Happy New Year 2015! (and a look back at the blessings of 2014)
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I love my flowers! Pansies and lobelia. |
I
offer, then, this probably not-so-short list of things this year has held that
deserve much more public praise than I’ve given them:
·
January:
Our move to North Dakota. How are we doing, almost a year later? Well, overall,
I can honestly say I love it here. There are things I don’t love, of course,
and maybe it’s just that I’m learning as never before to honestly choose
gratitude and contentment, but for the most part Troy and I both feel we’ve
flourished. Even on his out-of-town trips, my husband is no longer on the other
side of the planet. He’s loving being able to work a “regular” job, no longer
stressed to the point of needing medication.
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And my clematis ... |
·
April,
May, September, December: Seeing how God has sustained us through several
medical crises with my mother this year ... a bad hip fracture and resulting
surgery, multiple severe heart blockages that necessitated emergency quadruple
bypass surgery, and a nasty infection that led to the amputation of all the
toes on one foot. Hard things, all, yet ... she’s still with us. Still able to
talk with us and be our family’s rear-guard in prayer, as she has been since
forced retirement a few years ago.
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Even the view from my backyard is therapeutic |
·
July: In
the meantime, I was offered a second novella contract, on a story idea that I’d
pronounced my silliest ever. :-) Of course my editor liked that one the best, but
I couldn’t help but be excited!
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RITA finalists get to have their book at the store table...wow! |
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A new phone means a few selfies! With a bestie, of course :-) |
·
August/September:
a crushing pair of months in which some of our older children drive
cross-country to visit, we plan our trip back to South Carolina for our eldest
son’s wedding, I start and finish the first draft of my upcoming novella in
less than three weeks, and ... God up and changed my plans once again, and
handed me the next incredible blessing of attending not just RWA, but ACFW as
well. Less than a week after the wedding, to boot. I got to meet veteran author
Lauraine Snelling, the conference keynote and one of my Pioneer Christmas co-authors.
Was challenged to tears by her messages. Attended my first author/publisher
party. Got to see my first book in the conference bookstore for the first time.
Had not just one, but two editors—one my longtime dream publisher, one my
newest dream publisher—request to see more of Loyalty. And, with half an hour
to spare before I had to leave the conference, brought my hoped-for agent to my table at the gala, for a quick but
intensely profitable conversation ... which led to ...
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a historic church and the marvel of the St. Louis Arch |
(Yes!!! Take note! After more than thirty years of writing
novel-length fiction ... seven completed manuscripts ... one little published
novella and another to come ... God gave me an agent!!)
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My newest cover! Coming May 2015 |
I’ve finished up the year praying
about what direction to take now ... in my various stories in progress, the
other blogs I write for, and for this one. I made the decision to do some
fine-tuning on this blog and give it a more professional focus. I’ll be
continuing with the devotionals at The Borrowed Book, and as a contributor on
Colonial Quills, as well. After a long dry spell writing-wise, and a highly
emotional year family-wise, I’m back in the saddle and ready to meet whatever
this next year might hold. God is my strength ... and He’s proven Himself so amazingly
faithful ... I cannot wait to see what He has next!
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