Sharon Stephenson

I've not written a blog for 2 months. To be honest, I haven't written much in the past 3 months. Life, or to be more accurate our move, had caught up with me. I have moved a lot in my life—back and forth from one US coast to another 3 times, up and down the US east coast 1 time, across the Atlantic 4 times. In Portland Maine alone—5 moves. In Minneapolis—4. Sometimes the moves were because I was changing a…

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As I write this, snow is continuing to fall at quite a rate at my home on the Eastern Shore. Having spent most of my life living in states (5) bordering Canada, snow is nothing new to me. In fact, I really love it, especially when I don't have to go anywhere in a hurry. I can write a lot about snow—how light it feels when it settles on your face, how hard it can feel when…

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It's been a little over a week since our container was delivered to our door and our furniture and roughly 200 boxes were unloaded. We're all unpacked now and gradually getting our house in order. Writing has temporarily taken a back seat but I will be back at it very soon. But this doesn't mean the writing has stopped. I can unpack a box and work through details of the plot or develop my characters in Judging from a Distance at the same time. But I'm anxious to be back at my laptop—my…

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We're waiting for our ship to come in...literally! We packed up our house and moved to the USA from the UK in late June. Having done this ocean-crossing…

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Ahh September. A month for beginnings. We're beginning to settle into life in Maryland, still living with a couch, a TV, a bed, and an outdoor table and chairs on loan from a dear neighbor. The container with our goods has finally left our UK removal company's warehouse and is sitting on a dock—in a UK bay—waiting to be loaded onto a container ship due into a nearby port in the USA at the end of September. I'm trying not to think about the fact this is hurricane season and as I sit here…

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Well, we made it. After all the pre-move pitfalls (read June's BLOG if you're interested in the details) we made the trip from the UK to the USA. Halfway through our BA flight, the air hostess handed us a slip of paper from the New York Center for Disease Control telling us regardless of having had to take a Zoom Covid test conducted with a doctor and having the signed paperwork to prove…

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Note to self: don't make an international move during a pandemic. Unfortunately I didn't get the memo until after my husband and I had packed up and sold our UK house, bought a house in Maryland (over the internet) and just a week ago were halfway over the Atlantic with our dog. This was the first chance we'd had to take a breath and it almost came as a huge surprise, as if I was awakening…

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I missed April and May—wanted to finish Taking the Sun and then we got busy! As I write this I am sitting between two tables laden with stuff to be packed into boxes and eventually loaded into a container for yet another trip of our belongings across the Atlantic—4th time! After over…

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It might have escaped your notice, but I didn't do a February Blog. I was 'on a roll' finishing up my…

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A new year. I'm hopeful we can keep all the good things about 2020 and never revisit the bad. My list of the good—clear, blue, pollution-free skies; hearing bird song and not traffic noise, helping to support folks in our village; learning to plan meals ahead and become a better cook; making time to sit outside and enjoy the sun, read, and listen to music; reacquainting myself with poetry and appreciating the work of poets new to me; learning about and practicing mindfulness and pilates. Lastly, but of most importance, being grateful for what I have—a loving, kind, patient, and understanding husband,…

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I flipped the calendar over to December and other than eating a chocolate from my Advent Calendar the day was lost on me. I was busy and forgot all the jobs I should have done on the first of a month--writing my blog, giving my dog her monthly flea and tick pill, weighing myself—the day came and went like any other. It wasn't until the middle of last night I realized it was 24 days till Christmas! And then I began remembering…

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I didn't do a blog for October. I was feeling quite agitated by the end of September and couldn't seem to focus my attention. September is usually a 'traveling month' and this year it was not going to happen. After much deliberation, my husband and I decided to head to Scotland—a much-needed trip. The empty distances and surreal beauty afforded by the moors and mountains and lakes of Scotland inspired me. I loved having a chance to try and capture the breathtaking landscapes with my camera.…

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There was no August blog--I was deep in the process of editing Stealing Thunder, now available through Amazon. And now it's September. Ahh September. I've written about this before—how the first of September is my NEW YEAR. In the past, it might have been about starting a new year at school. But as I got older it became a time of even bigger change—moving, changing jobs, starting projects. It's…

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Stealing Thunder, my latest book, is finally finished and I'm halfway through the editing process. One would think with all this social distancing I should have written half a dozen books since we entered lockdown in the UK. In fact, you could make the point that self-isolation would be a writer's dream and for many writers perhaps it is, but not for me. I have not been traveling since we went into the Covid 19 lockdown and it feels like my wings have been clipped. Most of the plots for my books have emerged while…

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May was not a month I necessarily want to remember. There was a couple of highlights—my husband and I celebrated 20 years of marriage and our dog Abbey turned 6. But by the end of the month we had been under 10 weeks of lockdown, my godson had coronavirus and was in a hospital in Portland, Maine, (and is doing very well) and George Floyd had been killed by the Minneapolis police, inciting peaceful protests but also igniting looting and many injuries. I lived for…

