Author: patgarcia

Thanks to everyone who supported me on the journey.

Shalom aleichem,

Pat Garcia

DAY 30, JANUARY 31, 2023

I’m going to miss this Challenge. It challenged me.
Within me, it has removed reservations that I had pushed deep within the dark corners of my soul. After the first week, I thought I was going to buckle under. The possibility of facing weaknesses and being drowned in recriminations brought up good old Vincent Lombardi, who sits at my imaginary round table as one of my advisors.

He said two simple statements. “Adversity is the first path to truth. Prosperity is a great teacher: adversity is greater.” For me, the adversity was the distress of having to change.

I like quotes from people who talk from experience. Lombardi built a winning football team, and they were the very first to win the Super Bowl.

So, I moved into the second week prepared to face myself.

Joy rose as I read the blogs from the rest of the participants. With some of their postings, I laughed, and with others, I was amazed, and then there were some posts where tears flowed and others that brought me into deep contrition, contemplation, and repentance. The articles were all that good and inspiring.

If you have read my postings during the 30-Day Challenge, you know I had doubts, frustration, and regrets. Yet through all of what I felt, I am delighted to have stuck with it. Vince was right. Facing my adversity is more remarkable than never having done it at all.

Would I do it again? YES! Undoubtedly. Not this year, but whenever I see it offered again.

Does this mean I am going to blog every week to prepare myself? NO! However, I have decided to blog on my author’s website once every two months to release some new SNIPPETS. 🙂

Therefore, on this last day of the Challenge, I leave you with another quote by Vince: I do my best to walk with this quote every waking day of my life.

“When we place our dependence in God, we are unencumbered, and we have no fear. In fact, we may even be reckless insofar as our part in the production is concerned.
This confidence, this sureness of action, is both contagious and an aid to the perfect action.
The rest is in the hands of God–––and this is the same God who has won all His battles up to now.” (By Vincent Lombardi)

My list of new and open items for this week includes the following:

1. Revising the first 10K of my new novel. It usually takes me at least four to six days to fix 10K. I like to send her my final draft so that she understands the direction I’m moving in.
2. Answering emails and text messages, Daily
3. Finishing the last revision of my first novel.
4. Co-hosting the IWSG on Wednesday
5. Releasing my new short story. (Na-Doo is still jumping for joy, and I’m laughing. She’s a sassy woman, but I love her the way she is.)

Have a lovely Tuesday, everyone!
Peace!

Shalom aleichem,

Pat Garcia

DAY 29, JANUARY 30,2023

Good Evening,

Yes, it is evening here, and I have just ended my sabbath day. I enjoyed the rest.

I’m in my office now. Even with the change in my Sabbath day and time, I start slowly getting in gear to work. As I’ve said before,I don’t like hectic. I never have.

I kick off my work week after envisioning how I want my week to run. I don’t order what I plan to do, but I write down what I want to do in no particular order.

Today has been a pretty cool day for me. I meditated, had breakfast, and read up until dinner time. After dinner, I read again.

Reading is medicine for my soul. I am finishing up a book entitled Soulful Spirituality by David G. Benner, a Christian Canadian Psychologist. I have almost every one of his books, and they have enriched my life.

My list of new and open items for this week includes the following:

1. Revising the first 10K of my new novel. It usually takes me at least four to six days to fix 10K. I like to send her my final draft so that she understands the direction I’m moving in.
2. Answering emails and text messages, Daily
3. Finishing the last revision of my first novel.
4. Co-hosting the IWSG on Wednesday
5. Releasing my new short story. (Na-Doo has just jumped for joy, and I’m laughing. Even though she’s pretty sassy, at times, she has a big heart.)

Have a blessed Monday, everyone.

Shalom aleichem,

Pat Garcia

DAY 28, JANUARY 29, 2023

Good Morning,

I am ready for this Challenge to end. It has demanded more of my time than I expected. My characters are asking me if I ever will return. Especially Na-Doo, the main female character in my upcoming short story that is not yet released, keeps accusing me of forgetting her. When I told her I didn’t realize the burden the Challenge would have on her story, she advised me to think before I leap the next time, and she tapped her toes on the floor. 

She is patiently waiting for the last story that will go out on Tuesday. To keep her happy, I applaud her patience every day and thank her for being so kind to me. 

I am laughing. If you think that my characters are my muse, then you’re wrong. My characters are facets of me and would feel insulted if I thought of them as muses.

It’s Sunday, and my Sabbath starts at 6 pm. Typically, at this time of the morning, I am in church. However, I changed my Sabbath’s beginning and end so that I could continue participating in the Challenge and have 24 hours of rest, which I wholeheartedly admit I need. 

Since I was up late last night attending a writing seminar on Using Character Emotion to Wow Reader by Becca Puglisi on Zoom, I’m dragging today. But I still have a few more things I want to accomplish before I call it quits at 5:45 pm. 

