Whereas my mother-in-law is a watercolorist in her retirement, Rah-Rah is a color-pencilist in hers. Check out her new coloring book. She’s not a drinker, so she had OJ Simpson to drink while I had rose while we colored.
Laziness ensued today, so we opted to make tomato soup and sit and visit. Our friend Carol sent me some great French nesting measuring cups. Check out Rah-Rah’s new specs.
I’m super excited about my forthcoming political romantic suspense, Mine By Design, releasing on February 3. Our local newspaper ran a great piece: Chatham author’s new novel takes on a corrupt politician.
Pre-orders are up now for IndieBound, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble, for both paperback and digital editions. I hope you’ll get a copy, and leave a [great, 5-star] review. 🙂 And if you’ve got a local bookstore, ask them to carry it. It’s good for your karma.
I decided to begin what I’m calling Adventuretime! … a playdate with my mother and mother-in-law, where we do a little exercise for healthy bodies, a little activity for healthy minds, and a tasty lunch. To, you know, keep everybody from turning feral.
For our first Adventuretime! of the year, it was just me and Rah-Rah, having chicken noodle soup at her house and playing Connect 4 (her fave), because it was super cold outside. We did some chair stretches to get the blood flowing. As you can see, we started this endeavor at exactly the right moment because mom is clearly smoking crack. PS. Sometimes we don’t even fix our hair before Adventuretime! #rebels
According to the CDC: “About 1 in 7 people with HIV in the United States do not know that they are infected. In 2015, an estimated 1,335 adults and adolescents were diagnosed with HIV in North Carolina. North Carolina ranked 8th among the 50 states in the number of HIV diagnoses in 2015.”
Further, “North Carolina is home to two cities on the CDC’s list of the top 25 cities with the highest HIV infection rates: Charlotte and Greensboro. There’s an estimated 36,700 people living with HIV or AIDS in North Carolina, and of those people, an estimated 4,900 people are unaware of their status.” (NCAAN.org)
On this 37th annual World AIDS Day, there is still no cure for HIV disease. There is no cure for AIDS. So that means that if you do not have HIV disease, you need to know how to not get it. And if you do have HIV disease, you need to know how to not spread it.
Until the cure …
This has been a crazy year, but it’s given me much time for reflection. Twenty-two years ago we celebrated our first Thanksgiving with our little Sweet Pea. He’s sprouted way up now, but he’s no less sweet. I hope you’re spending the day with the people you love most in the world. Be kind to yourselves. I’m thankful to know you.
Even if you believe in something entirely different than I do, vote. VOTE. VOTE. VOTE!
Photo by Peyton Sickles.
Throwback to one of my favorite Halloween’s ever, in 2007 when my little monster was happy to play Dracula as long as we didn’t use blood anywhere. And as usual, my mother was happy to take whatever silly photo we asked of her.
I have the great honor of sharing the spotlight with my favorite (and only) son Peyton today as we’re highlighted through the Chatham Arts Council’s Meet the Artist series. I thought Rachel Flanagan did a great job; the whole process was enjoyable. The arts have been hit hard during this coronavirus quarantining, so shout out to all arts patrons who have helped keep the lights on with arts orgs, and who’ve helped artists pay the bills. I’ve been around the block, but my young, emerging artist is just starting out and his steady work during this period has a hopeful vibe for this proud mother, artist, and arts patron. Seek out local artists and arts organizations and see how you might help support them — not all support has to be financial, either. Boost the signal of their work, send kind words of support, share their contact information with potential patrons and clients. The arts are incredibly important, and through organizations like the Chatham Arts Council, and Hobbs Architects in downtown Pittsboro (who sponsor the Meet the Artist series), there continues to be an audience.
I’m always happy for folks to check out my kid lit stuff and my romance stuff, but I really hope you’ll check out the links for Peyton. He’s an amazing photographer, and a true emerging artist. And if you happen to need portraits, event coverage, a photojournalist, or film development, hit him up.
Peyton Sickles
Here are the links to the plotting post I added to our Chapel Hill/PBI Wrimos Discord group earlier. You can plot with:
And here are some other great plotting resources:
