Lifelines

 

The things I am grateful for have changed over the last year and a half, as they have for most of us. After having to stay home more, our focus shifted to other things.  

So grateful for the gifts that my writing life has bestowed on me this past year. Couldn’t do it if it weren’t for my family and Rooby-Doo, our precocious golden retriever, who is my writing buddy. If not for them, writing just wouldn’t happen.

As much as I used to grumble about the evils of the Internet, I realized that without it, becoming an author would not have happened either. I took on a “What do I have to lose?” frame of mind, as I approached everything. I jumped in and took risks I was afraid to take before when it came to writing.

Grateful for my fun Anchorage girlfriends. We laugh so hard when we have lunch we forget about food and are shocked no one kicks us out of the restaurants. Grateful for my writing friends in Alaska and Outside. They’ve taught me so much. I’m awed by the generosity of the writing community everywhere. Writers are so giving and generous with advice, and freely share their wisdom.

I don’t take anything for granted anymore after this past year and a half. Before, I attended every writer’s conference I could afford. One of the highlights was traveling from Alaska to Dayton, Ohio, on the east coast for the Erma Bombeck Humor Writers Workshop. Back then I wanted to be a humor writer, so took a session where they made us get up onstage and tell a joke. Despite decades of comedy theatre acting I was terrified and stage-struck. All I could think of was to do my Sarah Palin imitation about seeing Russia from my Eagle River house. It brought the house down. I made the East Coasters laugh! That’s all I wanted—to make people laugh and forget their problems if only for a few seconds. I was so thankful I was able to do that.

I miss traveling. I had finally retired and hooked up with my cousin’s travel group out of California. We went everywhere the first three years…Spain, France, Portugal. Then the following year Germany, Austria and Eastern Europe. So much fun. I’m grateful for the friendships I formed with my new California travel family. Last year’s trip was canceled and this year’s as well. Fingers crossed we can go next year. In the meantime we all stay in touch online and through phone calls.

At the beginning of each year, our local writing group has us each set goals. I set the goal of publishing my first novel by the end of last year and it happened. Through our constant Zoom calls and efforts to stay in touch with each other, we helped each other stay on track. I’m so thankful for all of them. I made some new online friends that we can’t wait to meet each other in real life, whenever it’s more practical to do so.

It seems like now, I am more “in the moment” than I have ever been. Not seeing extended family and friends this past year taught me that every moment is precious, to be savored with all the gusto I can fit into my heart. Looking back, in some ways I felt cut off from so many. But in other ways, I connected with people I may not have otherwise…some became good friends and kindred souls that became lifelines for me in all kinds of ways.

And for all of this I am grateful. So very grateful.

LoLo Paige was a wildland firefighter for the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Alaska Fire Service. She's an award-winning author of two novels in the Blazing Hearts Wildfire Series, Alaska Spark and Alaska Inferno. Her stories contain edge-of-the-seat, invigorating action, strong-willed female firefighters, and romantic suspense. LoLo and her husband divide their time between their beach house in Kachemak Bay, Alaska and sunny Arizona. 

What readers have said about LoLo's books... 

"I could almost feel the heat of the wildfires that surrounded the crews as they staved off threats..."

"The men are wild and yummy and the women are strong and lovingly feisty. The plot moves along at a fast pace..."   Watch the book trailer for ALASKA INFERNO!   

 GET INFERNO HERE!

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One-Hour Vacations

By Courtney Pierce

It’s a toss-up: a pedicure or a deep tissue massage, the serious kind. Either option is a great mini-vacation to indulge myself, but a combo of the two services just might entice me to cancel a trip to Disneyworld (not that I’d ever go there anyway).

Step one on the enjoyment meter is to shut off my phone. No intruders are allowed to bust into my bubble.

Step two is to use the restroom. Avoiding any interruption once we get going is mandatory. Who wants to get off the warm massage table or pull their wrinkled feet from the bubbling water to take a pee? Not me.

If I start with the massage, I like to supply my own CD of nature sounds, gentle rain, and a thunderstorm.  It speeds up the “turn to jelly” process.  I have an outstanding masseuse here in Kalispell. He even hangs from the ceiling and uses his feet. He’ll run his heels up my back and over my shoulder blades. It’s amazing.

