a walk later today.

Speaking of excited, exercise is also a great mood lift. So if you are down about your inability to lose weight, get moving and accomplish two goals at once.

Real Dinners

Lisa is a great cook and I’ve been her dinner guest a number of times. She knows I’m a vegetarian, so she caters to me (I know, lucky me!) and will cook fish with yummy sides.

Dinner Menu

Tomato Bisque Soup: to 1/2 cup add cup of veggie crumbles, 1/4 C water, 1/4 C chick peas, sprinkle of parmesan cheese.

Shrimp Scampi (4 large shrimp = 35 calories each!)

Hungry Girl’s Spinach Cheese Pie

Roasted Veggies: 375 oven, lay veggies of your choice on foil, drizzle with olive oil, wrap tight in two pieces of foil for an hour, take top foil off bake 25 minutes more.

Apple Cup: cut up apples, microwave with a few cinnamon red hot candies, stir. Crumble half a graham cracker, stir, and top with whipped cream.

Tagged: diet, exercise, health, Lisa Plan

Father Figures

Luck landed me an awesome dad. He was a typical blue collar union father of the 1950s. One car in the family and he drove it to work, often stopping at the bar on the way home, maddening my mom. (They had an interesting dynamic.) Dad always had a new car: Cadillac, Thunderbird, Fastback Mustang. He’s alive and healthy now, in his 70s, and has a red Corvette.

Many car-related memories remain for me to savor, especially our trip down Route 66 all the way to Los Angeles, California in 1959. Dad fitted out the back seat of whatever car we had at the time specially for the comfort of his kids. There were three of us, so he took out the bench with the hump in the middle and installed a plywood floor. Mom added a soft mattress and pillows. We each had our own blanket. We could sit, lie, sprawl, sleep. It was excellent.

We didn’t live in California long; our roots are in Michigan and dad had a big family. Seven kids. Our little family of five would drive to grandma’s rambling farmhouse every Sunday in that car for her crunchy-tender southern fried chicken and flaky homemade cherry pie. There were cousins by the dozens and big berry bushes bursting with fruit in summertime. Mom always warned us not to eat too many. We always did anyway.

My father got his sweetness and good nature from his mother. From his father, he learned other lessons. My grandfather was a gifted, troubled man, in and out of places where he could get, and try to stay, sober. They didn’t call it rehab back then. Grandpa managed many sober years, just not all in a row. So there were two of him, one loving and grateful for his big family, the other rambling and, to my young eyes, a little bit pitiful. What I feel most about my grandfather now is his courage. He never stopped trying to be a better man.

My children’s father is the man I chose especially for that quality. I looked at him and knew he’d be a great dad and I fell in love with him based on that fact, which proved true. When my oldest son, Mike, was just two months old, he caught his first cold. His dad slept on the nursery floor all night, just to make sure baby would keep breathing. Like my own father, he didn’t have a lot to do with the day-to-day running of the home and family. That was my department and I sunk into in with glee for five happy years. My second son, Tim, grew alongside an increasing discontent with my marriage, although we hung on for a few more years.

Then I was a single mom and dad became even more important in my boys’ lives. He took them boating, fishing, and to car shows. I didn’t stay a single mom for long. A little over a year into that time, I met Al and we married when the boys were just five and seven. He’s a great step-dad, taking them to sports events, showing them how to repair our ancient snowmobiles, and my favorite memory of all: building an addition onto our house with my dad. The four of them. Mike was 16 and Tim 14. Al paid them $10 an hour and they only worked when they felt like it. Or needed the cash:)

Al still talks cars, sports, and 401Ks with the boys, who are no longer boys. In fact, we have a new father in the family as of next month. My first baby boy, Mike, is going to be a dad. He will be the best dad in the world. He already reminds me of his own father. When Jessica wanted a glider instead of a rocking chair, they looked at all the models available and Mike said he didn’t like how there were so many moving wood parts that a baby’s fingers could get pinched in. He insisted his wife buy the more expensive glider, completely upholstered.

That cinched it for me. Mike is next in a long line of fabulous fathers. Here’s to all the great dads out there:) Your women and girls adore you.

