What's real?

I've had so many wonderful experiences with people who do not want my characters to stop being in their lives. I just talked with a woman this morning who just read my book twice so she could keep them in her life a bit longer. So, my daughter's come up with a plan, and that is to create snippets of Langsberry life right here on my blog and post the happenings as they occur.

 A lot of people have wanted to know how much of this is autobiographical. They think because I'm a fiber artist I made Grace one. That's not how it happened at all though. While writing the book I would get visions in my head of what Grace was making, and since those visions wouldn't go away, I devised ways to make what I saw. Therefore, Grace made me a fiber artist. Hm...

What is autobiographical? I really did have a dear friend died of ovarian cancer. I really did work for my husband in his office and despised it. However, it was a chiropractic office, not an accountant's. I did leave him, but I did it long after the manuscript was written. So, again Grace did it first.

I live and work on a square now, but didn't while writing the book. I really didn't even know anyone who did until moving to McKinney, TX in 2008. I did grow up in the Dallas area. My mother is still alive, but my dad died of myocardial infarction (better known as a heart attack) when I was 24 years old. I was married for a hundred years to the same person and we have a daughter, unlike Grace.

What's interesting to me is that the husband character, Jack, is really based on someone I had a crush on in high school. When Grace is talking with Gordon about what her high school boyfriend said about love, that was a conversation I had had with this guy back in the '70s.

As soon as I graduated from Bishop Lynch High School in Dallas, I did go to Western State College in Gunnison, Colorado. I did meet the man I would eventually marry there. He was two years older than me, but I did complete my undergrad degree before marrying, unlike Grace.

We did live in a small town in Colorado, but there was no square to be found there. As a matter of fact, it was a metropolitan area compared to Langsberry.

The question I get asked the very most is if there was a Gordon in my life. The answer is no, and yes. It was interesting because I happened to be in Aspen one weekend editing my manuscript. I was on a page that described Gordon's flannel shirt, jeans, and work boots. There were very particular things about his clothing, and I had just read it when a friend of mine from college called to take me out to lunch. When I got in his car, he was wearing exactly what I had written about Gordon's attire. This man and I did not do art together. However, he opened me up to my own love of flying. The first time we flew together was from Aspen to Gunnison on my 48th birthday. The next day I asked for a divorce. I wanted to fly in every aspect of my life. I still do.

Finally

I have spent the day on the computer. Do you know how much information there is on this thing? In five minutes alone I've been on multiple sites and have no idea what I was looking for in the first place.

I've spent so much time lately in my studio creating amazing artwork that I've never done before, nor have I seen anything like it either, and now it's time to get it out there and market it. First, I had to see what there is out there to market to. What I discovered is what is there NOT????

I'm blown away by the enormity of the market out there. The universe is truly abundant. There is so much at our feet. Looking through the possibilities on the net is like going to the ocean with semi-trailer trucks and pipelines for water instead of the thimblefuls I've been picking up. (Thank you, Wayne Dyer, for that imagery.)

So, my book has been selling without much advertising by me. I don't know who's buying them, but I am so very grateful. I'm finishing up my work with the PR department so the book tour will be starting by next month at least. The main character, Grace James, is a textile artist, which is something I've also become, so my latest art pieces will be traveling with me. I've discovered that there are a lot of people out there who have no idea what a fiber artist does. That encompasses anything with fibers. I choose not only fabrics, but threads, papers, and even stretch the definition to include paints and beads.

So, Grace and I will be hitting the road soon. In the meantime, I'm gearing up for a lot of marketing, setting up websites, and blogging like crazy. I'll be on the radio on March 18th at 8:00 p.m. central time. Once I get more of the facts, I'll let you know. To the life of a writer and artist. Finally, I'm doing it...

Just another side trip down memory lane

Here's the deal. I am Jill Luigs, writer of a book called Healing Grace that's coming out this year. Look for it on Amazon. Grace James is the name of my heroine. I love that word. It just sounds so wrong for the main character of a novel, but there you have it.

I really tried to write this blog from Grace's point of view, but you know what? I have too much to say to remain quiet.

I wrote this novel many years ago, back when I kept my silence. There was a long period of my life that I felt muted about my own feelings and just trashed out angry words about nothing. How do we get ourselves into those situations? I look back on that time of my life and realize that I blindly followed the dictates of another. I woke in the mornings with a to-do list a mile long of things someone else needed me to do for him. I bought that bill of goods for most of my life. Now I'm putting together a life made up of moments of doing what I feel led to do. The thing of it is, I feel led to write a lot. It's as if words come tumbling out because they've been bottled up for years. I write every day. I write and write and write. And when I don't write, I talk. The words never stop. They spill forth because there's no way to contain them anymore.

Now I get paid to use those words. Thank you, Jesus! I can now get paid for the words that spew out into cyberspace. I now live a life authentic to me. Woo hoo! What a concept. Who knew?

And because of that I've had people pour into my life to help me in every way possible. This morning before 10:00 I had two "new" men in my life doing business with me in ways I would have never thought of before, but here they are and we're making magic together. Again, woo hoo!

And -- drumroll please! -- there's been another development that really took me by surprise, and it's appropriate that I'm writing about him on Grace's blog because he's a writer. He showed up in Steamboat Springs, CO the month I left. He sat at the table next to me in the library. We were both "writing" if I recall correctly, but instead I think we were basking in the chemistry between us. I had an appointment I couldn't change so I wasn't able to stay and get to know him better then, but it didn't take long to discover so many things about him.

He met most of my friends. We went out several times. We had a very memorable evening at a table in a local restraunt that was continued outside and then in the driveway of the home where I was staying and finally in my bedroom. Let me just say that this man is good. I won't go any further. It will be left up to your imagination what that means, but he is really good.

The last I had heard from him was Christmas day until last Sunday. Out of the blue he called me, and I haven't been able to stop thinking of him since. Suddenly I remember what we did together as if it were last night or even just a moment ago. I remember what his bare chest looked like hovering above me, how his biceps bulged as he held himself up. I remember what it was like to curl up in his arms in my bed and how he stroked my back as he held me. I remember the feel of his chest hair on my cheek as I laid my head on it. I remember how he picked me up and carried me to my bed the last night we were together in Steamboat. He had helped me move my studio into the U-haul all day, and then he gave me a night I will never forget. Ever.

And for whatever reason he called me last Sunday after 6 months of not hearing from him. How nice...

Now, back to my words. I apparently needed a little side trip down memory lane. I couldn't help myself, but now I'm back. Oh yes, my words. Hm, I'm having a little difficulty concentrating on words at the moment. Suddenly they've become unnecessary. I think I'm going to just go back on the side trip I just came back from, because I don't think that little vacation has come to end quite yet.