Happy Friday!
It’s Easter weekend, and I want to wish each of you a fantastic holiday, however you choose to celebrate. It always marks the true beginning of spring to me, and it’s a great time with family and refocusing on the spiritual aspect of life.
My grandkids love to do the glow-in-the-dark easter egg hunt and will do that again this year.
I am sad to say I came home from the Outlaws and Legends music festival this year with hardly any pictures to share. I was manning my gate for fourteen hours straight on Friday, so I got to hear no music. Then on Saturday, I was at the gate for twelve hours but got to hear two performers, then Willie. I will say Willie is looking a might frail and was a little unsteady on his feet, but he has people to help him with every step. He turns 90 on April 30th.
Either the festival has outgrown me, or I have outgrown it because it was exhausting, and I didn’t leave filled with joy like I usually do. I am too old to work so many hours straight with no breaks. So I will have to think long and hard about returning next year. It may be time to let that one go.
I wanted to post my March book reviews, but when I looked back at the month, all but one had already been posted in separate blogs. So, I’m going to share the one that didn’t get its own spotlight here.
MY REVIEW:
This is a complex story that unfolds in compelling layers. Lisa packs an overnight bag and drives to the old family home for a quick weekend visit. But when things unravel, she’s caught in a situation that changes everything.
A stranger knocks on the door, and a few minutes later, Lisa’s father is dead, and her mother is severely wounded. But who and why? Who can she trust? As is often true in real life, sometimes it’s hard to determine just who is the bad guy.
The author takes the reader through a web of lies and deceit as Lisa searches for answers. Then her brother, Trace, joins her, and at least they can face this travesty together. When Trace asks for help from a childhood friend, Ryan, it’s the three of them who search for clues and answers to who and what the father was and had done. There is a complex mystery, crime, murders, government corruption, and high-level cover-ups in this story.
Parts of it hit close to reality, not only incorporating possibility but probability.
One of the things I love the most about this story is the sense of family between Trace, Lisa, and their mother. They all suffered at the hand of the father, and it’s a long and winding road to finding forgiveness and making peace with his actions that affected them all. The story moves at a good pace and held my interest. It is written in the third-person present tense point of view. If you like a story that will keep you guessing and keep you rooting for the good guys to win, you will enjoy this book as I did!
I’m super happy to report that my sister is recuperating from her surgery. She’s been through a lot, but like all of us Smiths, she is a fighter. We do not know the words “give up.”
As I look at my writing life, I’m faced with some decisions and feel like I’m at a crossroads. I know I won’t publish my next book through Wild Rose Press. Why? While it’s great not having to pay for editing, book covers, and formatting, the royalties paid out to the authors are so small it’s just not worth the effort. So, what’s next?
I’m not sure. I have a manuscript that is finished and ready for editing, but I’m not going to rush and do anything with it, although I’d really like to publish it either late summer or early fall. We’ll see. I’m absolutely worn out and tired of swimming upstream. Do you ever feel that way? No, I’m not throwing in the towel, just backing up to reevaluate all of it. We all work so hard to create our stories, then work even harder to try and market them without pausing to take a breath. I need to breathe.
Then, things like this happen and give me a boost.
Above all else in life, I strive to stay positive and upbeat. My greatest joy is when I can be an inspiration to or uplift someone else. I cannot be that if I don’t have joy and peace within myself. So it’s time to work on me.
Have a great weekend, and I look forward to your comments. Hugs!
I’ll share with you my one happy picture from the festival. It was jam-packed – around 15,000.
