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If I could have one superpower … (plus bookcase photos)

Many years ago, probably after a library sale or a buying spree at a used book store, I remember joking to a friend, “I’m buying books now to read in my retirement.” Ha ha ha. Little did I know! (Click each photo to zoom in.) There are probably thousands of quotes and memes that diehard

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Before and after: My DIY pandemic haircut

One of the things I missed in 2020 was being able to get a haircut with some regularity. Checking my calendar, it’s possible I didn’t get any haircuts in 2020, as the last one I see is in November 2019. Throughout my adult life, there have been dozens of times when I didn’t make an

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I published another book! (though I didn’t write it)

For most of this year, I have allowed myself to get sidetracked from my writing. After my semi-hopeless-sounding post last January (good heavens, 10 months!), I actually did finish the draft of my novel in February, and felt good about what I produced in the first several weeks of the year. And then, I was

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Where have I been? What the heck have I been doing?

This is just a quick post to explain what I’ve been doing for the last six to eight months. This is a photo I took of my TV screen a week ago, of The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC, and her now-famous wall-size display that lists all the people (by position, not personal name) who

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The last time I tried to do NaNoWriMo …

… I basically crashed and burned. It was last year, November 2015. I started out fairly well, as far as my word count and trying to do some amount of writing every day. I started writing the second book in what I’m hoping will be a three-book series. I had been trying to write the first

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I got a little bit carried away …

… and thanks to BookMooch, half price days at the Chandler Booktique at TSCPL, and one order from Better World Books, I’ve acquired all these in the past month. All my packages have arrived, and I’m planning to NOT get any more books for a while. But what a lovely stack! Isn’t it marvelous? Looking

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Writing, or reading? Can I do both, maybe?

Here’s a three-minute overview of my past nine months of writing (or trying to write) fiction — specifically, a romance novel. First, start with the germ of an idea, and “pants” through several chapters. Realize there isn’t enough conflict, change some things, and start over with basically the same characters but different circumstances. Work on

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Late July journal updates

Wow, I knew I hadn’t posted in a while, but didn’t realize it’s been over two months — jeesh! And truthfully, this is sort of a faux-post, which I’m able to put up only because Ryan’s baseball coach decided not to go to the post-season awards night.  Apparently Ryan was one of only two or

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