Retired & Writing

 I've been retired for almost a year now and living the dream. 

One thing I've done my whole life is writing stories. I have boxes of them, some on paper, some in files on my computer, some on discs and floppies (Yes, that's how long I've been writing)

Now in retirement I've got two new books out this month. https://amzn.to/4ujnodi

There are also some older works there, too. 

I've come to the belief that retirement is just another episode in this life journey. Now I'm living my dream and can only hope it's going to be profitable. 

Threshold of Midnight

Threshold of Midnight is a post-apocalyptic novel with paranormal elements. Sometimes you don't know how strong you can be, until you're protecting a child who may be humanity's last chance.

Diana is plotting her divorce when she’s accidentally locked in an underground shelter. While trapped, a green fog covers the planet. The world ends not with a bang, but with a whisper as people turn to dust. When Diana finally manages to escape, life as she knew it is over. Her husband, friends, and everyone in town have disappeared, and there are piles of a strange, yellow dust in stores and houses.
Heading out to find survivors, Diana comes upon Gracie, a small child who thinks the Virgin Mary is talking to her. Diana believes the child is traumatized as she delivers messages from the Virgin Mary, but when the things Gracie tells her start to come true, it’s time to decide if this child is a prophet, delusional, or humanity’s last chance. 

Along the way, Diana will meet two men, one will save her, and the other is hunting the child.

Eyes of My Killer

      Misty McAllister doesn’t want people to know about her psychic abilities. With just one glance into another’s eyes Misty can see all their secrets. A skill that’s been known to get her in a lot of trouble in the past. But nothing beats the day she comes eye to eye with a serial killer, who has marked her as his next victim.
      Max Jennings is a by-the-book cop and he’s on the trail of the nastiest serial killer in Angel Fall’s history. When psychic, Misty McAllister walks into his squad room and declares she knows who the Angel Fall’s Strangler is because she met him at the mall, Max labels her a whacko. When the Strangler leaves a message on Misty’s doorstep in the form of a dead body Max has no choice, but to believe her.
     The investigation heats up, bringing Misty and Max closer.  Maybe it     wouldn’t have been so complicated if he hadn’t slept with her first.

Writing Prompt for Dec 12, 2020

Writing Prompt;  Books & Feelings

Life After 60?

Yes, life after sixty. Just think of the quote; You're never too old to set a new goal or dream a new dream.

I had a dream at age 5. When people would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up I'd always reply; An artist. I knew it then, in my heart, that I was an artist.

Giraffe rock painted for a friend

My mother disagreed.

Let's remember my mother grew up during the depression. She saw the worse of it and although her father always had a job times were lean and the man she married wasn't so lucky. My father came from a family of 12 children. Only 6 survived to adulthood. He quit school in the 6th grade to work to help support the family yet he was one of the smartest people I've ever known. I think it bothered him that he lacked even a grammar school education, but I know that had he been given opportunities, he would have gone far. He was kind and fair. His family was tough as nails, they had to be to survive with 12 kids and little money during those times.

Anyway, my mother said, "Artist don't make any money, pick something else."
Always the good little girl I believed my mother and wandered most of my life looking for that something else. I've worked retail, as a dental assistant, bartender, office manager, more retail, waitress, election clerk, sales manager, marketing director, human resource director, etc. I just floated from job to job as the opportunity arose and never really felt fully satisfied. Some were more interesting than others, some challenging (I loved the challenging jobs) and some were frustratingly boring. None touched my passion. Marketing came close, but the place where I worked was micro managed so it had limitations.

I wrote some books. Got a few more almost done. Yes, writing is in my heart, too, but I guess it's just another kind of art. A few books up on Amazon and really should get the others up soon. Working on that!
I wrote for the confession mags before they went under. Loved those stories.

Now at age 61? My kids moved 900 miles away. Let's face it, New Jersey is a hard state to start out in. They got out and I'm glad they did. Both bought their own homes and built a life. I missed them terribly. It was decision time.

My husband and I started investigating our options. If we moved down to be closer to them what could we do? How about our own business?

So here we are in Florida. No, not to retire. We are starting our own business and yes, it involves art. (More on this later.)  Right now we're in a kind of limbo doing the prep work for our new biz while living with my youngest daughter. I miss having my own home. Hey! This is the first time in over 30 years I didn't have my own house to take care of. But things here are going good. We're crazy busy getting this off the ground and since we're starting from the bottom up it's going to take months to get from leases & lawyers through the build-out process to the Grand Opening.

For a while I felt a little panicked. What have we done? Sold our home, left everything we ever knew and now we're ... homeless?  Then I go back and think;

You're never to old to set a new goal or dream a new dream. 

Family Tree painted for a friend.