Wider World

A wider perspective of the word around us.

Writer Unthawed

I lost all my writing mojo after the 2016 election. It was impossible for me to write while the world was burning. But that all changed last Saturday. Words started to flow again. Come see what I have planned.

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School, Work, & Life…at Home

My house is different today. Very different. I work from home and even homeschooled for a year, but today is the beginning of something brand new. John is downstairs on a call with his coworker doing what he does for his job. Poppy is across the hall in a sociology lecture. And I’m in my office supposedly outlining a novel. Instead, I’m blogging as I wrap my head around this. We’ve never gone to work at the exact same time in the same space, and it’s just plain weird. Last week was our spring break so everyone was home and hanging around. It was like summer or a school vacation.…

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Social Discombobulation

I’m an author who writes at home, an editor who works from home, and a mom who used to homeschool. I enjoy being at home, so I thought all this social distancing to slow the spread of COVID-19 would be fairly easy for me. It’s not, and it’s for reasons I didn’t expect. I’m all over the map with my emotions. I have this intense desire to nest and spring clean. I could go to town on my cupboards and closets and drawers, but that desire is warring with my instinct to use this time to write. I also have to edit for clients, but my brain is nowhere near…

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The Transition to Social Isolation

Social isolation sounds scary. It sounds like being cut off from everyone we love, unable to speak to them to find out what’s going on in their lives. Thankfully, with the modern-day inventions, we have multiple tools to help us stay in touch. We aren’t relying on the Pony Express to get news from our loved ones or the world. But being stuck at home is a shift for a lot of people. This goes beyond a long weekend or a planned vacation. This is vastly different. There will be a transition time. Let me repeat that. There will be transition time. Expect it. Plan for it. And don’t beat…

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Farm Fresh – Consent

Farm Fresh isn’t your typical romance. First off, it’s set on a commune where free love is more prevalent than commitments. Second, every house on Kaleidoscope Gardens sets up their own rules. At the yellow house, where Leo, Hudson, and Charlie live, it’s sex with no strings attached. They all love each other, but there is no romance. When Jude, a fresh-faced innocent, moves into the yellow house, he shifts the sexual dynamic incredibly. Hudson feels things he’s never felt for anyone before. Jude mixes him up inside. And while Hudson is trying to make sense of this, Jude is discovering who he is as a sexual person. After living…

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Childhood Toys

Autism Fact: Many children affected by autism also benefit from other interventions such as speech and occupational therapy. I’m lucky to be a part of RJ Scotts’ Autism Awareness Blog Hop again, and this year we’re talking toys, something I’m passionate about. I worked for two decades as an educator and family therapist before I started writing full time, and in another life, I would’ve loved being a toy researcher, helping find the best toys for kids. My passion stems from the knowledge that play is essential to child development and vital to strengthening parent/child relationships. Play is a child’s work. It makes their brains and muscles grow and fosters…

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Quill & Brush

Prioritizing writing is a hard when my house is a disaster, so I’m taking taking charge again, one bamboo brush at a time.

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This is Consent

As a survivor of rape and sexual assault, the last several weeks have been difficult, and listening to Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday brought back painfully familiar experiences. Each of my abusers disguised their assault and rape as horseplay, and they each laughed while they stole my dignity. My consent was never given. I said no, stop, get off. Yet they didn’t, and instead, they treated it as a game. Then I actually watched an interview with a women who had teen daughters standing beside her. She said it was normal for a boy to grope a girl. That made me livid. I feel like I have…

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Word of the Year

Last year I commissioned a small token with my word of intent stamped into it. This was from My Intent Project, and my word was Infuse. Essentially, I wanted to ensure that whatever project I was working on, I was infusing it with goodness and purpose. I wanted a word big enough to fit writing, parenting, editing, crafting, and basic living, something I could be mindful of in nearly everything I did. I think I did okay with the work. I could’ve done better since some of the year I was infusing stress into everything. 😂 I bought medallions for myself, hubby, and my bestie last year with words we’d all…

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Stop Salting Wounds

Please don’t forget we are still in mourning. Give us the time we need before you salt our wounds.

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