Family

I’ve been thinking about families lately. Specifically, two kinds of family: the kind we are born into and the kind we create for ourselves among the strangers we meet in the course of our lives.

I have a brother I love dearly. I never had a sister, but I was blessed with girl cousins who were close in age. As children, we’d play together like siblings. Holidays were always big gatherings, too. And when we got older, we stood as bridesmaids in each others’ weddings. Eventually, we moved away from our family homes and out of each other’s lives.

This week, some of my cousins came to town for an impromptu four-day get-together. From the get-go, I was struck by how easily we slipped back into sister-mode. Making lunch, shopping, and just sittin’ around reminiscing, the bonds between us are still there, despite the years we’ve been apart. It’s such a comfortable, validating feeling to be with them, those people who knew us way back when.

Almost a decade ago, writing groups and writing conferences introduced me to a different kind of family. After attending my first writing conference, I felt like I had finally found my “peeps.” Without these new sisters and brothers, my writing life would be one lonely enterprise.

I’m especially grateful to the angels among them who’ve taken a personal interest in my work. At times when I’ve been ready to tear my hair out in frustration, they come through with encouragement and sage advice.

When I was growing up, I imagined a writer’s life to be a solitary existence. I never imagined that I’d find such a nurturing community here. But that is exactly what happened.

I’m lucky to have all these folks in my life. Whether related by blood or by our love of books, it’s family that makes life worthwhile.

Gay Yellen writes the award-winning Samantha Newman Mysteries including The Body Business, The Body Next Door, and out later this summer, The Body in the News.

 

The Arts Are For Everyone!

The Arts Are For Everyone! by Linda Rodriguez

A few years ago, I was giving writing workshops at a local high school on the wrong side of the tracks. These kids had already been through lots of trauma and stress, though they were only in their teens. These particular twenty kids, however, fell in love with writing, and it offered them a way to deal with broken families, broken hearts, and broken promises. They learned that on their own without me.

I was there to show them that writing can offer them even more. It wasn’t easy at first. Some of them started out prickly. It’s natural when life’s been a hostile environment to be always on guard. It took patience, but we got past that, and they wrote some phenomenal poems.

In the last workshop I had the joy of telling them that their work would be published in an anthology of Kansas City student writing and that they would give a public reading at The Writers Place, the city’s stand-alone center for writers and literature. They were pretty excited. This was a kind of validation that they almost never get. And since the poems to be published were from a workshop we did around identity and specific imagery, it was a special kind of validation. They opened their hearts on the page about the good and bad things in their families and their lives, and society said, “You are great just as you are!”

Out of the school population of 348, these twenty kids are winners. They may not be the only ones, of course, and they may not all go on to college. However, they have learned to use language to help themselves through tough times. They have learned to use language to form images of who they are and where they want to go, and that’s a prize of incomparable worth.

 

Linda Rodriguez’s 13th book, Unpapered: Writers Consider Native American Identity and Cultural Belonging, was published in May 2023. She also edited Woven Voices: 3 Generations of Puertorriqueña Poets Look at Their American Lives, The World Is One Place: Native American Poets Visit the Middle East, The Fish That Got Away: The Sixth Guppy Anthology, Fishy Business: The Fifth Guppy Anthology, and other anthologies.

Dark Sister: Poems was a finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award. Her three earlier Skeet Bannion mystery novels—Every Hidden Fear, Every Broken Trust, Every Last Secret—and earlier books of poetry—Skin Hunger and Heart’s Migration—received critical recognition and awards, such as St. Martin’s Press/Malice Domestic Best First Novel, International Latino Book Award, Latina Book Club Best Book of 2014, Midwest Voices & Visions, Elvira Cordero Cisneros Award, Thorpe Menn Award, and Ragdale and Macondo fellowships. She also published Plotting the Character-Driven Novel, based on her popular workshop.  Her short story, “The Good Neighbor,” published in Kansas City Noir, was optioned for film.

Rodriguez is past chair of the AWP Indigenous Writer’s Caucus, past president of Border Crimes chapter of Sisters in Crime, founding board member of Latino Writers Collective and The Writers Place, and a member of International Thriller Writers, Native Writers Circle of the Americas, Wordcraft Circle of Native American Writers and Storytellers, and Kansas City Cherokee Community. Learn more about her at http://lindarodriguezwrites.blogspot.com or follow her on Twitter at https://twitter.com/rodriguez_linda  or on Mastodon at https://mastodon.social/rodriguez_linda.