I'm not a gabber or gossiper when it comes to services. I like to mentally go away while I'm being pampered. Pedicures allow me to pull out my notebook and write the old-fashioned way.

The pedicure is all about tools. Pickers, clippers, and files are essential for a fulfilling

session. They get rid of all the stuff that I can't reach or even see. I rest the back of my head in silence as the chair vibrates during the leg massage. I grab the remote for the back roll and pause.

To the undulating roller, I think about my indulgence. Suddenly I feel guilty. It's not about me. I never fought, never sacrificed. We women work through lists to make sure our families have what they want and need. We have and need so much, way too much.

Here it is Memorial Day. So many soldiers sacrificed their lives for me to be able to get that pedicure and massage A spoiled girl, a privileged girl, a girl who never had to push the way our forefathers did. That's not right. I need to work harder.

In my binoculars are two adult geese with fourteen goslings. They line up in a perfect line, like little soldiers, for their trek across the lake, not a single youngin' out of place. They are in a lock-down for learning to be independent, not to do nothing and sure they will be taken care of. But maybe not. There are threats from eagles and osprey that could turn their family of eight to a family of two or three.

The geese take care of their young, with only a minimal handout for them to hunt for their

sustenance. Daddy watches. Mama herds to make sure an eagle doesn't pick off one of her precious ones. There's only so much they can do.

And there you have it. The Yin and Yang of the Memorial weekend. I hung the American flag this weekend in honor of our fallen soldiers. It flies free and so do I.

Photo: Micah Brooks

Courtney Pierce is a fiction writer living in Kalispell, Montana with her husband, stepdaughter, and their brainiac cat, Princeton. Courtney writes for the baby boomer audience. She spent 28 years as an executive in the entertainment industry and used her time in a theater seat to create stories that are filled with heart, humor, and mystery. She studied craft and storytelling at the Attic Institute and has completed the Hawthorne Fellows Program for writing and publishing. Active in the writing community, Courtney is a board member of the Northwest Independent Writers Association and on the Advisory Council of the Independent Publishing Resource Center. She is a member of Willamette Writers, Pacific Northwest Writers Association, and She Writes. The Executrix received the Library Journal Self-E recommendation seal.

Print and E-books are available through most major online retailers, including Amazon.com.

Check out all of Courtney's books: 

courtney-pierce.com and windtreepress.com 

New York Times best-selling author Karen Karbo says, "Courtney Pierce spins a madcap tale of family grudges, sisterly love, unexpected romance, mysterious mobsters and dog love. Reading Indigo Lake is like drinking champagne with a chaser of Mountain Dew. Pure Delight."

Coming in 2020!

When Aubrey Cenderon moves to Montana after the death of her father, the peace and quiet of Big Sky Country becomes complicated with a knock on the door from the sheriff. An injured grizzly bear is on the loose and must be eliminated before it kills again. The sheriff's insistence that she buy a gun for protection will present Aubrey with some serious soul-searching, because the grizzly-on-the-run is hunting for her too . . . for a different reason.

Reads for the Holidays

by Courtney Pierce

This holiday season, I’ll be breaking from my decades-old tradition of poring through the inspirational stories of Charles Dickens. I’ve always embraced his tales of the human condition in my antique editions, two-columns of tiny print on whisper-thin, fragile pages.

Holiday reads are about connecting to emotions that re-calibrate our attitudes, allowing us to take stock in our abundances. In the process, we soften our scar tissue, and lift ourselves to be better people than we think we are.

At the urging of my 85-year-old Mom, I picked up a full-price hardback edition of Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. Yes . . . I’m one of those few reader/writers who are willing to pay full pop for a keeper-book on the shelf. It’s an amazing debut novel by Ms. Owens and is one of those rare first efforts that became a runaway bestseller. When I read the summary on the front flap, l worried that it might be depressing. Who wants a downer of a book around the holidays? But now I understand its success, and it wasn't just a new writer's beginner's luck.

Ms. Owens's writing style and voice in this book are unique. The combination completely captures the culture of “swamp folk” in North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Like many colorful locations in that part of our great country, the demographics, history, and topography shape the attitudes and beliefs of their inhabitants. Having myself grown up on the East Coast, both in the north and nearly south, this book hit home for me on many levels. Mom picked another winner that makes me want to work harder at being a successful writer.

