The Things That Always Cheer Me Up . . . . . . by Delsora Lowe

I am lucky, I have many things that give me a lift every day.

Reading…

Whether it is reading a good book or watching a romcom movie or a sitcom that will take me away from the reality and horrors of our world, each gives me a sense of peace and happiness. I can bask in the message being portrayed in that media and lock away my worries for the time it takes me to read or watch an uplifting book or program.

Writing…

I also write romance. So, writing positive content definitely gives me a feel-good vibe. Even when getting the couple together at the end may take a turn for the worst, know that in order to proclaim a book’s place in the romance genre, a happily-ever-after or a happily-for-now is a requirement. So, they always have a feel-good component at the end.

Friends…

Another thing that makes me happy is seeing a friend in person. Yes, these days ZOOM makes it easy to keep up with friends. I also keep up with many over the phone or through email or other forms of social media but getting together with friends in person is the best! There’s nothing like cradling a cup of tea, while looking directly into a friend’s face who is sitting across the table from you. Or slurping down an ice cream cone while walking the boardwalk with friends. That in-person contact makes a huge difference.

More Writing…

Going to my local weekly writing group grounds me every week. We each write a piece that takes 5-minutes or less to read out loud. The writing can be in any genre, which is fun for me, since my “job” is writing romance, whether a 5-minute romance I want to submit to Woman’s World magazine or a romance novella or full-length novel that I will eventually publish. Writing outside of my preferred genre gives me a different prospective on life, my town, my relationships with family, or any other topics, such as the environment, recipes I love to cook, etc. It frees up my brain to be creative in a different way.

What Things Give You a Lift and Make You Feel Happy? 

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.) 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 3 of the cowboy’s series, as well as book 2 of the Hartford Estates series, to be released in 2025.

What I Look Forward to As I Age ... by Delsora Lowe

It’s finally September! My favorite time of the year is fall, despite the fact that soon cold weather will descend and with it snow and ice and… Well, you get the picture. I’d much rather enjoy warm sunny days that cool off at night.

I’d rather enjoy colorful leaves and fall flowers and harvesting vegetables and picking apples.

And, my birthday is in the fall, reminding me what one year older can bring. I remember teen years when I couldn’t wait to go away to college, not realizing how fast time flies, the older you get.

I remember summers, when I juggled several jobs while raising kids. I couldn’t wait for autumn to arrive so the kids, now old enough, would be back in school all day, so I wasn’t running from job to nursery school to pick up kids, dropping them at the sitter and back to job number two.

Now, I look back and realize how much I missed as my children grew up way too fast. But now I have grandchildren who are doing the same. One is looking at colleges. The other two sophomores in high school. All busy falling into young love, working hard at studies, and excelling at various sports teams. Of course, they are excelling. They are MY grandsons.

Oldest Grandson - now 17 - My Dad's 90th Birthday - 2009

It seems like yesterday, they were lying on the floor, playing with tiny cars and making zoom, zoom, zoom sounds, learning to count to one-hundred, and excited when they got to nibble on favorite snacks—my youngest grandson loving chunks of cucumber and olives with the holes where the pits were. He would put an olive on each fingertip and methodically eat each olive, one by one. Or the special events like coloring Easter eggs at Grammy’s table. Now they are self-sufficient.

To me, those memories of my own days in high school and college seem so far away, yet just like yesterday.

So, what do I look forward to as I age?

Top of the list? Not feeling as though I am aging. Also…keeping busy, communicating with others, not isolating, learning new things.

This is where writing comes in, as I can accomplish all of the above through writing.

Learning and Hanging with Writer Friends Through Zoom

I belong to four virtual writing groups in Maine, Rhode Island, New England, and New Jersey. Each group of romance writers meets monthly. It used to be in person. Now it is through ZOOM. The cons, I miss seeing my writer friends in person, but there are times in a year, when we meet up at writing conferences. The pros are without ZOOM, I would only see my writer friends once a year at the aforementioned conferences. Now, I see them and hear their voices and have actual conversations monthly. Sure, we don’t get to hug each other or gather around a table and enjoy a cocktail and chatter. There is nothing that compares to face-to-face.

A few years ago, after retiring, I joined a local organization that has programming for both teens and those of us over 55. The organization has a group named Write on Writers. We have anywhere from fifteen to twenty-five who attend weekly. Each of us writes a 5-minute or less piece, whether fiction, non-fiction, or verse of some sort. We then read aloud our work at each session. And we can submit our work to appear in the monthly organization newsletter that gets distributed around town.