The Pleasures of Summer Reading

As the sun rises higher in the sky and the days grow longer, summer beckons us to bask in its warm embrace. For avid readers, this season presents an unparalleled opportunity to immerse ourselves in the joys of summer reading. Whether it’s lounging by the poolside, swinging in a hammock, or picnicking in the park, the enchanting allure of a good book can transport us to magical worlds and make this season even more extraordinary.

 

Summer reading, with its relaxed pace and open schedule, allows us to delve into a vast realm of literary wonders. It’s a time when we can indulge in the stories we’ve longed to read but couldn’t find the time amidst our busy lives. From classic novels, to the latest bestsellers to the next book in a series we love,  our summer reading list is a testament to our love for words and storytelling.

The act of holding a physical book or swiping through the pages of an e-reader becomes a sensory delight in itself. While reading, we may feel the gentle summer breeze caressing our cheeks or the sound of distant laughter mingling with the story, making the reading experience even more immersive.

Moreover, the beauty of summer reading lies in its freedom. We can embrace the liberating feeling of reading for the sheer pleasure of it. We can explore different genres, from romance and mystery to fantasy and science fiction, allowing our minds to wander through various landscapes and realities.

In a world that can sometimes feel rushed and chaotic, summer reading offers a respite—a tranquil oasis where time seems to stand still. It’s an opportunity to reconnect with ourselves, find solace, and nourish our souls with words that inspire, provoke thought, and bring a smile to our faces.

So, as the summer sun casts its warm glow upon us, let’s celebrate the joys of summer reading. Let’s embrace the magic of books and let our imaginations run wild. As avid readers, this season grants us the precious gift of time—the time to read, the time to dream, and the time to revel in the pure pleasure of getting lost in a story. So, let’s pick up that book and embark on our summer literary adventures, for the delights of summer reading await!

P.S. My newest release, HOW THE MURDER CRUMBLES, is a perfect summer read. It’s currently available at retailers and libraries. If you prefer to get your hardcovers, ebooks or audiobooks from your library be sure to request the book.

 

Debra Sennefelder is the author of the Food Blogger Mystery series and the Resale Boutique Mystery series.

She lives and writes in Connecticut. When she’s not writing, she enjoys baking, exercising and taking long walks with her Shih-Tzu, Connie.

You can keep in touch with Debra through her website, on Facebook and Instagram.

 

Deep in the Promo Weeds

By Lois Winston

My post last month talked about the five-letter word that sends a shudder through most authors. I’ve been in the promotion weeds ever since, due to the recent launch of  A Crafty Collage of Crime, the 12th book in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series. Between my own blog, Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers, and the two group blogs I belong to, this one and Booklover’s Bench, I also signed up for a blog tour with Great Escapes Book Tours and booked a few guest blogs on my own. The grand total came to—drumroll, please—26 blog posts through the middle of August!

And here lies the conundrum: How many ways can I talk about my series and the newest book in it without sounding like a broken record? Or worse yet, a carnival barker? Step right up, ladies and gentlemen. Be the first to experience the latest murder and mayhem author Lois Winston has dumped on her poor reluctant amateur sleuth!

No one likes being bombarded with “buy my book” pleas on social media. Hard sell often works against an author. Years ago, when I was still writing romance, I attended a conference where a well-known, bestselling author kept pleading with the audience to buy her books because her teenage son was growing so fast that she was spending a fortune every month at Foot Locker. From the sideways glances those of us in the audience were giving each other, I had the sense that this author’s attempt at a cute marketing ploy was backfiring badly. Especially since we’d all seen her latest advance recently posted on Publishers Marketplace. I’ve been published since 2006, and to this day, if you added up all my advances and royalties from the past seventeen years, the total would still be less than what that author had received in one advance.

At any rate, Anastasia and I (some bloggers requested posts written by my sleuth or interviews with her instead of me) have tried—desperately—to keep each of the posts fresh and different. My Great Escapes blog tour began June 19th and runs through July 2nd. You can find the schedule here. Visit each site to enter the Rafflecopter for a chance to win one of three copies I’m giving away of A Crafty Collage of Crime. Because the drawing won’t be held until after the last guest post goes live on July 2nd, you can also go back and enter at the blogs that have already posted.

I promise I won’t implore you to add to my sons’ or grandsons’ sneaker funds!

Instead, if you post a comment here, I’ll enter you in a random drawing for a chance to win a promo code for a free audiobook download of A Stitch to Die For, the fifth book in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series.

