I think it's a good idea to start a new challenge. Here's one for 2023. Every Friday I have to post an original poem written by me. 

No excuses. 

The poems can be in any form or length. They can be on any topic. The only stipulation is that the poem must be original. 

Another year has rolled by. It was quite a year. 

I began 2022 with my dear mom in ICU. She had to have emergency surgery, and I don't think anyone thought she would make it. Amazingly enough she did. I would go in to sit with her every day. I decided to teach myself to knit. And I gave myself the task of teaching myself to knit socks. There is something about the action of knitting that I found soothing. Then the first 4 months of 2022 were spent assisting my mom in her recovery. The milestones were - weaning her off the respirator, - then transitioning her to the post-surgery ward. Then it was getting her to eat again. Solid foods. Walking. Nursing home, Assited Living and then finally home. It was long and it was slow. 

My dearest husband after receiving his diagnosis for stage 2 prostate cancer had to undergo his radiation. Another milestone was reached when we went to his last and final treatment. 

My writing is my joy, and my escape.  

This was a year of firsts

• I attended my first ever writing conference here in my hometown. It was magical. I felt as though I had found my tribe.
• I attended my first ever children's writers conference.
• I joined a critique group.
• I received my first ever editorial review.
• I received my first ever Kirkus review.
• I was interviewed on my first podcast. 

2022 was certainly a year filled with milestones and firsts. Like the first-year anniversary of my Daddy's passing. 

Here is the illustration for book cover for The Coyote King, Book 5 in the Adventures of Caitlin & Rio. Claudie did an amazing job. I am so grateful for this collaboration. 

I hope you managed to enjoy time with loved ones over this holiday season. I took a week off - from work, and from social media (not that I have a huge online presence) and focused on writing, being creative and being with my loved ones. We had a wonderful Christmas weekend. I found two ceramic Santas on sale at Michael's and my Mom and I painted them. I love having a craft day. The fur babies enjoyed the holiday weekend as well. There were boxes and wrapping paper to play and hide in. 

I chose two holiday movies to watch over the weekend. The first "A Bad Moms Christmas" was a hoot. It may have been a little racy for my 84-year-old mom. The next one we watched was "Elf". I think anything starring Will Ferrell is a hoot especially if you are in the mood for being silly. 

I think it's good to be silly. 

I am so grateful to the wonderfully talented Claudie C. Bergeron for her wonderful book cover designs. She is such an amazingly talented artist. 

So far we have completed the first 4 books of the series. To come is book 5's new cover. I am still working on book 6 - so when that is ready to be released, Claudie will be designing that cover as well. 

Drumroll please... 

Here are the covers...

I love how rainbow bright this cover is. It's amazing to me how well Claudie brought the characters to life. 

For book 2 there are actually two images - one for the front cover and the back image. 

I wanted to show a little bit of Caitlin's amazing attic bedroom. Claudie nailed it. 

My favorite cover so far is for Book 3, the Wild Turkeys. 

In here is the Book 4 cover... 

Thank you, Claudie! 

I am so grateful that I got a chance to attend this year's in person Rocky Mountain Chapter SCBWI's Letters & Lines Conference. 

I felt shy and intimidated. I was surrounded by amazingly creative and talented artists and voices, award winning authors and illustrators and industry experts. I was told by one fellow attendee that I would never get my books into schools or libraries because they don't buy self- published authors. I wanted to creep away and hide. At my critique connect my pages of a new project and story idea that I am working on received the best critique - an honest one. The honest ones are hard to hear. And after creeping away and having a good cry, I realized that they were right. Of course, they were right. How could I be so blind and not see it? 

I was at a low point - emotionally and physically when I attended an amazingly uplifting session - called, "Show Up: How to put yourself in the path of luck with Megan E. Freeman, Author." 

My 2 takeaways from this session were: -

• The Universe is in constant motion - nothing ever stays the same. Megan refers to this as "Momentum." 
• We have agency - we can control how we react to this universe that is in constant motion. 

And then I thought about it. (It helped A LOT that Megan gave us chocolate - thanks Megan!) Isn't it wonderful that the Universe is made for momentum, for movement? And for every little thing that happens - I can choose how I am going to react. 

I believe wholeheartedly in my Caitlin and Rio Series. I know that I am the only person who could write the series in the way I wrote it. I know (and hope) that I will have readers who will love the stories and the characters as much as I do. I also know that I have lots to learn - to improve my craft so that the words I put on the page are the best words to tell my stories. I have more stories to tell... I can feel the words bubbling and jostling- they want to come out.

At the end of the weekend what I came away with is this -

• Celebrate the small stuff. Celebrate often. 
• Never stop wanting to be better.
• Never stop wanting to learn. 

I am super excited to be attending my very first Rocky Mountain SCBWI 2022 Letters & Lines Fall Conference. SCBWI stands for "Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators."

I have been very fortunate to have great role models and great mentors in my life. 

