Exciting news!!! I have signed a publishing and distribution agreement with Christian Faith Publishing for my memoir. I submitted my manuscript to their review board, they accepted the draft and want to publish my book. Woo-hoo! 😁
Signing the agreement with my daughter!
It has been a long journey for sure to get to this point, never stop chasing your dreams!
Expected publication date is still to be determined, sometime in early 2021.
Lots to be done before then – editing, proofing, typesetting, cover design etc.
I have been busy drafting my author bio and the book blurb. That is harder than writing the actual book. Who knew? 😳
Book teaser >
When did we come to believe the best thing you can do with death is ride off from it? In Cowboys Are Not Supposed To Cry, Mark Wayne tells his story of living a life with grief beginning in his mid-twenties. #Memoir #AmWriting #UpcomingBook #WritersLife
I hope to post some excerpts from the forthcoming book as I go through the editing process as well as other updates here on the blog. So be sure to hit the follow button and sign up for email notifications to get the latest.
*Note: Working title and not actual cover.
I would love to hear your initial impressions or thoughts. Your feedback is greatly appreciated and will help guide efforts as I move forward in publishing and marketing.
I hold a vision from here to thereWhere I can see things of memoryThe path lays before me shining crystal clearAs shadows dance silently on the fringeOvercome by desires that scamper quickly awayWhile standing still falls a single rolling tearOne small drop that holds all my fearsA haunting serenade redemptive love infringesBeckons a safe passage to another worldWhere angels play beyond the undiscoveredGrace reaches softly no heart left untouchedThe broken places cracks desperately patchedThis is where the light shines into the painA question wells up within as deep calls to deepHow do I ever get from here to there?
3 Tips
Keep your vision in front of you
Seek healing and restoration for others and yourself
Believe that you have something to do or say that someone needs
This post is a further exploration of an earlier post for “Monday Motivation“ offering I hope some practical tips to help us all get “From Here to There.”
I have used these tips as touchstones on my own journey to get from here to there. Stay tuned for some exciting news coming next Saturday! Be sure to check out that blog post!
3 Tips > 1- Keep your vision in front of you. 2- Seek healing and restoration for others and yourself. 3- Believe that you have something to do or say that someone needs. #LiveYourDreams #SaturdayMotivation #YouGotThis #FromHereToThere
They say each journey begins with that first step, followed by another until we are on our way. To paraphrase Bilbo Baggins (J.R.R. Tolkien) it is a dangerous business going out your front door for there is no telling where you might be swept off to.
Doesn’t the true adventure lie in the unknown? In not knowing what might lie just up ahead, as our nervousness rises our yearning for adventure drives us forward!
Doesn’t the true adventure lie in not knowing what comes next?
My friends, what is stopping you from taking that first step on your own great adventure? #LiveYourDreams #MotivationMonday #MondayBlogs
The struggle is reckoning who we are, who we wish to be, and who we were created to be. #JustBelieve #YouMatter #LiveYourDreams #MotivationMonday #MondayBlogs
The struggle is real, as we all are acutely aware. However, so are the rewards if we have the purpose and passion to pursue our dreams with discipline and courage. Go forth my friends and live your dreams, starting today.
The rain has definitely arrived here in the Pacific Northwest and just in time some might say. Looks like another wet and green Christmas but that’s okay.
I love laying in bed listening to the raindrops hitting our metal porch roof right outside the bedroom window. Which we keep open all year long.
The sound of the rain mixes with the soft melody of the wind chimes that gently lull me to sleep. Dreams and memories travel through my mind as I rest in the moments of tranquility.
These restful moments spur ideas for my writings. What moments, sounds or experiences bring you peace and inspire your creativity?
*All my posts are honest, but this one is a clearer look behind my curtain and who I am. If you are not ready, or willing to hear, my truth (and just possibly the truth others cannot voice, although I would never presume to speak for anyone else) please stop reading now. I do not wish to offend anyone in this time of overwhelming political correctness and safe places, well time to get over it.
I sit here on a quiet Sunday morning; only a week removed from our two week adventure to Yellowstone National Park and it all seems like shit! I told you honesty and that’s the word that fits – shit!
I am blessed, I know that.
A family that loves me, friends that care and so much more. I’ve been granted opportunities and worked my ass off at times sacrificing to accomplish what I have. Looking in one might say I have been and am pretty successful.
So why, as I sit here on the other side of my life’s mountain with less time before me than behind me do I feel this way, and not just this day but on most days?
I have dreams. We all do. They taunt me and haunt me. So, what good is a life that leaves nothing behind? To let go of the expectations of others. The responsibilities of who they think and want me to be.
It is all so exhausting.
I feel I have lost myself. Oh, there are moments, real and true, that speak of a greater reality, and they are just far too few. I often wonder who I am, or was meant to be but also there is a melody woven through my life that sings if only I would stop and acknowledge that truth.
My dreams of passion and purpose dance at the edges of my days before quickly fading into the duty and obligations that chain me. To make a difference in the lives of others. Yes, shining a light into the darkness.
My self-imposed obligations and responsibilities weigh me down. Drowning out that still small voice inside that would inspire and lead me higher. I am grounded with useless wings.
My search, for what I often am not sure, seems so fruitless and empty. I do not hear from God, a voice crying out in the wilderness. The silence of the unending heavens as I stare at the night sky.
I spent two weeks traveling and camping, visiting some of the most awe inspiring animals and natural wonders ever created and yet…
Is it the simple things?
Those fleeting moments that leave a lingering feeling as they are too quickly gone. And then we crash back to reality wondering, hoping to recapture those moments of magic.
That is where the bullshit often lies!
I stare into the darkness of my heart, knowing that I cannot change the world. But maybe, just maybe I can help one person who can then help another. Ripples you know?
Is that what life is about, each person uniquely created to fill a certain destiny that only they can fill. Why does it never seen to be enough? My doubts and fears, my insecurities of letting others down and not being good enough. Not being perfect.
Can good enough be good enough?
I feel my rambling coming to a close and I realize there are more questions here than answers. Oh well…. It is time to get my ass up, put on my jeans and dusty cowboy boots, carry a flame and bang that drum for myself and others. Cause God is not done with me and I will trust in my time of uncertainty and silence.
One small, seemingly insignificant pebble can start a landslide or send out ripples, even as it silently falls through the dark depths of anxiety.
So, these are words I would most likely never say out loud, so thank you for reading and carpe diem my friends!
This piece of flash fiction, if you will, came to me in a vision as I spent some quite time with God and this is what I saw in my mind as it was revealed to me. I believe in healing and that God can, and does, renew our hearts rescuing us from the darkness.
