12/23/24 It's An Author's Life

It has been another quiet week. Come tomorrow night, many children will start to have those visions of Santa and wondering if he will bring them their greatest Christmas wish. To all those littles, may all your Christmas dreams come true.

Sunday, I had the privilege of watching our/my church littles practice their program in preparation for Christmas Eve service Tuesday night. Our little congregation is grown with youngsters, and it is wonderful to see.

Now, I won’t keep you any longer as I am sure you still have many last many things to accomplish.

I pray you have a glorious Christmas, and remember that it is the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ, as well as a day we watch as wonderous eyes grow big when they unwrap a gift.

I can never thank you enough for continuing to read these snippets into my life as an author. I hope I haven’t bored you too much with them. 😊 After all, other’s lives are never as glamorous as we may think they are.

Merry Christmas from my family to yours.

Maxine

12/16/24 It's an Author's Life

It has been a week of an unexpected blessing and a profound sadness.

My sister-in-law, Sandy, received good news on Wednesday after her PET scan came back showing she is currently cancer-free. A few months ago, she was diagnosed with both stage 4 liver and lung cancer. Through prayers and rounds of chemo, which will continue until scheduled rounds are completed, my family is celebrating.

I received a call Friday morning from the daughter of a good friend, a sister really, telling me her mother had passed the day before. Carla was more than a friend; she was a confidant, sister, muse, critique partner—she was many things to many people. Carla and I had been through many ups and downs together throughout our lives since the mid-1980s, our kids are the same age, and we shared our heartaches and our triumphs. In a dream on Saturday morning between 7 and 9 (I have a morning routine so I know the timeframe), I tore down a huge wasp nest on the inside of a door causing honey to stream down the walls and drip from the ceiling on me. Dreaming about honey represents many things, in this case, I believe it was Carla letting me know she is with her mom, whose nickname was Honey. To say I miss my friend tremendously is an understatement. 

Please keep both families in your thoughts and prayers as they venture on their healing journeys.

My message this week is to keep your family close. Push those bad feelings aside. Love one another. Cherish every moment with loved ones, because we never know when God will call them home.

I can never thank you enough for continuing to read these snippets into my life as an author. I hope I haven’t bored you too much with them. 😊 After all, other’s lives are never as glamorous as we may think they are.

Maxine 

Carla in Nashville, TN (circa 1990s)

(July 15,1952 - December 12, 2024)

12/9/24 It's An Author's Life

Overall things were fairly quiet this past week.

Since we are now in Advent, I attended church Wednesday night. It is an early service, with a potluck supper beforehand; it’s nice to get together with members of the congregation and share a meal. We do this all through Advent.

Saturday night our local Christmas parade took place, and it was over 40 minutes long. As a Chickasha Area Arts Council member, I helped at our hot dog and hot chocolate table, which parade goers loved. The CAAC does this every year because believe it or not, it does get “cold” in Oklahoma. This was my first official event with the CAAC since rejoining and I must say that it feels good to be surrounded by creative types again.

I attended the 2^nd Advent Sunday service and the continued Bible study on Exodus. It is always interesting how one question can lead Pastor in a different direction, which can happen often. I like that he feels he needs to address that question right then and there. While Pastor was teaching Bible study in the Fellowship Hall, the children of our little congregation were in the sanctuary practicing their Christmas Eve service program.

Writing-wise, I revamped the first couple of chapters of my WIP, yet again. I’m really trying to make this story work and I’m getting to the point where I may have to let it sit for a while and move on to another story. But I’m not ready to table it just yet.

Stay safe and warm as you venture out to your local Christmas parades and celebrations.

I can never thank you enough for continuing to read these snippets into my life as an author. I hope I haven’t bored you too much with them. 😊 After all, other’s lives are never as glamorous as we may think they are.

Maxine

Photos found on Chickasha Chamber of Commerce FB Page *Here*

Photo credit: Cassie Poole

12/2/24 It's An Author's Life

It was a busy week with getting ready for Thanksgiving, and like many of you, it took up most of my time. My son came over and not only cooked but also cleaned up the kitchen. Then he and my youngest granddaughter put the decorations up on the tree and it looks so pretty.

I’ve thought about a new series called Letters to Santa. I can envision this series being multi-genre, and if all goes well, I hope to have the first book ready for Christmas 2025. I’ve spent most of my creative time since Thanksgiving designing book mockup cover options for the series. I know I should be writing, but this is at the forefront of my creativity.

I did put my ebook The Gingerbread Inn on sale for 99¢ the entire month of December. Watch for Nikki and Seth’s story to be available at more online retail outlets this spring.

I didn’t finish reading 11/22/63 by Stephen King, I do recommend it if you like historical time travel with an alternative ending to history.

And finally, I saw Wicked with my friends Carlotta and Amy on Saturday at our local theater in 3D. We all loved it and have agreed we are all Team Elphaba! If you haven’t seen it, I recommend you do. I didn’t see the stage production so I have nothing to compare it to other than the book Wicked which I read over 20 years ago.

That’s it for this week. If you were out shopping for those bargains, I hope you found everything you were looking for. If not, I know you’ll find what you need to put under your tree.

Stay safe and warm as you venture out.

Thank you for continuing to read these snippets into my life as an author. I hope I haven’t bored you too much with them. 😊 After all, other’s lives are never as glamorous as I may think it is.

Maxine