As the final days of the year unfold, there’s a quiet invitation in the air—an invitation to pause, breathe, and consider where we are. Not just geographically, but emotionally, spiritually, creatively. We often spend our lives searching for the right place and the right time as though they are coordinates on a map we just…
I was a WAC. Not wackadoodle, just WAC — Women’s Army Corps. Then we merged with the regular U.S. Army and I was simply a grunt. That’s what they called us low-ranking people in green. A million miles from home, I was the Battalion Commander’s personal secretary, of the 71st Maintenance Battalion in Nuremberg, Germany….
My daughter received the Ancestry DNA pack for Christmas. I’ve never researched that far back. Instead, I’ve found some very interesting things about my own parents while researching my early childhood for my newest book, The Man In Number 7. You see, I don’t have very many memories of my early childhood. Glimpses and moments….
Since Lady Luck doesn’t knock on my door as much as I’d like her to, I learned a long time ago that I needed to create my own opportunities that I want in my life. Sounds easy, right? And it really should be, though it often isn’t. I remember one time when I got a…
We can ask ourselves that question a dozen different times in our life, and come up with a dozen different answers. When I write a story or a novel, the character arc is the journey that the character goes on from start to finish. We start out a certain way, believing certain things, working toward…
…are there because you have drawn them there. What you choose to do with them is up to you. This is a marvelous quote from one of my favorite books, Illusions by Richard Bach. If you’ve never read it, I recommend it. In his brilliant and inspirational way, Richard teaches us to look at life…
A lot of times I think about things I want to do, and I place a condition on them. I’ll do X when Y happens. And then I realize, Y may or may not happen, and I can do X now. Whatever X is. Don’t set limitations on your life. If you are given inspiration…
Every moment brings an opportunity to experience life anew. Every day carries the potential for transformation and growth-for adopting a fresh perspective, making a different choice, or taking a new path. I choose to make today a turning point day. Whether the changes I make are large or small, each one propels my growth. I…
Every year I travel to the Vancouver, WA area to spend Thanksgiving with my oldest daughter and her family. Thursday we have our traditional turkey dinner, Friday we find some great Black Friday specials to take advantage of, and Saturday we have first Christmas with my grand kids there. It’s always a magical time. But…
My Grandma Rutledge used to always tell me, “change is good”. I can’t truly say if it’s good or bad, or simply change. I’ve had so much change in my life in every area, I wouldn’t know what to do if suddenly nothing changed. So maybe change is good. But recently I uttered those words,…