Category: Check-in

Book-packing event

I was going to write a bit more about libraries, along with how I’m approaching this current revision. However, I attended a book-packing event yesterday at the Little Free Library headquarters in St. Paul.

It was so much fun. Between packing books for shipment across the country and taking some for our own libraries, I think we cleared out the two big bins of donated books. I was able to restock my own library, which has been looking a little thin lately. Someone has already snagged the really cool dinosaur book I brought back.  

But now? Well, now. I. Am. Tired.

So I’ll save my musings for next week, but leave you with these beautiful murals on the building’s exterior. I especially love the optical illusion with the butterflies.

Reader mural
Butterfly mural

Snow and Shakespeare

As I stepped outside this morning, the tiniest snowflakes were falling from the sky. It’s clear now, but cold. Not sure I’m going to make it into the garden today. It’s just a little too chilly for comfort at the moment, but we’ll see.

The cold reminded me that last year at this time, I was traipsing around Italy (and Florence in particular), so I scanned my photos and found this view of the Duomo from the Boboli Gardens:

Which is a great view for a Sunday.

When I did second-quarter planning, I thought I’d spend some time on the short stories I didn’t write during the first quarter of the year.

This is not happening. This is probably a surprise to no one but me.

My head is in King’s End completely, and I suspect it will remain there until the entire series is drafted. So be it. It’s not a bad place to be.

I’ve made it through my first Shakespeare lesson. This week, I’m looking forward to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Tempest, and the Hamnet watch party. Whew. It’s going to be a BIG Shakespeare week.

Shakespeare and Sunshine

Yesterday was cold, rainy, and blustery—the perfect day to watch King Lear. Which is exactly what I did, since I’m taking a Shakespeare course through the folkloric lens at The Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic.

Because, of course, I am.

Today, though? Today, while still cloudy, is promising sunshine. Things are turning green. I really need to venture into the garden, start pruning, and generally prepare for the growing season.

It’s already 62 degrees. I’m going to assume the sun will make a grand appearance later in the day. So, I’m heading outside to stomp around in the mud for a while.

Happy Sunday, everyone!

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.

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.

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.

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.

Dishes and DST

Oh, y-a-w-n. It’s everybody’s favorite time of year, when we lose an hour. I feel as if I should go look for it; maybe it’s hiding in the basement.

Or not.

I do know that in a week or so, I’ll be grateful for the extra daylight in the evenings. I won’t feel as if I should be hibernating.

Last week, late Saturday/early Sunday, my daughter arrived home after another international adventure, this one in Australia and Italy. We spent most of last week catching up, figuring out groceries for two, getting her car squared away, and watching the Frost Giants play.

Also? I’ve been mystified by how an extra person in the house exponentially increases the number of dirty dishes.

On the writing front, I’ve been heads down working on The Marigold Miracle. I like where it’s going, but I do worry a bit about the length. It’s going to be longer than the first book. Although, since I’ve added a point of view, maybe that’s expected. Then again, it’s fantasy, so I feel like I have more word count to play around with.

In any case, I hope to have this draft wrapped up by the end of March so I can let it rest all of April before diving back in.

Also, I have all of March’s Booking Through Thursday posts ready to go. You can look forward to:

  • March 5: Favorite format for reading
  • March 12: What did you end up loving (or appreciating) from a required reading list
  • March 19: Spring break/vacation reading
  • March 26: Does your reading change with the seasons

Hope to see you on Thursday!

So, maybe Monday check-ins?

I’m starting to think I need to move my weekly check-ins from Sunday to Monday. It wasn’t Jane Eyre that distracted me this time, but my book club. And writing. Not going to lie, I spent plenty of time Sunday morning working on the manuscript and then didn’t have time to blog before meeting with my book club.

We read My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite and had a great discussion about the book.

Also, I have suddenly found myself in another book club. Not quite sure how I went from zero to one book club, then a slow read, and now another book club, but here we are. We are currently contemplating the four (!) books we want to read.

In other news, I still need to clean (more) of my house. I’m still writing in the very early mornings, and that’s working out so well. I’m almost to the point of having a draft that I consider a “real” draft.

Wishing you all a good week. Take care and be safe.

Tropical February

It’s that part of February where we get a classic warm spell. Fifty degrees Fahrenheit yesterday with lots of sun, and we’re looking at that for today as well. Yes, it’ll get colder again, but considering that a month ago, the highs were below zero, we’ll take it.

In fact, I saw people out shopping in sleeveless shirts yesterday. They looked so happy.

In writing news, I completed the new opening of The Marigold Miracle. There’s a lot of revision to be done on the existing draft. Even so, I’m pleased. I feel more confident in saying that I can publish the book this year. (Lord willing and the creek don’t rise. I’m always hedging my bets.)

Today is Sunday, which means it’s Jane Eyre day. I’m going to listen and clean my house a bit. It’s getting to the point where someone might question whether I have ever cleaned my house.

Wishing you warm weather and plenty of sunshine.