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I started a journal when 'lockdown' began. I hope when I re-read it (if I do!) in ten or fifteen years this whole period feels like a hazy story—with highs and lows. I hope I remember the good things about this 'lockdown' period and take to heart the things I've learned. I have had moments of real joy—where a simple thing like bird song or talking with a grandchild is more than enough to lift your spirits. And I have had moments of deep anguish,…

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In the far reaches of my mind—the part that files everything away for my writing—are constantly emerging plots, characters, locations. But no part of my imagination could have dreamt of a plot where a microscopic particle kills millions of people and brings most of the world to its knees. Not even James Bond in 'Moonraker' went this far. And yet here we are. 2020. We are all paying for…

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I didn't write a blog for February. After receiving a lot of advice about this, I spent time advertising my books…

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Today is the first day I have had since the first of September when I didn't have much of the day planned—when there wasn't a list of 'jobs' that needed to be done straight away. This is not a complaint—I like having some structure to my life even if it is dictated by jobs I don't like (cleaning, for instance). And this doesn't mean there aren't jobs that need doing. 'Christmas' needs to be carefully packed away (including our tree!!) for another year; table cloths from our New Year's All Day family brunch (there were 25 of us) need to be ironed, it's time for our annual clearing out of 'stuff' we haven't used in the past year, which will…

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As we near the winter solstice, the sun barely makes it over the top of our back hedge (okay, it's a pretty tall hedge) before plunging out of site like a nightshade drawn down. And then it is pitch black out.…

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I'm a day late, but I THINK I have a pretty good excuse. Yesterday, November 1, I finished the first edit of my new Breaking Camp Mystery, CAUTION TO THE WIND. I'm really, really happy with it and am especially fond of the ending. I wasn't sure how it was going…

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My husband and I have recently returned from a wonderful trip to the USA. We visited places I had been before—the Teton Mountains, Yellowstone National Park, Durango-Silverton Railway, Mesa Verde,…

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It's the first of September and as usual I find myself 'seasonally stimulated'. When I was young, September was all about the excitement of going to school, meeting new friends (especially the boys), learning new things, moving one step closer to being a grownup—and independence! I was preparing for an exciting year--for changes! I would have thought as I aged, that anticipation would die down. But it hasn't. September is still a…

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Who is this person? This is a question I kept asking myself as I worked my way through the thousand photos—printed and slides—that I was determined to digitize. Once I was finished with this project, there'd be no more lugging around the cumbersome weight of forty-plus photograph albums or boxes of slides (not to mention the gear to view the slides). This past weekend was spent scanning in the last few albums—photos of myself and my siblings through high school. It became an eerie, disconcerting experience. The images of…

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I am super late with my July Blog because my husband Roy, our border terrier Abbey, and I have been to Wales for the past week. This was a completely spontaneous event in direct response to my husband lamenting that we had not made any…

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My decision a couple of years ago to start a monthly blog attached to my website was for two reasons—to try and nurture/retain an…

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Last month I wrote about the satisfaction I got from typing the words THE END as I finished my latest book, Those Who Wait. After the past three intensive weeks spent editing- and re-editing, (no mean feat during 'birthday month' when our family celebrates 7 immediate family birthdays!) I feel my book is now DONE. Those Who Wait is out today, 2nd May 2019, on Amazon! I'm excited to release this book partly because I think it is a good, entertaining read, and partly because it means I can start another book! Book 4 in my Breaking Camp Mystery Series will be called Caution to the Wind. I can't wait…

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One of the greatest satisfactions in my writing life is when I type the words THE END. I did this two days ago when I finished the novel I began writing last May. I am hoping THOSE WHO WAIT will be available on Amazon by this May. I had been using a working title up until the day I finished my novel, and then not only the title, but the cover design for my book came together in rapid succession. I do actually love the entire creative writing process. I write because it is what I am driven to do. Regardless whether words are actually being typed or not, my mind continuously creates characters and stories out…

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It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.—Charles Dickens. Growing up in and living in a number of states bordering Canada, March was often a month of winter's last gasp—heavy snow full of moisture as we neared spring—a real pain to shovel! By the end of the month I would be fed up with the white stuff, but knew spring was just down the road (often literally!) Crocus and daffodils, tired of waiting in the dark, would just burst through the snow. I'm…

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My husband and I recently attended a showing of The Wife at our village movie night. If you aren't familiar with it, it's the story…

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The tree is down. Ornaments and decorations are all gently packed away for next Christmas. Our house looks refreshingly stark, like it's just been decorated by someone from Scandinavia. Outside, the trees are bare, the bones of their branches fully exposed; limp plants straggle across our lifeless garden. Even the fleeting sun, which barely breaches the top of our hedge, brings little warmth. It is winter. Throughout the entire busy holiday season I've been fighting bronchitis, exacerbated by chronic asthma. The bronchial coughing brought on back problems. Now coughing really hurts. Forcing myself to move has been a challenge, but there was shopping, lots of cooking, and visits to make. There was no time to be…

