Liz Flaherty's Blog, page 43

Casino Queen by Cara Bertoia

I worked in the casino industry for a long time. As a child watching Ocean’s Eleven, they were so grown up and glamourous. They were open 24 hours, which made them seem so alive.

I was never lonely working in the casino. I always made good money and got to travel the world. To get my first job I drove across country from North Carolina to Nevada. The first casino I saw was the Cal Neva casino on the beautiful shores of Lake Tahoe. Dealing there allowed me to look out at a panoramic view of the la...

Am I the Only One by Liz Flaherty

On blogs I write for, I occasionally make the post a list. I do this in part because I can't think of anything to write and in part because I have all these miniature thoughts that don't have enough to go with them to make a column of their own. So here's my list for the week. It's called Am I the Only One and I encourage you to add to it. 
Here we go: Am I the only one who thinks a middle-of-March snow without any wind in it is pretty? Am I the only one who takes fair-weather-exercise to the ext...

What Freedom Means by Debby Myers

With all that’s going on in the world around us, the word "freedom" is at the forefront of our minds and of our discussions. If you look up the word freedom, you’ll find many definitions. Many who are discussing it now are referring to communist Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and losing the freedom they’ve had for thirty years. In that sense it means the absence of subjection to foreign domination or despotic government. That kind of freedom is unquestionably the most important to anyone living h...

When Something Changes by Liz Flaherty

Book 1 of the Second Chances series. Picture by Chris McGuire.
Last night, long after I'm usually done for the day, I typed "The End" on the last page of the second book in the Second Chances series for Magnolia Blossom Publishing. While I know I will go back into that last chapter and rip it apart and put it back together with different seams, there is still a certain kind of peace in having finished the book. It's also bittersweet, leaving those people I've spent more time with in the past six ...

Unlock My Heart by Jennifer Wilck

I love having Jennifer Wilck here today, and I love what she's written her post about, too. See if you recognize anyone you know in what she says. - Liz
It’s release day for my latest book, Unlock My Heart, and this book hits a little close to home. The hero is hard of hearing. As am I. Not to the same extent that he is—I needed to make his condition more severe for my story to work—but I also wear hearing aids, and I also mishear things (boy do I have some funny stories), and I can attest that i...

Real Life by Liz Flaherty

I will admit to being the poster child for too much Facebook. While I don't watch much TV and hardly any movies or play video games and I'm not--I don't think--addicted to my phone, I spend a lot of time in front of a computer screen. In my defense, much of the time is spent working. (As much as I love writing books and essays, yes, it is work.) However, when I need to break away from rewriting a scene for the third time because it didn't work the first two and the third isn't looking hopeful, e...

What's Better than Fun? by Randy Overbeck

 

Dr. Randy Overbeck

I enjoy reading fun and frivolous writing as much as most. More than once, a hilarious passage has enabled me to cope with a challenge or personal struggle in my life. And I have to admit to the guilty pleasure of grabbing a silly beach read for no reason other than pure escapism. And more often than naught, I’ve found myself caught up in the thrill of some car chase or the deep suspense of some twisted plot from a bestselling author…or a newly discovered writer.

But most tim...

Snow Moon by Liz Flaherty

This morning, when I started outside to go to my office, the door was frozen shut. I couldn't budge it. Still wearing my coat with a banana and my phone in the pockets and my snow boots without socks, I wandered around the kitchen for a minute, trying to decide what to do. I didn't want to break the door, obviously. 

I thought of going out the front door. I'm sure it's not frozen, but I wouldn't be able to lock it behind me, either, and what if Duane gets up, sees the deadbolt is unengaged, and l...

Learning and Legacies by Charley Sutton

I'm pleased to welcome Charley Sutton to the Wednesday at the Window. I always enjoy his Facebook posts and am so glad he decided to visit us here today.

I turned fifty-four years old in January. I never dreamed that I would make it to fifty let alone fifty-four. Twenty-one took forever. I was twenty-eight when my daughter was born, and thirty-six when my son was born. The first year of sleepless nights with my children seemed endless, but time flew by after our kids slept through night. Sometim...

The Woman in the Mirror by Liz Flaherty

From 2018...

Do you ever feel as if you lost yourself somewhere along the way? If you've had a bad time or an extraordinarily good one, do you ever look in the mirror and wonder exactly who's looking back at you? Because you've changed, and you're not sure what to do with the person who's there.

I'm feeling thoughty here--can you tell? I'm always, always whining about how much I hate change, yet when I look back--over bad times and extraordinarily good ones, it's an ongoing cycle, isn't it? It's w...