This morning I woke up, feeling kind of blah. My To Do list seemed endless and the beautiful fall weather was beckoning, encouraging me to go outside and enjoy the day.
As I dressed, I noticed a sparkly chemise carefully folded and put away in my closet. It was exactly what was needed. Instead of saving my outfit for a special occasion, I decided to get my sparkle on.
Witnessing the expressions on my husband and two daughter’s faces was well worth the effort. One daughter’s eyes widened, but instead of commenting, she told me about some issues at her college, while my other daughter raised an eyebrow and asked, “Where are YOU going today.” The silent rest of the sentence being, “…dressed like that?” My husband’s reaction was the best. At lunch time he swooped into my office and upon seeing me, immediately said, “WOW! Don’t you look all sparkly and nice.”
One of my first activities on my sparkly joyful day was to write a social media post for Instagram and that’s when I realized today – August 29th is the 11th week that my book, UnMasked has been out in the world. Yahoo! Now my sparkly outfit was even MORE appropriate. My book baby is eleven weeks old!!
Today was a good reminder of the importance of being clear about what brings you joy and making sure you’re taking the time to have sparkly opportunities to nurture your soul. For too many years my life was crazy busy as I dealt with educational, insurance and medical issues. My writing dream was shelved, something to save for another day.
I would write someday. One day when I had more time. Only someday never seemed to happen. I couldn’t seem to find time to write, an activity that filled me up and was actually a form of self-care. When the Pandemic came, I decided it was time. So I wrote in the creases of my day, grabbing moments here and there and especially between eleven at night and two in the morning.
The last eleven weeks have been filled with lots of fun book events AND I’ve also made sure that I found time to start outlining additional book ideas and worked on my second book. I’ve loved getting lost for several hours in the creative process of writing. Some nights I’ve had to force myself to go to bed, there are nights that I believe I could stay up all night writing…. I’m still working on being a grown-up and going to bed at a reasonable time.
For those readers that have texted, phoned, private messaged and one even said – I’m giving UnMasked a 4- star review because I want the rest of the story…I have good news.
There will be a book two! Book Two will give a more robust picture of Patti by sharing parts of her early life as well as finalize the unresolved conflict between Patti and Jen. I decided that each of the main characters, Patti, Jen and Kylie need to have more of their individual stories told.
UnMasked couldn’t end with one book, because we knew that at SOME point Patti and Jen need to address the elephant in the room. I’m innately curious and I know that I will often feel a sense of loss when the story is not complete. So the big announcement for today is UnMasked is book one in the four part UnMasked series.
If you haven’t read UnMasked, you can purchase it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Walmart and select Indie Book stores.
I’d love to hear from you. Here are the ways to connect with me:
Instagram @Julie.Cadman1
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AuthorJulieCadman
And you can sign up for my newsletter to receive information and events and upcoming contests – on my author’s page at https://www.juliecadman.com/