A Little More Than 500 Words In October 2025

We leave for Italy in six days. This is my first trip abroad that I have had to do all the research to make it the best. Jim used to do all of that and I just went along with whatever he said. I was lucky enough to find Joe in 2022 after Jim died ten years ago, he’s amazing and we mesh so very well. Joe has never been abroad, so I am in charge of this trip. I love Italy, I am looking forward to this trip, I am looking forward to showing Joe all that Italy holds. My ADHD mind is waiting for the deadline to finalize the research for where we are going.

I have done a ton of research, I have looked at a lot of places to see and places to eat. I have most of what we need, but I can’t stop the thought process that sometimes you sit in the room and pull up some place on a whim and just go – this is my mind-block. Joe likes a schedule, I like a schedule as well, but I am very bad at making my own schedule. I have been making the schedule, but I have been leaving a few things to let us fly by the seat of our pants. This will not sit well with Joe. I adore him, I adore how he thinks, I think very similarly, but we need a leader – this time it’s me, not him. That’s a little less structured than he prefers. I will get us to many amazing places, but he might be a little stressed that we aren’t as structured as he prefers.

Our plan is to fly into Florence, pick up the car at the airport and drive immediately to Siena. We have a city-facing room (because we will be driving the countryside and don’t need to view that while we are there.) We both love people watching, so if we can just peek out the window and see folks, that would just be great.

Once we check into our hotel in Siena, we will day trip to San Gimignano, day trip to Montepulciano, we have a winery tour at Montesolo near Volterra where we will stay in for a night, then we will drive the coast up to Pisa before returning to Florence to finish out our week.

Of course I have tickets for L’Academia and Uffuzi, as an art history lover, they cannot be missed. I think Joe will love them as much as I do. I love that he appreciates architecture and art as much as I do. He’s going to love Florence. He wanted to do Paris as well, but it’s hard to make a nine day trip for two countries. Of course I love Paris, I lived there and cried the entire plane ride home when I had to leave, but two days isn’t enough. I’ll take him next time and we can do London as well. That’s an easy tour.

We have a car for the tour, I have my international driving permit and he is getting his tomorrow. He’s an accomplished driver, owns a couple of race cars, but I really hope he doesn’t use his training to drive through Italy. I am hoping he will let met drive the first leg so he can watch how the Italians drive. He may not and I’ll have to just read the news on my phone to keep from stressing. Same as here.

It’s going to be exciting and I absolutely cannot wait!

For any of you that read my books, I have the bug again, I really want to write a true crime book. I am looking into how to do that respectfully and thoroughly. Hopefully in the next year, I will have something.

Hugs, A

Maybe 500 Words in 2023

I have had the urge to write again so I found my old blog to get the creative juices flowing again.

A lot has happened since my last post. That guy I wrote about actually started hitting up my closest friends to commission his art. I couldn’t abide by that and dumped him. It’s been four years since then and I actually found a real live decent guy who loves me. He moved in with me and so far, it’s been super.

Now, back to writing. My biggest issue is that I am beading Christmas stockings for the two of us since I have to give the one my mom made to my son’s fiancé. (That way they will have matching stockings and we will have matching as well).

I want and need to write again. I’m thinking that I’d like to do a tell-tale/novel based on a true crime. There are so many to choose from out there that are so fascinating.

I will report when I do start writing again.

Sorry it isn’t 500 words today.

500 Words For October

I haven’t been writing so this post won’t be about the writing process in the slightest. This post will just be about me and what’s been going on with me. It’s an exercise in writing for me so I can keep up the practice of writing so I can get back into the habit. My motivation has been peaking lately so I am hoping that will translate into writing more on my novel or become a new idea for an easier novel to write.

I’ve been seeing someone who has been making me very happy. He has a great sense of humor which makes me smile when we aren’t together. We already have inside jokes. He likes to talk about my “training” regarding me learning how to massage his neck. Hahaha! He hasn’t gotten a neck massage yet, but he’s still hopeful. When I mentioned that The Irishman comes out on November first and that I wanted to see it, I asked him not to go see it without me. He responded that it would depend on how my training was going. He assured me that he would reenact it for me and would be very theatrical so it would be very enjoyable for me. Hahaha! I love it. Besides my lack of training, we have been getting along very well. There is a lot of travel time between us so we only see each other on weekends when it works for both of us, but so far we have only missed one weekend. We may miss a day or two out of a weekend but since I get a three day weekend every other week it works out anyway.

I’m so hopeful these days and I have more motivation than I’ve had in a very long time. Yesterday I managed to empty and reload the dishwasher, color my hair, shower, gather my yoga stuff, and get paperwork together for the attorney. That is a huge accomplishment for me. I was quite pleased with myself. The first time he came over I did a whirlwind pick-up of the house (thankfully the maid had been through recently). I plan to do the same type of cleaning tomorrow before he comes back on Saturday for a three-day visit. I’m excited to see how we spend time together on work days. An Aldi just opened up near me, maybe we’ll stop in and pick up something to cook while he’s here. I usually just order food or eat cheese sticks for dinner. If I have to provide for John then I will have to be a little more accommodating than cheese sticks. Hahaha! I’d like to see the new Aldi anyway.

