Happy New Year! Yes, I know it’s March. But since it’s technically still a new year… Happy New Year!

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

March – can you believe it?  Good lord, time flies when you’re busy! But it’s past time that I checked in and let y’all know what’s going on.  So what have I been up to?

I had a wonderful interview with author Julie Northup – you can find that here. I got to wax poetic about everything from music to religion – it was a blast! My characters Kai and Stephen also had revealing interviews. You can check those out here: Kai’s interview, Stephen’s interview.

I’ve been working on the follow up to Coming Darkness. I can confidently say that I have a beginning, a middle, and an end! Yay! The challenge, however, is connecting them. I’m noticing a pattern. That just seems to be the way I write. As with Coming Darkness, there are a few avenues to take, each choice with its own repercussions to the universe and the story. The struggle is committing to one or the other. I may have trouble with commitment.

I’ve also felt compelled to give up complaining for Lent. I will pause to give those who know me time to stop laughing.

No, it’s ok. I’ll wait.

I don’t know why it popped into my head, but as Fat Tuesday rolled around, I was committed. According to What to Give Up for Lent 2017 – “complaining” ranks at 67 – down 10 points from last year. So, not unusual. Why? I noticed I’ve been complaining a lot lately, so much that I was tired of it, tired of my company. I needed to make a change.

What I’ve noticed since is that complaining isn’t like giving up chocolate – you don’t just stop cold turkey. But in the spirit of the reflective nature of Lent, I have been more mindful of not only what I say, but what I think. I’ll start to complain, catch myself, and then redirect. It’s remarkable how easy it is to train my mind in this way. I feel like I’m changing how I respond to things, and possibly how I look at things. It will be interesting to see how I feel at the end of 40 days.

Did you give up something for Lent? If so, what and why?

The movie I’m leaving you with today is A Face in the Crowd. It was Andy Griffith’s first motion picture and he just crackles! I’ve always caught it in the middle or at the end, but my TiVo did me a solid and recorded it for me. I love my Tivo! I finally got to watch it from beginning to end – it’s a great movie, and if you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it.

You can watch it on Amazon here: A Face in the Crowd