The fun of this group is that I get to try different types of writing, than my normal romance novel writing. And every now and then, I will write a 5-minute romance story and submit for publication
. But I can also read those at my local group. And now, I have over sixty 5-minute romances I have written since 2010. Those I am editing and expanding to collect into a short romance anthology...SOMEDAY!

So, what do I look forward to as I age. Meeting weekly with my writing group. Continuing to write both short stories and longer works to release as books, hanging with my grandchildren and trying to figure out a way to stop their growth and aging so I can keep them close forever.

Okay – if anyone has ideas on how to do just that, let me know. Because, if they don’t age, neither will I!

Oh, as you can see, in spite of the slowing down and the need to nap I’m also trying to figure out how I can live forever, because right now, I’m having a ton of fun with this aging business.

No matter our age, we all continue to age on a daily basis. What words of wisdom can you impart when you think about what you have learned over a lifetime?

Amazon (also in print)

https://www.amazon.com/Love-Left-Behind-Hartford-Estate-ebook/dp/B08L5N5DS9/

Books2Read   books2read.com/u/mglVqK

 

~ 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.) 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 3 of the cowboy’s series, as well as book 2 of the Hartford Estates series, to be released in late 2024 or early 2025.

 

Social Media Links:
Author website: www.delsoralowe.com
Facebook Author page: https://www.facebook.com/delsoraloweauthor/community/
Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/Delsora-Lowe/e/B01M61OM39/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0
Books2Read Author page: https://www.books2read.com/ap/8GWm98/Delsora-Lowe
BookBub Author Page: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/delsora-lowe-93c6987f-129d-483d-9f5a-abe603876518
Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16045986.Delsora_Lowe 
Instagram: #delsoralowe / https://www.instagram.com/delsoralowe/ 

Photo Credits:
Delsora Lowe

Aging the Ups and Downs by Paty Jager

 

Aging as many say, isn’t easy. It is for your body as it slows down. Things you’ve done your whole life become harder to do, your memory starts slipping, and unaccounted for aches show up.

My 90-year-old mother-in-law tells me continually, “Don’t get old. It’s not fun.” This is a woman who has been a hard worker her whole life and who can’t sit still. She has to have her hands doing something. She still knits socks for the local retirement home, makes baby afghans she gives away to anyone who wants them, she mows her yard, and likes to put puzzles together.  She buys yarn at the thrift stores because it’s much cheaper than at the stores. People even give her yarn, because she enjoys knitting and crocheting. But she struggles with not being able to do everything she would like to do.

My hope is to have all of her energy when I’m her age!

I have things I want to do but then I think about them and I decide maybe it’s not a good idea. I don’t ride my horse as much as I did. In the morning when I go down and feed, I’ll tell my gelding, Jan, “I think we should go for a ride today.” But later in the day, the thought of catching and saddling him feels like more work than the enjoyment would be.  I need to feed with my boots on instead of my sneakers and catch him while he’s in the corral and ride. But then I feel like I’m being a slacker from my writing. I spent most of this year getting back into writing 4 books a year and preparing my audiobooks to sell on my website.

Me riding Jan last summer. 

This past year, I’ve spent more time at the computer with writing, researching, marketing, and promotion than I did last year. And that’s part of why I haven’t ridden my horse. By the time I finish the writing things, I don’t feel energetic enough to ride.

But I do enjoy going for a walk right after I feed in the morning. The dogs enjoy it as well. The early morning walk gets my brain working and I feel more productive on days when I walk.

As I age, I’m not as much help to my hubby. He calls on me, every once in a while, to help him lift or move something. I’ve found my upper body strength isn’t what it was, and I really don’t want to lift heavy things anymore. Because then I’m sore for several days. He’s still strong but he also has noticed his energy level waning.

With age comes decisions. I plan to keep writing at least until I’m 80. If my mind will continue to work. Hubby has one more year of his semi-retirement. He has been managing an alfalfa ranch for a dairy the last ten years and told them next summer is his last summer to do it. They have put the place up for sale. They know they wouldn’t find another person who would take care of it like it’s his own as hubby has.

We’ve also been discussing selling and moving into a small town where we would be closer to medical facilities and easier to travel to town and to see family. With his full retirement, we hope to travel.

While I’m not scared or sorry to get old, it’s something my mother didn’t get to enjoy. I do hope I am a happy old lady and not a crabby one. 

Paty Jager is an award-winning author of 59 novels, 11 novellas, and numerous anthologies of murder mystery and western romance. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Paty and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon. Riding horses and battling rattlesnakes, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it.

Website: https://www.patyjager.net

Blog: https://writingintothesunset.net/
Newsletter: https://bit.ly/2IhmWcm

Goals and Self-Forgiveness ... by Delsora Lowe

Goals: Am I setting myself up to learn something new, OR setting myself up to fail?

