This week I worked on the sequel to my memoir, He Heard My Voice that I published in 2019. The sequel will cover the next seven years and seven solo journeys after the first seven that occurred during the decade of the memoir. The section I worked on this week includes the trip I took … Continue reading Journey to Chincoteague: Crossing Through My Fear
#stepforwardfromcancer
Stepping Forward into 2023
Today we awakened to a New Year. The past year went by as a vapor and now we look ahead, wondering what 2023 will hold; how will our future be?; what challenges will we encounter?; what great surprises await? Photo by Anna-Louise on Pexels.com Recently, when I was driving around Christmas shopping, I heard a … Continue reading Stepping Forward into 2023
Return to Jekyll Island
It's been seventeen years since I took my solo journey to Jekyll Island, Georgia. That trip followed a triumphant visit with my oncologist. I'd made it to that important five-year mark post triple-negative breast cancer. I'd also made it to my fiftieth birthday and the trip to Jekyll was my gift to myself. I'd learned … Continue reading Return to Jekyll Island
Mattie B : Beta Reader
Last Monday following my weekly post the day before, "Swimming Lessons," I thought about ideas for upcoming posts. I never know when the ideas will come, so when they do, I pay attention. I'd just completed a draft of my preface and Chapter I of the sequel to my memoir, He Heard My Voice, published … Continue reading Mattie B : Beta Reader
Free to Be You: Free to Be Me
Tomorrow our country will celebrate Independence Day, paying tribute to our hard-earned freedom made possible by men and women in uniform. Compared to the last two years, we'll be able to participate in a variety of gatherings without the restrictions we experienced when Covid was a greater concern. But despite the ability to move about, … Continue reading Free to Be You: Free to Be Me
Family Reunion: A Gathering of Loyalty and Love
Yesterday we had our Smith Family Reunion, Mama's family that had eight children and twenty grandchildren. We were lucky that all but one of the eight-- three daughters and five sons, lived in North Carolina and we saw them regularly when we were growing up. I have fond memories of Grandma Smith's farm house bulging … Continue reading Family Reunion: A Gathering of Loyalty and Love
Pondering the Past Year
We're finishing another Christmas season, headed into the final week of 2021 and a time of looking back and evaluating what's been accomplished over the past year. If you had resolutions-- did you keep them? If you called them goals-- did you achieve them? How are you better or worse off than you were on … Continue reading Pondering the Past Year
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
Taking a Risk in Kentucky
Lately I've been remembering my solo journey in 2016 that was the longest I've ever taken. That year I traveled to Kentucky, to a rural area that was an hour, northeast of Lexington. There I attended an artist's residency at Artcroft, a program that provided living quarters and studios for artists-- including writers. I'd learned … Continue reading Taking a Risk in Kentucky
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
Connie Rosser Riddle 