August 2024

Ch...Ch...Ch...Changes!

Ahem. I borrowed this column's title from an old David Bowie song. It's been humming through my brain a lot lately because there's a plethora of changes going on in my life!

At the end of April, my husband and I downsized from the 5-bedroom side of our house into the 1-bedroom in-law apartment attached to it (built in 1995 for Jeff's mom). The photo here is of two of our teenage grandsons who were helping us with the move.

The plan was to live a few weeks of each month here (Massachusetts) and a few weeks in our brand-new modular home in Maine. So in June, we rented the larger side of the house to what seemed like a good family. BUT... the best laid plans sometimes don't go the way we expect. After a week of living there, we discovered that one of them had a criminal record, and so we had to evict them and break their lease.

All of this got us to thinking—maybe it would make more sense for us to move to Maine permanently. After lots of discussion and planning, that's what is happening this month. In July, we put our home in Massachusetts on the market and are getting ready to become full-time Maine residents. This photo is of the home in Massachusetts that is being sold even as I write!

It's all very exciting, and at the same time I am feeling sadness at leaving our home of 29 years, which is almost half of my life. So I am welcoming and allowing and processing all of it - the excitement of starting over and creating something new, with the sorrow of saying good-bye to our former way of life.

All of these changes and the theme of starting over has got me to thinking about the books I love to read, and the novels that I have written. Most of them start with a main character whose life has changed in a big way. For example, in Feathers in the Sand, Tess and Eva have left their longtime home in New Haven, CT and are starting over in Seahaven, Maine. The same is true for Elana in Sea Glass Memories. She decides to leave the home that she and her deceased husband created in Boston, and moves to Seahaven to begin a new teaching job and to live closer to her brother.

The theme of starting over has also got me to thinking about the other times in my life when I went through changes on my journey, and made moves to start over. College in 1974. My first teaching job in Virginia in 1978. Moving back to New England in 1984. Moving in with Jeff and his kids in 1991. Getting married to Jeff and building our new home in 1995. Also starting over at new jobs. Teaching. Consulting. Library. Bookstore. Theatre. KaleidoSoul.

It helps me to look back on all of these changes, and even though they were difficult at first, I accessed inner reserves of courage and resilience, and made the changes work for me. This helps me to know that I can also journey with this transition that is happening even as I write this column!

In January, I am hoping to begin work/play with the next novel in the Seahaven Sunrise series, which is tentatively called Wish Upon a Sea Star. Your comments and thoughts and experiences with wishing that you sent me after the April issue of this newsletter have been extraordinarily helpful . . . Thank you!

If you are going through any kind of a transition in your life, please reach out to me. I'd love to hear from you and to hear about how you are managing this change. Also, take a look at the books you love to read . . . how many of them start out with a character who is making a change?

 🏆 August Give-Away Winners 🏆

Congratulations to our June readers who each received

a paperback copy of Close Enough to Touch, by Colleen Oakley

Lalita from Maryland

Jodi from Minnesota

Didn't win? Not to worry, you can try again right now . . .

August Fiction Give-Away:

Recommended

Heart & Soul-Stirring Story

** I Have 2 Paperbacks to Give Away **

This is a heartfelt novel about the unlikely relationship between a young woman who's lost her husband and a major league pitcher who's lost his game.

When he moves into an apartment at the back of Evvie's house, the two make a deal: Dean won't ask about Evvie's late husband, and Evvie won't ask about Dean's baseball career.

Rules, though, have a funny way of being broken--and what starts as an unexpected friendship soon turns into something more. To move forward, Evvie and Dean will have to reckon with their pasts--the friendships they've damaged, the secrets they've kept--but in life, as in baseball, there's always a chance--up until the last out.

To enter, just fill out the short form here

and I'll do a random drawing

THIS SUNDAY AUGUST 18.

I will send you an email notice that you've won,

and I'll ask for your snail mail address after that!

(NOTE: I use the random generator at random.org to choose the winners

so it's all fair and square.)

AnneMarie, Thanks for reading my author newsletter! This is my SoulCollage® card for Joyful Transition. When I made this collage in 2005, I was transitioning from my long-time job at our local theatre, into creating my own business (KaleidoSoul). I thought it good to share with you this month because, as I shared in my column above, I am once again "starting over" in a big way this summer.

In between newsletters, I'll be posting more often on Instagram, my blog, and/or my Facebook Author page, so please be sure to visit me there too.

Also, don't forget to enter our August fiction give-away, Evvie Drake Starts Over.

May all the transitions in your life be smooth and met with an open heart,