Five Things - June 24, 2025

Welcome to my blog titled ‘Five Things’ where you can expect just that - five random musings or reflections from the previous week or so. I’ll also share a quote I find meaningful as a point of focus for the week. For a photo gallery of our life on the road, our pets, and miscellaneous things I find interesting, you can follow me on Instagram @tabithalord.

So here are this week’s five things, starting with the quote of the week…

1. “Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.” - Dalai Lama

2. I think I’ve mentioned here that I wrote a horror flash fiction story for school, workshopped it with my class, and sold it to Tales to Terrify, a fun, creepy podcast. Well that story is finally live, and you can find it here: MONSTER. A couple of things… It’s short. Flash fiction work is generally under a thousand words, and even the audio version is only three minutes long. But it’s brutal. This is a Frankenstein’s monster story with an AI twist, and in the end, everyone’s really a monster. Approach with caution, or skip if it’s not your thing.

3. My second summer session of grad school is underway! The month of June is considered a ‘reading period’ in preparation for our time together on campus at residency in July. But this year’s schedule is a little different since we have a lot to prepare for residency in addition to the completed reading assignments. I’m currently working on a synopsis, which is a two page summary of the entire novel and the bane of most writers’ existence, an outline, which is just what it sounds like, and the first five thousand words of the manuscript. While it’s a lot, it’s also really exciting to be working on my dragon story.

4. We’re on the road again for the summer, currently camped out in Las Vegas where it is very, very hot! We flew back to Rhode Island for a quick weekend full of events, and now I’m back with my nose to the grindstone working on the above mentioned school work. We’ll be heading to Moab, Utah next week to check out some of the National Parks we missed our first time there, and then on to Colorado for about a month. I’ll try to remember to post more pictures!

5. If any of you follow my alter ego Maggie Clare, and read the steamy stuff I publish under that pen name, you may have heard I just finished writing a contemporary rom-com. Usually my romance novels have a suspense sub-plot featuring serial killers, cartels, stalkers, or some other nasty bad guy mucking things up for our couple. But my latest story features an emotional support dog, a runaway bride, a hot firefighter, some angsty heartbreak, and a happily-ever-after ending of course! The story evolved from a piece of short fiction I wrote for school. I liked the bones of it so much, I decided to try writing a long form version. If you’d like a sneak peek, head over to my Dear Maggie blog and check it out!

Monday Musings 10-3-22

I can’t believe it’s October already! If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know that the fall is my most productive time for creating new content. This year is a little different, however. Last week, Ray and I drove our new RV home from Tampa, FL, just in time to avoid Hurricane Ian, and we should close on the sale of our house in a little over a week. There’s still a lot to do around here before we go, so I’ve had to adjust my expectations a bit.

I really want to be present for the last season in our home of nineteen years. I want to enthusiastically celebrate the coming holidays, appreciate the process of sorting and simplifying, and enjoy the remaining book events for this calendar year. That means I likely won’t have as much time as I usually do to write.

My tendency is to pack my schedule and force myself to overdo it, or spend time that I should be engaged in other activities stressing over my lack of writing progress. This year, I’m choosing to set realistic goals instead. This is a unique season for my family. Our youngest left for college, we’re selling our home, and we’ve decided to embark on a grand adventure - full time RV living. While I’ve preached that writing is my job and needs to be treated as such, even if I had a different career, I might take a guilt-free sabbatical.

So, what exactly is happening with my writing this season? Well, my agent has a book on submission as we speak, which I hope will sell and help determine the direction of ‘Tabitha’s’ next project. Meanwhile, ‘Maggie’ just released Moving Target, the latest in the Tactical Solutions International romantic suspense series, and I’m planning to outline the stories and create a timeline for the final three books in that series. At the same time, I’m finishing an episodic story on Kindle Vella. I’ll also continue with my dual blog posts on Monday Musings and Dear Maggie, and I’ll be reviewing some great books over on Book Club Babble. If I accomplish more, that will be a bonus, but I’m trying hard not to pressure myself too much!

