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Some Sentiments About 20 Years at Stevenson
*** Last week I received an email from human resources about celebrating 20 years at Stevenson University. And I used to think the 13 years I spent at the Baltimore Orioles was a long time. When I taught my very first semester at Stevenson in January of 2000, I was pregnant with my son, Matthew, and was hired as an adjunct professor. Now, Matthew is a junior in college. When you look at it through that lens, a long time has passed. I moved into full-time teaching in 2008, when Stevenson changed its name from Villa Julie College to Stevenson University. Prior to my time at Stevenson, I began teaching…
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Frocktober begins tomorrow & I’ve picked my charity
FROCKTOBER BEGINS TOMORROW… And I’m announcing the charity I have chosen for the next 31 days. What is FROCKTOBER? It’s a 31-day fashion challenge, whereby you post an outfit a day on Instagram, that calls attention to a charity of choice! As an educator, author, blogger, and reader, I am so happy to support and call attention to another woman of style’s organization that fosters reading: Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Dolly’s nonprofit organization is a book gifting program that delivers free books to children from birth to age 5 in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Republic of Ireland. The organization was inspired by Dolly’s father’s inability to…
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A Video Representation of my Work in Progess
Last night, I was able to finish reading through all of the chapters I have written so far of my new work in progress, a little more than 60,000 words. This book is a little different from the others I have previously written. And while it is set in the Annapolis area, its characters are all a bit lost and trying to find their way out of their current situations. The glue that brings these people together is a woman who is an empath. Through something she does consciously to help others, the other four characters in the novel find each other. Writing five main characters who all narrate the…
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Some Updates on Some things
As I’ve been a little out of touch, I thought I’d share a few updates, and things that have been happening during quarantine of late, starting with… The Unnamed Boat The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of excitement. On my birthday in mid-August, my husband surprised me by purchasing a boat. Our friends upgraded to a new vessel, and he bought their boat. As I had been out on their boat several times, it was a lovely, and completely out-of-the-blue surprise. Since then, we’ve been spending as much time on the water as we can before the season ends. Growing up, my dad had boats. When I was…
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Anxiety at 3:30 a.m.
I can’t believe I’m sitting her typing this at 3:30 in the morning, but I am. I’m getting angrier by the minute that I can’t fall asleep and that my heart is racing for no good reason. This happens to me a few times a year, and like a dummy, I allow it to get the better of me instead of going with the flow. The worst part of all is that I’m actually exhausted. I suppose I should be thankful because it allows me a few moments to write a blog post, something I haven’t tackled since my birthday because I’ve been too busy. There are many of you…
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The Annual Birthday Post Turned Poem
The Annual Birthday Post Turned Poem The hour has finally arrived, my friends Another birthday is here I’d love to scream with joy and glee But aging’s what I fear Growing old’s a gift, it’s true To live your life in full It should be sunshine and roses But a lot of it’s just bull Aging isn’t always bliss My back’s a pain in the ass It’s taking away from me having fun And affecting all of my sass The lines on my face do show some wear And I jiggle way more than I’d like The greys in my hair are plentiful, too So I escape when I can…
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Blogging from Bethany – Beach Cottages
What if your fairy godmother told you that you could have any of the houses shown here? Which one would you pick? Do you prefer a small beach cottage covered in roses and flowers, or would you rather have one of the big mommas? This is the kind of game I play with myself when I’m exploring the streets on my bike. As I mentioned in a previous post, these properties have a lot of personality, and they are some of my favorites. As for me, well, I wouldn’t be too picky. A house at the beach is a house at the beach, no matter which way you slice it.…
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Blogging from Bethany
Before I get started, let me say that I admire people who have the chutzpah to travel during coronavirus. I wasn’t sure we would have it in us to venture into it. However, after the year we had in 2019 that caused us to cancel three vacations, we were looking forward to getting away this year. Then, 2020 hit. In May of this year, we also had to cancel a fourth vacation—our daughter’s celebratory high school graduation trip due to the pandemic. After that, we delayed booking something in Hilton Head for August. It wasn’t until two weeks ago that we found a house in Bethany Beach in Delaware, and…
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Facing Monday
* Hello, Monday, I see we meet again. We have come face-to-face for another round. I’m not intimidated by you this week. In week’s past, I may have been. But this week will be productive. There’s a lot to accomplish, so I hope you are ready..First, we have to allow for some time to be creative and work on the new story. Something clicked last week as I was writing my characters for this novel. I realized how vested I am in the project and in Meg, Eva, Lily, Reid and Nick. I like all of them, and while they may have some struggles they’re dealing with at the beginning…
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What Are You Missing Most Right Now?
Here’s the question: WHAT ARE YOU MISSING MOST RIGHT NOW? Most of us are probably missing the freedom we used to have to travel, being with those we love without social distancing, and seeing the world. Plus, as I am working on my syllabus for feature writing, I typically instruct and assign an article about travel writing. This morning I woke up realizing I may have to take this assignment out. How can I expect the students to travel and write about their local travel in these present circumstances? This semester is going to be unusual enough without now having to rethink assignments. I’m going to have to get creative.…
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Pretty Things That Bring You Joy
I don’t know about you, but our current situation regarding coronavirus is starting to get to me. Our mental health is being affected, whether we realize it or not. Being unable to do some of the things that we enjoy doing is taking a toll. I know there have been much greater sacrifices made, and I know there have been much tougher situations people have faced. Still, what we are facing is affecting lives, businesses, and our state of mind; it requires us to face our daily challenges with grace. Taking regular, long walks has been away to clear my mind. Writing a new novel has been incredibly therapeutic. Photography…
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A Suggestion for Your Kids: Write About The Pandemic
*** Let’s get a few things straight before I launch into this short, but important blog post. I’ll start with the five basics. First: I’m a writer, and I love writing, so I’m going to encourage writing. Second: You have seen me often write on this platform about the importance of keeping a journal of your life to preserve your family’s history. Nothing has changed since then. Third: As a teacher of writing, what better subject matter to offer potential writers to write about than the situation of what we are all going through? Fourth: We find ourselves in incredibly unusual times, and it’s worth taking the time to record…
