Silver Linings

My husband and I are going into week 3 of semi-isolation. My husband’s employer mandated that the casino and hotel where he works shut completely down on March 16^th.  Since then he’s been back twice to finish up a couple of unfinished tasks, but the place is basically abandoned. Only the security crew has to stay on property during the shut down. The Baer House, too has been pretty darn quiet. We’re not on lock down, but nobody’s traveling. We have been getting daily cancellations since the second week of March. We currently have no reservations at the inn until the very first part of June.

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An Ounce of Prevention

I don’t know about you, but I’m so tired of seeing COVID-19 or Coronavirus. It’s everywhere and it’s getting old. It’s ruining my business and my attitude, which at the beginning of the year was pretty darn good. Remember, I was resolved to stay focused only on the positive. That’s getting really hard to do when every day I get at least 3 cancellations and no new reservations coming in.

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The Moment You’ve All Been Waiting For!

It’s 2020 ya’ll! Here we are in the first official week of January in a brand new decade. That should make you feel good. (Since this post went live, I have edited it, referring you to the first comment by Mr. Walker below. That said, I stand corrected – you are not welcome to a new decade.) But, at least the awkward teen years are behind us. Whew! It’s onward and upward from here. My hope is that each and every one of you finds the good in everything that life has to offer. Don’t sit around and wait for it to come to you – go out there and get it! As Roman poet, Horace, said? “Karpe Diem!!” Although he probably didn’t use the exclamation points.

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I Wait All Year For This Post

It’s official. 2019 is going, going gone! What a year it has been. I’m looking forward to 2020. Nothing significant happening, just another chance to have the best year of my life. For those of you who do not follow me on Facebook, or who do, but did not see my post from last week, I’m making some changes in 2020. Here’s what I posted:

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“Alright, I’ll go in there for Dorothy.”

“Alright, I’ll go in there for Dorothy. Wicked Witch or no Wicked Witch. Guards or no guards, I’ll tear ’em apart. There’s just one thing I want you guys to do…talk me out of it.”

We’re all familiar with the sweet cowardly lion from the movie, “The Wizard of Oz.” I mean who didn’t smile when he raised his big fluffy paws and said, “Put ’em up, put ’em up?” Or when he said, “I do believe in spooks! I do believe in spooks! I do, I do, I do, I do!” and yet he soldiered on with the rest of his oddball gang. How could you not love his devotion to Dorothy? And didn’t you just melt at the end of the movie when he said, “I never would have found my courage if it hadn’t been for you?”

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Has It Been That Long?

While I was composing my blog for this week, I was having trouble coming up with a clever, cute, catchy title. I don’t know why because usually the title is the least of my blogging woes. But, for some reason I just could not decide on a title. So, I decided to scroll back through my previous posts and see if I could see a pattern or find an old post that I could resurrect or change the title a bit. And that’s when I found something I just couldn’t believe!

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Workshops, Webinars & Awards Oh My!

As a writer I’m always challenging myself to learn new things so that I can keep things fresh in my writing. I have this fear of running out of clever new ideas or that somewhere down the road my books might end up coming out looking suspiciously like some of the other books I’d previously written. Or worse yet, like someone else’s book. This popular saying come to mind, “There are no new stories, just new ways of telling them.” I’m not sure if that’s true or not, but most people in the business of writing tend to feel that way.

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Diversity Is A Good Thing

Times they are a changin’ my friends. I can’t tell you how often I’ve had conversations with people about how things were so different when we were kids. I’m sure this is nothing new. I’m sure my parents probably had these same conversations with their friends and I’m pretty sure the next generation will have these conversations with their friends. And so on.

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The Things You Find In The Name of Research

As a writer I spend copious amounts of time researching. Yes that’s right. Even though I write fiction, there are things that still have to be researched because, unless I’m writing about a completely made-up world, people are going to know if I’m not describing a person, place or thing correctly. Ergo – research.

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Should You Really Be Complaining About That?

I don’t like perpetual complainers. I don’t understand people who always find something to complain about. I don’t get it. Why go through life looking for the negative stuff? How depressing. How much nicer it is to see the silver lining even in the darkest places. It’s not always easy to see the positive side of things, I get that, but there is always something to be thankful for. The truth is, most of us have some challenges in our lives to deal with. But, we don’t have to harp on them. We all have good things in our lives as well.

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