I was very sad to hear of the passing of a mentor and former boss, Earlie Thomas. Earlie was an amazing man. I met him through a colleague when I started working for the county. This was right at the beginning of my adventure in Northern Colorado. Then one day the phone rang. It was Earlie. He had news. He had a vacancy, and he wanted to hire me. It is thanks to Earlie seeing something in me that made me leave my job at the county (I hadn't been there for very long) and make the move. Now 14 years later I am still working the job that Earlie recruited me for. I love my job. I love working at a university. Every day there is something new to learn. I love trying to figure out how to get to yes. 

Earlie had an amazing ability to see something special in people. He had a quiet dignity. I never saw him raise his voice. When he spoke, it was like the world stopped to listen. 

Here's a poem that I love. 

When Great Trees Fall - Maya Angelou

When great trees fall,
rocks on distant hills shudder,
lions hunker down
in tall grasses,
and even elephants
lumber after safety.

When great trees fall
in forests,
small things recoil into silence,
their senses
eroded beyond fear.

When great souls die,
the air around us becomes
light, rare, sterile.
We breathe, briefly.
Our eyes, briefly,
see with
a hurtful clarity.
Our memory, suddenly sharpened,
examines,
gnaws on kind words
unsaid,
promised walks
never taken.

Great souls die and
our reality, bound to
them, takes leave of us.
Our souls,
dependent upon their
nurture,
now shrink, wizened.
Our minds, formed
and informed by their
radiance,
fall away.
We are not so much maddened
as reduced to the unutterable ignorance
of dark, cold
caves.

And when great souls die,
after a period peace blooms,
slowly and always
irregularly. Spaces fill
with a kind of
soothing electric vibration.
Our senses, restored, never
to be the same, whisper to us.
They existed. They existed.
We can be. Be and be
better. For they existed.

It has been such a long time since I have been in person at any event, let alone a conference, that I felt quite giddy at the thought of attending this in person event. 

The 2022 Writing Heights Conference was hosted and organized by Northern Colorado Writers and held in my home city - Fort Collins. It was as if the universe was telling me something - this was an event I had no excuse to miss. 

I took leave, advised my colleagues that I was following my joy and attended my very first writers conference. 

For me, the conference started with a masterclass on Thursday, April 28th, 2022, a four-hour class on what it takes to successfully self-publish conducted by Kerrie Flanagan. The conference programming started at 9am on Friday April 29th and ended the afternoon of Saturday April 30th. 

Each night I came home with my brain humming, overheating with all the new, actionable information I had learned.

I love learning new things. 

It is going to take several weeks to digest everything that I learned. But in this moment, now, as I write this here are some of my key takeaways: -

1. Author Website. I've been blogging since 2003, and my website looked quite frankly like an ancient relic. I don't have the budget to spend on author website design, so I decided to look at what other templates were available and try them out. I think I will continue to tweak until I am happy with this. 
2. That it is ok not to write every day. 
3. Every author whether they are self-published or with a traditional publisher is expected to do some marketing. That was an eye opener. I always thought that if one is traditionally published that the publisher handles all the marketing. Not true. 
4. Marketing - you can't do everything, so try out different things, and find the things that you are most comfortable doing. 
5. The importance of a critique group. I have been feeling very anxious about this. But I attended a wonderful session given by Kendra Griffin who explained the value of critique groups, and how to give and receive good critiques. I made a connection or two. So fingers crossed I can get started in a critique group. 
6. Know, study and read your genre. 

I think that being able to find your joy and then having the luxury to follow it is a special gift. A privilege. 

My joy started in a place of sadness - after the loss of a beautiful kitten. That resulted in me writing the first book in the series - The Lost Colors. I self-published through Amazon (Amazon makes it very easy to do this.) That was at the start of the pandemic. During the lockdown and in the midst of such uncertainty these stories became my refuge. I designed the covers - ineptly using Paint 3d, and drew some "line art." I created five books in this series. I never gave much thought beyond the creative process. I thought that only family and friends would ever enjoy reading them. 

But I've decided to do something more. I am very excited about this. I am re-launching the series. I have found an amazing artist who I will be collaborating with, and who I know will create some beautiful art for the book covers. I want to elevate the series. I want to spread the joy around. This means I need to widen my distribution channels to target schools and libraries. 

Announcements relating to the relaunch, and upcoming books can be found on my Caitlin and Rio Series website. 

I am so grateful I have the privilege of following my joy. 

My dearest Daddy passed away Saturday November 6th, 2021. I am devastated. 

Dad gave me a wonderful, loving, and safe childhood. Only now as an adult do I realize how lucky I was.

I have so much to be grateful for. Dad taught me about family, the importance of working hard, of always doing one’s best, and of always trying. He taught me about respect. Not just respecting parents, and those in authority. But respecting people from all works of life regardless of who they are or what they can do for you. He taught me about honesty and decency.

I love you, and will miss you forever. 

Below is his obituary... 

Peter Barry Bosman, 85, of Fort Collins, Colorado passed away Saturday November 6^th, 2021, under the care of Hospice, McKee Medical Center, Loveland surrounded by his wife and family after a courageous battle with prostate cancer.

Peter was born November 15, 1935, in Kimberley, South Africa, the only son of Lilian Agnes (Hamilton Hoskins) Bosman and Abraham Johannes Bosman. He was an only child. He lived with his Grandmother Judith while his parents served in World War 2.

