Thursday, April 10, 2025

March Reads 2025 and settling back in to life!

 Hi! Hello friends, thanks for coming back!

My life was turned upside down for most of Feburary due to flooding in my house and no real access to TV, but this actually ended up being a good thing for me. I started reading, and I got through more than I have in a long time, and accepted that I need to read differently due to my ADHD. I read fastest when I listen to audiobooks, and this is a big part of it. I finished 2 series and started several more!

Most of my life has been caring for others and preparing for a licensure test in May. I let myself read a ton in March, but I will slow down the rate of book completion in April. Life is slowing down to focus, because I went into a career that has one really difficult licensure test, the toughest in the masters-level of counseling. I took it once already, and I didn't pass, but I have a better idea of what the test will be like it when I retake it.

Also, the kitties are settling in and we are family now! I love them and they are my babies, officially. It's so nice to have cats around the house again, they bring so much life to it.

So, let's get down to the reading I did in March of 2025! As always, I do not link to high-corporate websites like B&N and Amazon, but I do link to an independent bookstore you can order the books from and get them shipped to you called Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee. I do not work for them, and I do not get any kind of money for linking to them or free books, but this to assist with keeping independent bookselling alive in our country. Every book I review is a book I have either purchased new, used, or in ebook form, or have borrowed from my local public library. Let's pay authors for all the labor they went through to write these books and don't pirate, please!

Monday, March 10, 2025

January and Feburary Reads and Exorcisms in my School Board Meetings (Yes, that's actually happening)

So uh... plot twist?

I lost my job in January, but I kinda saw it coming. I realized my best bet would be to start my own private practice and a lot of my time's been swallowed up with that, working a second job to make ends meet and... flooding disaster in my house.


Fun times. At least I've gotten to read some cool books and meet some really awesome people! Let's get into it.

Sunday, January 7, 2024

December Reads and Adventures

December started off with me struggling to get a job and heal my knee. HURRY UP ALREADY AND GET BETTER! But, in better news, I got a job offer starting in January. I'm so ready for it!

I got a lot of my closet cleaned out. I haven't donated clothes since 2017, and I'm kind of ashamed of myself for that. Have you ever had a moment when you folded your laundry and there was no room in the dresser? Yeah, I was there. So far, I have seven trash sacks of clothes to go. Marie Kondo anyone?

I also went on a trip to see my sister for Christmas. She’s a member of the Foreign Service and works for the State Department, so she works overseas. She was assigned to Bogotà, Colombia, so I went to South America! Let me tell you the elevation was killer. It messed with me physically. Pictures forthcoming! I didn’t get a lot of reading done in Colombia, but that was for good reason. Time with my niece was more important, and i made choices. I want my niece to remember me paying attention to her and feeling special in my eyes. Zoning into a book and ignoring her would make her feel unloved and ignored, so I put the book down. Being present with family is more important sometimes. 

Books next... right? Ugh... right?

Monday, December 4, 2023

November Reads


I started November laid off from a job I had hardly spent two weeks at. Great times! My whole life was projected into some chaos, but I felt I a little more grounded than the first time I found myself jobless. That's what a master's degree will do for you. I've spent a lot of time applying for jobs. I work a lot because I feel so guilty when I take time off. I didn't take time off when I got hired at my new job between that and my old job, because, I JUST CAN'T. I suck at work boundaries and time off. Well, God and/or the universe was like loooooool, think again!



Saturday, November 4, 2023

I quit writing and October Reads

October 2023

I quit writing in October of 2023.

I've been struggling with creating good stories to write and I toil and toil over my manuscripts and making the storyline work. I haven't had new ideas for a usable new story in years. I come home from work, open up the laptop and I stare at old manuscripts for hours, nit-picking and staring at it, and starting all over.

It just struck me how little I physically read, I usually listen to audiobooks while driving, and you miss so much. I've talked about it, and I have a lot of books that I needed to read read, so I decided to start reading as much as I could again, too.



Wednesday, September 20, 2023

On Having Two Careers

 Hi. I know, long time no post.

I've wanted to write a blog for a while, just that I have two main parts of my life in the public eye: being a writer and the job I got into as a therapist. Yes, I have two jobs, if you're new here. I'm just used to working 24/7 and feeling guilty if I'm not, and I graduated with my MA in summer of July 2021. Taking a day off from work is quite guilt-inducing for me, but I have to remind myself I can have rest. Well, I'm changing jobs right now, from an addiction treatment center to an eating disorder inpatient center.

my author head shot, possibly a
headshot for my therapist profile?
by Jerry Winnett Grindhouse Photography


Tuesday, January 10, 2023

Timeline of a really convoluted car accident:

So the run down on the car crash: I was hit on Church Street in Nashville driving in the west-bound lane at about 11:05pm on October 7th near Printer's Alley. I had no stop signs or stop lights, I was driving straight. A guy in a 69 Chevelle Malibu pulled out really fast and t-boned my car.