Life Updates from the Trenches

Hello friends,

It’s been a week. And what a week it’s been.

Writing Update: The Patriot Book Saga

One week of drafting outlines only to throw them out and start over again. It wasn’t going well. I think—fingers crossed—that I have the start of something finally. We’ll see. This new outline still has issues, number one being lack of sleep on my part. Sometimes I just stare at the screen and nothing makes sense. The words rearrange themselves. The plot points laugh at me. It’s going great.

Life in the 2 AM Club

My daughter-in-law and I are finally finding a rhythm with the baby, but we are both still sleep deprived. I’m not sure how I did this with my own children because I did not have my mother or mother-in-law there helping me. Though my husband helped where he could, he also needed sleep to keep working and paying the bills.

It’s a humbling reminder that this parenting thing—and grandparenting thing—is no joke. We’re making it work, one binky retrieval at a time.

A Question About Forgiveness

[INSERT COVER IMAGE: Where the Compass Points]

I’ve been thinking a lot about William Woolsey lately. Maybe it’s the sleep deprivation talking, but his story keeps circling back to me.

Here’s the thing: William’s father abandoned him when he was three years old. Just… left. Chased wealth and opportunity across the frontier and never looked back. So William spent his entire life becoming the opposite of that man. He stayed. He built a family. He kept his promises. He became everything his father wasn’t.

And then his sister shows up with their father’s compass and some truths that cut deep.

Now William has to decide: does he forgive the ghost of a man who shaped his life by his absence? Or is holding onto that anger the only honest thing he has left?

A Question About Forgiveness

I’ve been thinking a lot about William Woolsey lately. Maybe it’s the sleep deprivation talking, but his story keeps circling back to me.

opposite of that man. He stayed. He built a family. He kept his promises. He became everything his father wasn’t.

And then his sister shows up with their father’s compass and some truths that cut deep.

Now William has to decide: does he forgive the ghost of a man who shaped his life by his absence? Or is holding onto that anger the only honest thing he has left?

Here’s my question for you: What would you do?

Would you seek forgiveness—for yourself, not for him? Would you let it go and move forward? Or would you hold onto it, because sometimes anger is justified and pretending otherwise feels like a betrayal of the child you were?

I’m genuinely curious. Hit reply and tell me what you think. No wrong answers here.

If William’s story sounds like something you’d want to explore, Where the Compass Points is Book Two of The Woolseys. (And yes, you can read it as a standalone—I promise you won’t be lost.)

That’s all from me this week. I’m going to go stare at my outline some more and pretend I know what I’m doing.

Until next week,

This Week’s Also Featured

Guarding What Remains by Ida Smith

Speaking of family struggles and resilience—if you love historical fiction set during the Great Depression, Ida Smith’s novel is one you won’t want to miss. Eleanor Cruthers and her family face impossible odds, and the way Ida brings that era to life will stay with you long after you finish.