Every year I set a goal vowing to pay attention to social media. That includes updating my website, which I do so infrequently that, each time, I have to relearn how. <SIGH>

Then there is reengaging on Instagram, which I always enjoyed, and learning TikTok, which I still haven’t tried to tackle. And forget learning how to work on Twitter – See!?! That is how long it has been since I thought about conquering what is now X. Even my FB engagement lacks, and that is what I use the most.

I haven’t just learned that I am horrible at staying caught up on any type of social media. I have been reminded of that defect in my character—HA—year after year, when I have to assess my old goals and reaffirm new goals for a new year. To me, navigating social media is like trudging uphill, one plodding step at a time, and never reaching the top.

So, as you probably guessed, social media is my least favorite goal to achieve.

I recently wrote a writer friend of mine about proclaiming goals to achieve THE WIN, versus setting hopeful expectations for a new year. If you consider every goal accomplished as a win, then what is the opposite? A Fail?

I have always considered goals to be about hope. Expectations you seek to attain. A mission. Something you write down and tell others, so that you’ll make a concerted effort to achieve, either by yourself or as part of a team or coordinated with workplace colleagues.

Seeking Forgiveness:

Some goals, in the workplace or in your community, are important or essential to attain no matter what. But personal goals… Well, my philosophy is life gets in the way. If something comes up that is more important—a make-or-break, a family emergency, or a task in your day job that will affect the next steps of a project, or even changes in a writing project—well, those intervening tasks must be attained. And at times to the detriment of achieving other goals.

When setting personal or writing goals, I believe there is room to delay reaching that goal. And, in some cases, it is perfectly fine to say this goal no longer seems top priority or necessary to achieve this year. Or this goal can just as easily be pushed forward to achieve at a later date.

Hence, my need to just hit DELETE on Social Media goals. I hope by taking this off my list, I will just wander into achieving that now, unspoken goal, without feeling the pressure. <SHRUGS> One can hope. But one can also be relieved without that added pressure.

Although, in reality for 2024, I believe I have set myself up to most likely “fail” in tasks I have never tried before. It all depends on my energy to learn something brand-new to my toolbox of writerly skills. But they are also skills I have always been intrigued to try. If I can’t conquer how to achieve leaning these skills, at least I will have tried. 

Yes, I am setting myself up to learn something new. And yes, my chances of failing or not totally achieving 5-star competence, is high. But hey, I’ll still learn something—anything—new. One step at a time… And, no pressure.

The exciting part of setting “reach” goals is that I know I’ll probably need a little help along the way from my writer friends. So, watch out—I might be needy in 2024.

 Do you like the idea of setting annual goals? Or does committing to accomplishing 
a long (or short) list 
of annual goals give you “hives”?

 

Moonlighting

Starlight Grille ~ Book 3

A blast from the past, a ten-year old matchmaker with a valentine wish, an omission, and a villainous man…a recipe for disaster? Or love against all odds?

Amazon Kindle (only in print as a collection: Starlight Grille)

Books2Read

 

Starlight Grille

A Serenity Harbor Maine Collection

Welcome to Serenity Harbor, Maine, a small coastal town where the Starlight Grille is a favorite meeting place. This sweet, with a touch of heat, collection includes a new bonus short story and a Starlight Grille recipe.

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. The Love Left Behind is a Hartford Estates, R.I. wedding novella. A Christmas novel (The Inn at Gooseneck Lane) and novella (Holiday Hitchhiker) were released in late fall 2022. Look for book 3 of the cowboy’s series, as well as book 2 of the Hartford Estates series, in 2024.

 

Social Media Links:
Author website: www.delsoralowe.com
Facebook Author page: https://www.facebook.com/delsoraloweauthor/community/
Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/Delsora-Lowe/e/B01M61OM39/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0
Books2Read Author page: https://www.books2read.com/ap/8GWm98/Delsora-Lowe
BookBub Author Page: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/delsora-lowe-93c6987f-129d-483d-9f5a-abe603876518
Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16045986.Delsora_Lowe
Instagram: #delsoralowe / https://www.instagram.com/delsoralowe/

Photo Credits:
Free Goals Cliparts, Download Free Goals Cliparts png images, Free ClipArts on Clipart Library (clipart-library.com) 
free clip art shrug shoulders - Search (bing.com)   
Pin on Education/School - Clip Art Library (clipart-library.com) 

The Writing Journey!

 By : Linda Conrad

Hi Everyone!  Nice to be invited here.  Thanks!

