Tag Archives: Retirement

February 16, 2018 · 9:59 am

#MFRW Top 5 things on my bucket list

Until the movie THE BUCKET LIST came out, I’d never heard this term before.

Once I knew what it meant I kinda ignored the term for about 10 years or so because I wasn’t ready to make a list of things to do before I die. I mean, come on. It’s not like I’m imminently north ( or south) bound. I don’t have one foot tipping over to the hereafter yet.

Yet is the definitive word in that previous sentence.

So, since I can dream about what I want to do someday, here are my top five thoughts on the bucket list in no real order of when or how I want to do them.

GO skydiving.

My daughter went a few years ago and said it is unlike any feeling or emotion you will ever have.

TUSCANY. I want to visit Tuscany for an extended stay and take cooking lessons from real, old world Italian chefs. My pasta making needs expert instruction!

Testify before the House Committee on Funding. These life-long bureaucrats need to hear from real people about why funding for Mental Health, Cancer research, and Education needs to be fully funded. I’m sick to death of my tax dollars going to pork spending. These guys need to hear from me in person!

Start a public service organization dedicated to PAYING IT FORWARD. I’ve been so blessed in my life; I think if a person can, they should pay that blessing forward in any way possible. We’re all in this together, folks. We need to boost each other up. I know I personally have stood on the shoulders of all the women who came before me who fought for reproductive rights, voting rights, mental health rights, employment rights. I want to be able to do the same for the next generation of women and the generations to come.

Plant a tree in all 50 states. I can see some eyebrows rising with this one, but it goes along with the paying it forward thought. Every day, millions of trees are cut down for various reasons. I understand most of those reasons, but if we cut down one, shouldn’t we replace it with another so the cycle can continue? If we continue to destroy our natural landscape without any kind of replenishment, the future will be a vast wasteland. I don’t know about you, but I want my great grandkids to be able to climb trees, take a walk in a forest, and breath in clean air!

So, those are my top bucket list items. Stop by the other authors in this blog hop to see what they’re planning on doing with the rest of their lives!
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December 1, 2017 · 9:29 am

5 things on my #BucketList

Lovelovelove this challenge this week!!!

We all have (or should have) dreams, wishes, desires that we want to accomplish/do someday. Just like the movie it was named for, these dreams are called our Bucket list.

I will admit, mine was an empty list until 2 years ago. Up until then the only thing I wanted to do was make it through the day, upright, healthy, and fairly unscathed.

Then I got a book contract….and retired from the work force.

And then I allowed myself to dream about what I wanted for my future. I’ve narrowed it down to five because that’s all the blog post allowed for, hence the title!

In no real order, the top 5 things I have on my bucket list are:

Visit Hawaii – and not just visit – take a helicopter flight over the islands, swim under a waterfall, climb the Road to Hana

Visit the Great Barrier Reef before it erodes away.

Skydive with my daughter. She’s already done it so I figure, go with an expert!

Make the USA bestseller list – this one is a little farfetched, especially since I’ll need a runaway bestseller in a category that’s glutted ( contemporary romance) but hey! It’s a wish list, so why not?

Open a charitable foundation – the concept of to whom much is given, much is expected rings sosososos true to me. I have been blessed. Spiritually. Career-wise. Financially. I want, one day, to empower others the way I have been. By paying forward my blessings, I can accomplish this.

I can’t wait to see what some of the bucket list items for my fellow blog challengers are. Click on their links to find out:

 

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April 29, 2016 · 8:58 am

Almost Showtime…

I bet you were thinking this was going to be another blog entry about Keene DANCING WITH THE STARS. Wrong!  The showtime I’m referring to in the title is my own showtime – or more specific – my new writing schedule.

Today is my last day of work AGAIN!!! and from 5 pm tonight onward I get to live my dream AGAIN!!! of being a full-time writer. You all know I retired last year, and within 4 months got asked to “fill in”  because the girl that took over my job…well, let’s just say she didn’t work out. Because I had designated 2016 as the year of “yes” (Thank you, Shonda Rimes and insert the sarcastic tone right here) I felt I couldn’t say  no to my old employer because, 1. it was the year of saying yes and not the knee-jerk no’s I always gave; 2. I didn’t want my former patients to suffer, 3. this is, after all my husband’s business and it didn’t feel right to say no, and 4. it was only supposed to be for a few weeks until they found a replacement.

Fast forward 4 MONTHS – yeah! 4 -freakin’-months – and I finally said “no more.” It was a little more forceful than that, and may have been peppered with an expletive or two…or ten… but today I am done. Finito. Basta. No more.

So, starting bright and early tomorrow morning ( and by that, I mean the middle of the night because I still suffer from that damn chronic insomnia) I get to spend the days, all the glorious days, writing once again. And thank you, Jesus, it’ just in time because I’ve got three deadlines for this year all lined up with actual DATES!! Heaven help me.

If you don’t hear from me for a while, don’t worry. I’m fine. Just chained – intentionally – to my desk, my fingers splayed across the laptop keys, my brow grooved into two lines resembling caterpillars on my forehead, deep, deep, in writing mode.

The zone is calling and 5 pm can not get here soon enough…

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June 4, 2015 · 9:03 am

A relaxing retirement??

Most of you know I retired from my job of almost 20 years in April of this year to devote myself full-time to writing. I wanted to give you a little view into what my daily schedule now looks like. This is what I did on wednesday:

Wrote:

  • 2 blog entires for my own website to be held in storage until needed
  • 3 blog entries for sites I will be visiting soon

Edited:

  • final edits in a novella to be published next february
  • final edits in the third MacQuire Women series book, First Impressions, release date sometime later this year
  • final edits in current WIP ( writing work in progress)

Updated my website; continued Twitter marketing campaign for current book giveaway; answered “reader”emails, emailed my amazing Editor to discuss edits mentioned above.

Sent in two blog entries/release promos to websites I will be visiting this week and next

Registered for the New Jersey RWA chapter conference in October

This was all before 2 p.m., mind you – sometimes it pays to have chronic insomnia.

When my fingers got tired from typing, I did the stuff that needed to be done: grocery shopped, went to the bank, went to the recycling center to drop off, well, recyclables, went to Target, Michaels Craft store and Hallmark ( numerous graduations this month!) I did three loads of laundry, ironed, vacuumed and painted.

This is retirement?? I should go back to work, it was less exhausting!

 

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