Z is for Zenith #A2Zchallenge

 

Zenith is for height, the pinnacle, but in my little A2Z world it means today, the last day of the 30 day challenge, officially 26 days. At the beginning I honestly thought I was crazy to commit to even one blog post a week. After losing virtually all of the first quarter of 2015 to the day job, my writing schedule had really suffered. I was forced to suspend writing on Dance of Desire so I could finish Blame it On the Moon the fourth book in my Destiny Paramortals series. I hadn't expected the new job to hit my time or my creativity quite so hard. I got maybe 200 words in three months.

Now granted these posts aren't my best work, not that I'm a great blogger anyway, mostly because I spend too much time wanting it to be perfect awesome, meaningful or whatever. During the A-Z challenge I learned to have fun, to write a short blog on a theme, to make time to do it, though I didn't have as much as I wanted to visit some of the other blogs - time, the vast list of A2Zers, and slow internet kept that from happening but I did discover a few new authors, some cool travel blogs, and an extremely well researched, well-articulated and thought provoking blog, the brilly blog, by a courageous and impassioned lover of humanity, Angie Brill.  No matter if you agree with her or not, you have to respect these attributes.

I love the feeling of accomplishing something that stretched me out of my comfort zone. Until you try you don't know if you can, so just start. When I self published my first book, my mantra was "I can do this". And I did. Every single day of the 26.
Yay me!

Did you do the challenge? How did you do?

(this post was late due to my satellite being down until after I went to work today.)

Y is for York #A2ZChallenge

 

I will be sad not to be visiting York again. There were so many things about the area that made it special. The narrow bustling streets and shops, the friendly shopkeepers. The quaint bar we went into and got quite happy. It was happy hour US time, anyway.

Then the bus took us to Yorkminster cathedral. I wish I could see it again. The windows, the atmosphere were beautiful, but what I remember was how everything stopped when the bells rang. Everyone, everything stopped and became one with the silence. It was stunning. And I couldn't exactly take a picture of that. 

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After visiting the shops and the cathedral a few of us visited the Tavern in Coventry where I sang a few songs for the locals. The bar was fairly lively for it being near midnight. They bribed me with an empty bottle of Sheep Dip Scotch. No lie. It sits in my living room to this day. If you get the chance to see York, don't pass it up. It's quaint and beautiful.

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V is for our Veterans

 

[If you don’t have time to read the rest of this blog, would you please help, by either:

VISITING one of the sites listed on my vets resources page or at charities.org 
DONATE to the organization of your choice.

GIVE a copy of Her First Knight to someone or purchase it on Amazon. From today through Memorial Day all royalties of Her First Knight for that period will go straight to one of the charities on my page. Depending on the price of the book, that should mean around $2.50 per book.

STEP OUTSIDE your comfort zone, out of the malaise that says, “surely someone else is doing that” and do something to help a vet —take them to an out of town doctor’s appointment. Help fill out paperwork. Give the family members a helping hand, your friendship.

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Our veterans don’t want handouts but they should be able to expect a LOT for their service, least of all what they deserve, medical care, jobs, support for their families, and respect. They should wander the streets or succumb to PTSD, TBI, and depression and take their own lives.

Yes, the statistics say that every day at least 22 veterans take their lives. it’s surely more since the way deaths are reported in certain states, some are treated as accidents, etc. but we’re talking at least one an hour. Visit mission22.com to find out more or the Shepherd Center  One of the best articles I’ve read lately was called Veterans Come Home to Unprepared Nation, a News21 report. Please take 5 minutes and read this article or any media you trust to see the extent of the need of this vast community. Share the information. The need of post 9/11 veterans is considered an epidemic, and the waste and corruption that contributed to it have set the process back exponentially.

Like Ridge Romano, the hero in my book, said, “Every company and person in this country who is able should be giving back to the men and women who have given their lives and their commitment to us.” All of us.

Please think of what you can do in this next month when we remember all of those we we've lost and those who serve.

Please DON'T STICK your head in the sand. For a great informative blog on this subject and ways you can help go here.

U is for Us #A2Zchallenge

 

Us is a much bigger word than you think. When you think of 'us' who do you think of? More than one, right? those aligned with you? standing beside you, those around you? How far does that circle extend? Is it within your living room? on your job? in your church? your town, city, state?

Or do you consider US to be outside of that, more global? If you think of it as U.S. how do you think in terms of united? Are you united with those you call 'us'? or is it a closed group?

