5/5/25 It's An Author's Life

I have the best friends in the world here in Oklahoma. After getting several phone calls, and both text and FB messages from friends and family in Wisconsin, I celebrated my 70^th, yes 70^th, birthday on Friday at my favorite place, Shakespeare Wine Co. (DJ and Cheri are the best) with seven girlfriends and three of their hubbies. We laughed so hard at times, drank the best wine (3 or was it 4 bottles we emptied) around, ate way too many appetizers, and engaged in a ton of girl talk around the table; it was great. I also got a portrait of Simon, my cat, my friend Dana painted for me. Also, I received a beautiful thermal cup, a glamour key chain, hand lotion from Carlotta, a handmade pen set from Amy, a wine glass from Anna, a gift card to Starbucks from Angie and Doug, and fabulous cards. Not to mention the band and customers sang Happy Birthday to me as I was getting ready to leave for the night. I love these ladies and the crew at Shakespeare; they made walking into another decade a blast!

I finished writing Thirteen Reflections Saturday afternoon. That night, the birthday fun continued with attending the play “Parlor Games” with Carlotta and Amy. Another friend from church, Terri Sutton, played the female lead. It was so darn funny. It was another great night of laughing with friends.

Come Sunday morning, I was done with peopleing (is that even a word 😊). I slept in, missed church, grabbed lunch from Braums, used my Starbucks card, and drove over to the local park where I chose a parking spot by the water and started giving Thirteen Reflections a final read-through. As more families started to arrive to fish, etc., I left and came home, where I went out into the backyard and finished the read-through. After sending the final draft to my editor, I spent the rest of the day vegging with Simon.

So, what’s next on the writing agenda? I’ll be reading the draft of Deceitful Promises to get back in the story so I can finish it up. My target date to send to the editor is August 31. There is another story in the hopper that will come out in 2026, that I’ll be working on setting up after DP is written.

And for the next decade? Have fun and to keep surrounding myself with the love of family and friends. And to keep bringing fabulous stories to life for you to experience.

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, others’ lives are never as glamorous as we may think.

May your Kindle or bookshelf overflow with great books to read!

Maxine