A Writer's Life

The writer's four essentials:

A cup of coffee

A notepad

A laptop

Music

A good pen used to be on my list, but I have found that when a writer discovers an idea, she will use anything within reach to write it down.

Pen, pencil, marker, sharpie, colored pencil... it doesn't matter.

I am such a writer.

Here's a free tip, my fellow writers. Some people don't think you need a notebook; you can just use a laptop, tablet, phone, etc. I disagree. When the effort to form the words becomes a grind, try using good old-fashioned paper. Trust me, it helps.

Adding coffee is always a good thing! 😉

Now, don't get me wrong. Paper is not a cure-all for writer's block.

But there are times when it's just better.

Oh, here's another freebie for ya! If you're writing on paper, but your brain is moving

faster than you can write by hand, switch to a laptop.

I believe most of us can type faster than we can write. Just a thought.

Anyway, onto the reason for this post!

I've published my first work!

It's just a short story that I wrote nearly a year ago in the space of about two weeks.

Here's a peek at the back cover...

And the front cover...

It is available as an ebook and a paperback on Amazon.

I've got two different novels in the making and ideas for three or four more, as well a sequel to this short story that I'm working on. To be honest, I've got so many ideas that sometimes my brain doesn't know which one to work on. 🤪 Any of you writers have the same issue??

Please tell me I'm not the only weird one. 😋

"Contortion" is only six chapters, seventy-some pages long, but it's so fun!

It's clean, it's action-packed. How can you go wrong?

But, I'll let you decide. 😊

Check it out, peoples!

A Long Time Coming {Part 4}

June 18-20, 2018

Okay, first of all, if you haven't read the first three parts to "A Long Time Coming," go read them. This is part 4. :P

Abby, Mandy, Hannah, and I went to Colonial Williamsburg
for three days for our senior trip and had a blast!! I don't have a ton of pictures,
so these will have to suffice. ;P

Mandy, Abby, and I in front of the Capitol Building.

Inside the House of Burgesses...

One of the events we saw  with young Thomas
Jefferson and his personal slave Jupiter.

Waiting to get into the Charlton Coffee House.

We had an awesome tour guide for the Capitol Building.

She really knew her history!

Abby, Hannah, tour guide Carrie, Mandy, and me.

In the gardens behind the Governor's Palace.

We had so much fun together and can't wait to go back again this year!!

A Long Time Coming {Part 3}

June 11-15, 2018

My family went on vacation to see the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter in Kentucky.

Creation museum.

We rented a house just across the river in Ohio.

Hannah, Daniel, and I playing Risk one evening.

Unfortunately, my pictures did not turn out well this trip. The pics I have are of the ark.

The rectangular thing is for feed,
the round one is for water.

One of the goats in the zoo
thought the fence tasted good.

Looking up at the window in the top from the bottom story.

The animal on the left is called a zorse
{a cross between a horse and a zebra}.

I highly recommend this place. We learned a lot here and had fun doing it!

A Long Time Coming {Part 2}

June 9, 2018

I graduated this year!

Mandy and Abby {two of my best friends}, Nick {one of the guys in our church}, and I were all able to graduate together.

Mandy, Abby, and I before the ceremony.

Hannah and I on the way to the church.

Each of us created a memory table of sorts with
pictures of us and a place for gifts and cards.

 

We girls decorated our caps...

Dad officiated the ceremony.

We sang "Crown Him with Many Crowns."

We girls sang "For the Glory of the Lord."

Our respective parents presented our diplomas...

Viola! The class of 2018!

We girls decorated the reception with help from Melinda...

I don't really have good pictures of the tables.
Sorry y'all.










We had fun celebrating with our families and friends!
You'll notice in the pic below that we're actually matching in colors too. That wasn't planned at all! Looked nice though...

Congrats, Class of 2018!!!

A Long Time Coming {Part 1}

Hiya!!

This post has been a long time coming. And now that's it 2019, one of my New Year's Resolutions has been to catch up on and stay caught up on this blog. So much has happened in the last year that I got way behind, and I don't want to do that 'cause it's a pain. :P So this is my first effort and attaining my goal of catch-up.
Just to warn you though, this "A Long Time Coming" post has 4 parts to catch up for my lapse this year. This is only part 1. So be on the lookout for the rest. :P

So, first things first.

It's Tuesday, May 8, 2018.

The sun will start to set in 1 1/2 hours.

I'm headed to the airport with my mom, brother, and niece.

My destination: Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom.

Okay, okay. My storyteller's brain kicked in. But it sounds exciting, right?

It was exciting. I was headed to the airport to meet

my best friend, Dee Dee Bryant (now Porter, but that's a post for a later date.)

I had just finished school, and I was all fired up to take my senior trip.

Dee flew in to RDU from Dayton, OH, then from there she and I flew to Manchester, UK, with a layover in Atlanta.

