Focusing on the Family

I resigned from my job at the casino in July to concentrate on some family issues. My dad had experienced a lengthy illness followed by an extended hospital and recovery period. Thankfully he is doing fine now. Prior to that, my mom's basement had fallen victim to the many flooded basements this overly wet spring, so there was quite a bit of clean up to do there. Mary was glad to have me all to herself since daycare was no longer needed!

I've been glad to have the opportunity to be able to devote more time to family. Additionally, the extra time has provided me with a chance to spread my creative wings and soar a bit more than the eight-hour-a-day job had allowed.

Consequently, I've been working on a line of jewelry that has been in the back of mind as well as colorizing the "Bedtime For Mary" book for re-publication. My creative writing time is split between a book of short stories I'm putting together and various submissions to magazine publications. I submitted a 9/11 story to CAPPER's that was published in their November issue.

This time next year, I hope to be busy selling my jewelry at craft fairs and appearing on the Oprah show with my new book. (A girl can dream, right??).