And here is photographic evidence of my slothness...yes, it's an office selfie. Wow, I look tired. Some advice? If you spend hours a day in a chair, get thyself a heating pad. which is what is behind me there.
And proof that I actually do work. I mean, just look at the glow from the laptop monitor! Also, I love my cordless mouse. Wait, wireless mouse? Anyway, all hail freedom!!!
Also, my "office" is my dining room Hence the rounded corner of my "desk".
AHEM.
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Sooooo...new regulations from the European Union go into effect today, so...here's the legalese:
"For EU visitors, by continuing your navigation on this site, and by signing up for my newsletters, you consent to the use of cookies and the collection of your IP address to help with the measurement of the traffic on this own site (and for no other purpose)."
As far as I know, I don't have many visitors from any EU countries. But if I did, I am legally obliged to have a disclaimer stating that I never have and never will sell your information to anyone. Also, every website and web hosting service tracks IP addresses. It is up to the owner of each individual site to use the data from a service like Google Analytics to obtain a demographic of his or her readers.
Like I said, this legal stuff is for European Union countries, and just about everyone with a website and/or a newsletter subscription has done this whole GDPR compliance thing.
I think that's it.
***
So, what have I been up to?
We left off at Mount Hermon, on Sunday night.
Monday had the last few sessions and workshops, and then an evening autograph party where almost everyone ran in circles having books autographed by the authors. Which was a challenge, since umm, this was a writer's conference! I bought a Francine Rivers book for Thelma's mom, and stood in line to have Francine sign it.
We all stayed up too late and then had to pack and figure out airport shuttle logistics. Poor sweet Shelli had to be on the 7am shuttle. Which was fine, unless we stood there chatting until, ohhhhh, 5 minutes to 7. Roughly. Anyway, our goodbye was fast and furious and that girl RAN out the door, down the little hill, up another bigger hill and JUST made it to the shuttle!!!
While hauling a big suitcase!
Thelma arrived mid-morning, then we went walkabout for a bit, saying my goodbyes, then headed back to Thelmatown.
Yes, it was hard to leave. But it was a FABULOUS conference and I highly recommend it.
The visit with Thelma ended too soon, then I flew to Vancouver for a week and enjoyed time with family, and close friends.
It was a THRILL to spend Easter at my home church and with my parents. Something I hadn't done since 1992.
One afternoon, I had lunch with N and C, who I've known for decades. We enjoyed our "lunch" for 4 hours.
It was KIND OF hard to come home to snow. But that's easier to do in April than it is in November.
Once I settled back in to the swing of things, I finished up some work that needed to get done.
Then in May, I hit the Big 55. Do I feel 55? Not at all. Do I act it? BAHAHAHA! No.
We're well into Pollen Season here, AKA known as Spring. School ends in 3 weeks, and then #4 is off to camp for most of the summer, and #3 is already there. Yes, that means an empty nest. Which also means that the final Navajo book should get finished, it's at about 75% now, and the last of the contemporaries should get done.
AND?? I might even go on a writing retreat to Maine! We just need to work out dates and deets and off I go!
And yes, I feel blessed to have an empty house for the summer. Why? Because my "kids" are grown and no, I do not wish they were younger. I enjoyed those years, but they're over. Do I miss things about those younger years? Yes. But there's no use pining over them. Trust me. And I really like who those 4 people are now. Each age is different, and so are the blessings.
So, that's a little look at where I'm at, and yes, once we know something about the state of the books, I will let you all know. Feel free to pray over them, I appreciate it.
Ciao for now, I'll be back in June with another update.