The word Community used to mean people caring for and watching out for and including those around them. Now, in most places it's merely the neck of the woods you live in, more of a physical designation. Wouldn't it be great if we could begin to think of 'US' as every living being on the planet. I fervently believe that every thing that lives was created, born, exists with a purpose. And if we think with a unified 'unity of mind' we can see it. If we look for it in ourselves and expect it in each person and each animal and in every living entity, it's obvious.

US is all. Everyone, everything matters. We(us) should unite in our fight against hate, hunger, destruction or harm of any living thing. 


Next time you say the word us or we - stop! Reflect on how you can include more, accept more, add more others to your US.

Q is for the Queen #A2Zchallenge

 

It's been a dream of mine to get back to Scotland. The first time I had just read the first two novels in the Outlander series and was carrying Voyager with me. Also with me was a summary of what our family had come up with for our Scottish and Irish genealogy, a William Wallace, several Elliotts, and Robert Campbell. Armed with everything scottish (I thought), I begged onto an eleven day senior trip to England and Scotland.

Our first day, we got stuck in St. Louis due to weather so we arrived a day late to London, which meant we had decisions to make -- remember I was with teenagers -- whether to go to St. Paul's Cathedral or go shopping. Not my choice to make but when the choices came again in Edinburgh, I opted for doing the Royal Mile by myself, in the drizzling rain. It was totally, delightfully memorable. Tells you my state of mind.

I love Scotland. It feels like I belong there. I'm absolutely serious. I cried all the way home. Waa-waa. Well, now I get to go back and this time my friend and I are going to take advantage of the airfare and see some of Ireland, since we both have some Irish heritage. Since we're going to both countries we have to figure out what's the best way to do the money. Carry some cash, debit, coins. Are there lots of exchanges like there were in London (as I remember but that was 18 years ago) and do we get our money changed in the states while the dollar is strong or wait?

I thought I might get to see the Queen but apparently she's not at Balmoral during the time we'll be traveling there. Too bad. I'd like to see Her Majesty's Spunkiness.

Have you been to the UK recently? What did you see?

If you're blogging as part of the #A2Zchallenge please leave your link in the comment and I'll return the visit.

Here are a couple of other blogs I've visited that were intriguing and stylistic design too.

Irelandandi
Try a Little Tenderness
A Field Trip Life
Vanilla Blonde
Life in German

I is for Introspection #A2Zchallenge

 

 

I love Dean Koontz' writing and to find this quote of his when I was introspecting ;) was cool.

“The heart is an artist that paints over what profoundly disturbs it, leaving on the canvas a less dark, less sharp version of the truth.”
― Dean Koontz, Forever Odd

It reminds me of other advice from some of the craft books, Hooked, by Les Edgerton in particular that say the more we delve into our own psyche as a person, the better our writing will be. 

I've been thinking about generosity lately. I have a few extremely generous friends in my life who mean a lot to me. They serve as examples in how I'd like to be. So this week I'm concentrating on ways I can be generous.

Do you have traits, like kindness, tenderness, empathy etc that you wish were more present in your life? You don't have to answer but think about it.

Please leave a comment if you're blogging the A-to-a April Challenge and I'll try to return the favor.

G is for Glasgow #A2ZChallenge

 

Kelvingrove, Glasgow I'll be leaving the wilds of Louisiana for the beautiful Isle Scotland on August 24. My girlfriend and I have been dreaming of another trip to Scotland since I visited in 1998 and didn't want to come home.

In the early nineties, we got hooked on the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. We both have lots of Scottish and some Irish background, doesn't everyone? There's have a great great great? grandfather William Wallace and a mess of Elliotts, an infamous border raider clan. And the Campbells are represented in the Storm Lake series in Campbell Green with Mystic Campbell. "To say I love everything Scottish," to quote Tempe in Storm Crazy, "would be like saying Katrina dumped a bit of rain on New Orleans."

One of the most exciting parts of my trip will happen on my first day in Glasgow – I'll get to meet two dear friends, Michael J Malone and Bill Kirton who also happen to be writers - crime writers. I get a blissful kick just thinking about it. Sometimes the Internet is too cool to fathom, isn't it? 


I've yet to meet a couple of my other writer friends from Canada but one day... the great thing about conferences and regional events is the opportunities to network with friends that you've only met online.


Have you met special friends on the Internet that you have never met? 


If you're blogging with the A toZ Challenge leave a comment and I'll check yours out too.