First Quarter Reckoning

So, I am still (loosely) following the Ines Johnson Page Turner Planner system. Part of that is to reflect after each quarter—a good practice. It’s so easy to think you haven’t accomplished anything at all. At least, it is for me.

But in tallying up the first quarter of 2026, I discovered I did quite a bit.

The biggest, obviously, is getting a solid draft of The Marigold Miracle, which is now spell-checked, formatted, and resting quietly.

Other things I did:

  • Started Booking Through Thursday.
  • Submitted two short stories, one of which is in the final round of consideration.
  • Got a BookBub Free Reads deal for Must Love Ghosts that was tremendous.
  • Added a funnel to The Pansy Paradox at the end of Coffee & Ghosts book four—a short excerpt with a link to the extended preview.
  • Updated my WordPress template.
  • Migrated my email newsletter list to a different provider. This was not fun, but I’m glad I did it.

Things I didn’t do or dropped:

  • I wanted to look at drafting short stories, but my entire attention was on The Marigold Miracle, so this didn’t happen. It may happen in the next weeks while the manuscript rests. I’m fine with this. My entire brain was in the world of King’s End, and that’s where it needed to be.
  • The Jane Eyre slow read. I don’t know if it was the audio version or what (and yes, I know I could switch to a print version). But Adele sounded like a fifty-year-old French woman, and I’m not even sure what Mr. Rochester sounded like, except for wrong. But since it felt like a relief to stop, I think I made the right decision here.

And that’s my first quarter. I hope you take time to reflect and discover that you also did so much more than you imagined—even if it wasn’t exactly what you planned on doing.

Booking Through Thursday: Poetry

Welcome to Booking Through Thursday, a weekly bookish meme about books and reading for everyone who loves both. Booking Through Thursday was first hosted by Deb. With permission, I’ve restarted it in 2026.

This week’s prompt:

Happy April! In honor of National Poetry Month, today’s prompt is all about poetry. Do you read it? Have a favorite poet? Avoid it altogether? Let us know in the comments or on your blog.

Do you read poetry or have a favorite poet?

How to play:

  • On your blog: Copy the question/image for your blog, answer it there, and post a quick comment here with a link or trackback to your post so we can read it.
  • On social media: Copy the image, answer the prompt, and post a quick comment here with a link.
  • Right here: Answer in the comments and start the discussion here. No need to have a blog to play.

Note: If it’s your first time here, your comment may end up in moderation. (My spam filter is aggressive.) I’ll be in after my writing sprints to set it free.

P.S. The prompt is always open, and you don’t have to play on Thursday. Comment whenever you like!

April’s Booking Through Thursday prompts (no fooling)

For those who like to plan ahead, here are the April 2026 Booking Through Thursday prompts:

  • April 2: Do you read poetry or have a favorite poet?
  • April 9: Are you a Goldilocks reader (everything needs to be just right)? Or can you read anywhere?
  • April 16: Do you remember learning to read? If not, what is your earliest memory of reading?
  • April 23: It’s National Library Week! Do you have a local library that you visit? If so, tell us about it.
  • April 30: Have you ever visited a Little Free Library? Did you know that you can find them all over the world?

Want to suggest a prompt? Leave a comment or use the contact form to send it my way.

It’s done! (Well, mostly.)

This draft of The Marigold Miracle is done!

Well, mostly.

It’s not the final draft, but it is the draft that has all its moving parts—or, at least, most of them. If someone read this particular draft, they could follow the story. I filled in all the missing scenes, wrote a new beginning, and picked up where I left off with the epilogue.

In the previous draft, I stopped writing in the middle of that epilogue. Yes, really! It was in my head, the last line in particular, so it didn’t really matter if it was on the page.

What comes next? I’m going to run a spellcheck, since when I draft, I never use spelling or grammar checking or turn on anything that provides “helpful” hints. (And Copilot is even more annoying than Clippy.)

After that, I’ll put it in manuscript format and then let it rest.

For how long? I’m not sure. I’m thinking between four and eight weeks. Then I’ll print that monster and do a paper edit.

And it is a monster of a story: 160,000 words, y’all.

This is the longest book I’ve ever written, beating The Pansy Paradox by 20,000 words. I did add a point of view (Marigold’s) and wrote a new beginning, so this makes sense.

I will streamline things in the edit, but I know my writing process well enough to know that I won’t move the needle that much. I tend to streamline and cut in one place only to add in another.

But for now? It. Is. Done.

Well, mostly.

Booking Through Thursday: seasonal reading

Welcome to Booking Through Thursday, a weekly bookish meme about books and reading for everyone who loves both. Booking Through Thursday was first hosted by Deb. With permission, I’ve restarted it in 2026.

This week’s prompt:

It’s spring here in the Northern Hemisphere, so this week’s question is about seasonal reading. Does your reading change along with the seasons?

Let us know in the comments below or on your own blog.

