My latest writing attempt is sort of like Nancy Drew meshed with a kid in a Spike Lee movie. Fifteen-year-old Lila Wisher is a product of Louisiana's foster care system. In other words, life has been hard for her. We meet her as she's taken out of a less than stellar foster home and moved to a very small town where she meets people who are down-to-earth, friendly, and trustworthy. But even in towns where southern hospitality reigns supreme, crime happens. When a faculty member at her new high school is murdered on campus, Lila does what she was made to do, she investigates. Throughout the pages of "Bad Batch," readers will watch Lila make friends, enemies, and work to solve a case that's turned her new town upside-down. "Bad Batch" is the first book in A Fall Springs Mystery series. Hopefully, it will be published later this year... hopefully.
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This year has been rough, financially and physically, thanks to a couple of chronic illnesses that keep getting in the way. I don't think I'm the only one who's been struggling through 2023. Hopefully, next year will bring all of us some much-needed joy. This May, I'm hoping to release a children's book called The Invisible Dancer. It's about fitting in and learning your value. It's also an educational tool with a few facts about outer space. Hopefully, someone, somewhere will enjoy it. In any case, it was fun to write! Over the weekend, my friend Raquel married her best friend Matthew and their wedding absolutely fabulous! I was so honored and excited to be able to celebrate the event with their other friends and family! A little video from the special day is just below. I wish I had a nice camera, but I only had the one on my phone. So, the quality of the video is not what I would have liked. That said, the wedding was so spectacular that even with my sad little camera phone, the magic of the event still shines through! We don't typically set goals with the aim of failing to achieve them, but sometimes a perceived "loss" is even more valuable than a win could have been.
On that note, what if we never lost? Imagine what life would be like if every persob we asked out said yes, if babies took their first successful steps during their initial attempts at walking, and if we managed to get perfect scores on every test without studying. If life was like that, wouldn't we be jipped? Wouldn't we miss out on developing a certain set of skills that enhance resilience? Humility, which helps to refine our sense of self-awareness, might be challenging for someone who's used to getting what they want without having to work for it. Courage is another quality that can be enhanced when we get in the habit of pushing through defeat. After a fail, learning how to get up off the ground, work through embarrassment, and even perhaps through some physical scars that the loss brought is a painful yet priceless experience that builds our empathy for other people who have tough lives and it helps us to stop fearing failure. How many people are so scared of failing that they never even try to face challenges or chase after their dreams? But people who know loss and failure, though they certainly don't crave it, aren't as afraid of it and this gives them the humility and courage to keep trying. Even when the odds are against them, they try. And you know what? Sometimes they win amid the most seemingly impossible circumstances. |