Showing posts with label Farewell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Farewell. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 21, 2025

It’s May ... a Season I Love, but Also a Sad Season of Saying Goodbye ………. Delsora Lowe

It’s the middle of May, and the neighborhood has turned from dreary brown and muted green, as the grass moves from its lackluster winter color to bright green. Trees sprout new leaves, buried bulbs of perennials sprout green shoots, that will show floral colors in a few weeks. And as I write, my cardinals have been active in the area. I caught the female sitting on my deck railing.

Yes, spring comes late in Maine, compared to our southern neighbors. But spring also brings rain. We’ve had plenty in the month of May, including a few thunderstorms—not as usual at this time of year. But the climate has changed over the years, and more and more humidity moves into the northeast.

Remember the old adage…April showers bring May flowers? Well, here in the north it is now more like May showers bring June flowers. Yes, the lawn is littered with wild violets and the yellow of dandelions. Weeds? No! To me, as my grandmother taught me as a child, both “wild flowers” can be eaten and used in other ways. Dandelion wine from the petals, dandelion greens in place of sauteed spinach or arugula, violets sprinkled atop a salad or a special dessert, or as garnish on a nice meal out.

And a slew of acorns…and no, I don’t eat acorns. The squirrels in the fall certainly recognize a good feast when they see one. They fatten up in the fall, then they bury many acorns and pack away the rest in their own hiding places, as they slow down for the winter. Spring in my yard sees the squirrels gain back energy, as they run up and down the huge oak trunk, sprucing up their nests, and yes, digging up buried acorns. This always amazes me that they know right where they buried them the prior fall. Chipmunks also join the race for food in the spring.

But, alas, as I sit here writing about the new beginnings that the spring season seems to bestow on us, I also bring news about our Romancing the Genres blogposts. Sadly, the month of May marks the end of the RTG blog, and therefore the end of my blogs for RTG. I have been here every month for over six and a half years. I will miss this - writing about my world around me, and making new friends, plus greeting old friends who stopped by to visit.

😔😔😔

On a positive note, it frees up more time to work on my books. But on the sad side of that coin, I will miss the challenge of trying to think of “brilliant” commentary, from my point of view, to match the monthly themes. To me, writing about real life seems to use a slightly different part of my writer brain.

And, most of all, I’ll miss the interaction with all of you as I read and answered your comments. But I won’t be far away, as I will have at least one more book slated for publication this fall, and one most likely coming out later in 2025 or early in 2026—both in the Cowboys of Mineral Springs series. And I have other books in the works.

👋

So here is to a fond farewell, as I wave goodbye from RTG. But I’ll see you soon somewhere down the road.

Amazon: (also in print)

Books2Read        

 

~ cottages to cabins ~ keep the home fires burning ~

Delsora Lowe writes small town sweet and spicy romances and contemporary westerns, from the mountains of Colorado to the shores of Maine.

Author of the Starlight Grille series, Serenity Harbor Maine novellas, and the Cowboys of Mineral Springs series, Lowe has also authored short romances for Woman’s World magazine (most recently, an Easter romance in the April 1, 2024 edition and a Thanksgiving story in the December 2 edition.) The Love Left Behind is a Hartford Estates, R.I. wedding novella with Book 2 on the way. A Christmas novel (The Inn at Gooseneck Lane) and novella (Holiday Hitchhiker – the youngest brother of the Mineral Spring’s ranching family) were the most recent releases. Look for book 4 of the cowboy’s series, the Sheriff’s story, as well as book 2 of the Hartford Estates series, to be released in 2025-2026.

Wednesday, May 14, 2025

All Good Things Must Come To An End

 


Fourteen years.

I have begun this post a dozen times and then torn up each version. This feels like composing a eulogy for a deceased friend. Romancing The Genres has become my friend, I'm going to miss them.

Fourteen years.