My list of open items includes the following:

1. Cooking an Erbsen Eintopf. (One of my favorites Eintopfs made by the Bundeswehr. You may find the link here. https://www.kochbar.de/rezept/501362/Erbseneintopf-nach-Bundeswehrart.html
2. Revising the first 10K of my new novel. It usually takes me at least four to six days to fix 10K. I like to send her my final draft so that she understands the direction I’m moving in. 
3. Answering emails and text messages, Daily
4. Finishing the last revision of my first novel. 

Have a blessed Sunday.

Shalom aleichem,

Pat Garcia

DAY 27, JANUARY 28, 2023, HOW DO YOU SAY GOODBYE?

This morning, after my contemplation, I read Nonnie Jules’ blog posting for Day 26. After reading her poem, I went to the blog posting of Shirley Harris-Slaughter and read her Day 26 posting.

Shirley’s article is entitled How Do You Say Goodbye?
Her question, along with Nonnie’s poem, threw me into contemplativeness again.

John Donne and his Meditation 17 rose within me. Especially the line that says, “any man’s death diminishes me because I am involved in mankind and therefore never send to know for whom the bell toll; it tolls for thee.”

We are all a part of humanity, whether we accept that or not. No one can guarantee they will make it through the day or wake up the next morning. Yet, we treat life as something we dictate, which is sad.

How do I say goodbye is the question that Shirley asked.

I don’t have an answer to that question. Living on another continent, far away from my family and extended family, I do everything within my power to love them in the now with phone calls, text messages, video calls, and visits when I am in the USA.

I tell and show them that I love them every chance I get. Who knows if I will have the opportunity to say or show that tomorrow?

I want to know that whenever one of them leaves this world, if they go before me, and step into eternity, I will have given them the most precious gift I possess, which is to love.

Knowing I have loved them doesn’t take away the sadness or the pain, but it comforts me.

9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”*
(New International Version 2011, Zondevan, The Gospel According To John John 15:9-13)

(NONNIE JULES’ POSTING is linked to this posting, and Shirley’s article is linked. You are welcome to read both postings. The links will take you directly to their blog articles.)

My list of open items includes the following:

1. Revising the first 10K of my new novel. It usually takes me at least four to six days to fix 10K. I like to send her my final draft so that she understands the direction I’m moving in. 
2. Answering emails and text messages, Daily
3. Finishing the last revision of my first novel. 

Have a lovely Saturday. 

Shalom aleichem,

Pat Garcia

DAY 26, JANUARY 27, 2023

Good Morning,

Before my morning block of time could end(usually, it ends at 11:30 a.m.), but since I am optimizing my schedule, I changed it to 11:00 a.m. I got in my beetle and was on the road by 10 a.m. I am smiling because I went to one of my favorite bakeries in our village. They are all my favorites, but each bakery has delicious tarts different from the others. 

As I lay in bed looking out of my bedroom window, which is a sky window, I thought having pretzels and pastry for breakfast would be a scrumptious idea. It only took me about fifteen minutes. The pastries smelled so good. I would be big as a house if I went there every day, so I have a hard limit of twice a week to visit them. 

Baking is still a work of art here. Fresh bread tastes heavenly. The cakes and pastries are not sweet and are excellently made. You can’t compare buying a cake from a real baker to a store-bought cake from Kroger. There is a difference, or maybe I have just fallen in love with the European Style of life. So, my breakfast was yummy, and I am still smiling. 

Since I’ve been in my office, I’ve taken care of an invoice and conducted a telephone call with the people installing new communication cables in our village that will increase internet speed. 

At one p.m. my time, I have a Zoom meeting. People on the East Coast conduct the forum, so I am very thankful for their consideration of me so that they get up early for our meetings.

After my forum, I will work on my excerpt for my developmental coach and then bring wood in from where it is sheltered into the house for the fireplace. 

It is Friday, and I will enjoy a hot cup of gluhwein while I read a book or look at a movie that fascinates me and engages my mind.  

My list of open items includes the following:

1. Revising the first 10K of my new novel. It usually takes me at least four to six days to fix 10K. I like to send her my final draft so that she understands the direction I’m moving in. 
2. Answering emails and text messages, Daily
3. Finishing the last revision of my first novel. 

I wish all of you a lovely Friday. 

Shalom aleichem,

Pat Garcia

DAY 25, JANUARY 26, 2023 CAUGHT ON THE BLINDSIDE

Any writer that writes to improve the human condition and bring people into relationships that respect the otherness of others will get caught on their blindside. It happens not just once but many times, and you will always be surprised or in a state of shock because it throws you outside of your perimeters. Confronted with a new situation, you must redefine your boundaries, change or not redefine them, and stunt your growth. Choosing the latter can make you sick or even become deadly.

So it was on the morning of February 24, 2022. I went downstairs with a heavy heart. After almost seventy-seven years of peace, there was war in Europe. 

Disastrous news kept coming. People were fleeing. Children dying, Women and young females raped, and older people mishandled.  

Caught on my blindside, I didn’t know that such barbarian behavior existed, especially in Western Culture, but it does. And I had to learn how to deal with it emotionally. 

