I write second chance romantic suspense with happily ever afters. But given the current situation in our world, I almost wish I wrote dystopian fiction. Think dreadful fires in the west and northwest. Think of the people being burned out of their homes and losing their lives and livelihood. Think of the poor firefighters who’ve been at this for months. The floods in the middle of the country with blood chilling calls for rescue. And then glance into our hospitals with our exhausted medical staff seeing this pandemic continue and grow with more deaths, many unnecessary with little end in sight if we don’t change our behaviors.

But remember, I write happily ever afters, so let’s stop and count our blessings.

My husband and I are well. We can walk our dog. I can get my 10 K steps every day. (I remember when I couldn’t walk.)

We are able to work.

While we’ve had a hot summer in Texas, it’s been not anything as bad as some years. We’ve only had 6 days of temps 100 +. (Trust me, that’s really great. LOL)

We have a great AC. (This connects to the point above. 😊 )

Our family is healthy . (One side has had brushes with Covid, but very mild.)

We have Charley. And a new great granddog. (Hazel is our granddaughter’s dog.)

Our kids live near, so we get to see our grands. (I’m very conscious that this is not what everyone gets to enjoy.) And our kids like us. (Also not something everyone has.)

We live on a beautiful lake. And while we haven’t chosen to buy a boat, the views are more than enough. We are blessed morning and night.

My ninth book will come out in November, and I’m excited to begin the next one. Sign up for my Newsletter to get the first look at the cover. To love what you do is a blessing.

For the first time ever I have book trailer. Check out this one for TAINTED.  

In July, we got to take a trip to Red River, NM, (that I’ve written about here https://wordbyword.net/2021/07/30/vacation-2/). Our Maine trip the first of October is questionable because of Covid. What if we get sick while we’re there and have to quarantine? Where would we stay? Would Charley just have to stay longer at the puppy hotel? What about the cost of all of that? And what about the headaches of changing our flight? We’d miss out on seeing friends up there. We both have the two Pfizer vaccines, but we won’t be eligible for the 3^rd booster until mid-November. And apparently, the efficacy of the shots is waning as time goes on. So we could catch Covid!

Okay, hold up! See how easy it is to go to the dark place. We have to make the decision whether to make the trip by September 18 to get back all our money, and we did buy trip insurance. But you know what? Even if we decide not to go? I’ve had a great time planning and thinking about this trip which is to celebrate our 50^th Anniversary. I love the places we picked out to stay, and I have lots of super pictures of earlier trips to enjoy. And we will have fall here in Texas. It’s just not as spectacular as in Maine and New Hampshire, and it comes later, but it comes. So whichever way it works out, I will be grateful for my many blessings.

So what about you? Do you have things you’re grateful for? Love to hear from you.

Blurbs for each of my books with links can be found on my website https://authormarsharwest.wordpress.com/ Where you can also sign up for my blog and  NEWSLETTER  MRW Press LLC (list-manage.com)ontact me at marsha@marsharwest.com , and follow me on…    

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Amazon.com: Marsha R. West: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle

Marsha R. West (Author of Vermont Escape) | Goodreads