~*~

USA Today and Amazon bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books, and nonfiction under her own name and her Emma Carlyle pen name. Kirkus Reviews dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” In addition, Lois is a former literary agent and an award-winning craft and needlework designer who often draws much of her source material for both her characters and plots from her experiences in the crafts industry. Learn more about Lois and her books at her website www.loiswinston.com where you can also sign up for her newsletter and follow her on various social media sites.

What Makes Me Happy

What Makes Me Happy

By Saralyn Richard

 

Nana with the cast of “Peter and Wendy”

Recently, one of my writer friends, Kathleen Kaska, featured me in her newsletter, the theme of which was: What Makes You Happy?

I had fun answering Kathleen’s questions and thought I’d share them with you.

  1. What makes you happy? children and dogs! A long-time educator, I taught pre-school through twelfth grade, and I never had a dull moment. Every time I thought I’d seen and heard everything, something else happened to surprise me. Being surrounded by children guarantees that you’ll have new ideas and be forced to find creative solutions. I’m similarly happy when I go places with my sheepdog, Nana. Prior to Covid, Nana and I visited more than 100 schools, libraries, and museums, where we read the children’s book Naughty Nana. Nana is a show-stopping celebrity, and watching her light up when she’s with people is magical.
  2. What songs, when you hear them, make you glad to be alive? I love show tunes. I can belt out the lyrics to almost any Broadway musical, and I’ve been known to dance around the family room while I’m singing. Happy, sad, romantic, or whatever, I love to pretend that I’m on stage, singing like a Tony-award winner. Two of my favorites are, “I Could Have Danced All Night” from My Fair Lady, and “Tonight” from West Side Story. I also love the Bee Gees tunes from Saturday Night Fever.
  3. What are your most profound beliefs? One of my beliefs is that time is our most precious commodity. I’m terrible at keeping track of time, though. I also believe in the power of girlfriends, great books, and ghosts.

Last weekend, my husband and I got to hear Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr. (formerly of the Fifth Dimension) sing, and we visited with them afterwards. We saw them perform on our first date many years ago, when we were in college. We are still together, and so are they! Another reason to be happy!

 

What makes YOU happy?

 

Saralyn Richard loves being a writer and connecting with readers. Visit her website at http://saralynrichard.com and sign up for her monthly newsletter to receive fun info, surveys, contests, freebies, and more.

Clicking Our Heels – Summer Plans!!!!

Summer time! What do you think about in June? For Stiletto Gang members, it’s all about our summer plans.

Barbara Eikmeier – We just got a teardrop camper trailer and I’m making plans for a road trip from KS to CA to camp on the beach in Oceanside, CA. We tent camped there with our kids when they were little and now we’ll do it with our granddaughter!

Mary Lee Ashford – We have no big plans this summer. Well mostly be staying around home and working on house projects. Some major decluttering going on here. Perhaps a short trip with the family or a weekend away but nothing big. However, in September we are planning a trip to Scotland and we are pretty excited about that. Look for plenty of photos!

Linda Rodriguez – We’ll be moving once again. I’m not looking forward to that nightmare, but I am looking forward to what comes after it. Just as our youngest son moved back in with us after his PhD while he was looking for a job, we will be moving in with him while we are looking for a house, since we will be moving to the town where he lives. It’s actually his idea, and he swears he’s looking forward to it. So am I. He’s a lot of fun.

Shari Randall/Meri Allen – Travel and beach time! A nephew is getting married, too, so it’s a full summer.

Debra H. Goldstein – A number of writing conferences, a lot of writing, and plenty of family fun!

Lynn McPherson – Lakeside cottage with the family and lots of good books.

T.K. Thorne – My garden. I can’t wait to see things blooming, especially around my little pond and to see the frogs come take a swim! And maybe work out how I can focus more on writing without feeling compelled to get other things done first. Wish me luck on that!

Bethany Maines Probably a trip to Arizona to visit friends, and then our annual visit to Fairy Fest, and camping.

Donnell Ann Bell – I have a couple of conferences I’d like to attend, visits with family, my husband I are talking about a trip to Banff, Quebec, and I have monthlong jury duty in August!!

Dru Ann Love – I will be visiting Charleston, South Carolina and San Diego, California.

Saralyn Richard – Summertime is family time around here. I’m looking forward to having lots of company and fun times at the beach, barbecuing, and visiting all the tourist attractions.

