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Delight in the Little Things
Today’s card is a very simple, yet poignant quote from Rudyard Kipling, British short-story writer, novelist, poet, journalist, probably best known for his collection of stories in The Jungle Book and his poem Gunga Din. The quote reads: Delight in the little things. – Rudyard Kipling I can’t help but harken back to my younger days, when I was a child growing up in Bowie, Maryland. We lived in our ranch on Pointer Ridge Drive until I was 13 years old. What we learn as children can often inform our lives as we grow and age and work and then retire. The truth is, compared to now, life was simpler…
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Sorry, I Just Think It’s Weird—House of the Dragon, updates on a new book, a reunion & Italy
Thoughts on House of the Dragon’s Casting Last Sunday night on House of the Dragon, they replaced the two actresses who played Raenyra (Milly Alcock) and Alicent (Emily Carey) with two other actresses as ten years had passed between the previous episode and Sunday night’s. The switch was jarring—they didn’t look or act like the previous characters. I’m sorry, I just think it’s weird in today’s era of movie making that they would choose to do this—films age characters all the time. What’s even stranger is that Matt Smith who plays Daemon, continues in his role, looking no older than before despite the passage of 10 years. As well, Paddy…
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Do You Google While You Watch? And other thoughts…
I was thinking about the shows that my husband and I tend to watch on television. Most of them require me to Google while I watch, meaning they are typically rooted in some sort of reality or history, and we’re often pausing the television as we search to see how much of it is true. Do you do this, too? The benefit of online access is that we can check dates, facts, people’s names and histories, etc. The problem is, we need to know which credible sources we can turn to in times of our curiosity and which ones are accurate. One of the things I’ve prided myself on all…
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Book Launch! The Letters in the Books Now Available
Good morning, sunshines! I have been waiting for weeks to be able to say that The Letters in the Books is now available. It’s also probably fair to say that I worked harder on this book than any of the previous ones. After two and a half years, I can finally say this project is done. Writing from the perspectives of five main characters–two men and three women–was cumbersome and a lot of fun. Setting the novel in Annapolis once again was a thrill. I can honestly say I don’t do this for the money, for any recognition, or for any other reason except that it fills a creative niche…
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One Week to the Publication of The Letters in the Books
Dear Eva, Lily, Reid, Dimitri, and Meg, It seems our time together has come to an end. The five of you have been living inside my head for more than two years now. It’s been a wonderful journey, but I’m afraid it’s time to let you go. As the world is spinning out of control and there are a lot of horrible things happening out there, it was a pleasure to tell this story and remind people that there is goodness out there, and that people have the capacity to choose the path to kindness. I will not soon forget the time we have spent together. But all good things…
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We Need a Little Christmas, Especially This Year
We Still Need a Little Christmas…and we desperately need Charles Dickens’ reminder to be a good human being in 2021 and beyond. Living through this pandemic and seeing what I see daily on social media convinced me (do people really need to be so nasty to others, even if you disagree on things?????) that I needed to do what I could to help promote charity and goodwill. Additionally, I’ve weathered a hip replacement and continuing SI-Joint issues that leave me in pain, and honestly, I just needed to distract myself with something pleasant. So, all summer I wrote the continuation of Ebenezer Scrooge’s story called From Humbug to Humble: The…
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Fashion Friday
It’s been quite a long time since I’ve shared some of my fashion photos. For fun, I like to share some of my outfits on Instagram, and I do have a passion for fashion. I’ve always loved clothes and dressing to suit either my mood or my personality. And I often wear black, which started to get on my nerves, but then I searched Jennifer Aniston on Pinterest and realized that she also embraces her love of the color black. And writers—we writers just love to wear the color black. So, I just gave up on trying to become more colorful with my garments…and will continue to strive to be…
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Twilight and Twinkles and Travel
* As I tell my students in the special topics in travel writing course I teach, travel happens as soon as you step outside your door. Day trips, afternoon trips, and evening trips can all be wonderful experiences, especially when you’re sharing the time with someone you love. It can also be great to go exploring by yourself. In our local travel writing class, students often pick Annapolis as their spot. I love to read about my hometown from their perspective, some of them only visiting Annapolis for their first or second time. As I’ve grown up in this area and have spent lots of time cavorting and entertaining in…
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Writing About Baseball: The Slump from The Postcard & Other Short Stories
I’ll always have a little bit of baseball in my soul, even all these years later after having worked for the Orioles. The truth is, I grew up in baseball. I did. From the age of 19 through my early 30s, I learned so much from working for the Baltimore Orioles organization. That experience molded me and helped me in the careers I have chosen now. It also gave me some pretty remarkable friendships (and I also got a husband and two great kids out of the deal). One of those careers I have today is that of a writer of novels and short stories. Today, I decided to share…
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The Results of My Favorite Kind of Getaway Research
Hello Dear Readers, I’m back from a fabulous weekend in Oxford, Maryland, with my husband. The Eastern Shore of Maryland is uniquely qualified to sufficiently relax you, while at the same time, invigorate your creative spirit. And if you’ve been following along on my blog for the last week, I needed the getaway so much, having pulled my lower back in the most extraordinary of ways (bending over to reach for something in a drawer, go figure!) that left me in pain for a good 10 days. Having nursed myself back from that injury to being able to enjoy the weekend without agony was an accomplishment in itself. Hours spent…
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Bucket List Item – Staying at the “Real” Inn Significant
*** Tomorrow, my birthday wish will come true, thanks to my husband. When he asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I told him I wanted to stay at the Sandaway Suites & Beach in the quaint, Eastern Shore town of Oxford, Maryland. It just so happens that it’s the real-life inn that inspired my third novel, Inn Significant. The original plan for that novel was to have it set in Annapolis, just as my first book was set there (that one’s called Beneath the Mimosa Tree). I headed to Annapolis with my camera in hand, and began to stroll all the side streets in search of that place that…
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Compare Yourself to a Hopeless Romantic
Do you believe this? This is the prompt I got handed today. COMPARE YOURSELF TO A HOPELESS ROMANTIC. But I AM a bloody hopeless romantic, so I can’t compare myself to myself! Look—some people know they are certain ways. For example, someone who’s a realist looks at the world through that lens—the lens of realism. He won’t allow any mushiness or extremely flowery notions seep into his pores. He just puts all his marbles into things that are real, nothing too touchy-feely, nothing too fantastical, nothing too intangible. Period. End of sentence. Have you ever tried to argue with a realist when you’re not one? You know it’s hard. Don’t…
