Friday Morning Thoughts & Updates
Wow. Where has the week gone? It seems like the weekend was only a day ago and here it is almost the weekend again. To say the week’s been busy is putting it mildly. Between family obligations and personal ones, the news, and the weather, I’ve done my best to hibernate when I’ve had the chance. That means I missed putting up a snippet but, in a way, that’s worked out for the best because I finished the book, the alpha reader is going through it and some changes are being made.
So, about the book. I freaking love it. I know. I know. As its writer, I should love it. But that’s not always the case. This time, I really do love it and where it’s taking the story line. But I am glad I missed the snippet because, with input from my alpha reader, I think the book is even better. So, Starting Tuesday, snippets will begin—and they’ve already been scheduled. I’ll announce publication date by the end of next week as well.
What else?
I won’t go into the personal and family issues. They are, after all personal and family. But leave it to say they have taken a lot of my time and mental space. That made it a bit difficult to focus on stuff for a couple of weeks. Hopefully, I have a handle on it now and life will get back to what passes for normal right now.
What else?
If you’re a political junky like I am, you know there’s a whole bunch of crap going on right now. Trust me, “crap” is not what I think about when I read the headlines these days. The Administration’s comments about the invasion of Ukraine worries me, as does the courtship it seems to have with Putin. As someone who grew up during the Viet Nam debacle, I watch what’s going on in the Middle East and hold my breath. It’s bad there now but it is only going to get worse. When will folks learn that you don’t mess with the Israelis? When will they realize you have to look at the international optics if you want to keep folks on your side? It’s a mess over there and anyone who doesn’t worry about how it will play off is either fooling themselves or hiding under a rock.
My heart breaks for the family of Shiri Bibas and her two children who were taken captive when Hamas attacked Israel October 7,2023. This week, Hamas turned over four caskets, three of which supposedly contained the remains of Bibas and her two babies. Except, according to reports after DNA analysis, it wasn’t Bibas. The kids were positively identified as was the body of Oded Lifschitz. So what happened? Did Hamas just make a mistake and send the wrong body? Is Bibas still alive or what?
Closer to home, we have folks screaming about the way Musk and company are taking an axe to trim down the number of federal employees. While I’m one of the first to admit it needs to be done, I do worry about how rapidly it is happening. What sort of checks and balances are being applied to make sure the right folks are losing their jobs? Considering there have been a number of employees terminated and then brought right back, you have to wonder if my concerns aren’t valid.
I’ll also admit I find myself scratching my head when I hear stories of employees being let go because their job performances are suddenly deemed subpar when, if they are telling the truth, they have never had a job performance review. If that is the case, perhaps it isn’t the employee who should be terminated but the supervisors who aren’t giving them any sort of feedback, at least not feedback that has been documented.
There’s more, but this is already too political and I need to get back to work. Before I do, here’s a bit more about the current WIP—and I really need to figure out a title for it. In this book, we’ll find out more about the forces behind the attack on Mossy Creek, and especially Miss Serena, in Danger Foretold. It will tie up some of the loose ends from that book and the previous titles, but not all of them. It also introduces several new characters, some who will fight to protect Mossy Creek and others appear ready to burn the town down.
In other words, we are moving toward the climax of the series. The next book is already percolating in my brain and I’ll be making notes on it soon.
Finally, before I go off to find another mug of coffee, I want to thank everyone for your patience where the snippets are concerned. Life has been “interesting”, but I will take that over boring most days. Until later!
“Closer to home, we have folks screaming about the way Musk and company are taking an axe to trim down the number of federal employees. While I’m one of the first to admit it needs to be done, I do worry about how rapidly it is happening.”
Amen. Let me tell you a story.
I spoke with a woman from my church after services last week. She said her son and daughter-in-law were just laid off from their federal jobs in DC.
I don’t know where they worked, or for what agency. They are young and have a contingency plan to leave DC and move to the city in the upper Midwest where her parents live and look for work there. They will be okay.
But there is another thing which alarms my friend from church: what could happen to her adult daughter.
“A” and her husband are both retired. He is a former pastor, disabled, and wheelchair bound. They have access to Medicare.
But their daughter for whom they care is about 40 and has Down Syndrome. She is very low functioning and cannot hold any sort of employment. Plus, DS comes with a variety of medical comorbitities, including heart problems. Since the daughter is unable to hold a job, the family relies upon Medicaid for any medical problems that may arise.
“A” is terrified that Elon’s chain saw (did you see his stunt at CPAC?) will come down upon the care their daughter needs. Maybe, maybe not. Trump has said that entitlement programs won’t be affected. But how long before unthinking influencers pressure Trump to slice into these, too?