Six-year-old Kya, the youngest of five kids, is living in a shack in the remote marsh country. Her alcoholic father has driven away her mother. Kya’s siblings all leave too, one-by-one, to get away from their poverty-stricken life. When her father is killed, there is only Kya, left alone to fend for herself. The long arm of the law and authorities don’t often reach to people in the marsh. A reader can’t get through the first six chapters without appreciating the gift of family and having enough to eat. I found myself so hungry that I gobbled up every word.

This is a story of survival against all odds, jumping up to touch bottom. Little Kya not only learns to survive, but to thrive with ingenuity, purpose, and instinct. The things we take for granted in lifeꟷeducation, socialization, electricity, the clothes on our backꟷare huge leaps for little Kya. And survive she does, even after being accused of murder. She’s a vulnerable target, because Kya is considered to be merely swamp trash by the locals.

As I read this book, I am reminded of the poignant real-life story of Frank McCourt as told in his memoir, Angela’s Ashes. Even after 23 years since it's publication, I can never erase the scene where young Frank scours the Irish pub for discarded fish and chips wrappers just to lick the grease. The settings of these two books are thousands of miles apart, but the refusal to crumble under adverse circumstances makes the world much smaller. We who have so much, eat so much, whine so much are humbled by these stories. They inspire us to give away more than we take, even if for a short while. Then we retreat back into our comfortable ways until the next book inspires us.

Maybe I haven’t abandoned my beloved Dickens after all. I will see his messages everywhere this holiday season, holding up a mirror to the selfish, divided, and mean-spirited. And in their reflection, should they choose to see it, is a countenance that projects benevolence, unity, and kindness.

I’m in the early stages of drafting my seventh book, Big Sky Talk. The research phase of this process is both arduous and satisfying. I'll be delving into Native American folklore in order to weave authenticity into the prose. My goal is to sit down with tribal elders to discuss the spiritual meaning of reincarnation among the Blackfoot, Kootenai, and Salish tribes, which are prevalent here in Montana. Access to this wisdom must be earned . . . and so I shall work hard. I think I may have discovered my new Dickens.

Lessons heard. Lessons learned.

I have so much to be thankful for this holiday season. I now live in one of the most beautiful places in the world: Kalispell, Montana. Snow-capped mountains and abundant wildlife surround me at every turn. We fish and hunt to fill our freezer for the long winter ahead. We hike to remain healthy. A loving family wraps me in their arms by the glow of a wood stove.

And most important, I still have my freedom.

Photo: Micah Brooks

Courtney Pierce is a fiction writer living in Kalispell, Montana with her husband, stepdaughter, and their brainiac cat, Princeton. Courtney writes for the baby boomer audience. She spent 28 years as an executive in the entertainment industry and used her time in a theater seat to create stories that are filled with heart, humor, and mystery. She studied craft and storytelling at the Attic Institute and has completed the Hawthorne Fellows Program for writing and publishing. Active in the writing community, Courtney is a board member of the Northwest Independent Writers Association and on the Advisory Council of the Independent Publishing Resource Center. She is a member of Willamette Writers, Pacific Northwest Writers Association, and She Writes. The Executrix received the Library Journal Self-E recommendation seal.

Audiobook now Available!

Check out all of Courtney's books: 

courtney-pierce.com and

windtreepress.com 

Print and E-books are available through most major online retailers, including Amazon.com.

Available Now!
Book 3 of the
Dushane Sisters
Trilogy

The Dushane Sisters Trilogy concludes with Indigo Legacy, available now. There's love in the air for Olivia and Woody, but will family intrigue get in the way? Ride along for the wild trip that starts in a New York auction house and peaks in a mansion on Boston's Beacon Hill. 

The Dushane sisters finally get to the truth about their mother.

New York Times best-selling author Karen Karbo says, "Courtney Pierce spins a madcap tale of family grudges, sisterly love, unexpected romance, mysterious mobsters and dog love. Reading Indigo Lake is like drinking champagne with a chaser of Mountain Dew. Pure Delight."