Finally, a Reunion

Yep, it's been awhile. It's amazing how time just gets past you. Last weekend though I was able to slow life down a bit and savor friendship. I traveled to Chicago during the ALA conference to meet up with Juliet to celebrate the new book release of our dearest Kathy Cannon Weichman! Take note of her name, I have a feeling if you are going to hear it a lot in the coming years. And Juliet and I couldn't be more proud. Kathy is a beautiful writer and an even more beautiful person. I was so honored to be able to spend time with her. The book will be out this spring. Put an order in!

Juliet and her family with the Latvian orphans

Juliet has so many irons in the fire which is normal for her. When she isn't changing the world through her work with several non-profits, she is just being an amazing mother, wife and friend. In addition she has some great forthcoming works and I have no doubt by this year's close I'll be traveling back to celebrate her accomplishments. In the meantime she is raising money to bring back the orphans from Latvia. She has opened her heart and home to them for a couple years and this year wants to do it again. You can watch her video here.


I am doing my best to keep my journal and enjoying each moment as it comes. I am so thankful for good friends.

With Juliet and Kathy

TURNING SIXTY

Our amazing friend Kathy Wiechman guest blogs today.  We know (and love) Kathy from two Highlights Founders workshops and co-blogging with her over at Swaggerwriters.  After over thirty years of writing fiction and submitting her work to various publishers, Kathy has been offered a contract with Boyds Mills Press.  Today, she writes about determination, age and writing success.  

CONGRATULATIONS KATHY!!!

(Kathy Wiechman, Jon Egan, Melissa Kline, Regina Gort, Juliet Bond, Grace Buonanno and Rich Wallace)

TURNING SIXTY

               By Kathy Cannon Wiechman

     It seems a number of entertainment types are turning sixty. Christie Brinkley. Howard Stern. Oprah. They are celebrating their birthdays with joy. But they have already achieved great success in their chosen fields.

     I seldom discuss my age, but for my dear friends, Juliet and Gina, I make an exception. I found turning sixty disheartening. I have been writing since Age five, and thought I would have accomplished some degree of writing success by the time I reached my “golden years.” I had a couple poems published and my short stories earned prizes in a few contests, but my real goal (and dream) was to have a novel published. I have been writing them for more than forty years. By the time I reached that milestone birthday, I was working on my eleventh novel. None of the first ten have been published. But disheartened does not mean giving up.

     On December 16, 2013, I signed a contract with Boyds Mills Press, and I’m currently working with my editor on final revisions for LIKE A RIVER, that eleventh novel! Not giving up finally paid off! The actual birthday might have been disheartening, but the dream is alive and well!

Friday Original Poem : Guest Poet, Kathy Cannon Wiechman

Kathy Cannon Wiechman

 Juliet and I met Kathy at a Highlights Foundation workshop. Kathy is one of those writers that I wish I could be. She is dedicated, prolific and gives the best hugs. A couple years ago when I switched gears and started to focus on poetry, Kathy mentioned that her mother was a published poet. Kathy also told me that poetry wasn't for her. But this week she posted on Swagger Writers about how she had made a break through into free verse. Of course I asked to see the poem.

I am so honored and please to host her poem. Thank you, Kathy, for being brave and writing beautiful poetry.

THE BUTTERFLY

By Kathy Cannon Wiechman

The tiny butterfly,

Whose wings flap a rhythm

On the sonogram monitor,

Etches a memory

Of a heartbeat, a life.

Gender and name still unanswered

Among a lifetime of questions.

The mother’s eyes shine

With the blossoming promise,

As delicate stirrings

In the swell of her middle

Herald a future of love.

Baby boy Anthony James

Has his name etched in stone

In the Garden of Angels,

The butterfly’s wings cold and still.

His mother’s eyes swell with tears

As she places delicate blossoms,

That will wilt in the sunshine,

Wilt like the promise.

Arms aching to hold him

Fold across her empty middle,

While the air is stirred only

By her unanswered “Why?”