How would you live with one year left?

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How would you live with one year left?

I’m participating in the “A Time to Die” Blog Hop!

This hop is to spread the word about Nadine Brandes’s new dystopian novel, A Time to Die, releasing September 23rd. It is also to encourage myself and others to look deeper into how we would live if we knew how short our time was.

Nadine Brandes "A Time To Die."

Personally, I’ve actually thought about this subject a lot, ever since I was a little girl. (The Little House books kind of started a fascination with the dreadful, I guess… I used to pretend I was blind Mary, just to see how that would be. ‘Till mom forbade it… ;-)

)
The sudden losses of almost all my extended family didn’t help things, I’m sure. (Grandparents, uncles… my last, and youngest, uncle died in an accident at 30 years of age. I was in my mid teens.)
I kind of went through each day as if I was only separated from the grave by a hair… which definitely is a realistic view, and kept me concentrating on the important things, such as my spiritual walk, and relationships with my family.
But it was a rather oppressive life perspective, and I’ve been able to grow into the view of being given an infinite amount of time, who can tell when my time will be up? It could be long and lengthy! ;-)

Anyway, I kind of put my life on hold even as a teen, I felt unsure of being able to finish any big project, and so just kept “to the ruts in the road” kind of thing. So, now, I’ve concentrated on living: I want to take my mom and sis to Florida one winter, and visit the Disney park there. 2016 maybe? (My parents went after they got married, and Mom has always talked about wanting to take us kids there. Now that we’re all grown, I’d like to take her, instead. :-)

) And I want to finish my books. I’ve got a second series started this year, (3 ms. completed, 2 more to go! ;-)

) and I want to clear out the WIPs on my hard drive from the past ten years. :-)

I’ve come to the “finishing season” of my writing career, and so I’m anxious to get those unfinished jewels cut, polished and complete. :-)

I have a year to live… and many more after that! But if I should wake up one morning and have that be my last, there is nothing I’d regret. I am safe in the hand of a King much more capable and important than anything I could ever do, say or think, so if He’s okay with my going home…. I’m WAY more than okay with it!
Parvin Blackwater believes she has wasted her life. At only seventeen, she has one year left according to the Clock by her bedside. In a last-ditch effort to make a difference, she tries to rescue Radicals from the government’s crooked justice system.But when the authorities find out about her illegal activity, they cast her through the Wall — her people’s death sentence. What she finds on the other side about the world, about eternity, and about herself changes Parvin forever and might just save her people. But her Clock is running out.This is the first book in the Out of Time Series. Released September 23rd from Enclave Publishing.