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Every year at this time I write a reasonably short letter to go with our Christmas cards. With family on both sides of the…

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When I first started to do BLOGS for my website, I set myself the goal of trying to always turn out a new one the first of every month. Plans this month have gone haywire. I started November's BLOG on October 31st and I'm still struggling. It isn't that I don't have any thoughts—it's just that I'm finding it difficult to organize them. First, we are approaching the 100th Anniversary of the end of World War I, and although I had a pretty good schooling on…

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My husband and I did a fair amount of traveling in September. The travel proved to be very nostalgic for me, returning first to Seattle (last time was in 1995!) and then Minneapolis (last time was in 1998!), visiting friends and family. I lived and worked in both locations and had good memories…

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It's here again! September! It's always been a month of changes for me, with many new beginnings in my history. I've always been very peripatetic, finding it difficult to settle in a home or even in a state. And lately, as my husband and I evaluate what we'd like our retirement life to be like, we're also considering which country to live in- IF we do move, it will be my 4th across the Atlantic. We have now officially been fully settled in our house for 15 months. I'm glad all the hard work is…

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ON THE MOVE My novels always involve some form of movement. My "Breaking Camp Mystery Series" takes a retired couple travelling all across America. My novels As Clear as Glass and Running from the Moon move readers through centuries. For a Rainy Day moves across countries and Winter Pursuit takes readers across decades and continents. The journey is what shapes my characters, changing them as my journeys have changed me. Their travels are always undertaken with a purpose, with an end in mind, even if this is not evident from the…

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Time is Passing. Are You? These words were printed above a doorway at Glenwood High School, in Canton, Ohio. I passed under those words every day during high school—they weren't meant to move us along. We weren't supposed to loiter in the halls—we were meant to keep moving. In the past few years, those words have come back to haunt me over and over again; now they mean something radically different from their original admonition. This past May I lost my brother David. His loss has been…

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I'm late again, but this time I have an excuse I'd just as soon not have. A little over two weeks ago I woke up to the news that my brother Dave, two years younger than me and my nearest sibling,…

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When I first left home, September 1971, at the age of 19, I could fit all my possessions into my VW Bug. All my clothes, my records, record player—everything! After a year at Bowling Green State University, I needed to try my wings, and leaving the nest for the first time meant moving from Ohio to Florida. This was the beginning of A LOT of moves- back and forth across America, and more recently, three times across the Atlantic. (The photo…

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I have just finished Between a Rock, my latest book in my BREAKING CAMP MYSTERY SERIES. I had hoped to have it through its final edit and on sale by spring, but spring is late coming to England this year, and I'm afraid I'm a bit late as well! One of the more onerous tasks of self-publishing is self-editing. I have always hated going back over anything I've done before—but I actually don't mind editing my books because I usually wait a day or two and then it feels as if I'm reading a new book- even though I know what will happen, I'm usually surprised! I think this is because there is a lot of action in my…

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As I write this on the last day of February (yes, I'll be on time with my BLOG this month!) it is snowing- the British have named these past 3 days of cold temperatures…

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On February 1st, I was sitting alone in our family room, looking up through the skylights at the brilliant blue sky (unusual…

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FOLLOWING THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD I wish you all a happy and healthy New Year! "The old year now hath passed away"...words from an old Lutheran hymn and so appropriate for a NEW YEAR. I didn't get that quite right one time- I was…

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My father always said I was "a day late and a dollar short", and so, keeping in character, I am 'late' with my blog! I love the sense of peace I feel during Advent when the days are short and the sun teases as it barely clears the treetops. I love Christmas!- the music, the Christmas plays, shows, movies, the hand-crafted decorations, and the hand-made…

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I've been reading Lucy Worsley's biography about Jane Austen (Lucy is a UK historian & TV presenter). At the same time I'm reading Northanger Abbey and I'm watching Sense and Sensibility. I've never read Jane Austen before and I must admit there are sentences I'm re-reading several times in order to 'get it'. But I'm going to persevere because I want to get to know this author; my curiosity about her has been aroused thanks to Lucy's book. One thing that intrigues me is that Jane appears to me to be very…

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TRAVELLING HOME I'm late with my October blog because my husband and I have just returned from a two week trip to America- it had been 18 months since I was last there- the longest I've ever been away from the USA. We flew into Denver, and thanks to a pre-season winter storm raging in Yellowstone and Teton National Parks, we headed south instead of north. After threading our way through the Rockies, where the Aspens were in full color, we spent a few days in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Then our journey took us to Moab, Utah and Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. I was a bit apprehensive about…

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September—the month of autumn and all my favorite colors—is frequently the time when I check my compass bearing and make sure I'm headed in a direction I want…

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It's the middle of summer and I'm working on another book in my Breaking Camp Series. This time the Trasks are visiting the Black Hills of South Dakota. I've been through this area three times.…

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