He spent his childhood years in Kimberley, South Africa where he attended Kimberley Boys High School.

It is with grateful thanks to his stepfather, Carl Allekotte that Peter was able to attend St. Andrews High School and was able to go on to college. He attended the University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa where he graduated in 1958 with a Bachelor of Sciences – Civil Engineering. Whilst at University he met the love of his life and mother of his three children, June Elizabeth McIntosh.

They met at a dance. Legend has it Peter asked June, “Where are you from?” And then June replied, “I am sorry, but we don’t farm.” The rest, as they say, is history. They were married in Johannesburg, South Africa on December 14th, 1960. Peter was a keen photographer. June’s father, Brian was delighted that his daughter was marrying such a wonderful man. Of course, Brian was a keen photographer too. Peter was welcomed and loved as a son by June’s parents, Joyce, and Brian. Peter and June were looking forward to celebrating their wedding anniversary of 61 years this December 2021.

After graduating College and marrying, Peter worked for Robert Leslie, Consulting Engineers in Cape Town, and then for South African Railways, during the design and construction of Johannesburg Station.

Peter was awarded the CBI (Confederation of British Industry) Scholarship, and he and June spent approximately 2 years living and working in England. Their eldest son, Mark was born whilst they were in England.

On their return to South Africa, Peter started work at Gerald Stoch who designed filling stations before Peter joined WLPU (Watermeyer, Legge, Piesold & Uhlmann) in 1964.

In 1964 Peter bought half an acre plot of dirt and sand in Parkmore, Sandton, South Africa. They built a single-story modest home in a largely underdeveloped neighborhood. Soon after Andrew was born, the young family moved into their newly constructed home. Peter and June turned this house into a home – a home where they gave their children a warm and loving childhood. They transformed the dirt and sand into a thriving, verdant garden. Over the years the children brought in various pets – birds, rabbits, guinea pigs, cats, dogs, and ducks. They even had a chicken called Henny Penny who was a fixture at evening dinners. She loved to perch on the shelves in the dining room to keep an eye on the guests.

The house would be the family home for nearly 40 years and where Peter and June raised their three children – Mark, Andrew, and then later their daughter Sally.

Over the years, Peter used his engineering skills and the skills taught by his step-grandfather Orson (his beloved Grandmother Judith’s second husband) to add to the house – a garage, a playroom, a master bedroom, and an outdoor patio. The outdoor patio was built to host Joyce’s 60^th surprise birthday party.

He taught Lazarus Kgali, who was employed initially as a gardener, how to build. Together they expanded the home. He also mentored Lazarus and helped him with his own home.

Peter loved family. He loved to take his family on vacations – safari self-drives to Kruger National Park, where all the children learned to drive, and the wildlife were scared away by “big Bertha” a big lens that Peter “engineered” using PVC pipes and a bellows focusing mechanism. The lens came off an old aerial survey camera.  He loved the Drakensberg Mountains. He would go on hikes with his camera and photograph the scenery, the flowers, and the people he loved.

He loved to travel. He and June toured some exciting locales – Thailand, Japan, China, and Russia with their friends. He loved to photograph and videotape his travels. More often than not Peter was to be found behind a camera and not in front of it.

Peter built up his career and reputation and became a world-renowned expert in natural draft cooling towers. He would often delight his children and amuse his neighbors by building cooling tower experiments in the back garden.  He filed several patents over the years. He worked on numerous projects whilst working for WLPU.  His first project was determining the best route for the pipeline to supply the town of Phalaborwa including the mine with water. His first power station was Hendrina, located on the Highveld in South Africa. He worked on projects in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Turkey, Australia, and India.

Peter rose through the ranks of WLPU (later known as Knight Piesold) and became partner of WLPU in 1976, and director of Knight Piesold in 1996. (In 1995 WLPU become Knight Piesold.)

In 2000 he transitioned out of his leadership role. He and June moved to Denver, Colorado with the goal of pursuing cooling tower projects in the USA and India. Eventually he set up his own company, KP Energy LLC to continue his consulting work, but still retained close ties to his old company and colleagues. During this time, he formed a close relationship with Paharpur Construction Company in Kolkata, India. Over the years Peter worked on numerous projects in India with Paharpur.

Peter would always joke that “Engineers never retire.” This is accurate because Peter only started to wind down his business activities when he was well into his 80’s, when he needed to devote his energies to his family and to fighting his illness.

Peter was a kind, generous and loving husband, father, and grandfather. Peter was deeply loved and will be missed forever. He will always be remembered for his sense of fun, his humor, his smile and his infectious laugh.

Peter is survived by his wife, June, and his two children, Mark and his wife Cheryl of Green Point, NSW Australia; Sally and her husband, Kevin of Fort Collins, Colorado; his granddaughter, Natasha of Coogee, NSW, Australia; his step-grandson, Billy of Birmingham, England and step-granddaughter, Chantelle of Hilton, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa; as well as many devoted friends and family members.

He was predeceased by his son, Andrew of Denver, Colorado.

Due to COVID we held a virtual celebration of life and Zoom reception. We set up a Tribute Wall