Jan's Thinking

[janmorrill]

The Pledge of Allegiance - Part 1

Library of Congress (Dorothea Lange) During a recent trip to visit my daughter and her family, my granddaughter, Penelope, was excited to show me that she’d learned The Pledge of Allegiance. As I watched and listened, I wondered how long it had been since I recited the pledge — decades? Penelope is only 3 (though she always insists I add, “and-a-half!”), so I’m pretty sure she doesn’t…

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Unrequited #3 - Fair Winds

Many of you know I’ve been working on a memoir for the last couple of years. My working title is Unrequited. As you might guess from the title, the book is about unrequited love. I’ve had many loves in my life. Three were, and are, unrequited. As with most first-time memoirists, I often have to keep recurring thoughts at bay. They are like sludge in my writing engine. THOUGHT #1: Why would…

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Memoir Tidbit #1 - Kiss Me Much

Funny how working on a memoir can trigger memories. It’s as if writing about my life events fertilizes the soil of my soul, opening my mind and heart to stimuli that brings new memories to bloom. With the first notes of the melody, I was whisked back to a time when I was maybe twelve years old. Back to Fairfield, California. Back to my living room with the green shag carpet and the gold tweed…

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Cheerleader Wanna-Be

Almost exactly a year ago, I wrote another post about my awkwardness in a gym fitness class I attend at University Hospital Fitness Center: Flight of the Flamingo – Or Not. In yesterday’s class, I once again laughed at myself as my gaze bounced between watching the instructor’s every move and watching my reflection in the mirror, disappointed time-after-time that my moves looked nowhere near the…

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Tiny Assassins

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Review of The Magical Red Kimono

My friend and fellow author, Kathleen Rodgers, posted an insightful review of The Magical Red Kimono on her blog last night. After receiving and reading her copy of my book, she told me she was going to post a review on her blog (as well as Instagram, Book Bub and Amazon!) I was grateful of course, but not surprised. Kathleen has always been supportive and motivational to me, as well as many…

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Now Available on Amazon - The Magical Red Kimono

The Magical Red Kimono tells the story of Sachi and Jubie, two little girls who discover that magic can happen when they embrace their differences. Inspired by characters from Jan Morrill’s historical fiction, The Red Kimono, The Magical Red Kimono features Sachi sharing her kimono with Jubie and teaching her a Japanese dance. As Sachi introduces her Japanese culture to her best friend, readers…

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Book Birthday: The Magical Red Kimono

Tomorrow, April 24, is Release Day for my first children’s book, The Magical Red Kimono. An author waiting for a book release is like a child waiting for Santa to come on Christmas Eve! How to pass the time, how to pass the time? How about I give you a little background on the book? I first started writing it in 2013, shortly after the publication of my historical fiction, The Red Kimono.…

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Tuscany: Day (I've Lost Count)

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Tuscany Days 2 & 3: Autumn

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Tuscany Day 1

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Day 24: Awe-someness

I’m sitting at DFW Airport with 7 hours to wait before I meetup with my writer friends with whom I’ll be traveling to Italy for an 8-day writers’ retreat at Poggio al Casone, a winery bed & breakfast. I’ve been looking forward to this trip to spend time with old friends, to inspire some new writing and to visit Italy again. A couple of nights ago, Steve and I went to dinner at one of our…

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Day 23: Homecoming

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Day 22: Brothers

This morning, I’m at a hotel in Lexington, Kentucky, waiting to attend the funeral of my Uncle Johnny. He was my dad’s youngest brother and the last of the Marler boys in my dad’s generation. Uncle Johnny was a loving, warm, funny, kind man. His smile had a gentleness, but his eyes had a mischievous sparkle. He and the oldest brother, LeRoy, used to tell wonderful stories about their childhood,…

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Day 21: AI Generated Writing Prompt

I have no idea what to write about today. Or, maybe it’s more accurate to say I have too many things to write about and I can’t choose just one. So I thought I’d experiment and ask AI to show me a picture of a writing prompt. This is the FIRST time I’ve used AI. Call me old, but so far, I’ve had some hesitation to use it, but I’m open to any comments to convince me otherwise. 🙂 However, I saw…

Day 21: AI Generated Writing Prompt

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Day 20: A Single Sunbeam of Wonder

For the last few weeks, I’ve had the thought I’d like to get a piece of art with a heron on it for our guest bedroom. I can’t say for sure why. Maybe a heron’s grace as it takes flight brings me a sense of both peace and awe. Maybe I’ve always been attracted to a heron’s patience as it watches the water, still as a statue, until it sees its next morsel swim by. Maybe it’s just because a heron…

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[janmorrill]

Day 19: Virtue Vignette - Transcendence

Steve has an old, well-worn, multi-Post-It-notated book called Character Strengths and Virtues by Christopher Peterson and Martin E.P. Seligman. It may be a book written primarily for those studying psychology or social work, but to a writer, it’s an interesting study of “character.” The character virtues covered in the book include: Wisdom and…

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