Compassionate Friends, Compassion in Writing, Compassionate Animals

The Art of Compassion

Thanks to all of you who read last month’s newsletter. You’ve been so kind, reaching out to me about Jim’s illness, offering support. A huge shoutout to my former Osseo High School classmate, Linda Krieger Gareis. Linda was a hall monitor, so you know she’s an amazing individual with sound character. Linda contacted me and offered some much-needed support and encouragement. And thanks to those of you, offering well wishes about Jim’s illness.

An update—Jim suffered a stroke three weeks ago but has made nearly a full recovery. This was unexpected, given he has no history of high blood pressure. That incident complicated things and now we anticipate that the earliest his bone marrow transplant will take place will be in mid-November. Having said that, he is doing very well, and we are both doing our very best to remain upbeat. Sitting out on our patio, looking at our two donkeys grazing in the field is truly relaxing and comforting.

Showing Compassion in Writing

Although October is mainly known as breast cancer awareness month, years ago when I taught middle school, October was when we discussed drug awareness with our students. For that reason, given these turbulent times, particularly for our youth, I’m taking a few minutes to discuss drug awareness and how it impacted my writing.

A decade ago, I wrote a series about four sisters whose father suffered from Alzheimer’s. Like most families, the siblings differed on how best to handle what proved to be a very challenging situation. In these four books, each sister had to strike a balance between family obligations and having some semblance of a personal life.

One of these four sisters in my books is Chloe. She’s what we used to term as the black sheep’ of the family, having been addicted to drugs and alcohol for the past decade. Chloe has been the absentee sibling since leaving to try and find fame and fortune as an actress; something that failed miserably. By the time she finally returns to the fictitious Minnesota town of Crescent Falls, few individuals, including the other three sisters left holding the bag, are pleased to see her. In this book, Chloe must work extraordinarily hard to gain their trust back. Additionally, given her shoddy reputation, she must jump through hurdles to be accepted back into the community.

About the time I was finishing up my rewrite of My Dearest Chloe, I discovered a drama series called Dopesick, starring Michael Keaton. It was an absolute game changer for me in the way I approached Chloe’s character. This series was well researched and provided viewers with a much more compassionate approach to substance abuse than I thought possible. Even the doctor prescribing these drugs falls helplessly to the opioid lure and ends up in dire straits. Of the four books in this series, I’m the proudest of My Dearest Chloe. It even won an award a number of years ago in a writing competition.

My Dearest Chloe is free on Amazon for those of you who subscribe to the Kindle Unlimited program. In the event you are not a member, the book sells for $2.99. I highly recommend this book for those of you dealing with Alzheimer’s in your family circle and struggling as a caregiver who is carrying most of the burden. And may we soon find a cure for this oppressive and horrifying disease. Here’s the Amazon link.

  Compassionate Animals

As most of you know, getting two miniature donkeys was totally Jim’s idea. He’s cared for them patiently and lovingly for the past seventeen years. Due to his illness and concern about being exposed to germs, donkey care has fallen on me! While I hadn’t intended for donkey caring to become a competition, in some ways, it has. Both donkeys didn’t pay all that much attention to Jim when he did barn duty. But—go figure—when I walk out in the morning to muck the stalls and refill their water buckets, Chance, the brown donkey, walks up to me and sniffs me as though I was her long-lost friend.

In the evenings when it’s time to put them back in the barn, normally, it takes forever. At least, when Jim tried to lure them in, it did. I’m proud to say that when I walk out there, refill the water buckets and place hay in their bins, within a minute, both animals hightail it into the barn, allowing me to close the gate to the corral and head back into the house. They make my job so easy, and truth be told, when Jim is watching us, I’m kind of gloating. They love me. Actually, they seem to prefer women. So much for the seventeen years Jim has spent fawning all over them.

I joke about this, but it’s truly a blessing that Chance and Button have taken a liking to me. It makes Jim’s heart happy that they are in good hands. Not Jim’s hands, of course, but we’re hoping at some point, that will once again be the case.

Come Again?!

My biggest surprise in book #3 of my cozy mystery series is that readers are shocked to discover who the arsonist is in Arson in the Alto Section. If you purchase this book, I would love to hear from you and see if you correctly guessed who the arsonist was. I feel so darn good about this because it means I’m getting better at writing mysteries! It’s available on Amazon, but I think posting two links in one newsletter might be exhausting. Here’s the cover in case you want to check it out on Amazon.

As always, thanks for reading my newsletter and taking the time to send Jim and I your best wishes. This guy I married is a real trooper. I’m so happy we’re in this journey together.