/ Marcia

Hi, Everybody! Just a quick update for you, so you’ll know I haven’t forgotten you guys, or my promises that The Write Stuff was going to become more active in the weeks ahead. And that’s going to start happening very shortly, honest! 

I did have to take a slight break again due to my daughter and family coming to visit from Denver. They’ve been here almost two weeks, and it has been a great time, filled with a ton and a half of fun. (A two-year-old granddaughter and a 7-year-old grandson can really fill a house with noise and laughter, and an enormous amount of activity!)

Today is packing up day, though, and they will be heading back to Colorado tomorrow. I’m so sad to see them go, but also totally worn out (in the best way) from all the things we’ve been up to. (Gramps and Granny haven’t seen that much action in years!) 

Lest you think we weren’t being truly careful, let me assure you that my daughter was tested 3 times before the visit, and the four of them quarantined themselves for two weeks. And all of our activities have been “open air” and in low traffic areas. They’ve gone canoeing several times, gone to the (non-crowded) beach three times, and, BEST OF ALL, they gave me a private river outing on my friend Doug’s eco-tour boat, and my son & family came, too. So just the 9 of us, the captain in the back, and Doug, who has been isolating for months, just like me. I hadn’t been out on the St. Johns in about a year and a half (gasp!) and it was glorious. Perfect weather and a fabulous time for all of us.


BACK AT THE MARINA, TIRED BUT HAPPY!
(Reya,  SIL Myres, Kaelen, Me, Hubby Mark, Son Jason, Granddaughter Tabitha, Daughter Erin, and DIL Jenny)

What a motley crew, eh? But boy, did we have fun! 

Starting Sunday, life will be getting back to normal around here, such as normal is during on ongoing pandemic. But the best part is that I will have time to check in with my favorite blogs again, and to get some fun things going here. I do have a guest on Tuesday, and am planning a #FirstLineFriday next week, too. I’ll be running #WildlifeWednesday a couple of times a month, if all goes well, and in general, being a lot more active here on The Write Stuff. Hope you’ll visit often!

Now, go ye forth and enjoy your life, whether it’s quieter than usual right now or not. There’s still loads of stuff we can do, even when staying home, after all. And personally, I’m hoping to get back to my WIP and get that story told! What are YOUR plans? (Inquiring minds wanna know!)

 

47 thoughts on “”

  1. So great that you were able to have some valuable family time. Nothing like it. A great looking family too. Before reading who was who underneath the picture, I tried guessing and I got them all correct!! We are missing family big time but we adopted a little sister for Dot. We have only had Lia for me day so wish us luck. It really is like bringing a new baby home. (What have we done!!)

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    • I’m guessing Dot is a doggie? 😀 If so, yep. You have a new baby. 😀 Congratulations! And thanks for your comments. None of us was looking too gorgeous after a day on the river, but I think we all look pretty happy, anyway. 😉

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    • Thanks, Harmony! The boat trip WAS awesome. Birds and gators and blue skies, Oh MY! 😀 It was a perfect outing. I’m going to try to post the little video/slideshow Jenny made so you can see how much fun we had. 🙂

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  3. Glad you managed to finally get to spend some time (safely) with your kids and grandkids. Sounds like a great time was had. I look forward to seeing your upcoming posts. I don’t really have any finite plans but I’m hoping to finally get back to working on my WIP at some point this year.

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  4. Well, I’m going to keep going back to that photo of all of you. It’s impossible not to smile when I look at it. You look terrific – relaxed, happy and fit. I’m so glad you were able to go on Doug’s boat tour again; it’s on my bucket list now! Looking forward to your return! ❤

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    • Aw thanks, Trish. I’m going to try to post the 2-minute video Jenny made so you can see all of us and how beautiful the river was for mid-winter. I’ve watched it over and over, and it makes me smile every time. 😀 (And yes, you need to go on the tour someday! You’d love it!) 🙂

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  5. I love your photo, Marcia!! Everyone is so happy and the sun is shining. How perfect! You have a beautiful family. Enjoy the last moments and worry not about all of us who enjoy your posts. We’ll still be here when you next post! 💗

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    • Thanks so much, Gwen! It was a day I’ll never forget! And the weather was sheer perfection! I will try to share the little video my daughter-in-law made in another post, if I can. It makes me feel like I’m right back there again.

      I do have a guest set up for Tuesday, and I’m HOPING to have a #FirstLineFriday this week. Haven’t had one in some time and it’s a lot of fun, so stay tuned and see what you think. And thanks for stopping by, too! 🙂

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    • Thanks, Olga! I agree, and it was especially fun since it was the first time we’ve all been together on a holiday in so many years, I don’t remember the last time! So it was really a treat! And thanks for stopping by. 🙂

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    • You are so right, Pete, and we did everything we could to be sure we’d all be safe. Hope we managed to miss any errant “bugs” floating around anywhere. We had such a wonderful time on the river, and I was so surprised that Erin gave me the outing as my special Christmas gift!

