Good morning, Everyone
While my home up north digs out of the big freeze and my Hilton Head Island adopted home dries out from a spell of cold rainstorms, my husband and I took a ride south to Florida, where my Mom spends the winter. Grab your coffee. Let’s catch up.
Her cozy condo is near my brother and cousins, and the international waterway is in the backyard. Pelicans dive, and a lone dolphin swims by each morning. It is a beautiful and serene oasis.
Although Dad’s absence weighs heavy, Mom is doing okay. New normal adjustments are difficult to get used to. This week my sister and cousins are here as well. We sat on a warm beach yesterday, and I jumped in the ocean for a full-body immersion—a real treat in February.
If we were having coffee together, I would report that the Zoom Early Morning Writing Sessions have been fantastic! I get to chat with fellow writers about our current projects and the day’s writing goals. After no more than 10 minutes, we mute and commence writing for an hour or so, then unmute, update our progress and get back to work for another hour. We meet three times a week. I can’t believe how much more focused and productive I am. Sometimes I continue to write for another hour or two after the session is over.
If we were having coffee together, I would continue the Zooming update. Stephanie Larkin, publisher extraordinaire of Red Penguin Books, organized a Zoom Family Meeting with fellow authors and an itinerary. We introduced ourselves and discussed strategies to further our audiences. Sharing and interacting with authors is a big first step. It was a great gathering. There are amazing and interesting people in this tribe. If you are looking for your next compelling read, I urge you to take a look at the Red Penguin Books’ lists of novels and anthologies.
If we were having coffee together, I would add that my latest research has taken me to possible cover designs and ideas. I browsed through hundreds of photographs of Edwardian era kids in urban settings, early 20th-century baseball parks, and kids playing stickball in alleys. I am far from an illustrator skill level to do the whole task, but I do need to communicate a look so that the designer can come close to my vision and a sellable cover.
If we were having coffee together, I would say that I am now eligible to be on a COVID vaccine list in New York because of my cancer status. I will be back in New York by mid-March, so I hope to have an appointment by then. Mom, aunts, uncles, and sisters who are teachers, a brother-in-law who made the age requirement are successfully vaccinated. Slowly but surely, this awful pandemic will come under control. In the meantime, Everyone, be well, be safe, be smart.
That’s it, Everyone. Thank you to Natalie the Explorer for keeping the coffee share up and running.
Have a good week. Make it Funtastic.
Attention Teachers and Librarians
March is National Reading Month!
Schedule your virtual and live Book Club Events and Creative Writing Workshops.
Download FREE Curriculum Connections
If you had purchased a paperback or ebook Daily Bread and/or Becoming America’s Food Stories—Thank you!
Take a picture of you with Daily Bread and/or Becoming America’s Food Stories, and I’ll send you Reader’s Swag and add you to the Becoming America’s Stories Readers slideshow, coming soon! Kid pics are welcomed with parent or guardian permission. Don’t forget to leave a rating and quick comment on Amazon and/or Goodreads.
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Daily Bread is set in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, 1911. The story follows nine-year-old Lily, an American-born child of Sicilian immigrants, who wants to prove she is not a little kid. To be a big kid in the crowded tenement neighborhoods, she must tackle bigotry, bullies, disasters, dotty bakers, and learn to cross the street by herself.
Hope you are hungry. Becoming America’s Food Stories recalls the tales that have been told around my family’s dinner table. The histories explain the motivations over bowls of macaroni, antics play out while slurping soup, and laughter echoes throughout the dining room. Pull up a seat. There’s always room.
“If you don’t cook with love, you have to get out of the kitchen.” Florence Messina
Stories Served 
I enjoyed reading your coffee round up and envy your full body immersion in the ocean. I’ve been day dreaming about the sea side here in chilly, landlocked New Delhi, India. I’d love to read your book. I’ll research how to get it in India.
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Book 1 Daily Bread should be available on Indias Amazon. If not, let me know and I will contact the publisher. Thanks a bunch.
