I am not sure how Thanksgiving is this week. I am not sure where the second half of the year went even though my spiritual practice and days have been well tended and loved. And maybe, just maybe that’s okay. Maybe this is indeed the aspect of aging. Of “Eldering’ into this part of my life. I know that it is indeed a part of the writer emerging this year. I now find when I write I don’t want to stop — and hours pass without me realizing it. And it’s a cool thing.

I made a change in my approach. In my practices, we say - make a decision - it’s okay to change your mind later. I had intended to have book two in the Calypso Goddess Series complete and in the world by now. But life pulled me. Life tugged me. I was able to teach a year long class this year on the Medicine Wheel and I just completed an amazing weekend workshop with some powerful souls on holding the energy of manifesting.

I am indeed still writing. But I realized that I wanted to have the whole series ready to roll together….and I wanted to write the best books I can - not the fastest books I can (kind of the way we live, eh? fast and binge-y)….and I found that my first memoir book was birthing all on its own. So I have been in a space of allowing it all to unfold. To open my hand from the tight grip of control and just dance with this magic as it needed to come through me. It’s my way of being…my way of connecting into the energy of creation. And I have to admit, I love it. I have never been able to work this way before…

So, soon. More books are coming soon…in the flow of my highest option and the highest option of all whom I love.

I am so deeply grateful for my life. For my friends and my family…for the hot shower I had today and my cat Willow who is old and loves me and knows me and warms my heart. And even for the snow that is falling and the cold winds blowing…because I get to experience it - all of it. Not everyone I know made it this far. So I honor their memory and their love and their laughter….and I sit looking out the window - talking to Clarimonde - my Raven Vampire from Creation Dreamer - who is the lead character in a short story…a back story…I am writing as a gift for anyone who is on my newsletter….out to you in a week or so. A fun short read….so, if you haven’t and are so inclined…hop over to my book page and sign up.

I pray you have a deeply soul-filling Thanksgiving and I look forward to connecting more soon.

Writing is very glamorous…. NOT. It is hard work. It is a daily commitment. And that includes holidays and weekends. It is about building a muscle. Creating a sacred space to write in and a set time where you will show up - no matter what. Even if everything you write ends up in an overflow file of writing that doesn’t work but may one day……days where I think I am brilliant. Days when I know for sure I am not. But every day is about opening more and more into myself…

And I love it.

So I am back at the writers desk and the writer’s sofa and the writer’s picnic table working on Book 2 in the Calypso Goddess Series…and interestingly enough - a memoir. More on that soon…not yet. Some things are worth waiting for…great chocolate, and great life lessons. Always worth the wait!

So writing for me is about quiet…being in different spaces that support me…I love days without speaking to anyone so my mind can continue to focus on the story even when my fingers are done for the day…I let my characters talk to me…and I meditate. It is all a part of it.

So while I am knee deep…I will be waist deep soon. And wondering how it will ever get done. And then one day, I will come out of the cave and have it in hand…

But tonight? Tonight two of my besties are taking me out to dinner to celebrate the journey so far…to celebrate life….and to pause and to be. We forget to do that sometimes. Just be together. To have fun. To laugh. To connect. As a writer, this may be the most important thing I do. My friends inspire me…and that is utterly priceless. I am humbled. I am so richly blessed.

And for those other besties far away…Mouse and Schminkman and Janice and Betty…Cheers to you, too.

Til soon…

The sun is out in full light and it is indeed a beautiful day in Colorado.

I have been taking some time to celebrate book one’s release and wishing my parents were alive to see it. A cook-out at mom’s place would be so happy for me right now….After my mom passed away, my siblings and I were going through the boxes of treasures she had collected and stored away for us to find one day. There was a rather large faded cardboard box that was tucked in a back room corner, under things and around things and behind things. When we opened the lid we laughed — all we had written as children, all the mini art projects and the Mother’s Day cards. Randomly thrown in this box that must have been through at least five or six moves…but in amazing shape and waiting for us—the joy of remembering who we were.

We divided up the bounty and started reading. There was one card I had made for her on yellow construction paper with glued green flower stems and leaves and the flower bloom was a paper-clipped dish scrubbie. You know the ones - they scour a pan in .95 seconds and last for—well past my lifetime if ever (Sorry Mother Earth!). But this yellow scrubbie flower was still perfectly attached. And inside I told mom how much I loved her and not to ever worry because I would always take care of everything. HA!

That was who I was. Wanting to take care of her…of my friends…a role in life I remember taking very seriously. Probably why I am a therapist today…

This is Hajone. To see the beauty of a time long past - to see the beauty of a gift to my mother even in the emptiness and sadness of her loss….we had this. We had this moment once upon a time.

