Non Random Acts of Kindness

June 19, 2015June 18, 2015 / roughwighting / 83 Comments

This past weekend, I brought the wrong cookies to my mother, and I attended a Writers’ Conference in Delaware.

Believe it or not, these two disparate comments belong together.

Flattered to be invited to attend and speak at the Word Shark Writing Conference organized by Karen Sanderson, editor, writer and blogger, I accepted after realizing I could combine the trip with a visit to my mom, who lives just a half hour away.

A few days before the conference, I worked on my presentation while also baking my mother’s favorite chocolate chip butterscotch oatmeal bars. My mom doesn’t have a big sweet tooth, but for some reason she absolutely loves my bars.

At 5:30 a.m. on the day of my long train ride to Delaware, I grabbed the special bars from the freezer, where I had stored them. Seven hours later I gratefully unloaded my bag with the special treats, basking in my mom’s gratefulness.

But as I pulled the bars out of their freezer bag onto one of her antique flowery dainty china plates, I gasped. Continue reading →

PLAY Time!

April 10, 2015April 9, 2015 / roughwighting / 86 Comments

I will never forget the time I made my mother-in-law (MIL) laugh.

She was a sweet, kind, quiet mother of seven children and grandmother of a growing brood. She smiled and cooed, she cooked and cared for all, but for the first years I knew her, she never laughed.

Until I stomped. Continue reading →

A Heinz 57 Evening

March 27, 2015March 27, 2015 / roughwighting / 52 Comments

This past week I was invited to talk to a Book Club of 15 women whom I’d never met in a town 30 minutes away.

The 10-year-old group, which discusses a new book monthly with dinner and drinks, focused this night on my romantic suspense: The Right Wrong Man.

A real author.

After I met the hostess of a large and lovely New England home and stood by the kitchen counter (where the appetizers, wine and soft drinks were served), I was introduced to all the club members. Each woman oohed and ahhed about meeting a “real author.”

I must admit, it was thrilling.

But my ego was diverted once in a while by a mysterious door located near the kitchen. Someone, or something, seemed to be kicking at the door from the inside, making a sad, lonesome, and frequent banging sound. Sometimes the eerie and alien-like noise emitting forth from the other side of the door gave me a chilling sense that the door might explode open at any time. Continue reading →

Doing It Daily

January 30, 2015January 27, 2015 / roughwighting / 59 Comments

Back in the old days, people were encouraged to attend to daily prayers. Not just encouraged, bullied into it almost. So I have a hard time with the idea of “daily writing.” I’ll write when I damn well please, thank you very much.

But then I think of pianists. They need to play the piano, daily, for weeks and months and years to become merely proficient in their musicianship, much less able to say that they’re accomplished pianists.

I watched the NFL playoffs this month with open-mouthed awe and listened to the stories of some of these incredible players. They became incredible by natural ability and then hours of daily practice throwing the ball, lifting weights, running sprints, building “kicking legs” and “tackling arms” since they were pre-teens. Day after day, month after month, year after year. Whether a quarterback, a wide receiver, or an offensive lineman, these guys only made it in their profession by spending their life – practicing. Continue reading →