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Sounds like a productive and sunny interlude Antoinette and I hope you get your vaccine on your return.. it appears to be making a difference world wide… x
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Yea, Sally,the vaccine is such a hope for all of us.
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Antoinette, It’s so nice that you could visit your mom, meet up with family members, and dip in the ocean in February. Good news on the vaccination front, too. Thank you for linking with #WeekendCoffeeShare.
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Ohhh, those of us sitting in the artic freeze zone are envious! It’s 17 with windchills -5 this morning in Northern Kentucky! Brr… We’ve got about a foot or so of snow still hanging on from this past week’s snow storms. the writing group at the library meets once a month on Zoom… unfortunately, they meet during my evening commute, and I don’t have internet in the car or at home. Libraries are still closed for the most part. I have to say my writing has suffered in that I haven’t felt like even writing at all lately. I do keep up with Friday Fictioneers and my blog, but that’s about it. Sewing has more or less taken it’s place for a while, I suppose.
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Sewing and blog upkeep sounds like a lot while working and rearranging life during a pandemic. When the pandemic is over we can all get back to an assemblage of normal.
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We went out for dinner for first time in over a year… It was soo weird.
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Hi, Antoinette – I’m glad that you have been able to escape the cold, and hang out with family surrounded by waves and sand. I completely understand about grappling with a new normal and send warm hugs your way.
Your Zoom Writers Group sounds fantastic. Throughout the full pandemic, I have met weekly with two groups of bloggers via Zoom. Each week’s sessions have been inspiring, thought-provoking and soul-enhancing. It’s been a definite silver lining of the pandemic.
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I dont know why I have been so late to Zoom party. I’ve done family and workshops via Zoom only to come away complaining it was not enough, but this group is somehow working for me or I have finally come around to this. Thanks for reading.
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Antoinette, I love the pelican photo! I am in Nothern FLorida. It’s bright and sunny but cool today. Your author groups sound fun, but I struggle to sit through Zoom meetings. I’m trying hard to stay active for the health of my eyes and my back. I’m glad you’ll be able to get the COVID shot soon! I will get it as soon as I can, since I’m surrounded by middle-schoolers daily. Have a great week! -Pam
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I am excited for everyone as they qualify for the vaccine. I agree with your comment that it gives hope. Thank you for the virtual coffee.
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Heading down to Florida during all of this nasty weather was smart. lol. It does sound like a very pretty area,and a February swim that doesn’t say “Polar Bear” is nice. the Zoom writing sessions sound interesting. Hope you have a great week!
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Y e s, snowbirding this season was a very good decision.
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Hi Antoinette, The thought of sitting on a warm beach already makes me feel good. The Zoom writing sessions seem like an unusual concept with the mute and unmute, yet it seems to be working. I always feel how passionate you are with your research, cover designs and stories, Antoinette. Good wishes on getting the vaccine soon.
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Thank you, Erica. I think this type of Zoom meeting works only because we have to sign in, and have evidence of accountability. Thanks for reading.
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Sounds exciting. How wonderful to live on a waterway. I’d love to be on a warm beach right now.
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Hi Antoinette. It sounds like you had a great time with your family and with your writing. That makes two of us. It was a quiet week at work and I got two days of good writing in and had two new stories t show for it and, after looking for weeks, I finally found a fee photo to use for my Havilah character in my Ayem Notthymn stories (I kept both the short and longer versions). It feels good to have so many words out, edited and published. I still don’t like publishing on Facebook,but most of my readers still come from there so it’s hard to abandon it completely. I’m going to call it a good week and chatting with you, even over a virtual cup of coffee is the whipped cream to top it all off. Thanks for the visit.
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I am increasingly disliking FAcebook, and Twitter and Instagram baffle me, so I think I am stuck with FB pages. In the meantime the content increases which is teh primary goal. Have a great writing week, Gary.
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