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Crafts, Essays, Everywhere But Home, Family Time, Friend Time, health, I Am Traveling, Lifelong learning, My Own Personal Weirdness, My Writing

March 2026 Stats

In March, I wrote 6037 words. Of those words,

  • 416 were for this blog (2 short posts),
  • 2474 were for my journal,
  • 0 were for handouts, scripts, and slides for lessons
  • 2744 were on various social media accounts,
  • 168 were poetry (2 short poems),
  • and 651 were in short stories (4 pieces of flash fiction).

There were only 9 days that I didn’t write anything, but my word count was low due to several things. It was a whirlwind of a month. I participated in both my first Trivia Night and a BYOC Night (Bring Your Own Craft) with local friends. I have a new favorite Ice Cream/Coffee Shop. Our family had two car accidents, and while we are all unharmed from them, our poor cars were, and so we played musical cars for several weeks. We also had time with family and friends and soon-to-be family. One week we had a special brunch/lunch/dinner/activity out every single day of the week. I saw nearly all of my specialty doctors, got to watch The Nugget once (and saw her another day), took a bookbinding class, and got addicted to playing Pokopia. We also traveled some more, this time to San Antonio for our youngest son’s WGI competition. We made it my birthday trip (a month early) and splurged out on touring the San Antonio Zoo, the Botanical Gardens, and eating at a Food Network highly rated burger joint. It was all fun and delicious and I even managed to go to a marvelous bookshop that is now in my Top 5 of Bookstores Ever. Comment below if you want the name and location of any of those things. 🙂

As for reading, I read parts of:

Defy or Defend by Gail Carriger (audiobook; Fantasy)

…and I finished reading:

  • A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher (audiobook; YA Fantasy)
  • Braiding Sweetgrass by Robyn Kimmerer Walls (audiobook; Non-Fiction)
  • Curtsies and Conspiracies by Gail Carriger (audiobook; Fantasy)
  • Waistcoats and Weaponry by Gail Carriger (audiobook; Fantasy)
  • Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger (audiobook; Fantasy)
  • The Curious Case of the Werewolf that Wasn’t by Gail Carriger (e-book; Fantasy)
  • Meat Cute by Gail Carriger (e-book; Fantasy)
  • Poison or Protect by Gail Carriger (audiobook; Fantasy)

As you can see, mostly audiobooks. I started having trouble with my eyes months and months ago, but they were getting worse, fast, and I was waiting out my next eye doctor appointment. Once there, I was pretty quickly diagnosed with Binocular Vision Dysfunction (I was sitting there minding my own business and the eye doctor said “OOoooh…do that thing with your eyes again.” Me: “What thing?” She paused and while she waited, my eyes did the thing again, so there was a bunch more testing than usual.) In any case, I have new glasses on order that have special prism lenses in them and hopefully these terrible migraines and eye strain feelings will go away soon. 🙂 (Also, can I say how excessively lovely the Gail Carriger books are in audiobook form? I love the voices and the music and of course, all the steampunky weirdness and adventures!)

So I have finished 22 books so far this year (and read parts of another 5, mostly for research, but also a couple of things I’ve had to mark DNF.). 

Okay, I think that’s it. It was a super fun month! 🙂

Writing, Everywhere But Home, What I Love, Organizing, Speaking, My Writing

Speaking Engagement today, March 25, 2026 at Open Door Writing Group

Hey y’all! I’m talking about Writing Subplots at Open Door Writing Group today! Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel! Hope to see you soon!

Essays, Everywhere But Home, Lifelong learning, poetry, Speaking, What I Love, Writing

Upcoming Speaking Engagement on March 19, 2026 at the Rusk County Poetry Society

I will be speaking to the Rusk County Poetry Society at their March meeting on March 19, 2026 in Henderson, Texas. My topic is “Line Breaks and White Space.” Hope to see y’all there!

Around the House, health, My Own Personal Weirdness, My Writing, Organizing, Uncategorized, What I Love, Writing

February 2026 stats

In February 2026, I wrote an unreasonably tiny amount of words (4422). Of those words,

  • 416 were for this blog (2 short posts),
  • 1972 were for my journal (27 entries),
  • 722 were for handouts, scripts, and slides for lessons (one for the Open Door Writing Group),
  • 1134 were on various social media accounts,
  • 0 were poetry (none! at all! alas!),
  • and 178 were in a single short flash fiction piece.