My very first book, PULL, a Young Adult novel, had just been released by a small publisher called Westside Books. I was a brand new published author invited to join a new group blog, Romancing The Genres. I was thrilled to represent the YA genre in the group. 

And now it comes to an end. Romancing The Genres comes to a stop after this month.  The blog outlasted my publisher. Westside Books closed its doors almost a decade ago. In the years since, I wrote three additional  books, Being God. Courage and Unlawful Orders, for different publishers.  I also retrieved my rights for Pull  and re-released it independently, and sold over a dozen short stories to magazines.  I am still getting orders for Pull, a novel about a Young man who coses to enter an apprenticeship program for construction rather that take on the burden of college debt.  I love being ahead of my time.


Those fourteen years passed quickly, and the world changed before we noticed. I did realize that blogs were decreasing in importance. Romancing The Genres is the only blog I regularly read these days. I haven't even posted in my personnel blog in over a year. These days I, like so many others, am drawn to TikTok and other video forms of social media. 

Times change. We have to evolve. It's time for Romancing The Genres to retire.  I will miss writing these posts. Miss having something force me to put pen to paper and be creative every month. (Yes, I do write longhand and in cursive. I find it almost impossible to be creative with a keyboard and an empty screen. It has always helped me to think that there was at least one person out there who read what I wrote and gave a chuckle and maybe a moment's thought.

 Finally, me use this last post as an opportunity to share a little news.  I have decided to retire from writing.

I've written and taught writing workshops for adults and kids, mentored and critiqued, edited and reviewed stories for other writers. Now I get to relax.  I still belong to a critique group, I won't give that up until everyone else in the group stops. And I have a creative nonfiction manuscript I am currently editing. I intend to finish that. After I'm done with it, I will begin a search for a different creative outlet. For now, goodbye readers. Keep having fun.

 



Friday, July 6, 2012

Farewells and Welcomes


Judith Ashley
Change as a constant of life is not a new concept.
When Sarah and I invited the original Genre-istas, we asked for a six month commitment. When that was up, we asked for another six months and because that ended April 30 and May 01 started our Blog-O-Versary month, we asked anyone who was leaving to stay on for another two months.

So here we are, at that point where we say ‘Farewell’ to two original Genre-istas and ‘Welcome’ to three more (yep, we had a vacancy that we didn’t fill earlier).

Farewells:

Tam Linsey, who has consistently posted fantastic blogs on the third Tuesday of each month, writes post-apocalyptic science fiction. Her debut novel Botanicaust is due out in August. I met Tam when we were paired as ‘platform partners’ in an online workshop through 1st Turning Point taught by Ann Charles and Jacquie Rogers. That was over two years ago! We’ve remained cyber-friends, support each other as best we can given that we live in Alaska and Oregon respectively, and write in very different genres.

Donna Hatch has filled the fourth Monday of the month spot since the beginning. Donna writes historical romance. Her latest book is The Stranger She Married. Her last post had chocoholics drooling. I’d known of Donna for several years as I’m a long distance member of Desert Rose, her home chapter and had seen her name on the chapter loop. However, Laurie Schnebly Campbell, another Desert Rose member is who connected us regarding this blog.


Click here to check out our other alumni.

Welcomes


Opal Carew joins us from Canada. We wanted to continue to build our geographical diversity as well as our romance sub-genre diversity. Opal writes erotic romance and you’ll see her first and subsequent posts on the second Tuesday of each month. You had a chance to meet Opal AKA Amber Carew on June 30th when she was our guest. As Amber, she writes contemporary romance.


Erica Hayes, an urban fantasy author from Australia who spends time in the UK, was our guest in March. When we were brainstorming who to invite, Sarah and I said Erica Hayes simultaneously! Erica’s posts will be up the second Tuesday of the month.

Deanne Wilsted, a contemporary author was our guest in June. Deanne, who plans on writing an interactive post on different sub-genres of romance, fills our fourth Monday slot. Her debut novel is titled Betting Jessica.

Please welcome Opal, Erica and Deanne!