Just touching base with you guys to let you know I’m still alive and kicking down here. My health issues are easing as my stress levels have been dropping, so I think the blog break has been good for me. Still not quite ready to jump back in until I see my doctor Tuesday and get a bit more info on what’s ahead. Hopefully, though, the news will be good and I won’t be MIA much longer.
I did get some bad news this week. Some of you know my daughter and her family moved to Denver a year and a half or so ago, and they were planning a ten-day visit over Thanksgiving, which we were very much looking forward to. Erin, being a pretty smart gal, had isolated them for the whole week before departure date (and they’ve been extremely cautious, anyway) and then they went for testing on Monday, hoping they’d get the results back before they left. They did. Erin and my grandson were negative. Myres, sadly, was positive for COVID. So the trip had to be cancelled and the four of them are in total isolation at home, with Myres staying in the guest room for the ten day period. So far, he has what he describes as mild cold symptoms going on, so we are hopeful he doesn’t get any worse. And I’m praying my daughter and the kids (7 and 2) do not get sick. If they are still doing well by Thanksgiving Day, that’s what I will be most grateful for in the whole, wide world.
So, Mark decided to go ahead and take off all week as he’d planned to do , and he and I will have a very quiet Thanksgiving. We are hoping that if all is well by Christmas, they might come for a shorter visit the day after Santa’s arrival. 🙂 Then we can have a slightly belated Christmas with them when they get here. But everything hinges on how well they do.
On a more positive front, I’ve made some decisions on my current Riverbend WIP, and am now planning a series of Riverbend novellas because they are much faster and easier to write than a full-length novel, and right now, fast and easy works better for me. My energy levels aren’t where I’d like them to be, so instead of one long book, I’m going to tackle each subplot as an individual novella that I can later combine into a print book.
And while I’m on that subject of tackling, I haven’t yet combined the Emissary novellas, but I think I’m about ready to put those together, too. (Note to self: Discuss cover for print book with my wonderful designer and friend, Nicki.)
And that’s about where things stand right now. I’m looking forward to getting back to “normal” around here and resuming my favorite features once again. I’ll probably start with a #WildlifeWednesday, since I had one almost ready to go before deciding I needed to take a break, so stay tuned. And as always, I will reblog the Story Empire posts Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, plus a few others as I can, here and there.
My best wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate it, and a wonderful Christmas season ahead for everyone! Thank you so much for your patience! I’ll be back just as soon as possible!
In the meantime, here are a few autumn images from the mountains that always lift my spirits! Enjoy! 🙂 ❤