Does your reading change with the seasons?

How to play:

  • On your blog: Copy the question/image for your blog, answer it there, and post a quick comment here with a link or trackback to your post so we can read it.
  • On social media: Copy the image, answer the prompt, and post a quick comment here with a link.
  • Right here: Answer in the comments and start the discussion here. No need to have a blog to play.

Note: If it’s your first time here, your comment may end up in moderation. (My spam filter is aggressive.) I’ll be in after my writing sprints to set it free.

P.S. The prompt is always open, and you don’t have to play on Thursday. Comment whenever you like!

Spring has (sort of) sprung!

What a difference a week makes! Last week, we were in the middle of an epic snowstorm. Yesterday, I took my first walk of spring.

It was in the 70s yesterday! Of course, today, it’s a bit colder. This is Minnesota, and we won’t get true spring for a while. Still, winter is (mostly) in the rearview mirror.

I had my root canal on Tuesday. Here’s a public service announcement about that:

Take the next two days off.

No, really. Do so. I did not, and I really wish I had. Also, if there is another root canal in my future, someone, please, gently remind me that this post exists. Future me will thank you.

So, in the spirit of taking time off, I’m going to keep this short.

Wishing everyone a restful Sunday.

Booking Through Thursday: vacation reading

Welcome to Booking Through Thursday, a weekly bookish meme about books and reading for everyone who loves both. Booking Through Thursday was first hosted by Deb. With permission, I’ve restarted it in 2026.

This week’s prompt:

In honor of all the upcoming spring breaks—and breaks in general—what kinds of books do you like to read while on vacation?

Let us know in the comments below or on your own blog.

What kinds of books do you like to read on vacation?

How to play:

  • On your blog: Copy the question/image for your blog, answer it there, and post a quick comment here with a link or trackback to your post so we can read it.
  • On social media: Copy the image, answer the prompt, and post a quick comment here with a link.
  • Right here: Answer in the comments and start the discussion here. No need to have a blog to play.

Note: If it’s your first time here, your comment may end up in moderation. (My spam filter is aggressive.) I’ll be in after my writing sprints to set it free.

P.S. The prompt is always open, and you don’t have to play on Thursday. Comment whenever you like!

Snowbound

We’re still in the middle of that promised snowstorm.

Can you see the deer in the woods there? Poor things. I’d invite them inside except:

  • I doubt they’d accept
  • With two dogs and a cat? Chaos.

Can you imagine? (Actually, I can imagine—I see them gathered around a table, like dogs playing poker.)

This week, I discovered that you can scrupulously brush and floss, see the dentist twice a year, and still need a root canal. In my case? According to my dentist, possible childhood trauma—the sort where one’s mouth meets the metal bars of a circa 1970s play structure. Apparently, this sort of injury can linger for years (even decades) and suddenly decide to abscess.  

So, I have that on my social calendar for this week.

The reason for my subscriber-only post yesterday was to test its functionality. Does it really work? Does the text end up in the RSS feed, either on WordPress or over on Goodreads, and so on?

It does work!

Here’s what I’m thinking of doing:

A read-along for The Pansy Paradox in the run-up to the release of The Marigold Miracle.

I need to review Pansy anyway before I dive into the full revision of The Marigold Miracle. But I wanted to do something as a thank-you for everyone who has stuck with me for all these years, both here and on my email list.

I could simply offer up the e-book for a limited time. But I wanted to do something fun, provide some behind-the-scenes writing-related content, and the like.

Of course, I have no idea if anyone will read along. That’s the risk of this.

So, this week, I’m going to assess the feasibility of a read-along. If I determine that it’s sufficiently fun for me, then I’ll go for it. In the same way that Booking Through Thursday is, and The (Love) Stories of 2020 was.

But today, I think we’re going to hunker down and hope the power doesn’t go out.

Booking Through Thursday: required reading

Welcome to Booking Through Thursday, a weekly bookish meme about books and reading for everyone who loves both. Booking Through Thursday was first hosted by Deb. With permission, I’ve restarted it in 2026.

This week’s prompt:

Whether it was middle school, high school, or college—or maybe even a book club—did you ever encounter a book from a required reading list that you dreaded, but ended up loving?

Or simply appreciating it, if love is too strong a word. Let us know in the comments below or on your own blog.

What book from a required reading list did you end up loving (or, at least, appreciating)?

How to play:

  • On your blog: Copy the question/image for your blog, answer it there, and post a quick comment here with a link or trackback to your post so we can read it.
  • On social media: Copy the image, answer the prompt, and post a quick comment here with a link.
  • Right here: Answer in the comments and start the discussion here. No need to have a blog to play.

Note: If it’s your first time here, your comment may end up in moderation. (My spam filter is aggressive.) I’ll be in after my writing sprints to set it free.

P.S. The prompt is always open, and you don’t have to play on Thursday. Comment whenever you like!