We’ve been chatting on the phone this evening off and on since I left work. He’s agreed to visit my college roommate with me. Plus he wants to find a restaurant near me that we can take friends to like it’s “our place”. He so cute, lol. That’s what’s been up anyway.

500 Words For The End Of August

It’s been ages since I wrote so I’m writing. I helped my mom set up her own blog this morning. She is in the 9% of pancreatic cancer survivors. With her medical background and her tenacious spirit, I know she will inspire others. She’s amazing. It will go well. I wish her the best and I know she will be successful because she is persistent and always succeeds when she is determined. Go Mom!

I am writing from a resort in a waterfront town an hour south of Houston. I’m here because I met a guy online who lives down here. Circumstances in his life brought me down here so that we can meet for brunch tomorrow (Sunday). I was comfortable with the last guy I was dating but it took a couple of friends’ comments to wake me up to the fact that comfort doesn’t equal compatibility. I realized that not only was he using me, he thought of my friends as potential customers. That shit just doesn’t fly with me. When I finally realized what was right in front of my face I ended things. I just couldn’t deal with feeling like I was being used. I have high hopes for this new guy even though we live an hour apart. We are early days. He’s into his family, he loves dogs, and he has a great personality. All good things, all admirable, all attractive traits. Tomorrow is our first date and we shall see how it goes. It’s been great through texts and phone calls – in person is all on me. My social anxiety may be the deal breaker but I’ve gotten much better as of late so I hope to be able to keep up my side of the conversation.

I have done some writing but I need to get back to it. Getting back to my blog is a gateway to getting back to my writing. It reminds me how much I love to write. I want to get back to Life, Love, Paris. I had actually forgotten I was editing that one because I had gotten lost in my latest novel. My current novel chronicles life with a cancer patient. It’s based on my experience taking care of my late husband Jim. He was the love of my life and I miss him every day. I took care of him because that’s what I signed up for when I took those vows when I married him. My mom was amazed at how well I cared for him. I just did what needed to be done to ensure that my love was comfortable while cancer took him from me. I still tear up thinking about it which is why writing this novel has been so hard and is taking so long. I’m not sure I’ll ever finish it. If I get another idea and start another novel I’m sure it will come to fruition before my cancer novel will. Cancer sucks, fuck you cancer!

500 Words in the Middle of the Night

I’m having one of my sleepless nights. I awoke at midnight and spent the next hour trying to get back to sleep. I realized at one that sleep wouldn’t be coming quite so easily so I got up and turned on the news. The coffee is hot and time is really flying by, I’ll be in the shower before long and off to work. If I get there at 6 I can leave at 3:30. Getting off early doesn’t really help me since I don’t usually do anything after work. I like to put on pajamas as soon as I get home and decompress from my day.

People have been on me for money and since I am a pushover I oblige. My yard-guy / handyman needed me to pay him in advance for March and April. I’ve done it before, and he does come back to do the work he promises. I have a tree that has two massive limbs that need to be removed before it falls on a car in the driveway, so he plans on working on that this week. He’s not as reliable as I would like, but he gets to me eventually. I have another friend who isn’t working who wants to borrow as well, I had to tell him this was the last time I would be able to front him anything.

I’ve bribed my son and his girlfriend to clean the house tomorrow since it’s spring break and they don’t have school. They live here free, the least they can do is work around the house. My son is having top surgery this week, so he will be close to aiding being able to live with his dysphoria. I’m excited for him and nervous. What mom wouldn’t be nervous when their kid goes into surgery. I’m sure his girlfriend will take care of him while he needs the help. Of course I can help when I get home from work – here’s where getting off at 3:30 pays off.

I’ve been writing again, a little. I have my Kindle open on my Mac and Word open and I am able to copy and paste the parts of my novel I want to keep in the second edition. This is going to take me a while, it may even take me longer than when I wrote the book because I am looking at it with new eyes and a better understanding of succinct writing. I haven’t checked into republishing it yet, I will get there eventually.

I have finished my round of chemo cream for the squamous cell carcinoma on my face. It’s a big red blotch now. Mederma will be my friend to try to erase the redness of this and the undereye biopsies. I go back to the dermatologist in a month and a half so they can look at my progress and check for any remaining cancer spots. I’m afraid the leg spots are more than originally diagnosed. We shall see.

Back To It

So the best news I’ve gotten in a long time is that my mom made it through her chemo treatments and her last scan found no trace of cancer. The family is very hopeful that she is in the 7% that make it beyond 5 years with pancreatic cancer. She’s been bouncing back great and resumed her normal activities. Yay!

 

To my writing…

 

I was asked to be a guest blogger on a francophile’s blog so I wrote her a vignette about four experiences I had while living in Paris. She liked my writing saying it was witty and funny even though some of the stories were scary or harsh. With that, I am absolutely ready to write the second edition of Life, Love, Paris. When I reread it after five years I realized it is quite obvious that it is my first novel. I put way too much information into it trying to get where I was going. Now I know I can insinuate and get there a lot faster. If it turns into a 190 page book all the better. I know I can fix it, I just need to start now.