There were only 2 days that I didn’t write anything, but most of it was tiny little journal entries on my phone because it was a terrible, no good, very bad month. I got Covid again and then developed Adhesive Capsulitis in what used to be my good shoulder (while doing physical therapy for my bad shoulder). So either I couldn’t breathe or I couldn’t move. It was an agonizing month. I didn’t go to most of my writing group meetings and I didn’t get any poems or short stories submitted anywhere. I was a lump. A painful lump. (My kids redecorated my house for various holidays – the Super Bowl is a holiday, right – for me because I was so pitiful. They are such good kids.)

My son Greg came and did this for me one day. ❤️ Such a good son.

As for reading, I read parts of:

  • Braiding Sweetgrass by Robyn Kimmerer Walls (audiobook; non-fiction)
  • Write Smart, Write Happy by Cheryl St. John
  • How To Make a Living as a Poet by Gary Mex Glazner
  • Accessibility for Everyone by Laura Kalbag

…and I finished reading:

  • An Offer From a Gentleman by Julia Quinn (audiobook; romance)
  • The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard (e-book; fantasy)
  • THOtE Bonus Chapters by Victoria Goddard (e-book; fantasy)
  • THotE Further Scenes by Victoria Goddard (e-book; fantasy)
  • Traditional Culture Days at Uni by Victoria Goddard (e-book; fantasy)
  • Feonie and the Islander Regalia by Victoria Goddard (e-book; fantasy)
  • The Return of Fitzroy Angursell by Victoria Goddard (e-book; fantasy)
  • Saint of the Bookstore by Victoria Goddard (e-book; fantasy)
  • At the Feet of the Sun by Victoria Goddard (e-book; fantasy)

Some of you may quibble about the bonus chapters and further scenes and short stories as being separate books, but I’m not having any of that because The Hands of the Emperor should have been about 5 full size novels by itself, as should At the Feet of the Sun. So I’m counting the rest individually. Sue me. Bwahahaha. (please don’t. why would you?) So I have finished 16 books so far this year (and read parts of another 7, mostly for research.). 

My cats wouldn’t leave me the entire time I was sick and in pain. I love them so much.
Everywhere But Home, Speaking, Writing

Speaking Engagement at TPL on February 25, 2026

This week at 1pm in the Makerspace at the Tyler Public Library I will be speaking at the Open Door Writing Group on What I Learned from “Write Smart, Write Happy” and “How to Make a Living as a Poet”, including tips and tricks to help you live your best, most creative, productive writing life.

Acceptances, My Own Personal Weirdness, My Writing, Organizing, The Past Comes Back to Haunt Me, What I Love, Writing

January 2026 Stats

In January 2026, I wrote 6066 words. Of those words,
• 802 were for this blog (3 short posts),
• 1230 were for my journal,
• 2156 were for handouts, scripts, and slides for lessons (one for the Open Door Writing Group and one for Asher Point Independent Living Facility),
• 585 were on various social media accounts,
• 214 were poetry (2 short poems and 1 long),
• and 1079 were in short stories (4 pieces of flash fiction).
There were only 12 days that I didn’t write anything. Mostly weekends and holidays, but also a few sick days. I submitted one poem online and heard back from a couple of places, one of which accepted a piece for publication. I also had two speaking engagements, lots of physical therapy appointments, a trip with my family to see my youngest perform with NOVA Independent Guard, the Icepocalypse of 2026, the purchase of a cover for my first indie-published poetry anthology (of just my work), and attended a ReCraft & Co Zine Making Workshop.

As for reading, I read parts of:
Secrets of the First School by TL Huchu (audio book; fantasy), Braiding Sweetgrass by Robyn Kimmerer Walls (audio book; non-fiction), The Relaxed Author by Joanna Penn and Mark Leslie Lefebvre (trade paperback; non-fiction), How to Make a Living as a Poet by Gary Mex Glazner (trade paperback; non-fiction).

