April Worthy Stuff

Susan Edition

Hello!

It’s spring at last—here in Arizona of course, but I hear there are blossoms popping in cold places too. Time to put away our swear words and pick up a bag of Cadbury Mini Eggs.

I’m writing from a bed littered with Kleenex and empty Sudafed blister-packs. I was actually supposed to be having a bit of tricky brain-ish surgery today! Eeek! But the universe sent me a garden variety cold instead, so that got kicked down the road. My daughters and I often quip to each other, “We can do hard things!” But I’m here to tell you that not doing the hard things you were all psyched up to do can feel like a worse (or snottier) kind of hard. While the U.S. continues to drunk-dial the entire world daily, I think we would all just appreciate a little order ANYPLACE IN LIFE. Just the teensiest bit of control would really hit the spot about now, wouldn’t it? Well alas. Sniff.

Things have been a little crazy around here for a few months. Cynthia and I are eager for a much-needed break between podcast seasons, which will arrive just in time for us to hit the road to promote our book.

I planned my whole life to write books. WHOLE-whole life. Like, we’re talking about choosing a career with great care and intention … in 2nd grade. So what took me so long? Well, I soon found that much of what I wanted to write about would need to wait until key characters were no longer around to read it. If you have published anything, maybe you know the particular vulnerability that accompanies turning your inside-thoughts into outside-ink. Intellectually I know there’s not a single person who will care about my words as much as I’ve cared about writing them. But knowing that doesn’t make it any less scary now that I see the actual book sitting on my husband’s nightstand with a bookmark stuck about 20 pages in … deep breaths, Susan!

Sometimes the best things are also the scariest.

While I try not to hyperventilate, let me tell you about some good stuff helping me survive this month.