Category: non-fiction

I Don’t Wrap and The 35th Anniversary Gift Saga.

Posted on by Tracy Livingston M.Ed.

After thirty-five years together, it is the thought that counts and I tend to spoil. Always. But wrapping is not my thing. I learned long ago, when stores were grand, they wrapped for you. I never looked back. Now, I bag with the best of them, just don’t wrap. Don’t ask. Amazon has wrap service which delights my senses but only sometimes. This maddens me especially when the gifts are for our 35th anniversary. Now, for a non-wrapper my love language is over the top wrapping, because I know you can find good stores, that still wrap. Major hint. I asked my hubs what he wanted because I do survive on a teachers salary, unless I “lift” a credit card and deal with the repercussions. I did that once. I bought a Porsche. Yes, yes I did. We kept it, still have it. Those were the days. As we age my budget became well cut-off.

So, we are building a house. It’s all he wants. Can’t wrap that. Phew. The decor is my gig, modern nautical with island whimsy. What does that mean? I don’t know but it sounds fancy AF. I have been plotting items for two years and I definitely want a bit of old with the new. So I searched for our first two antique pieces to give it the old/new/island vibe. Obviously, pleased with myself, as they sit boxed on our kitchen table, waiting for May 28th, number thrity-five. Not as grand as a sportscar but hopefully the true thought, search, and future memories that will come from the gifts, will be perfect for a major years celebration. One that is filled with much love, patience, and moments of change as we head into our next seasons together forever.

I Got Nothing

Posted on by Tracy Livingston M.Ed.

I started my book.

Not a real beginning or ending, but a random start, that may just end up somewhere in the middle.

Writing must be a journey for the insane.

It must.

I got nothing but random thoughts. No streams of consciousness in grammatical correctness. Nope.

My outline looks as scarce as this blog. Yup.

But, I have one. That is a start.

At the end it will be a series of short vignettes all tied together with a thread of humour, as I tell the stories of my life.

But for now the book is held together by nothing more than a dream and has plenty of space for growth.

I Have a Title

Posted on by Tracy Livingston M.Ed.

The book which I wrote, then lost and now found, and currently stares at me every day, now has a title. It always had a direction. My writing is a bit like my anxiety driven mind. On some days, I feel I can create a children’s book, but then I wake up and realize I cannot write about a woke unicorn. Nope, but a Neebish Island children’s book is a must. Need an artist or maybe my photographer in the family, will lend me his talents. My writing for children will sound old-fashioned, and while the book will sit on shelves, with the other woke less books. It will be sold out on the island. A summer to do! I actually do have an outline. Just not sharing. But not my first to do. Nope.

I thought about writing a fitness, cooking, self-help, or a how to do anything book. I think not. Not fit, can’t cook, and my help would just result in headshaking and confusion. As I have dabbled in many of the serious topics and mastered none, can I teach that? Again, I think not.

Politics. Nope. Nope. Nope. I have too much respect for those who give of their lives to move the needle of change. But I might share a few fun facts I learned from the political road I traveled. Still no tah-dah moment. No title, no main idea, no nothing or is this everything. Perhaps. Nope.

School. Nope. Overdone.

So, I am going with the book I already wrote, and now found on real paper. An amazement. It is my memoir that goes down my rabbit hole of life. I have been down an interesting road of addictions, multiple family divorces, and living with a quiet disease. Again, fascinating stuff that will be written to give others a laugh during a time they might feel that their life is breaking while struggling with their own life and the deck of cards they have been dealt. We need to know how others survive and learn to have a sense of humor about our lives.

So, while not back to the drawing board. I have to go back through the book. This will hurt. So, if you buy the end product, I will let you know when it is out on Kindle. Believe me, I will probably buy my own ads all over social media but please note, I am suffering for the content. Writers should suffer. Right? But for my future two or three readers, it is worth it. I am retaking a trip through a collection of stories, all real, with some occasional embellishments, for entertainment. It is my real life sprinkled with stories that force us to see the wonder and humor in the bizarre situations that I have called “This thing called life.” That is the title and the perfect direction for my first book, Neebish will be second.

I love the fact that it is no longer untitled. Projected completion Summer 2023!