Yesterday, I met my cousin Kim for ice cream and a delicious conversation about our upcoming trip to Scotland in September. Now that it's mid-May, it feels more real that this is finally going to happen. Like many others with travel plans, we were supposed to go in 2020-- before Covid changed everything. Our mission … Continue reading September in Scotland: A Dream to Fulfill
#solojourneys
Happy 300th Post!
Hard to believe but this is my 300th post for this blog site that I launched May 31, 2017. I started this after attending the Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers' Conference where I pitched my memoir to literary agents. The prevailing wisdom was authors needed a platform to build a following of readers who would … Continue reading Happy 300th Post!
A Life Without Regret: Embracing the Journey
This past week I had the privilege of being with a long-time friend who is dealing with an incurable cancer. She's been treated with every chemotherapy available but still the cancer returns. I consider it a privilege because she included me in the limited time she has as her life is narrowing in. She's getting … Continue reading A Life Without Regret: Embracing the Journey
Attractive and Athletic: Online Dating
In his primary pic on the dating site, "Gabe" had a profile headshot taken in his designer sunglasses. His head was shaved and showed some gray stubble. His face was tanned and toned and he had a chiseled jawline. Gabe stated he worked out five days a week, as evidenced by his gym tank top … Continue reading Attractive and Athletic: Online Dating
Solo Journey 2019: Outer Banks Bound
Lately, I'm reminded of the end of my 9th grade year, when it was time for exams and all I wanted was to be done, especially clearing the last hurdle: passing my Algebra I exam. I'd gotten myself into a hole by falling behind because I was afraid of my tall, stern teacher, Mr. Calhoun. … Continue reading Solo Journey 2019: Outer Banks Bound
Reframing: Giveaway to Gift
You see it everywhere-- Free stuff in exchange for something. Audiences on The Ellen Show jump up and down with excitement as she gives one thing away then another to her raving fans. Dr. Phil gives a book by a professional that’s under the audiences' chairs. Giveaways also come in meager forms like raffles at … Continue reading Reframing: Giveaway to Gift
The People in our Path: Unlikely Friends
Ten years ago, I gave myself a birthday gift of attending a writing conference in Greensboro—about forty minutes from my home. I didn’t know anyone going to the conference and decided to approach it like my solo journeys—praying that God would bless me and the people in my path, trusting that things would unfold as … Continue reading The People in our Path: Unlikely Friends
Family Ties: Someone’s Favorite
I've been decorating my home for Christmas and I keep finding special things that remind me of my Aunt Polly: an engraved ornament, my blue porcelain angels, woodland birds. On Saturday evenings when my husband and I watch movies, I work on my crewel embroidery pillow and remember how she taught me the stitches when … Continue reading Family Ties: Someone’s Favorite
Celebrating a Life
Today I'm remembering a solo journey I took back in 2009 to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. My desire was to visit the place that had been significant for my mother. She and her  cousin, Yvonne traveled there by train when they were both nineteen to prepare for work in WWII as civil servants. Throughout my childhood, Mama … Continue reading Celebrating a Life
Unless You’re Famous
The Literary Agent from Denver sat at the opposite end of the sofa from me, both of us turned toward each other for my fifteen-minute session at the writers’ conference. In his hands was the proposal for my memoir that I’d painstakingly prepared over the past six months. The last fifty pages included the first … Continue reading Unless You’re Famous
Connie Rosser Riddle 