I’ve been so busy lately that I don’t even know what day it is, let alone remember the date! Although I thought life would become more enjoyable than challenging as I moved up in age, the opposite seems to be happening! Then again, my family is a LOT bigger than it used to be and I’ve somehow taken on more responsibilities, so I guess I should have realized that things were not going to slow down or get easy…ever!

One thing I have going on is that I’m writing TWO new books! At first they were neck in neck…I’d work on one book for awhile and then go to the other and work on that one. I was on chapter five with both books when one of them just took off, and now I’m totally caught up in the story and can’t tear myself away from it long enough to work on the other one (which I totally do love by the way!!!). It’s just become too urgent!

The one going wild on me is book six of the Tess Schafer-Medium series. Today I thought of a title for it…Tortured Souls. Although Tess has her hands full dealing with real life issues, she’s also got things going on in the spirit world that need just as much of her time and attention. What strikes me about this is the fact that the book’s premise is probably more true than it is fictional! Fact is, just as we are caught up in our own drama of worry and concern, so can those in spirit!

Whether we are “here” in the physical world or “there” in the spirit world, we are just as focused in our needs and desires as ever! What I enjoy so much about my Tess Schafer-Medium series is that I feel like my character Tess and I are on this amazing spiritual journey together! The stories unfold in ways that are constantly surprising me. My characters feel as real to me as my “real life” peeps and I have to wonder sometimes…perhaps they do exist in an alternate reality! Yeah, that’s what my brain does on occasion…it goes “out there” in it’s meanderings.

So anyway, back to my busy life. My husband and I have decided to downsize our lives and live simpler…we really do work hard at complicating our lives, don’t we? I mean…we buy all these things that we later look at and wonder…what did I need this for. The truly sad part is where those things we thought we just HAD to have end up. They go to the “give away” pile or the “donation” pile or the garbage bin if I think no one will want it (and again I wonder why I ever did!). So anyway, we’ve been renovating our house in the hopes of making it more appealing to possible buyers and weeding through our things, packing away what isn’t necessary (which turns out to be an incredible amount of stuff!), and along with all that we are trying to keep up with the yard work…trimming, weeding, pruning, raking, mowing, etc… Yeah, busy times. Oh, and I’m also trying to write TWO books and deal with all the drama that comes from having a large family!

As I was working on a title for my newest “Tess” book (as I unofficially call the series), I thought about what my character is dealing with…people who are tortured by emotional pain and loss of loved ones (both in this life and the next) and I thought, she’s trying to help these poor tortured souls…and waalaaa…a title! But isn’t it the truth of the world? We deal with emotional pain and mental trauma all the dang time. There’s just always something going on. Life is hard. It really is. It often sucks. Can’t anything ever go RIGHT? But on the flip side…life can be pretty darn thrilling!

We’ve gone on a few camping trips over the summer and we’ve taken some of our grandchildren with us on a couple of them. We enjoyed that so much that it helped to put things back in a more positive perspective. The joys in our lives are no doubt our kids (though at times they can certainly be our “pain”!!) and our grandkids. We’ve also had some great times with friends (angels on earth!). In addition, like right now…the world is exploding with color as the Fall moves in for a short visit (here in Maine, nothing lasts long, especially not the seasons and most certainly not the weather!). Amid all the crap life deals out, there is also amazing beauty and joyful moments.

I know many people like to knock concepts like “The Secret” but you know, the fact is…we really do have the most influence over our own lives and how things play out. Where our FOCUS goes, our energy flows. If we FOCUS on the crap, all we see is crap. We find what we look for and when we are dealing with crap, we EXPECT more crap and so, of course, we LOOK for it! The opposite is true as well. When great things happen to us, it seems that MORE great things happen and life is grand…nothing can go wrong! Until it does. And there we are, right back to the crap, focusing on it, looking for it and ultimately finding it. There we languish through the muck of strife until something good happens and we are once again living the good life! It’s an endless cycle isn’t it?

So anyway, after doing all the work we’ve been doing on our house and around the yard (it sure is looking good around here!!), we learn that the housing market just isn’t going to support a sale of the sort we need. Not right now. Although I was initially disappointed, I have finally managed to stop the mental tirade that was not only bumming me out but giving me stress. I am now telling myself what I KNOW to be true…when things don’t go the way we hope, it’s because something BETTER is in store for us! In every instance where things didn’t SEEM to go right for me, they ended up being the best things to have happened!

The more we TRUST in the universe (which, of course, operates through God) to take good care of us, the faster things work out! Seriously, I don’t believe our purpose for existence is to live through crap. My belief on the matter is that one of our life tasks (for I am sure there are many!) is to figure out how to eliminate it. One way we can make that to happen is to change our FOCUS and trust in the fact that we are meant, truly meant, to experience Heaven on Earth. It’s not an easy task to accomplish. In fact, most of us might manage, at best, a few fleeting moments of joy. Even so, despite the difficulty in doing so, constant PEACE is achievable. I KNOW it. So, based on this knowledge, I’m trying my best to silence my Ego’s negativity and let the Universe (God) do its thing! Which can only be something wonderful because that’s what God is all about! Our poor tortured souls (of our own doing) are meant to be joyful and at peace. What a rough road our souls often travel in this journey through life!

As I head toward the finish in “Tortured Souls”, I wonder how my character and I are going to get there and it marvels me the way my life often parallels the story I’m writing. The truth, as they say, is stranger than fiction! Speaking of which…that movie Stranger Than Fiction really strikes a chord in me as a writer. I do feel like that sometimes…like my characters really exist in some alternate reality that I just happen to be channeling. In fact, I often feel like that’s what I’m doing when I write my books…I channel them. I’m just like a first-time reader when writing my stories, I’m as eager as they are to learn what’s going to happen next!

Okay, my meanderings are over. Now I’ll address those who are reading my Tess Schafer-Medium series….if you are interested in being informed when the next book is coming out and you are not following this blog (because I will announce it in a future blog post), then click on my contact page and give me your email. I’ll use it ONLY to send out information on what’s happening with my books or maybe appearances I’ll be engaging in…we (my husband and I) are hoping to go on a few road trips in the near future!! I won’t give your email to any lists or marketers and I won’t bother you with anything other than book/appearance updates. Also, because I did mention I was working on two books…I wanted to let you know that the other one is a romance (if I’m not reading paranormal stories then I’m reading romances!!). However, though it’s a romance, I did include a ghost (couldn’t resist!). It’s actually a spin-off from another book I wrote titled “Deceptive Hearts” which will be released around the same time!  So, yeah, lots going on. Thank you God for inspiring the stories and giving me the ability to write them!!!

Until next time…Peace Out and Blessings to All!!