Tagged: fatherhood: past.present.future

Only Ever Book Collaboration

I have this secret book project with my best friend, Lisa. Well, it’s not so secret anymore, because I’ve been talking about it a little bit online, because someone asked about Monday’s post, “So where’s the book?” and I can’t just not answer a question like that, especially as there IS a book. We wrote it together and it was the easiest thing I’ve ever written.

Of course, we only wrote the first draft, and revision can be a bitch, which is one reason why the book has not seen the light of day until now … Monday I wrote a sort of introduction, because, really, as I told her all along, this is Lisa’s book. She wrote most of it, shared resources, and developed recipes, too.

So yay, another book. Another completely different book in a totally new genre. (That seems to be my pattern.) My first, my only, ever, book collaboration. Working title: “Lisa Plan” because people steal titles all the time and hers is really good. How do I know people steal titles? When I wrote Sugar Shack I checked Amazon for other novels with that title. There were none. And I blogged about Sugar Shack sharing the title and by the time I was ready to publish it, there were several novels with that name. Hey, it could have just been a zeitgeist thing, not accusing anyone, but since then, I’ve kept titles (mostly) under wraps. And Sugar Shack became Sister Issues one minute before I hit “publish” on KDP:)

Should You Collaborate?

I have been asked to collaborate many times by many people. These are well-intentioned innocents who have an “awesome” idea and they want to tell me the story then have me write it down. When it makes a million, we’ll split the profits. Well, no. Because everyone in the world has an awesome idea. That’s a perk of being human. We’re ALL creative. But I have more than enough of my own ideas, and while I did listen to my mother’s story about a woman who was born a queen in the time of Henry the Eighth and was reincarnated in our own time with all kinds of twisty stuff happening, and while I was fascinated by it, it was not a book I had the least interest in writing.

Yes, I told my mother no. But she got her own back because by far the biggest and most enthusiastic response to any section of Your Words, Your Story is the children’s story my mom wrote but couldn’t finish. She asked me to help her, and I did, but only ten years later because I wanted to put it in my own book. People love that story and she’s published, so I worked good karma for Mom, since she obviously gave me the writing gene.

As dubious as I’ve always been about collaborating, I’m doing this because I believe in Lisa’s Plan. It worked for me, and I think it will work for others, too. Also, it was damn easy.

The How

I said it was easy, but how did we do it? Well, the asking questions part was easy for me because I’m very nosy curious. Lisa lives in another state so we did the entire book through email. I’d ask a question or tell her my latest roadblock (usually involving sugar or Chardonnay) and her detailed, thoughtful responses to my questions must have taken her tons of time, but she always came through for me. When I first started asking her about how she’d lost the weight and found new energy, it was simply as a friend asking advice on a personal journey toward better health.

I don’t know when in our correspondence we realized we had a book. Or which one of us realized it. Probably not me because I’m a novelist. Or so I tell myself even as I blog and work on my second non-fiction book. I really don’t have time to revise the Lisa Plan right now, but I wanted to blog about it, and Lisa said “go for it.” She is so easy to work with. It’s not even work; it’s a labor of love. So that is the execution. Find a topic of mutual intense interest, ideally with one person acting as student and the other as teacher, email about it for several months a couple of times a week, and print those babies out. No time to revise? Blog some chapters once a week.

Soon you’ll have something like this.

And something new to blog about.

Yeah, but

I know what some new writers are thinking: somebody will steal your idea. They will rip you off and publish it as their own and then where will you be? Here’s the answer to that: it’s already ours because anything I write on this site is copyright protected by the government. It’s easy to prove by the date stamp who wrote this book first. Also: every single one of my published books is available free on pirate sites. It’s kind of like the new normal. Napster for novelists.

People don’t bother to put their name on your words so much these days, although that’s happened to me, too. More often they just wait for the book and then upload it somewhere for free. My publisher is vigilant about taking its authors’ work down from these sites, but usually, after that happens, the book pops right back up on another pirate site.

Plus, I’ve never been the cautious type. I say let’s move with the world and not worry about the rest of it.

You may feel differently, and that’s your call. Actually, I’m already getting input from readers on things they’d like to know about, which is helping shape the revision of the book. Someone mentioned SUGAR which is huge in our collaboration draft. Someone else talked about EXERCISE and another person bemoaned MENOPAUSE. All covered, but I’m taking notes and if there’s something you want to know as this plan unfolds every Monday right here, just ask. If she hasn’t answered it already, Lisa will do some more deep thinking. Saving the world one pound at a time.

