For most of us women, friendship is an important part of our lives. For some it may be as important as finding a soulmate.

As I add words to this blank canvas, I am imagining an artist, brush in hand, in front of a blank canvas. I imagine the artist’s hand quivering ever so slightly as the tip of the brush changes everything on that blank canvas from white to whatever color is about to drip off that brush. Oh, the anticipation!

Whatever you are writing, whatever the current project, talking about it with others helps keep it fresh.

Two years ago this month my daughter and her husband began fostering a sweet baby boy on his second day of life. He turned out to be one of the sweetest little guys ever, and a special part of our family.

Finding your Inner Writer when you know she is in there can be difficult or overwhelming. Being coached through that can help, but the real work comes in each of us personally overcoming the doubts.

Valentine’s Day is a fun day to celebrate having a Valentine to celebrate, but it may not always be a fun day for everyone. It may pour salt on a wound for some. I feel for those in that situation.

How did I pick En-Spire Life for my coaching/writing business?

When writing my first book, Into the Canyon, released in April 2023, I had a lot of anxiety around what the “rules for writing” might be. I googled, searched, and thought about it a lot. As I wrote and worked on my book, I found myself getting hung up on what those “rules” might be.

More recently, while working on book 2, it occurred to me that there really are no “rules for writing,” just suggestions.

Believe me, I have “should on myself” many, many times! I think about how often I thought about writing and telling myself I “should do that” and didn’t do it. How thankful I am that I stopped should-ing on myself and took the plunge to “Just Write!”

As I was scrolling through emails, deleting most, and reading a few, I came across an email from the company from whom I order my yearly Christian Planner. The email asked if I had chosen my “Word of the Year.” In the email was a link to click named “Word Generator.” Knowing it was a safe resource, I clicked the link and tried the Word Generator. My word was “Create!”

A couple of my goals for 2024 are to travel more and to do more book signings. I would love to do book signings as part of our future travels!

Over this past summer, I did a good amount of writing. In fact, I previously blogged about a couple of extended getaways when I wrote several chapters in book two of the Kammer Family Trilogy. After all that writing, several weeks went by where I did not write at all. During this time, I found myself experiencing a bit of brain overload for various other reasons.

“There may be snow on the rooftop but there’s still fire in the furnace!” ~ Wynona Judd

In the summer of 2023 I started learning something new. My son, Chris, and his family traveled to Hawaii, and they bought me a ukulele!

As I sat, I watched people going by. I enjoyed the view of Autumn in Chicago. While I sat, I took the attached picture of the trees, and the poem came to me easily.

I love coaching! I feel like I haven’t said that for a long time. I stepped away from doing much coaching as my book launched. While I am still writing (book 2 is coming a long great!), I am now actively seeking people to coach. I have plenty of space for new clients and would love to share more about coaching with anyone interested in learning more.

Who doesn’t love the season of Autumn? It’s by far my favorite. Everything seems happier. Even the air has a sense of joy in it.

I often think back to how all this writing began for me. I may have dreamed of my writing going public, but I definitely didn’t believe in myself enough to think it would become a reality.

As a Writing Coach I love hearing about other writers’ experiences. Writers are very creative people. When I think about creative writing, I tend to think of my style which is creating characters and making up stories about the same characters. Using my creativity to piece the story together.

Listening to a song by Michael W. Smith, “New Hallelujah” (a longtime favorite of mine) brought some thoughts to mind. I love this song. I enjoy playing it while driving my Jeep and singing at the top of my lungs. It’s a spiritual event for me.

But this time when I was singing, new thoughts came to me. When I heard the lyrics, “Make Him known, and make Him famous, sing it out, sing a new hallelujah” I got goosebumps and I heard the word, “bruised” in my spirit. I knew instantly what it meant.