Gay Yellen – Promote the new book, attend a writing conference or two, and still have time to take a non-writing couples vacation.

Lois Winston – I used to love cruising, but ever since the pandemic, I’m hesitant to travel to any place where I could wind up stuck for weeks or longer. So other than attending Killer Nashville in August, my only plan for now is to visit friends in the NY metro area and take in a few Broadway shows. Maybe in another year or two I’ll feel brave enough to consider Europe again.

Anita Carter We’re planning for a trip to Scotland in September!

Robin Hillyer-Miles – This summer we’re enjoying our home in the SC Lowcountry, going to the beach, on local hikes, and lounging in our small backyard pool.

Kathryn Lane To spend the summer in my beloved mountains in northern New Mexico. I’ve lost a lot of writing time this year to unexpected issues so I’m looking forward to uninterrupted writing. Bob and I will travel around New Mexico to research areas for the novel I’ve just started.

Fighting the Good Fight

Fighting the Good Fight—For the Arts

by Saralyn Richard

My first foray into the world of teaching was as an English instructor, and I learned a lot about working with students in a required academic subject.  Several years into that career, I earned a graduate degree in administration, and I switched out of the English department and into Fine Arts. The Fine Arts department consisted of visual arts, speech and theater, music, and foreign language (still a mystery how that fits, except that foreign language does involve some performance skills).

As the Fine Arts chairperson, and later the Assistant Principal in charge of Fine Arts (and other departments), I learned a few things immediately:

  1. As elective subjects, the students were more motivated to learn, attended more frequently, and earned better grades than in the required subjects.
  2. The arts provided extensive opportunities for extra-curricular activities that enhanced and enriched the school community as a whole. In essence, Fine Arts was the heart of the school.
  3. Every year when it was time for students to choose electives, the Fine Arts had to fight for its existence.

One might wonder why classes that were so successful and valuable would have to justify their worth continually. The reasons run deep, and they extend beyond the school system and into society as a whole. There are mandates—required subjects take precedence, so resources of time, space, and personnel must be assigned to them first. There are budget restrictions. Performing arts may require expensive equipment, uniforms, and supplies. The extra-curricular activities associated with the classes add another layer of expense with travel to competitions and coaching costs.

The annual effort to promote the department and recruit students to take the classes was monumental, and it included some extraordinary teachers and events, like a Fine Arts Festival, to make a difference.

Fortunately, our board members, administrators, teachers, and parents embraced the value of the arts and pushed to keep the department viable.

Fast forward to the present, and I find myself still in the fray. As an author, I face increasing challenges in the literary arts—publishing and marketing woes, intense competition for reach into audiences, threats of AI, and more. I also serve as the President of the Board of our local historic theater, and I find the same challenges there, a scarcity of resources, a need to fill the seats for the shows, a competition for entertainment dollars.

The arts are still considered frills—nice if you can have them, but easy to cut if you need to trim the budget. Yet I can’t imagine life in a society where there are no books, plays, concerts, ballets, symphonies, or art galleries to provoke thought and discourse and to touch people’s hearts. We can’t have culture without arts, and we can’t have a full life without culture.

I dislike politics in all its forms, but I always stand up for the arts wherever and whenever I can. Do you?

Saralyn Richard writes award-winning humor- and romance-tinged mysteries that pull back the curtain on people in settings as diverse as elite country manor houses and disadvantaged urban high schools. An active member of International Thriller Writers and Mystery Writers of America, Saralyn teaches creative writing and literature, and continues to write mysteries. Her favorite thing about being an author is interacting with readers like you. Visit Saralyn here, on her Amazon page here, or on Facebook here.

 

Missing Malice – A Love Letter

by Sparkle Abbey

Awards Banquet Table

Malice Domestic is the annual convention that celebrates the traditional mystery and frankly it’s one of our favorites.  This year we were unable to attend and we were so bummed. From our very first Malice Domestic and multiple ones since that first one, the mystery community welcomed us. We’re so grateful for the opportunity to meet readers who have become friends. And thankful for all the wisdom shared, advice offered,  and great tips from other mystery authors. Sometimes tips about things we were too new to the business to even know we were going to need to know. We listened, we took notes, and we soaked it all in.

It was necessary but so very difficult to not be there this year. We were sad to miss getting to meet new people, see old friends, and share in the celebrations. To everyone who posted photos on social media, thank-you so much. It was wonderful to get to live a little bit of that Malice magic vicariously.  To all of the Agatha Award nominees and winners that we didn’t get to congratulate in person – congratulations! If you missed the list of Agatha winners you can find it here: Announcing the Agatha Award Winners

And if you have not yet read these books, you should. All of them.