Tagged: diet, exercise, health, Lisa Plan

Eating Herself Thin

A few years ago, my best friend Lisa decided to lose weight. I thought she looked great, but then, I was officially obese. It took her more than a year, but she whittled away substantial pounds (25-30) and this is how she did it. Mini-meals. Every 2-3 hours. She joked to her husband that she was “eating herself thin.” And wow did she ever.

There’s more to her plan, of course. Plenty of cardio. She walks her miles and likes dance classes. Almost three years later, she has kept the weight off, has boundless energy, and looks fabulous. As every woman who has ever gone on a diet knows, keeping the pounds off is the difficult part.

Stars know I’ve had plenty of experience there. Not a better yo-yo on the planet than yours truly. And at the time of Lisa’s weight loss, I was struggling with some difficult numbers for cholesterol and blood sugar. I asked her to help me work her plan and, like the bestie she has been since fifth grade, she pitched right in. It was an uphill battle, because yoga is my exercise of choice and I love cake, but she gave me the goods, including recipes that were simple to adapt to my vegetarian palate.

It’s been a slower process for me than for Lisa, as I had to be brought round to no sugar and limited refined carb rule by a second bad blood report. I do not want diabetes more than I want cake, chips, and cookies. On the bright side, we brought my cholesterol down without medication. and I was losing weight. Just very slowly.

But I kept at Lisa’s plan because persistence has paid off well in my life. It took me ten tries to kick cigarettes, but I did. 25 years ago. Persistence also saw me into becoming a published novelist, as I just would not give up. And now I have some persistence rewards to report on the weight front. I have not been obese for over a year. I don’t weigh myself like I should. I published two novels this year and a new edition of a third. I write in PJs or sweat pants. I had to buy smaller sweat pants this winter because they fell to my ankles every time I got up from my desk.

I thought they were just stretched out. I bought new jeans last summer but this spring they were so loose I could pull them on and off without unzipping. So this reluctant shopper took herself to the mall last week and tried again. I had not lost one size over the winter, but two. I still have a long way to go, but finally I feel the click Lisa talked about when you change your mind about food and how to eat it. Since starting Lisa’s plan, more than a year ago, I’ve lost 25 pounds. I have more to go, but this time, I’m confident I can make it work. Forever.

Lisa’s breakfast burrito : 80 calorie [whole wheat] tortilla, egg-beaters [1 egg], sprinkle of cheese. *Brackets indicate my modifications. Enjoy!

Tagged: diet, health, weight loss

Streetcars & Desire

Al and I had the biggest fight the other day. Everything’s good now, but wow, we travelled the streetcar through every major problem in our marriage, flinging accusations like Stanley and Stella and generally doing all the things that marriage counselors advise against. Like bringing up past transgressions. And we did it in public! I didn’t even care that people were listening. Three older ladies at the next table in particular had avid ears peeled.

Those three ladies were probably very happy to be out and about without husbands and I am okay letting them feel smug at my expense. Truth is, you cannot be married for 29 years and never hop on that streetcar. Well, I cannot, but perhaps you are an enlightened master of love and marriage is not a problem you need to work on. If that’s true, I’m so happy for you.

My desire for more autonomy created the chaos. I’d given up all control several years ago so I could write and meditate in peace. In church, my minister said “The way to have a happy marriage is to treat your partner the way you want to be treated.” Sounded like good advice, and because my heart’s desire is that Al say yes to every single thing I wish, I tried to do that for him. Even when the minister ran off with his secretary, leaving his wife to tend his bewildered flock, I persisted in being a perpetual “yes” woman, although I started going to yoga on Sundays instead of church.

But saying yes and treating people as you wish to be treated has to work both ways, and it doesn’t always happen like that. There are people quite willing to let you be their dog, if you’re okay with that. In marriage, a hypothetical marriage, not my own, ahem, maybe one partner, someone like Stanley Kowalski, believes he is the dominant person in the marriage, he will take every “yes” for granted. I say ‘yes’ a lot because it is so much easier than having another argument about whatever.

