Category: Writing

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.

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.

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.

Early mornings and Jane Eyre

So, more than a week into my new (very) early morning writing routine, and I’m pleased to say that it seems to be working. I’m getting more words per day, and they feel like better ones. (I mean, they may not be better ones, but they feel that way.)

Something is clicking in these early-morning sessions, writing before the day intrudes. I don’t even check the weather before I start writing. But I get my words in, and then it doesn’t matter so much how the rest of my day goes. Like last week, when the furnace decided to stop working.

I also decided to dive into the slow read of Jane Eyre. In fact, I was listening to my chapters yesterday instead of writing my check-in. And while the narrator is working well in the audio version, it’s really Caroline’s voice that is so soothing. I loved listening to the Possession debriefs, and I’m looking forward to the first Jane Eyre one today.

The respite of books and, oddly enough, Duolingo

Well, January was certainly the longest year.

It’s been a lot, I’m not going to lie. But I’ve managed to do some writing, and some reading, and I even made it to the first meeting of my book club.

We read If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin. We all agreed that, in its own way, the book was a timely read, even though it was published in 1974. The group was so welcoming to me, as a new member, and I’m excited for next month.

I’ve rearranged my schedule, so I write in the very early mornings, while it’s still dark out. Although, can it actually be morning if it’s still dark out?

When I can, I read. Another thing I’ve been doing? Duolingo. Really. Last year, I was using it to learn a little Italian before I left on my trip. Now, I’m revisiting German. Between the four years in high school and two in college, I figured that would be the easiest language to start with. Maybe it’s that familiarity, but it’s an oddly peaceful activity.

I’m also thinking of signing up for the slow read of Jane Eyre over at The Tattooed Governess (formerly Book (& Craft) Alchemy). At some point, I bought the audio version, and it’s oddly soothing in the moment, too.

Finally, if you’re looking to help Minnesota but don’t know where to donate, may I suggest ICA Food Shelf? They do tremendous work. Currently, they’re ramping up new support programs and would be grateful for any amount you can give.

Reading in 2026

So, I read 91 books in 2025. This is a good number, great even. Generally, I read between 85 and 100 books a year. (Although one year I logged 118.)

This might sound strange, but in 2026, I want to read more. Or perhaps differently. Most of my reading this year was recreational—which is awesome—but I need more variety if I’m going to write.

Odd thing: when I was commuting to the day job, I was getting that. The fastest I ever got to work (door to parking garage) was 45 minutes. Heading home? Oh. Don’t get me started on that, but easily an hour and a half. (Some days? In winter? A three-hour drive home.)

I was a captive audience; I had to listen to whatever I’d checked out from the library. Either that or drive-time radio and … no, thank you.

This, I realize, really fed my writing. The reading wasn’t necessarily research-related. It was more like fueling my brain for writing, filling the gas tank, if you will. (In CliftonStrengths terms, I’m a #2 Input; I need input.)

Despite how busy I was, I could get several hours of reading in each day.

What’s my problem now?

I’ve confined my reading to (mostly) the evenings. I’ve always read in the evenings, so this isn’t a surprise. What I need to do is add afternoon sessions.

This feels decadent. I feel like I should be doing something. (I blame the hustle/grind culture and toxic productivity for this.)

But isn’t reading doing something? I think it is. And it’s something I need to do if I’m going to write. So, one thing I want to do in 2026 is practice those afternoon reading sessions. And I have one planned for today.