Paperbacks and Birthday Gifts
"A book I love, but even easier to carry??? Sign me up!!!" - Amy S.
Yes, as of 9/25, Gem & Dixie is available in paperback so that you can easily transport it to and fro, hither and yon. Get it from your favorite retailer or look for it at the library. And as has been the case since last year, you can also get it in ebook or audiobook formats if that's your preference. The audiobook, by the way, is read by award-winning reader Julia Whelan who now has her very own novel out. (And who, if you are my age, you may remember as Grace Manning on the great family drama series Once and Again, anyway she's fantastic.)
(I can barely bring myself to say this once a year, but if you have read and liked this book or any other of my books and you are not deeply opposed to leaving reviews and ratings at places like Amazon and Goodreads, it really helps on the algorithm front in terms of upping the chances of other people finding my books. Thank you.)
Birthday Wishlist
My birthday is coming up in early October, and I've been thinking a lot about what to give myself. By which I mean what I want from the next year that I can try to make happen. I'm turning 48, which seems awfully close to 50. And that feels like it's getting to be the season in life when the things on your "I've always wanted to" list should probably be bumped up in priority. There are things like "be a singer-songwriter" and "know what it feels like to not be short" but I am trying to stay within the realm of possibility, here.
So, for my 49th year, I want and have always wanted in some way...
to be free
to not care if strangers approve or disapprove of me
to not be planning my life around a future version of myself that doesn't exist in reality
to not base my sense of worth on how I appear from the outside, physically or with a false personality
to eliminate 90% of my scrolling and tapping time
and fill it up with reading and writing
and having my own thoughts
and understanding my own opinions
and learning what matters to me now, in this season of life
now that I have boundaries and more wisdom and experience
(but I still have work to do, and that's another thing for this coming year - to pick my ACOA recovery back up)
also I want to be camping or, even better, glamping
plus enjoying blank space that I don't immediately go fill with headlines
(because they are all terrible and I will hear the important news anyway!)
or the details of other people's lives that leave me feeling unfavorably compared
and usually don't help me stay connected with my own
and I have a real problem with dissociation as my go-to coping "skill"
I feel I'm getting off track
this is really more a paragraph than a list
noticing these are all gifts I can only give myself
from everyone else, I accept cash and gift cards
(or just buy my books!)
I hope to have reached perfection by 50, so I've got to hop to it. If you are an old and wise person who has mastered some of the above, my inbox is open to hearing how you did it!
Coming soon:
What I learned from my time in Italy, and how that relates to my birthday wishlist...