First, the winners. They are: Kathey Prichard and Jannell Hanood. Congratulations, ladies. Your signed books will be on the way soon.
Now, if you didn’t win, do not despair. New contest, as of today–as usual, all you have to do is make a comment and you’re entered for this week’s round. Two winners will be notified by Jenni and then announced on the blog, so do stay tuned.
Adaptations. Ah, yes. To me, it’s another word for Plan B–and it seems I’m always making one of those these days. 🙂 (If not Plan C, D or Z) For instance, I will decide, “today I am going to do such and such, in such and such a way.” This idea seems to amuse God. I can just about hear Him saying, “Seriously, Linda?”
One example: Meditation. Except for prayer, this is the single most important thing I do for myself. HOWEVER, I have ADD, so sitting and repeating a sacred word, such as “Amen” or “Abba”, for a full 20 minutes, is so difficult that I usually wind up skipping the whole exercise. It occurred to me that I could start small; now, soon after I awaken, I plunk down in my favorite chair, with my coffee and the timer set on my phone, and I just try to be quiet. There are no extreme rules; I don’t have to close my eyes, even. And guess what? It works.
So now I’m looking around at other areas of my life and figuring out how I can apply the Start Small principle.
As you might have noticed, I’ve been absent from this blog WAY more often than I like to be–I wasn’t sick or hurt, but just overwhelmed. Our Weight Watchers leader, Elizabeth, has a term for those times when we don’t eat at a reasonable time: Stupid Hungry. (I’m often guilty of this; I wait too long and then I get Stupid Hungry, and I’ll eat things I would normally avoid.) I’ve got a term of my own for certain days: Crazy Tired. I do really well when the sun is shining–or at least visible–but heavily overcast days really seem to grind me down.
Audiobook-wise, I’ve been on an Anne Tyler binge. I just love her quirky characters and tongue-in-cheek descriptions. So far, I’ve listened to LADDER OF YEARS, SAINT MAYBE, and BACK WHEN WE WERE GROWNUPS. Now, I’m listening to–and loving–her SEARCHING FOR CALEB. Other audiobooks I’ve enjoyed include: THE MOURNING HOURS and THE FRAGILE WORLD, both by Paula Treick DeBoard, and THE STRANGER, by Harlan Coben. I’m pretty sure I’m one of Audible.com’s very best customers. 🙂 More tomorrow. 🙂
About Linda
The daughter of a town marshal, Linda Lael Miller is a #1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of more than 100 historical and contemporary novels, most of which reflect her love of the West.
Raised in Northport, Washington, Linda pursued her wanderlust, living in London and Arizona and traveling the world before returning to the state of her birth to settle down on a horse property outside Spokane.