…and I finished reading:
• Bee Sting Cake by Victoria Goddard (e-book; cozy fantasy),
• Whiskey Fool by Victoria Goddard (e-book; cozy fantasy), • Plum Duff by Victoria Goddard (e-book; cozy fantasy),
• Blackcurrent Fool by Victoria Goddard (e-book; cozy fantasy),• Love in a Mist by Victoria Goddard (e-book; cozy fantasy),
• Olive and the Dragon by Victoria Goddard (e-book; cozy fantasy),• Seven Dials by Agatha Christie (e-book; mystery),

So I have finished 7 books so far this year (and read parts of another 4, mostly for research, but also a couple of things I’ve just not finished yet.).

Everywhere But Home, Speaking, Writing

Speaking Engagement at TPL on January 28, 2026

This week at 1pm in the Makerspace at the Tyler Public Library I will be speaking at the Open Door Writing Group on Planning Your Writing Life, including tips and tricks to help you live your best, most creative, productive writing life.

Acceptances, Books, Essays, Lifelong learning, My Own Personal Weirdness, My Writing, Organizing, poetry, Short Stories, Speaking, The Past Comes Back to Haunt Me, What I Love, Writing

Full 2025 Writing Stats

I’ve been very bad about tallying up all of last year’s writing, but I think I’m finally done with it.

  • In 2025, I wrote 114,741 words. Of those words,
    • 5559 were for this blog (29 short posts),
    • 3,660 were in 2 essays
    • 26,396 were for my journal,
    • 43,436 were for handouts, scripts, and slides for lessons (15 lessons),
    • 15,692 were on various social media accounts,
    • 12,094 were poetry (68 poems – a lifetime record),
    • and 8004 were in short stories (40 pieces of flash fiction).
    • If you tally all those numbers up, I wrote 154 discrete items, not counting social media posts and journal entries because those don’t really get published. (So 154 items in 215 days, which means about 1 item every 1 and a quarter days)
  • There were only 120 days that I didn’t write anything, mostly due to illness, travel, or moving my kids from house to house. So I wrote on 2/3rds of the days of the year, which basically comes down to working on writing 5 days a week and leaving myself weekends for living, if I were the kind of person that followed a schedule like that. I mean, I try, but there were loads of weeks where I missed several weekdays and wrote straight through the weekends.
  • I only submitted about 5 items all year because it was just sooooo much chaos. I had 2 acceptances and the last 3 items are still well within their response timezones (there’s a better word for this, but the phone in the next room keeps ringing and ringing and I cannot think of it). The two acceptances will be published in early to mid 2026.
  • I had 15 speaking engagements last year. The vast majority did not pay, but were for a group that both feeds my soul and lets me practice my topics with them. Two were for free for the library (who I love and who graciously supports two of my writing groups), but I got several paid teaching side gigs out of them, so that about broke even in terms of payment, really.
  • As for reading, I finished 65 books and read parts of another 13, mostly for research, but also a couple of things I’ve had to mark DNF because I didn’t like their take on the topic or the writing style or something.

That’s it! One more year as a writer in the books. 🙂

Acceptances, Essays, My Writing, The Past Comes Back to Haunt Me, Writing

Acceptance: An Essay in “Beloved As We Are: Building a Congregational Culture of Disability Inclusion”

As several of you know, a couple of years ago I wrote an essay for a traditionally published book about living with disability and then, as usual in my life, things went amiss. The publishing company had an office fire (or maybe the whole building burned? Reports vary.) and timelines went askew. Time went by. I got a few emails asking for patience. Then one that said they were rethinking the whole way the book was going to be presented.

A manuscript arrived in my inbox last week and I was asked to check if the parts of my essay used were used in ways that did not negate the message I was trying to give with my entire essay. In fact, we were all asked to read the whole book, if possible. But there was a four day deadline and I didn’t have time last week to do so. In any case, my parts sounded fine. The parts of the book I read seemed mostly on target for what I was expecting (as long as they proofread it before sending it on to the printers).

So yesterday I got another email, with the title of the book. It’s supposed to come out mid-late summer, so watch out for it: Beloved As We Are: Building a Congregational Culture of Disability Inclusion. (I will, of course, post more about it when I get cover art and links and such.)

Everywhere But Home, My Writing, Speaking, Writing

Speaking Engagement on January 21, 2026 at Asher Point

Asher Point reached out to me through the library to come speak to their book club about writing, books that I’ve written, and all things books and reading. I can’t wait to talk to their Book Club! 🙂