      Thanks for stopping by! 🙂

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    • We gave safety our full attention, and I hope it worked in our favor! Thanks, Rae. I don’t know if I deserved it or not, but I sure enjoyed it! 🙂 My kids and grandkids are the BEST! 😀

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  9. It looks like you had a wonderful family time, Marcia. Is you son, Jason, a bit older than your daughter? The age gap with your grandies looks quite big? We also had a careful family gathering and short break, Marcia. I am back at work from yesterday and not looking forward to another year of Zoom meetings.

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    • We did have a great time, Robbie. Jason is only 4 years older than Erin, but he married his high school sweetheart at a much younger age than Erin got married. Not right out of highschool or anything, but Erin was a “woman of the world” for some years before meeting her husband. She lived in Chicago, Malaysia, San Francisco, and finally San Diego, where she & Myres met. So she was older than Jason when she got married, and didn’t start a family immediately. That accounts for a the difference between their oldest, who’s 7 and Jason & Jenny’s daughter, who’s 15.

      Sorry about the work situation, but at least you still have a job, and I guess you have to be happy about that, given the number of folks who no longer do. Try to smile through those Zoom meetings! I’m so glad my only Zooming is done when Reya asks her Mommy if they can “vid-yo chat Granny.” 😀

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  10. What a great photo! Good to see you and your family enjoying the outdoors. I’m just counting the days ’til retirement – that’s my main focus right now! (35 work days, btw. LOL)

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    • Wow, congratulations, Sue. I guess you’ll soon be a woman of leisure, huh? I’m hoping to write a couple more books before I close shop, but who knows how that will play out. But, yes, we were really enjoying ourselves on the St. Johns River. Hoping to share a short video in a day or two so you can see how much fun we had. 🙂

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    • Thanks, Denise. It was SUCH a great time, and the two weeks went by so fast! They left this morning, and I’ve been missing them all day long! 😦 But we were blessed with wonderful weather and they got to do a lot of fun things while here, so I’m focusing on how grateful I am they were able to come. 🙂

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    • It was a gorgeous day, Craig. I think you’d have loved to be along on that boat. We even spotted a gator or 6 which isn’t always the case in winter. Saw at least 1,000 white ibis in the trees by the hundreds, and a couple of the usual suspects: herons, snowy egrets, great egrets, and even an immature (white) little blue heron. And limpkins. (FUN birds!) Also a soaring eagle, a loggerhead shrike, and some sandhill cranes. And the sky was so blue, it almost didn’t look real! A super outing! 🙂

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  13. Love that family pic ❤
    It'll be good to 'see' you around more, though totally understand your issues over this past year.
    My plans at the moment, back in lockdown in Scotland, are forging ahead, with a goodly chunk of new words added daily to book #4 of the Five Kingdoms – I might even get it finished before you get around to reading #3! 😉

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    • I’m so excited to know there’s more to the series. Somehow, I was thinking it was a trilogy, and now I need to move Book 3 UP so I’ll be ready when the others come out. Woohooo! I’m hoping to finish some smaller, easier projects. Working on a spinoff Riverbend novella, and then planning to do a couple of Rabbit’s stories the same way, with a couple of new characters introduced in The Light. We’ll see how that goes.

      Happy writing!! 🙂

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      • I admit I planned a traditional fantasy trilogy, but book #2 was coming in at over 200K words, so I split out one of the story threads to make a separate book. Book #4 will complete the journey for this set of characters, but I have at least another 6 planned after that with the next generation.
        Spin off novellas are also in the planning stage – as you know, its far more about finding the time to write them, than it is finding the ideas!
        I’m very much look forward to your next bunch of novellas, especially with Rabbit and co. ❤

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        • I’m thinking in terms of shorter, easier tasks to make my life easier for a bit, hence the novellas. So much fun to write, and quicker to get “out there.” Yep, Rabbit, his dad, and their new “adopted” family member will be fun to write, I think. Plus, I do think many of us with towering TBR piles enjoy a quick read now and then.

          Okay, so #4 will be the last in this series (generation)? Still good to know. I need to get caught up. I’m hoping for more reading time this year, as I have so many I really want to get to. I’m bumping #3 MUCH closer to the top so I can catch up with Rusty & crew, and I know I’ll enjoy it!

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  20. I’m so glad you got to enjoy time together with your family, Marcia. That picture is fabulous, and I bet the river excursion was great. I’m just now starting to get back online myself after a 2 month break. I did manage to finish my WIP (woot!) and am currently in the process of cleaning it up.
    I’m looking forward to your blog posts, my friend!

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  21. Thanks so much, Mae, and that day on the river was the highlight of the entire holiday season for me!

    Congratulations on finishing your WIP! I’m truly impressed, what with all you’ve had on your plate. I’m going to get back to my WIP in a day or so, and hoping to finish it fairly quickly. It’s a spinoff Riverbend novella, involving the people in Riverbend this time, rather than the Emissary who popped in during Book 2 and started a little series of his own. 😀 I suspect this one will feature several familiar faces, including the infamous Painter brothers, but we’ll see where it leads me. After that, it will be back to the Ridge and Rabbit’s next tale, though I’m pretty sure that’s going to be a shorter one, too. Again, we’ll see.

    Thanks so much for stopping by and good luck “cleaning up” your finished WIP! I’ll be more visible around here in the coming weeks, for sure, and hope to see you stopping by when you can. 😀

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