 

I will check my old computer to see if the original is on there, but I’m not sure it is. I will have to start from scratch as my last post said, but I plan to get through it so I can get back to the novel I’m in the middle of at the moment.

 

Well, thanks for reading again, and stay tuned!

June 13th’s 500 Words

I started the arduous process of starting from scratch on my novel. I think it will flow better if I rewrite it rather than edit what I have. I plan to keep the same premise and the same characters. I will skip some of the minutia that I seemed to be dwelling on that added nothing to the story. I’m only two paragraphs in and I have already put it on hold. I have to be in the mood to write and my cat needs to be off my lap so I can think while I write. Bear is currently on my lap so I have to write quickly and without thinking which is where this blog comes in for the practice.

My mother has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. As a retired cancer research nurse she knew the stats on PC and we both knew they weren’t good. Fortunately, the doctor treating her with surgery is the most prolific in the country. He has performed this “Whipple” procedure more than anyone else. Unfortunately, when he got inside he found he had to remove the entire pancreas. She is in the intensive care unit for tonight and my sister is staying with her for most of the evening. Son and I will be going to see her tomorrow once I get out of work. She should be in a normal room by tomorrow afternoon so it will be better to see her then. I’d like to know what she really thinks once she is off the morphine. I’m not ready to lose her, she is a big part of mine and son’s lives. I lost a husband and a father in the past three years, I’m tired of death.

Going through cancer again with someone I’m close with is not going to be pleasant, but I will persevere so I can be here for whatever she needs. I did it for husband, I can certainly do it for Mom. Whatever she wants, needs, or chooses to do, I am behind her one hundred percent. It’s her choice after all, I can’t be selfish. I just wish I had a more forgiving job so I could spend more time at the hospital with her while she recovers from surgery. But, alas, I have meetings tomorrow that have to be coordinated and I am merely a temp employee looking for permanent employment so I have to do what I have to do to ensure that (hopefully) one day I will be a full-fledged employee. Of course that is to the detriment of my family, at least for now.

I promised son I wouldn’t drink on work nights anymore and I have been very good with my promise over these past several months. Today, I needed a couple of drinks. I still plan to be in bed by eight, asleep by nine, so I can start my work-day at six. Then I can leave by three-thirty and get to the hospital with son.

My First 500 Words

I’m about to be an empty-nester, so I am takin this blog in an additional direction.

My son graduated today. I am happy and sad at the same time. I am so happy for him as he completed this huge portion of his life, but sad for me because I will lose him to the great wide world. It’s going to be very quiet in the house. I’ll miss his singing, his guitar playing, him entertaining me with his wicked sense of humor, and him in general. There will be no more “I love you” every night before bed. There will be no more giggling from him and his girlfriend traveling down the hall. No more of him.

I am so proud of him for choosing his colleges and his path in life. His undergraduate program will be biology followed by a masters in forensic science. He is an amazing artist and up until the end of his junior year he wanted to go into graphic arts. I’m just so proud he has gone out of the box to find something he loves even more than art, I just know he will be successful.

I’m lucky that his girlfriend is here in town, I hope that means he will come home often. I’m okay with him spending time with her and other friends while home on the occasional weekend, but I am counting on the “poor college student” to allow me to take him out to dinner at least one night so we can spend some time together.

As this blog started as a way to express my thoughts and ideas as I trudge through the writing process, I should mention my latest novel. I’m not too pleased with it, actually. It’s so very long, well over five hundred pages. I think I am too pedantic with some of my chapters leaving me unsure how to cut them without losing character development.

The premise of the book is a new beginning for a woman who wants to make a fresh start of things. She has the means and the motivation to sell everything and move from Atlanta to New York City to start her own art gallery. Of course she meets a man along the way, they have an instant connection, but he is more (much more) than he seems to be on the surface. She makes her way through several obstacles including her new man’s lifestyle through trial and error. Unfortunately, her past sneaks up on her and turns her world and everything she knows upside-down. I like the premise of the story, I like the characters I’ve created, but I don’t think I’ve written it very well. It feels sophomoric to me. I know I can write better. My dilemma is whether to start over from scratch, or to edit what I have. Five hundred pages is a lot to edit especially, since I like to print out my novels and hand edit them. Ink is expensive, right?

It’s Been Too Long

I have been in a major depressive mood so I haven’t been writing therefore I have nothing to blog. I did sell a book recently, lol. Just one. Now I am looking to find an agent or publisher. I’m not really sure how to go about it. I started researching on the internet, but hit the depression wall and got no where. Any suggestions would be welcomed. I’m still working on my latest book, and I’ve started another blog that may wind up being a book at some point. It’s too early to tell, but I have been documenting almost daily so I will have details and feelings to put down in an orderly fashion.

My Book Is On Sale!

Getting Away is on sale starting Sunday the 15th for just ninety-nine cents! Get it while it’s cheap!