I now knew what it felt like to wake up while an airplane flew over your house and to be thankful that your home was still standing and no one was running to a bomb shelter.

I could point out other situations, but today that is not my purpose. I want to remind us that we should never take advantage of the ability to write. As writers, we are the eyes of the world regardless of whether we write poetry, fiction, or non-fiction. We are the world’s conscience, and what we say or don’t say will affect the coming generations. 

So here’s my open agenda. I will write that letter as soon as I put up my post. Therefore, I have taken it off the list. 

1. Revising the first 10K of my new novel. It usually takes me at least four to six days to fix 10K. I like to send her my final draft so that she understands the direction I’m moving in. 
2. Answering emails and text messages, Daily
3. Finishing the last revision of my first novel. 

Have a lovely Thursday.

Shalom aleichem,

Pat Garcia

DAY 24, JANUARY 25, 2023

Good Morning,

Today, I am working on finishing the revision of my first novel. I am very thankful I have a publisher who is patient with me. I am a hybrid author and am grateful to have found people from both spectrums of the independent/traditional publishing world who care about me. They listen to what I say, and at the same time, I listen to what they are saying. It is a two-sided coin. 

It is not always easy getting me to see the tiny fragments that make up a story that might need to be clarified or come too soon for the reader. But I move further when they leave me alone to see it myself. I am smiling right now because usually, when they get to the point of living with my decision, my eyes open, and I see what they mean. This is why my editors are crucial for my writing, and I take writing classes, attend writing conferences, and meet up with other writers wherever possible. 

I have said once or twice during this Challenge that no man is an island. I believe that wholeheartedly. This phrase comes from one of my favorite readings by John Donne. Most people think it is a poem, but it is a Meditation, contemplative words (here I go again with contemplation) that Donne wrote at an appropriate time in his life that fits exceptionally well in our lifetime.

“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were: any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.”* (taken from Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions Together with Death’s Duel by John Donne and is recorded as he originally wrote it)

I ended yesterday before my fireplace with a tasty cup of Sanddorn Tea. I wanted to show you how beautifully my fireplace burned as I daydreamed before it. 

My list for this week includes the following:

1. Revising the first 10K of my new novel. It usually takes me at least four to six days to fix 10K. I like to send her my final draft so that she understands the direction I’m moving in. 
2. A letter to write. I had decided to wait until after the Challenge, but my gut is telling me to do it now, which is what I will do. 
3. Answering emails and text messages, Daily
4. Finishing the last revision of my first novel. 

Have a lovely Wednesday.

Shalom aleichem,

Pat Garcia

DAY 23, JANUARY 24, 2023

Tuesdays are sometimes the most challenging days for me to get through. I express my thanks for waking up, and I clean myself up. By the time I get downstairs, I am looking forward to going into my office. But internally, I am contemplating. The things I cannot see have absorbed me, and I would like to sit and let my inner world have its way. 

Depending on what is on my plate, I usually take the time to sit still and let the images form and the bits and pieces of word sentences have their way. I use contemplation not only to understand my purpose and place in this world but also to understand others.  

Thus, I am slowly moving into my day because I have been contemplating. There are things to do. I have a Zoom meeting in an hour and a half and many other things that I need to plug into so that my February is more relaxed than my January. 

My list for this week includes the following:

1. Revising the first 10K of my new novel. It usually takes me at least four to six days to fix 10K. I like to send her my final draft so that she understands the direction I’m moving in. 
2. A letter to write. I had decided to wait until after the Challenge, but my gut is telling me to do it now, which is what I will do. 
3. Answering emails and text messages, Daily
4. Attend my writing classes and do my homework,

Have a lovely Tuesday.

Shalom aleichem,

Pat Garcia

Day 22, January 23, 2023

Good Evening,

I have a still, joyful stream running through me tonight. I’m doing some things differently, and it has been a challenge. However, I love to see what I can do, or better said, see how I can overcome the limitations I sometimes place on myself.   

I’ve learned that before I blame others for what I cannot do, I should try to do it. If I fail, I need to examine why I couldn’t do it, or I will never advance the way I want.  

That means I can only do the things I have been gifted to do. I can’t do everything. I know I have limits. For example, I know I can’t be a medical doctor because I don’t have that gift. There are so many other things that I can’t do, and I am okay with that. I’m not in the world to copy someone else. I’m here to discover the original Pat I was born to be. 

So my day was a day of learning new things that I won’t discuss here. They are my secrets. But it was a day of reaching out to others and intensively listening. If there is anything I enjoy better than writing, it is listening. I can sit and listen and observe for hours. 

My list for this week includes the following:

1. Revising the first 10K of my new novel. It usually takes me at least four to six days to fix 10K. I like to send her my final draft so that she understands the direction I’m moving in. 
2. A letter to write. I had decided to wait until after the Challenge, but my gut is telling me to do it now, which is what I will do. 
3. Answering emails and text messages, Daily
4. Attend my writing classes and do my homework,

Have a lovely Monday.

Shalom aleichem,

Pat Garcia