And by the way, registration is open for Malice Domestic 2024. And we’re not missing out again. We hope to see you there!

sparkle and abbeySparkle Abbey is actually two people, Mary Lee Ashford and Anita Carter, who write the national best-selling Pampered Pets cozy mystery series. They are friends as well as neighbors so they often get together and plot ways to commit murder. (But don’t tell the other neighbors.)

They love to hear from readers and can be found on FacebookTwitter, and Pinterest, their favorite social media sites. Also, if you want to make sure you get updates, sign up for their newsletter via the SparkleAbbey.com website

Excerpt from HOW THE MURDER CRUMBLES

Hi. I’m Debra and I’m an author on a deadline which means I’m working on and thinking about my WIP 24/7. Not only do I have a deadline looming, I have a release in about 50 days of a brand new series. So this is why this month’s post will be an excerpt. I seriously can’t think of anything to write. My brain is fried and it needs a break from words.

The excerpt below is from my upcoming novel, HOW THE MURDER CRUMBLES, and it’s the first book in the Cookie Shop Mystery series. It releases on June 20th in print, ebook and audio formats.

Here’s the excerpt and I hope you enjoy meeting Mallory Monroe, a cookiepreneur turned amateur-sleuth.

 

“Why was the cookie so angry with the baker?” Kip Winslow asked the group of five women as they tied their aprons. He waited for a beat before sharing the punchline.

Mallory Monroe paused as she walked out of the bakery’s kitchen. She tried not to roll her eyes at her friend and employee’s joke, knowing the punch line was going to be just terrible—and that she’d laugh all the same.

“He had a chip on his shoulder,” Kip finished with a chuckle.

The women, who had signed up for the beginner cookie decorating class, laughed at the silly joke. Though Mallory noticed one of them, who had introduced herself as Elana Peterson, barely cracked a smile. Even Kip’s worst jokes usually got a small smile. Or a groan. Something.

Once the women were settled, Kip returned to the kitchen to make sure the sugar cookies would be ready to swap out when it came time to start decorating. Mallory took her spot at the farmhouse table she’d found while antiquing. Because of her tight budget, which had no wiggle room, she had to be creative regarding the bakery’s décor. But, thanks to flea market trips, learning how to sand and paint, and a lot of elbow grease—hers and Kip’s—she had unique furnishings that added the extra oomph she wanted for the bakery.

“Are you ready to decorate?” Mallory looked at each woman, and four out of five nodded enthusiastically. The fifth, Elana, gave only a slight nod, and even that seemed half-hearted. Her friends noticed, and their excitement seemed to temper. Mallory didn’t need the group’s energy dipping. To keep the upbeat mood— after all, cookies were supposed to make people happy—Mallory quickly launched into the story of how she had become the owner of The Cookie Shop.

“I’m so happy you’re here today because I get to share with you my passion for cookies and cookie decorating. When I was a little girl, I visited Wingate and I spent most of my time right here with my Aunt Glenna.” Her voice choked, and she wondered when she would be able to talk about her aunt without getting emotional. It seemed like only yesterday Aunt Glenna had given her blessing at the re-grand opening of the bakery.

“She was a wonderful woman,” the woman to the right of Elana said. “Excellent baker.”

“Thank you. It was here, with her, that I discovered my love for baking and decorating cookies.” Mallory blinked, hoping to keep back the tears. She missed her aunt so much. She missed how her aunt smelled of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger—her own spicy fragrance from hours of baking. She missed how her aunt whispered, “When it’s made with love, the recipe is never wrong,” when Mallory messed up a batch of cookies. She smiled at the memories and then continued.

“Back then, I dreamed of being a baker like my aunt. But then life happened. I grew up, got a degree, and found success in advertising.”

“You’ve had quite a change in your life,” the gray-haired woman seated across from Mallory said.

“I have. The one thing that never changed, though, was baking and decorating cookies every chance I got. Then one day, I discovered cookie bouquets, and I was hooked. I made them whenever there was a birthday or new baby or promotion.” The last word stuck in her throat, and she swallowed hard. She hated to admit it, but she still harbored some bitterness after not getting the promotion she’d worked so hard for. Looking back, perhaps it had been for the best. It was one of the reasons she had taken the biggest leap of faith in her life—buying the bakery. And then changing pretty much everything about it.