I still believe in treating everyone, not just your mate, the way you would like to be treated. Until they take advantage of that, then it’s time to step off the streetcar. When it has come to a complete stop, of course.

Tagged: love, marriage, respect, trouble

Someone To Watch Over Me

Since Mike and I recently parted ways (for the happiest reason in the world) as far as this website goes, I’ve been trying to pull things together around here. We’ve had WordPress for awhile, so I’m familiar with the dashboard and know how to add widgets and things. He’s always been helpful and patient, teaching me how to do stuff, so I thought, snap. Ha!

A door closes and a window opens. Enter Barb Drozdowich, sacred dove on my shoulder and new web person. Because guess what? It took me 20+ hours to do less than she accomplished for me in an hour. My results were just okay. Her results, spectacular.

Wanted to give a shout out to this WordPress Warrior Woman, who is so easy to work with and charming besides. Also want to officially debut the new look of the blog to the world, now that it is almost complete. I still have a bit of homework…which I will do this week. I would have never thought to add excerpts and reviews to my books page, but Barb did. Great idea! She also sized all the books properly, both on the book page and the sidebar. Then she linked them to Amazon in a much better way than I even knew was possible.

During our first conversation, Barb said the magic words every writer wants to hear “I’ll do this so you can spend your time writing.” Spend my time writing! Yes, please. And you read my opening right, everything she did here, she did in under an hour. Mostly, she tidied up my messes. And I look forward to her continuing to do so for many years.

Yes, this is pretty much a love letter to a special woman, who is so unassuming I had no idea she published her own books, non-fiction titles that help authors and bloggers, until I looked her up for this post. I found Barb’s books on Amazon and immediately bought two:)  Barb also runs Sugarbeat’s Books and that was quite the find for the book lover within me. A treasure trove of titles and reviews for Regency buffs (why yes, I am) and lovers of contemporary romance.

Barb’s official title is “Social Media and WordPress Consultant.” Her company is Bakerview Consulting. She has taught at University, trained technical personnel in the banking industry and, most recently, used her expertise to help dozens of authors (including me!) develop the social media platform needed to succeed in today’s fast evolving publishing world.

Barb, my gratitude knows no bounds.

Tagged: Barb Drozdowich, social media, website consulting, WordPress

Where Soul Meets Body

I have a new yoga studio:)

White Lotus Yoga is owned by a local woman who knows the yoga vibe. Peggy’s studio is serene and calming. In class the other day, small windows at the top of the room were open to the air and you could hear the birds chirping and feel the warm breeze wafting through the session.

I was hungry for a yoga studio, needed it and sunk into it. When you’re doing yoga there is nothing but you and your mat and your mind/body connection. Really, the biggest thought I have during yoga is “wow, I’ve hit my edge” right before I fall out of a pose. Most of the time I am breathing in the movement, feeling my body, clearing tension and kinks and opening chakras and energy lines.

PLOW

I’ve been practicing yoga for thirty years and just realized why I love plow position so much. Plow looks like this: head and shoulders on the floor, lift body up and over so toes are on floor over head and knees meet nose. That is plow. And plow took me out of all but the most gentle yoga for a two year stretch. Because while I love plow, these days it does not love me. There are a few other poses my back resists, but none leaves me feeling bereft like not flowing into plow during floor work.

Most people find plow a challenge, but for me it was always easy and right (until it wasn’t). I felt so good there. One of the stray thoughts that floated through practice the other day was that I was born in the plow position. My mother has told me this story so often and yet she called it something like double-breech birth. That is, I was folded into plow as I moved out of the birth canal and into the world. No wonder I found that position so easy and natural. Only took me thirty years to realize there might be a reason.

The secrets my body has told me during yoga …

FLOW

My doctor is fine with me flexing, stretching, twisting, and balancing, but she still says I need aerobic exercise.  There are flow yoga classes that get the heart pumping and I’ve taken them, but that was not the class I ended up at my new studio. No, I was in “basic” and that’s where I needed to be. After self-regulated sun salutations and half-moons, there is nothing better for a body than a position or an instructor that challenges you. You notice things about your body, places you’re holding on to tightness or twinges. Peggy (though she didn’t know it) gave me a new pose, something that doesn’t happen often after thirty years of practice. It’s my new favorite pose, it really flows and I’ll be doing it every day, in the studio or not.

