Coffee in Florida

Good morning, Everyone. 

If we were having coffee together, I’d invite you to take a seat and an afternoon coffee break. I’ll fill you in. 

You can join in the Inlinkz Link Party Weekend Coffee Share (free!), comment and share your news. 

I am sipping morning brew in Florida overlooking the intercoastal waterway. My parents live here in the winter, escaping the New York cold. I drove six-hour trouble-free hours from South Carolina. The long drive passed nicely with the magic of podcasts and auxiliary cables connected to car speakers. My parents’ condo is nearby a complex where several family members winter in their condos. The location is perfect for strolling, visiting with each other, and some boating and fishing. When they get together, the company is loud with conversation and laughter, and it is not only because they are losing their hearing. They had always been loud. Matt and I came to visit for a long weekend, maybe go fishing and join in the Super Bowl fun and games. 

Southern snowbird living is working out well for Matt and I. The weather is not a full winter escape, but for us, it is balmy and pleasant enough to be outside. I am enjoying seeing the grandkids each day. They are busy people, joyful, and a load of fun. My sunrise picture taking happens almost every day. Bicycling around Hilton Head Island is terrific. Matt is getting a lot of use from the semi-recumbent and can bike for a distance. 

A good deal of my time is taken up by writing. I am seeped in the editing process of my middle-grade novel. I used several legal-size pads of paper to hand write most of the story, chart timelines and character traits and scribble notes and ideas. My work area is beyond cluttered. Presently, I am using Grammarly for the first scan through. Some of my characters speak broken English, which trips up the app. I am struggling with the authenticity of voice and language patterns. Does anyone know if there is an app for that? I did get some help from Friends of the Lower East Side. They suggested that PS23 on Mulberry Street may have been the school the children in my book had gone to school. It is now a Chinese Cultural Center in the heart of Chinatown and had recently suffered a devastating fire. Research never ends. 

Big thank yous go out to Ecelic Ali for keeping the Weekend Coffee Share up and running. I am honored to help out so we can all write, read, and learn together.

Have a good weekend and week, Everyone. Make it great.

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Antoinette Truglio Martin is the author of Hug Everyone You Know: A Year of Community, Courage, and Cancer. The memoir is a wimpy patient’s journey through her first year of breast cancer treatment.

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