indieauthor – pamelascanepa

Welcome to my Weekend Coffee ☕ Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer. I’m sitting in my garage having Tazo green tea, though it may be a little too warm for that. The morning started out around 60 degrees, but it will be upwards of 80 degrees later.

I’m helping my mother with a yard sale today, though I admit we got started a little late. She had some buyers when I went to walk the dog, so there’s that! Bixby enjoyed our walk, and I always enjoy the view of some of our beautiful trees. I’ve taken him on a few extra walks this week!

Spanish moss is common here, but I love this tree!

This past week has been Spring break for me, and I’ve slept in every day. Catching up on my test is one goal I have met! I went to the Celtic Fest with my boyfriend Sunday as planned, and it was enjoyable as always! The temp was below 60, but our Florida sun emboldened all of us to dance around and enjoy ourselves. I don’t know about you, but I consider 60 to be chilly if the sun’s not out.

Wednesday evening I had an interview on Meet the Author podcast, and it was exciting! I think I found a few new readers, something every author wants. I need to get over ‘imposter syndrome’ and things like this sure help! The playback of the interview is available if you’re interested: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCjn4IXRvc7AhhDXTVeqp5DQ

There were some appointments I took care of this week, but Thursday was friend’s day at Another Broken Egg, where I had a huge waffle with fruit, eggs, and bacon. Sometimes it’s fun to break the rules, and it was great to catch up. There were 6 of us, all who at one time were co-workers in the public education system. Now, my Spring break is winding down. One day I sat in the sun and did some writing. I don’t really celebrate too hard anymore. 🙂

In my world, the state has been against enforcing masks for a while. Our school board no longer requires it. I rarely wear one anymore, though I always have one with me. Talking and teaching in a mask made my jaw feel sore. Hopefully the numbers don’t get scary again, but it’s not surprising if they do. It’s amazing that my mom got through COVID 6 weeks ago, and I didn’t get it from her.

Buying gas at 4.09 a gallon the other day was a treat. In my side of town, it is 4.29 to 4.39, though I should check because they seem to increase the price on the weekends. I feel for the people in Ukraine, but I rarely watch the news, as it doesn’t help my anxiety level. I do read online sometimes.

That’s about all there is going on until I go back to work teaching on Monday. Have a great weekend, everyone!

To join the Weekend Coffee Share, read Natalie’s Coffee Share post at https://natalietheexplorer.home.blog/2022/03/18/these-b-w-murals-revive-history/and include your post link after clicking the In-links bar.

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I think this photo has a Kerouac feel to it. (Found on Pixabay)

Welcome, members of the blogosphere, to my #WeekendCoffeeShare! If we were having coffee today, I’d tell you that:

I am starting to feel the shift, that shift from my school year frame of mind to my summer frame of mind. This used to mean something different, but now what it means is that I’ll be living in the blogosphere a bit more, writing more, and talking about my self-published books a bit more. I have two months to eat, sleep, and breathe this stuff, and let me tell you, I love living in this world of words!

And why not? Reality is stressful enough. I’ve had a few family crises. One involved a loved one getting a broken arm and shoulder in a freak slip-up, the other involving a loved one needing a medication adjustment, and all of the lead up to that decision which implies many sleepless, worrisome nights wondering why this person isn’t sleeping, and days of debating how I could make them eat. I’ve been lax about reading the book, I’m Not Sick, I Don’t Need Help, since I’ve been reading and writing so much of my own, but I glean little helpful bits here and there. Such as: “…no amount of arguing has previously changed your lvoed one’s opinion about being mentally ill….The first step, therefore, is to stop arguing and start listening.” So, when said loved one made a seriously off the wall statement, I said, “Would you like me to take you somewhere to get help.” To which I recieved an affirmative nod. Sometimes you have to fish for an answer, but it’s worth it. Sometimes you have to listen to the silence as well. I think things are looking up now. It’s all been hectic, though. I don’t write about this in detail because I am just not ready, and it’s not fully my story to tell.

Which leads to my love for escaping reality. I won’t lie; reality seeps into my imaginative machinations, and I let it. Perhaps this gives my writing meaning. I haven’t been doing enough flash fiction challenges, so I look forward to more of that this summer. They are great for gathering followers and following new bloggers. I’ve been editing my novel, Detours in Time, for publication this summer, shopping for fitting online graphics (Kat Mellon is wonderful, by the way. Find her online), and looking for images and ideas to fuel my online Facebook launch of my novel. It takes place on 6/16, the release date. I encourage you to follow my author Facebook and join the event! See https://www.facebook.com/pamelacanepablog/ and join it just for fun. I am trying to make it interesting, and my book trailer should be ready by then. It’s been fun searching for just the right visuals.

On the subject of escape, I’ve been reading and reviewing a lot of books, the most recent are Letters to Eloise and Fail to the Chief. The first: contemporary fiction of a mother-to-be and her drama with the father of her child, told in letters, love letters, letters to her unborn child, etc. It values the written word and takes place in a time before texting and social media ruled our lives. Very heart-warming. Fail to the Chief was political satire and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It pokes fun at political candidates, and since I think none of them can be trusted, I loved this book. On the subject of reviews, I’ve been trying to send out my new manuscript Advanced Review Copies to a few blogger/reviewers and only had a few respond saying they’ll review it. Many of these sites are “Not currently accepting submissions” and overall, backlogged. Well, I can certainly say I tried!

That sums it up, mostly. School’s out. I just need to clean my classroom next week. Then, I’m free for the summer! We had a great faculty get-together with lunch and I got to play laster tag for the first time. I’m looking forward to reading, writing, reviewing, seeking reviews, searching for ways to promote and represent my upcoming novel. Maybe I’ll get one or two little summer getaways. It’s EXCITING! Life is good. Not easy, but good.

*Weekend Coffeeshare is hosted by Emily at nerdinthebrain.com, so hop on over there and see some of her shares, won’t you? See her post for this week at http://www.nerdinthebrain.com/weekendcoffeeshare-the-one-where-things-are-coming-along/ You may even decide to create your own. I’ve rambled about myself enough today. I’m off to see what others are up to!