“You’ve certainly made this place your own,” said the woman seated next to Elana.

Mallory nodded as her gaze traveled around the bakery. She’d loved the bakery just the way it was, but her vision for the space was more colorful and whimsical than her aunt’s had been.

Once the keys were handed over, Mallory had gotten to work. She’d revamped the front of the bakery. The white walls were given a fresh coat of light green paint, and then she added framed wallpaper panels. She chose a floral wallpaper with giant rhododendrons in pastel colors. Over the antique wood floor stood a long console table she’d found at a tag sale. After stripping and painting it lime green, she used it to display a variety of cookie baskets she offered. An oversized, chunky pedestal table in the center of the bakery had also been stripped and then painted a deep coral. She topped it with two smaller pedestal stands. There she displayed smaller cookie baskets and the hand-dipped gourmet apples she also sold.

She continued speaking for another minute, wrapping up her story, and then got to work. For the class, they were making simple cookie pops. Gathered together, they’d make a sweet bouquet. She demonstrated how to roll out the sugar dough, cut out the daisy-shaped cookies, and insert the bamboo stick.

She made her way around the table to check everyone’s progress. This wasn’t exactly a difficult task. Mallory expected these women to have had some experience with this basic skill of baking.

 

 

 

 

To celebrate the release of HOW THE MURDER CRUMBLES I’m giving away bookmarks and stickers.

If you send me a screenshot of your confirmed pre-order for HOW THE MURDER CRUMBLES along with you mailing address (US domestic addresses only) I will mail you a bookmark and sticker.

If you get your print books, ebooks or audio books from your local library, send me either a confirmed hold or borrow for the audio or ebook when it’s available in your library or a photo of the print book you’ve taken out of the library. Be sure to include your mailing address. Also, if the book isn’t available in your local library, please request it. 🙂

The email address to send your order confirmation is Debra@Debrasennefelder.com or just reply to this email.

 

 

 

 

Debra Sennefelder is the author of the Food Blogger Mystery series and the Resale Boutique Mystery series.

She lives and writes in Connecticut. When she’s not writing, she enjoys baking, exercising and taking long walks with her Shih-Tzu, Connie.

You can keep in touch with Debra through her website, on Facebook and Instagram.

What’s Your Superpower?

I’m sitting in a condo at Hilton Head Island, enjoying the rainstorm. I keep hearing the beep-beep notification of an alarm or battery going dead. I try and pinpoint its location to no avail. The maintenance guy sat on a counter chatting with the front desk operator. I explained that I have a Superpower which is great ears, and I keep hearing a beep. The maintenance guy asked what room I was in. When I told him, he said, “Aha, the door alarm.” He followed me down the hallway, but his key, a real key, not a pass card would not fit in the door marked, “Employees Only.” He headed back to the reception area to find a housekeeper who he said had the proper key.

Upon his return he shook his head and told me the door he wanted was outside, not the one he’d been trying. He asked if I still heard it because he could not. I said I did. He went outside. He returned and asked me to follow him. The rain had moved on to a faint shower, and I barely got wet when I took his steps behind my condo, which was on the corner. Inside a two-story tall eight-by-ten room was a bank of computer screens high on the wall. And the beep-beep got louder.

He pointed at the screens. “Is this what you’re hearing?”

“Yes.” We shared a high-five.

He looked up at the screens and said, “Now, to remember how to fix this.”

I waved to him before I returned to my room. Twenty minutes later, a knock came at the door.

“Maintenance.”

I opened the door and greeted him.
“Can you hear it now?”

“No.” I said. “Great job. And thank you for listening to me.”“Thank you for having great hearing before I left for the day.”

What’s your superpower?



My boss likes to as this question of others. It’s a great conversation starter and makes one think about their assets, their strengths, their abilities in a positive manner.
Besides hearing, I’m also good at knowing someone needs something before they need it. I’ll hand someone a writing instrument and a pad of paper before they think they want to take down a note. I’ll have a water bottle at the ready before speaker’s voice begins to falter and they rea

lize they need a drink.

What’s your superpower?

Lean into it today. Realize your worth. Enjoy you being you. We all have something to give to the world.

 

Robin Hillyer Miles

Robin is currently editing “Cathy’s Corner,” a contemporary romance with a pinch of magic realism that she is determined to get published before her 60th birthday this November. In the meantime, enjoy one of her short stories that can be found in “Love in the Lowcountry Winter Holiday Volumes I & II.”