MIND

I may have come into this world holding plow, but I will flow with serene strength to whatever comes next. That’s what yoga teaches the body. Ah but the mind. Well, ha, no better place for educating that unruly beast. We were in prayer triangle pose, which looks like it sounds, but I had my left and right confused so I wasn’t getting the twist that opens up the heart. First Peggy came next to me and mimicked the correct stance, but unlike Brian, my former teacher, instead of showing me with gentle touch, she instructed me with words. Then another person in the class said “Your OTHER left.”

And there I was right back at the bowling alley when not only my family but people from other lanes kept coming over in attempts to “help” me. There is no worse way to help me than to put unwanted attention on my form. It took me right out of yoga mind and into “well I hate this, why don’t they shut up, I’ll find it in my time” mode. And then of course the lesson sank in that this was part of my practice that day too, to let people who were not born when I first sat lotus tell me what to do and how to do it. I let my irritation float away and found prayer. I opened my heart wider.

And that, my friends, is where soul meets body.

Melissa & Me

I’ll tell you a secret about Melissa. She’s me. Everything about her adventure in those first chapters are things I experienced. Right up until she runs away from the house full of stoned men, yes, that happened to me and I ran. I also found the steeple. Cold church steps and a blanket of stars were my sanctuary that night.

That’s where Melissa and I parted ways and she became her own person, with her own angels and demons, her own connection to the supernatural. When I was on the church steps, I felt the presence of my beloved grandmother, who had recently died. My invisible angel. And at that age, on the edge of seventeen and in deep shit, I needed all the angels I could get.

Melissa doesn’t have an angel; she has a guide. Natalia is a living being, another teenaged girl, who interacts on other planes of existence, in other dimensions. Her mission is to save Melissa from a murderer. Pretty big order for a fifteen year old. But then Natalia’s family has been woven into the world of Paradise Fields for generations, and she was born to do this work, traveling between worlds.

I found mention of Paradise Fields in a book on mythology, an interest of mine since I was Melissa’s age. Sometimes with writers, a word, or two words, resonate. And Paradise Fields resonated for me. In mythology, the Fields are a plane of existence akin to my own Catholic purgatory, only nicer. I knew I had to use those words, claim them, somehow. And so I did. I built a world far removed from anything in the myths and legends, intersecting my interest in superstring theory with many “what if” elements.

My novels are earth-bound things, firmly grounded in the here and now. But for Melissa, I let my imagination take flight in ways new and thrilling. I did some other new things with Sweet Melissa. It’s my first published novella, although the form is a favorite of mine. And it’s also the first published work featuring new adults and teens. All my novels have subplots with teenaged characters–now that you know what a little vagabond I was, maybe that makes more sense. I just get that age and its challenges. But I never gave myself permission to put the new adults first in a book. Until now.

Many firsts, but that’s what we writers live for, what all creative types seek with each project. To make new. Welcome to the world, Melissa.

Tagged: New Adult, paranormal, romance

New From Then

Above is the header I’ve been trying to incorporate into the website for a week. Thursday someone will be helping me make that happen for real. Just a little preview before unveiling the new. She’s helping  me do a few other things, too. Also, I already forgot (again) how to wrap text and time is short today so just pretend I prefer this image this way. Eventually everything will work itself out. I’m confident. You need lots of that to be a writer.

I just finished a novella. The first scenes rely heavily on a short story I wrote many years ago about a trip I took many years before that. When I took the chapter to my critique group, I relied on them to let me know when anachronisms slipped in. Really, the entire trip was an anachronism, like saying “What a trip,” and not talking about vacation.

But I worked with what I had and then I asked a young friend to read and be ruthless. She worked her magic and finally I think I have a story from 1973 than works in 2014. That’s how it always works, at least for me. Writing relies on memory. Why else write but to capture those magic times when the world seemed new and full of possibilities?

Or at least that reason to write should be in the shopping cart along with love, sex, revenge, and death.

As I prepare to send my Sweet Melissa into the world, I’ll find out if I have succeeded in making over yesterday into something new. And it should arrive at just about the time the new header comes, too.

Tagged: hitchhiking, New Adult, paranormal, romance