Counting Blessings

Fiorella is triply blessed. Daughter is researching information for her about the car Fio has decided her latest hero drives, Austin son has been keeping Fio up-to-date on Grandbaby's walking and talking, and Minnesota son helps Fio over the phone with on-line stuff like cell phones and ordering eyeglasses. Come to think about it, Fiorella is surrounded with blessings--her neighbors who bring her rocks for her driveway, the nice man who mows her lawn and cuts down her dead trees, and the woman who cleans her house and teaches her Spanish. Then there are the people at Click Computer, Mazda, the local Chase Bank, and Capitol One. And don't forget Fio's longtime friends, most of whom are writers, and the new friends she's made on Facebook and through this blog.

God is good.

How Fiorella Lives Her Life

Fiorella had a wonderfully social day yesterday lunching with friend Jane Perrine, then driving into Austin to visit with friend Deborah Radel. Politics was the topic of the day and both of her friends were so clever that Fio laughed herself silly. Jane fights the good fight by contacting her representatives and contributing to various liberal causes, while Deborah is looking forward to the next one. Empowerment is addictive.
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Fio has started exploring the unknown territories of the five-acre wooded tract that she and Husband live on. Yesterday she discovered a charming dell off the side of the north driveway that Fernando, her yardman, who also likes discovering things, had obviously mowed. She also found the north branch of the dry creek that edges three sides of the property. but she didn't go too far because that area is unfenced and she didn't want to get lost. Again.
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The last day for El Color de la Pasion is Monday, March 6, and all its plot threads are rapidly being resolved. Rebeca is homeless, Amador is in jail, the guy who raped Tene is in jail, Nora has committed suicide, Nazario was visited by the spirit of his late wife who tells him to marry Norita (Fio thinks),Rafaela is back with a chastened Milagros, Lucia and Marcelo are engaged (again), and Lucia will be sole owner of the art tile factory, Your Fio plans to buy the whole series and watch it again. It's a great way to learn Spanish, she picks up drama pointers from it that she can use in her books, and watching it before she goes to bed ensures a good night's sleep.

Bounce-back

You can't keep a good girl down, especially when she has good friends like Evelyn Palfrey and Paula Marks. Fio met up with Evelyn at Starbucks today, then sped up the street to have lunch with Paula Marks at Dan's Hamburgers. By the time she headed home, she was giddy with love and laughter. There's nothing like having good friends. Nothing like sitting across the table from people who talk the same political language. Nothing like being in the company of people who are knowledgeable, literate, clever, sympathetic, and screamingly funny. 

Maybe Trump could have been a real person if he'd had friends like this. 

Key

Friends and family, love and laughter are what get Fiorella through the day. Sometimes she has to work on the last two.

A Proposal

Fiorella is tired of being just one person.  She would prefer having a clone or two to help her keep up with all her responsibilities and self-assignments.  And the additions would also give her people to talk to who have known her since way back when. Not many of those around anymore.

Addicted to Writing

Three cheers for Fiorella!  She sent the manuscript in to her editor ten minutes before it was due.

Yes, the monkey is off her back.  She can go eat breakfast.  She can pick up the six-hundred some pages of manuscript (two copies of the book) on the floor of her office and stuff them into trash bags. She can sing, she can dance, she can take her dog on walks, she can visit with her friends, she can pretend to be human again.

She can start another book.

Fictional Reality

No, Fio does not go to the movies, nor does she watch them on television--she doesn't have the time.  She's always working on the house or the yard or keeping up with friends or, as you know, writing, which is her full-time job.  Besides, she's more interested in reality than fiction.  But Fiorella, you say, you write fiction.  To which Fiorella replies, "My fiction is reality."

Family and Friends

Fiorella is thankful.

She's thankful that Austin Son celebrated his first wedding anniversary earlier this week and that Minnesota son has twenty years racked up with his sweet bride.  She's thankful that Daughter has a new job and better prospects.  She's thankful for Brother Bill and the wonderful sister-in-law he brought into the family.  She's thankful for her relatives up east and for Cousin Mimi and her husband's recent visit.  She's thankful for Nephew Barney and his wife, Great-nephew Aaron and his fiancee, Great-nephew Barrett and his wife.

