Last week I told you a story about my youngest son. Today's is all about a trip my oldest and I took together a couple of summers ago.

When was the last time you got lost?

In today's age with a gps built right into my phone, it's not often that I get lost. Trust me though to find an exception. A couple of summers ago, my oldest son, Ben, and I were headed down by Detroit to watch one of his friends play baseball. The weather was lovely and off we headed. We were doing really well, making good time, until we came across a train stopped on the tracks. Since we were limited on time, I decided to go around...and that's when it happened.

The turn I took didn't lead to where I thought it was going to. We were in the middle of nowhere and suddenly my phone lost signal. I was trying to keep positive so I joked that we were on an adventure. I got to the end of a road and took a left. Luckily, it led to a place called Turkeyville. Unluckily, my stomach had started acting up and I badly needed to find a bathroom. We pulled into the parking lot, but they were closed. No worries, a girl was walking across the parking lot. Surely she'd let me use the bathroom since it was becoming an emergency and then give me directions to the freeway. Nope. She acted as if she didn't hear me calling out repeatedly to her.

As I watched her go inside the building, my confidence was a bit shaken, but just then an rv pulled out from a side road. Since those often head towards civilization, I decided to follow it. Just a few miles down the road was a golf club. I was never so happy to see a sport I don't love. I pulled in and told Ben to wait in the car. I hurried inside to use the bathroom but before I was done, I heard Ben in the hall asking someone for a bandaid. Ut-oh...someone hadn't listened. Turns out he had come in and tripped on the sidewalk and skinned up his knee. Luckily for us, the gear shop had a first aid kit and got him fixed up while I got directions. Turns out I was only about a half mile from the freeway! Whew!

There were a few more small adventures before we got to the baseball tournament, but at least we weren't lost again!






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Hey, everyone! Some of you may have noticed that the site got really quiet for about a month. It turns out that my little cough turned into pneumonia and knocked me out for about five weeks. I did little more than lay on the couch and watch tv. I didn't have the concentration to read, to work, anything. To say it was frustrating is probably the understatement of the new year. Finally though, after six weeks or so, I've been told by the doctor that my lung x-rays are clear again. Yay! Of course, after doing a bit of shoveling, I do have a cough creeping back in, but I'm going to be keeping a close eye on it.

Now that I'm better, it's time to make some plans for 2020! I finished the first draft of Nevermore at the end of 2019 and I'm waiting for notes from Nick. I hear there are a lot of them...erk! That's okay though. It's just going to make me a better writer. I also finished Tales from the Toy Store and sent that out to some beta readers. I should have some notes back on that soon and then Eric Cockrell and I will be working together to add some art before working on a launch.

On the editing side, I'm currently accepting projects. Being sick really hurt my finances. On top of that, I just love proofreading and editing. I can't wait to dive into some new projects. If you're looking for someone, don't hesitate to reach out.

Now, it's about time for me to be mom. My oldest, Ben, is doing Special Olympics basketball and it's practice night. His first tournament is this weekend, so wish us luck!






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It's been a long time since I wrote about anything personal here. I bet some of you have noticed that. Others of you may just be used to coming here for book reviews. Tonight though, I write about myself and my life and I hope that you'll read it with as much love as you do my other posts.
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I love quotes. Even on my worst days, it's not uncommon to find me looking for new quotes on a variety of subjects. Tonight, I came across the one posted in the graphic and it made me stop and think about my life and my daily struggles. It was just about 14 months ago that I was diagnosed with Bipolar II disorder. Let me tell you that those words brought the strongest combination of fear and relief that I think I've had since Ben was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy.  I finally had a name for what I was going through. With a name, maybe I could find a battle strategy..

Battle..seems like a word that's saved for things like cancer, doesn't it? I guess I was just gung ho about reclaiming my life from something that had been stealing it from me. It took me nearly a year to come to terms with the fact that it would never go away. There is no cure. It is and always will be a part of my regular life. It's taken a year, but slowly I'm taking back my life.

For the first time in probably about four years, my kitchen is nearly scrubbed back to immaculate. My bathroom and laundry room are both about 15-20 minutes away from company ready. My living room is still cluttered, but I'm making progress on it. If you remember, hoarding tendencies came along for the ride so the fact that you can easily navigate the downstairs is a huge deal.

Is life perfect? Oh goodness no, but it's so much better than it was. I've accepted that daily medication is going to be a part of my life for a long time, if not forever. Yes, there will be time when we have to adjust it and yes, the weight that it's helped me to put on will be a fight to get off. However, neither of those things are end of the world things for me anymore. I can accept them, take a deep breath and get back to my life of being a mother, a writer and an editor.

Want to know the best part? I'm feeling strong enough these days that I've reached out to a friend in the blogging world about getting back into writing. I've also reached out to someone in the comic industry about potentially doing some show travelling this next year. Who knows...I might even start getting a small income to help us catch up and get ahead again!



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