“There are two ways to be happy—improve your reality or lower your expectations.” – Jodi Picoult

IN OTHER NEWS…

If we met at The Big E this past weekend, it was a pleasure! I hope you enjoy my books and would love if you’d consider leaving a review on Amazon or Goodreads.

Save the date! My next event is Rhode Island Comic Con November 4-6. I’ll be there with a great crew of local science fiction and fantasy writers all weekend signing books and moderating panels.

Monday Musings 11-29-21

It’s the end of November already, and it’s another month with five Mondays. That means a double post to Monday Musings and Dear Maggie!

We’re just returning home from an unexpected trip to LA, as one of our boys had a medical issue which needed handling. He’s on the other side of it now and doing great, thankfully. I’ll admit, I’m pretty exhausted but relieved, and very grateful for the extra time we got to spend with our kids (minus our oldest who’s currently deployed) and their significant others this Thanksgiving.

Now that I’m home, and my head is back in the writing game, I’ve got some exciting things coming up….

First, the RI Author Expo on Saturday, December 11th from 9 am - 3 pm at the Crowne Plaza in Warwick. Signed books make excellent gifts, and this event showcases over 100 Rhode Island authors, myself included. For the first time, I’ll be signing books from the HORIZON science fiction series and the TACTICAL SOLUTIONS INTERNATIONAL romantic suspense series, so if you’ve found me as Tabitha or Maggie, come say hello!

In addition to celebrity guests, book signings, a cool raffle, entertainment, and snacks, there’s an excellent line-up of panels and programs. I’ll be presenting this one at 11:15 am…

Editing: Soup to Nuts

For many authors, the editing process is a daunting one. But a well edited manuscript can mean the difference between a book that’s ready for the world and a document that sits in a drawer collecting dust. Let’s talk about the different parts of the editing process, and how to successfully find and work with an editor. We’ll then spend some time discussing the goals of a developmental edit, and share techniques that will help make the editing process efficient, effective, and satisfying.

For a full listing of the day’s activities, click HERE.

Once the Expo is in my rearview, I’ll be finishing up the draft of Moving Target, the next book in the TSI series. I’m already working with the amazing Steven Meyer-Rassow on cover design!

The draft of Dreamwalker, an urban fantasy/thriller, is currently with my agent. I’ll probably need to do a little more work before it goes out on submission, so stay tuned.

There’s more, but I’ll save it for next time! Just for fun, here are some pictures of Daisy having a bath and getting ready to travel out west with us!

Monday Musings 8-30-21

It’s another month with five Mondays, which means I get to write a cross-over blog for Monday Musings and Dear Maggie!

Although summer doesn’t officially end until September 22nd, this week feels like the transition to fall, at least in our house. We’ve just returned from dropping kid #3 off at college on the west coast, and kid #4 begins her senior year of high school tomorrow. While this isn’t our first rodeo moving a kid into school, we’ve always come back to a full house and business as usual with the younger kids still at home. But with our youngest a very independent senior, the house is quiet in a way it’s never been before.

In a previous blog, which you can read here, I talked about experiencing two very different emotions at the same time. Accepting that opposite feelings could co-exist, or that I could easily slip from one to the other, helped me navigate a particularly challenging time for our family.

Now, I regularly fluctuate between nostalgia and excitement. On the one hand, I can’t believe our time as parents of young children is nearly up. On the other hand, I am so excited about this next phase in our life. My husband and I have worked hard to create a marriage that’s satisfying to us as individuals and as a couple, and is about more than raising kids together. We love where we are, and we miss our kids at the same time. The idea that we can experience both things simultaneously validates each.

As our children enter the next phase of their lives, we have found a new joy in watching them pursue their dreams, discover their passions, fall in love, and grow into amazing young adults.

“To raise a child who is comfortable enough to leave you means you’ve done your job. They are not ours to keep, but to teach to soar on their own.” - author unknown

Here are some of my favorite photos from last week!