We were headed oversees to see mutual friends, the Rooney family, missionaries in England. She knew them from the Bill Rice Ranch, and I knew them from about nine years ago when they were on deputation and they came to visit our church. They had girls our ages and Rosalyn and I immediately struck up a friendship that continued through the years through emails and Skype. She was also my writing buddy for a few years. ;)

It had been a few years since I'd seen Dee, and I was so excited!! Dee and I met probably nine years ago. Her family went to the church in PA of which my Pap was the pastor at the time. My family always hung out with her family when we were up there, and we started a friendship that we kept up through letters.

Anyway, Dee and I went to visit the Rooneys for my senior trip. We had an absolute blast and I wanted to stay for another two weeks! :D I'm not sure the Rooneys would have appreciated that though... ;P

On the second plane...

We had a short jaunt to Atlanta where we switched planes then headed off for Manchester.

It was an overnight flight, which was in one way nice because it was quiet, but not so nice 'cause neither of us slept. We each caught at most an hour because we were simply too tired to stay awake anymore.

The sunrise from the plane.
The pic didn't do it justice.

My first look at England.

We arrived Wednesday around 8:45am UK time {technical name is Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), in case anyone was wondering :P}, and we had a busy day ahead. But tired as we were, we got through it and I enjoyed it!

I believe this was taken Wednesday.

Left to right:
Dee, Elissia {sorry if I spelled that wrong}, Priscilla, William, me, Florrie {again, not sure about spelling. Sorry y'all!!}, Rosalyn, and Olivia.

Lyn and I

Wednesday was also Ellissia's fifth birthday, so we celebrated by making pizzas and milkshakes and opening presents!

{Thursday, May 10} Lyn, Dee, and I in front of
Old Hall in Gainsborough.

At the train station.

{Friday, May 11} The whole family took us to Lincoln, about a fifteen minute train ride from Gainsborough.

Top row L-R: William, Priscilla, Rosalyn, Florrie, Henry.

Bottom row L-R: Dee, Ellissia, me, Olivia.








Dee and I in front of Lincoln Castle. This building is still used as a courthouse today. Court was actually in session that day so we didn't go inside. We did the Wall Walk instead, which is pretty self explanatory. Walk on the wall surrounding the castle... ;P It was really cool though.

From the top of the Observation Tower.

From the top of the wall overlooking Lincoln.

Mrs. Rooney took Rosalyn, Olivia, Dee, and I to a tea shop in Lincoln for lunch. It was really cute.




















One of the comical things about this trip... I have a tendency to pick up on accents and speak in the same accent. I was afraid I would start to talk to a British person and they would think I was making fun of them by copying their accent. The funny thing was, around British people I was completely American. Around the Rooneys, the British just came out. I'm told I have a very "posh" British accent. But I didn't even have to try. It was really strange and sometimes annoyed Rosalyn. Cracked me up!
Love you, Lyn! ;P



I got to take some of Rosalyn's senior pictures!

{Wednesday, May 16}
Two ladies Rosalyn knows own two horses, Hero and Hattie. Rosalyn grooms them once a week I think, and I got to go with her once to help. This horse is Hero.

Sorry, the sun was right in my face. lol

Leslie and I with Hero.

We had honest-to-goodness British Fish and Chips for dinner Wednesday night. It was really good!

{Friday, May 18} I got to be there for Rosalyn's graduation party!!
I was super excited about that.
Unfortunately, I didn't really get pictures of the party itself, but I got a couple of the preparations.
We made fruit kabobs and I was able to do a chalk drawing as well.

L-R: Me, Lyn, Reema, Liv.

Reading a story to the kids before bed...

 

They got a kick out of my effort at characters' voices. Not something I'm particularly good at, so it was fun to make them laugh. ;P

Playing Uno one evening...

{Monday, May 21} Monday was London. And it was a blast. Tiring, late, but so much fun. Totally want to go back.

Dee and I in front of the British Museum.

 

The British Museum in London is H-U-G-E huge! If I stopped to read and see everything, I'd probably spend about a week in there. Since we didn't have time to spend the week, we just skimmed through certain parts of it. My favorite piece was the Rosetta Stone.

Yes, that is the f'real Rosetta Stone. ;P

Next stop was Trafalgar Square...

If I remember correctly, that is a statue of Admiral Horatio Nelson. For you non-history folks, he fought against Napoleon in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

Next was Buckingham Palace. The queen must have been home because the flag was flying.

Dee and I in front of the Palace gates.

Then we stopped by Westminster Abbey.












Random fact: this is also where William and Kate got married.

This is a guy playing the bagpipes
across the street from the Abbey.

Unfortunately, the structure you don't see because of the scaffolding is Big Ben and the Parliamentary Building.






















No, it's not the London Bridge as many people think. This iconic London feature is called the Tower Bridge.





This is the rather unspectacular London Bridge.

Overall, the trip was awesome! Hats off to the Rooneys for putting up with us for two weeks. Thank y'all so very much. I can't wait to see y'all again sometime!!!

Stay on the lookout for catch-up #2! Cheerio!