And she's thankful for friends.  Those who live in this country and those who live overseas, those she's known a long time and those she's just met, those who like her book and those who wish she'd stuck to poetry.

And she's especially thankful for those who read her blog.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Selling the Book

Fiorella has been busily engaged in recruiting people to pass along bookmarks advertising her and her books, the one coming out in September and the one coming out next year.  She hit up her cousins in Ohio, Tennesse, and Georgia first, then branched out to friends and people who had expressed an interest in her literary career.  Everyone she has approached has graciously asked for bookmarks, which means Fio is arranging to get more printed.

Would you like some?

Celebrate!

Fiorella had a week-long birthday celebration--Facebook and RWA congratulations, Minnesota son and wife calling, Husband taking her out to Fish Daddy's on her actual birthday, friend Paula treating her to breakfast at Dan's, the pastor leading the small Wednesday noon congregation in singing Happy Birthday to her, Friend Sharon taking her out to Dan's for an afternoon hamburger, Brother and his wife taking her out for dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse on Saturday evening, her Austin children treating her to cake and ice cream on Sunday afternoon.

The happiest birthday week ever!

Single-minded

Fiorella spends most of her time typing away on her laptop.  She is a member of four different writing groups--Romance Writers of America, San Gabriel Writers' League, Endor, and Far North.  All the friends with whom she lunches are either writers or beta readers.  When she meets new people, she tells them about her soon-to-be-published book.

Is there a pattern here?

Lone Wolf

Fiorella has always had friends, but she's never been a member of--well--a clique.  The word has negative connotations of snootiness and privilege, but they got your back, Jack.

In her school days, Fio strove to merge, but never quite accomplished it.  In college, she missed out on the sorority sisterhood.  As young marrieds, she and Husband were too poor to run with a crowd, and, as a mother, Fiorella didn't catch onto the "play-date" scene.  Even now, as a five-year member of RWA, Fio has some friends, but is not affiliated with any group. 

Fiorella walks alone.  But, then, she's used to it. 





 

Helter-skelter Life

Why doesn't Fiorella have time to do things like takes vacations or travel or indulge in new hobbies?   Maybe because she can't spare time off from what she's already committed herself to: writing, physical therapy, voice therapy, the piano, dog training, getting the house in shape, taking care of family finances, handling the family business venture, keeping up with friends and relatives.  And  in the wings lurk the languages she wants to learn or refresh herself on, the paintings she wants to do or redo, the poems she'd like to bundle into little booklets for posterity. And soon she'll be attending to the groom's family's wedding responsibilities.  Then comes Christmas, which will require her to design a special card, write a new poem, and decorate the house.

Fiorella is active, intense, and insane.

A Good Time Was Had by All

Fio attended Daughter's wedding shower yesterday morning. Friend Paula, who hosted it, provided breakfast tacos, mimosas, cupcakes, and her lovely home. Daughter's friends provided the fun. Twenty-some young, vivacious women dressed in colorful gypsy styles and knee-high boots, they tossed their shiny tresses and laughed and enjoyed. Fio adored them all.

But most of all, she adored Daughter, who handled her celebrity with ease and grace. But then, Daughter always has been a princess.

Friendship

Yesterday, my initial engagement of the morning was with friend Suzy.

Her car broke down before we could meet at Dan's for breakfast so I drove to where she was marooned on Guadalupe and 45th, then made a trip to Dan's to pick up breakfast to go for both of us, stayed with her till the tow truck came, followed the tow truck to the garage, then tripped off with her to Jason's Deli, where we spent a pleasant half hour bringing each other up to date on our lives. It was not only a nice visit, but an adventure--although nothing compared to when my heart started beating too fast in Dan's a couple of years ago and Suzy hauled me off to the hospital and stayed with me till I was in the clear.

But that's the sort of thing friends do.