        I gave a group of writers advice once that all it took to make it in this business was hard work, persistence, and a little luck.  No one wanted to hear that. Newbies want the “secret” to publishing.  But since then, I have changed my mind. Oh, it still takes lots of hard work and persistence. There is no magic secret. But I have come to the conclusion that you can make your own luck. The one thing I learned over the years is that making friends in the business: other authors whom you trust to critique you, people you meet at conferences and meetings, and many others who just make you happy that you are a writer are the real “luck” for anyone who wants to become a best seller.

            I started to write soon after my mother passed away nearly thirty years ago. She’d reminded me that I had always wanted to write and that I made up terrific stories. It took me several years to grieve and then to figure out what I wanted to write. Did I want to write non-fiction? No. Not me.  Then what about those stories?  Mysteries? Romance?  I joined a local romance writers’ group and never looked back. 

            It took several years of hard work and going to classes, conferences, and just talking to the people I met for me to come up with my first best seller.  It’s still selling around the world twenty years later, by the way.

 

With Heather Graham (QA with her on the 24th via Zoom)

            Along my road to success, I watched others and learned.  I saw writers who wrote book after book for many years before they hit the right one. I was impressed with their persistence and patience.  And I learned from it.  I also tentatively started wonderful  relationships with fellow writers, some of whom have become lifelong friends.

 

            Good writers of fiction are good listeners. They observe the world and people around them. That’s how they write characters that seem like real people.  That’s also how I made my own luck.  I listened to other authors and editors. I saw people who seemed to be “at the right place at the right time.”  But it turns out that they were at that place (or their book was there) because another author had paved the way, or suggested it, or pushed them to write the best they could.

            The other thing good writers do is learn to accept editing of their precious words. I have watched other writers suffer over that one. The story should be an author’s main concern, but how it’s told is the trick. Writing, writing, writing makes you better. But working with good critique partners and good editors can make you the best.

 

            So, I always try to thank all the people who helped and pushed me along the way.  They are invaluable.  Writing is a wonderful vocation and avocation. Writing stories can soothe your soul.  But it’s the people you meet, other writers, editors, even readers who make this the best way to spend your life.

Editing and Writing

“Style means the right word. The rest matters little."—Jules Renard

“Keep a small can of WD-40 on your desk—away from any open flames—to remind yourself that if you don’t write daily, you will get rusty.”
                                                                   --George Singleton

"Half my life is an act of revision."

—John Irving

"Exercise the writing muscle every day, even if it is only a letter, notes, a title list, a character sketch, a journal entry. Writers are like dancers, like athletes. Without that exercise, the muscles seize up."

—Jane Yolen

 “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is … the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”

—Mark Twain

“The road to hell is paved with adverbs." =Stephen King

I hope you have enjoyed these quotes and memes on writing and editing.

Writers on Writing.

Prose is architecture, not interior decoration."—Ernest Hemingway     "It's none of their business that you have to learn to write. Let them think you were born that way."—Ernest Hemingway

 

"I try to create sympathy for my characters, then turn the monsters loose."—Stephen King

 

                                 

Prose is architecture, not interior decoration."—Ernest Hemingway

 Hope you've enjoyed these quotes on writing! Now go forth and put words to paper!!!

A few things ...

When thinking of relationships, a few things come to my mind:

Winter & glistening snow that turns the forest to a winter wonderland

Peanut butter & jam

Candlelight & romance

Friday night & pizza

Bowling & laughter

Writing & adventure

House & home

Bacon & eggs

Evening & crafts

Spring & black flies

Hens & eggs

Bowling & curses

Love & laughter

Bacon & pancakes

Summer & crickets

Pen & ink

Winter & snow, that in my part of the world is often followed by rain, followed by freezing temperatures that turns the slush to treacherous footing, followed by more snow that hides the treacherous footing

Bacon & bacon

Summer & mosquitoes 

  Photo by Егор Камелев on Unsplash

Cake & frosting

Spring & peeper frogs

Writing & cursing, also frustration & banging-one’s-head-on-the-keyboard

Biscuits & strawberries & cream

Arguments & tears

Seeds & hope

  Photo by Laura Ockel on Unsplash

House & never-ending chores & repairs

Spaghetti & meatballs

Love & contentment

Luanna Stewart has been creating adventures for her imaginary friends since childhood. She spends her days writing spicy contemporary romance, romantic suspense, paranormal romance, and historical romance. When not torturing her heroes and heroines, she’s in her kitchen baking something delicious. She lives in Nova Scotia with her patient husband and five hens. 

Website ~ Bookbub ~ Instagram ~ Facebook ~ Goodreads