So I can sit and see the blue Colorado sky today and feel the warmth as we shift out of winter oh so slowly and this is hajone. And I can remember my mom — long gone now —and feel the grief still, and in that grief experience the beauty. This is hajone. I can sit in long lines of traffic in a city and I can notice there is a single little dandelion on the side of the road in the rocks and discarded trash and this is hajone. In pain there is beauty. In joy there is beauty. In loss there is beauty. In connection there is beauty. Can we, in all of life’s offerings, find the beauty? This is an old concept…not mine. But it does dwell inside me.

If you are wondering why the hell I am bringing this up…check out Creation Dreamer…this is a thread of life Magpie Turnley likes to push into as well….

Back to book 2….no teasers yet - but soon. In lieu of that cook-out, I think I’ll enjoy some watermelon and remember some more of those hajone moments…

It was a hell of a winter this year in Colorado…and it still seems to be telling spring to back off. Snow is falling, again. The trees are filled with white and I am here with my green ginger tea, excited and honored to launch Creation Dreamer into the world tomorrow night.

In many of my traditions and in the Tarot, this is the Fool’s Journey and, for me, the re-birth… There is a saying one of my teachers shared with me: To get where you want to go, point your feet in that direction and before you know it - you’ll be there. Simple, eh? Looking at the steps, it was a steep sweaty climb. But now at the top of the mountain getting ready for my leap into the unknown, it has a feel of grace and the simplicity of just pointing my feet.

So I’m at the top! And today I am focused on releasing all of my attachments to outcomes. Creation Dreamer came through me - I was it’s willing companion. I’m no Steinbeck…and no Mike Sahno (check out his work on Amazon to really see some deep amazing character work…a gifted writer and even better human) and that’s great! I am at the beginning and I think sometimes we forget to be okay with that. The truth is I have no idea where this will lead me - I just know it is a journey that had to happen, and I can’t wait to see it unfold…to see the paths open in front of me…even the most unexpected ones! So no matter the outcomes, I celebrate today that I am here - at this moment in time.

Creation Dreamer is an adult fantasy book…it does contain profanity and explicit love scenes. I do warn you. Not erotica - but some. Just a caution for folks as the day approaches…it does peck at the pains I think we are living in socially and culturally…and my heroine is snarky and cynical. So read it for fun -or read it and see the commentary - or read it and laugh….please laugh!

Here’s to your highest option in all things…and to mine. Be well.

Magpie Turnley came to life through lots of mornings with coffee...through lots of thoughts about the world we live in...and through lots of curiosity about what it would take to shift our trajectory. If we could create a new world with one dream, would we? And what would it be?

It all seemed so simple at first. And then it left me dumbfounded. And this is Magpie's journey.

My dream for the Earth would not be yours. What do we base those dreams on and how do we make it fair? Would we even stop to ask that question?

I have been incredibly fortunate to sit in spiritual circles and think about life. In one of those traditions, the origin story—one I use in Magpie’s story—is that we were all one. Two-leggeds were one with animal kingdoms and the stone beings and the plant kingdoms…we all communed in a world of love and respect and honor. Diverse—yes! but together. And then we left…

So what would you do? Would you return the world to the Original Kingdom design, or would you dream it your way? Either way, would we end up right back here where we are?

I wonder.

I probably need some more coffee.

When I was in grade school, one of my teachers looked at me and smiled and said, “You’re going to be a writer one day.” You tuck those memories away and you think—ah, she was being nice to a kid.

In high school, I won the Senior English award. A pretty tough high school program with tons of writing and lots of stress. But, oh so worth it! And taught by one of the greatest gals ever to cross my path - Emma Jo Foster. Her motto was don’t turn in BS (in fact, she had a stamp that said Bullsh*^ on it and would use it on papers with red ink. Glad I missed that experience!). She wanted you to think when you wrote…and support what you wrote…and have a heart in what you wrote.

Her other mantra - you only get two hours of self pity a week. You can use those two hours all at once, or you can spread it out. But once the two hours are used, you have to get over it and move on. Get the task done. Face life! That one has been a part of my life ever since.

She, too, told me I would be a writer one day….I think it was a dream I’d forgotten for a while. Maybe I had to face my fears. Maybe I had to live life…which I did. And now I’m ready!

When I started working on this book last year, I never imagined this day would come: the day I start building my launch team and start envisioning my book on Amazon - flaws, thrills and all! Had I hoped? Yes - but fearful it would not manifest. Fearful I would take a lot more than two hours of self pity and lose my way.

This story has had a few faces. And gratefully, thanks to other teachers and my dear saintly friends and my sister supporting me on my journey — I surrendered and let the characters take me where they needed to go. They still do…and I am amazed at each turn.

So - thanks to my teachers and to my friends and to my family….thanks to a rich spiritual life with Guides and Animals and Spirit taking me by the hand…I can write this little blog and smile. I did it! Just a few more pieces and I am ready to launch the first book in my Calypso Goddess Series. Thanks for joining me on this journey…I can’t wait to see where it goes.

May 2019! Dates will be finalized soon…. And Book 2 in the Series: Seven Days Til Tomorrow will be out in early fall 2019…..

Here we go….