Greetings friends!

Thank you for the delightful responses to last week’s inaugural Magical Monday! I’ve been collecting some bits of inspiration for you all week. As always, use what serves you and consider if something feels edgy – it might also offer something for your heart!

Here goes:

1. Local Author Day: As I mentioned last week, I served on a panel for Local Author Day at the Santa Barbara Public Library. It was a privilege and great source of joy to share and learn from so many writers. Here’s the link to the recorded livestream.

2. Writing Resources:

• In the recording above, I mention many resources including Sarah Selecky, an award-winning author who offers amazing classes as well as free writing prompts. All the way back in 2013, I started using her prompts to craft a series of short stories and vignettes which have since provided exciting fodder for one of my FAVORITE characters in the sequel to The Amazing Adventures of Selma Calderón. If you want to read the vignettes in order, they are: A Girl Named Corn Syrup, Grandmother Cully, Karo and Jelly, Mr. Fred and Miranda’s Meringue, and Mr. Fred Meets Miranda and Domino Cully on Tola Island.
• Another source of endless inspiration is 88 Cups of Tea with Yin Chang. I encourage you to check out her podcasts on whatever platform works for you. I have learned so much and truly enjoyed the honest and open sharing by a diverse group of authors.
• I also waved around a few visual aids in the video above including a portable keyboard to write my novel using the Scrivener program on my phone and syncing it with Dropbox which makes it easy to transcribe my manuscript from anywhere.

3.  Getting Grounded: Wolves at Your Heels: The Fear That You’re Always Behind, Doing the Wrong Thing, & Generally Screwing Things Up Royally by zen habits: This is a helpful post if you are feeling a sort of generalized anxiety and need help getting grounded.

4. Getting Yourself Organized Before Diving In: Here’s another great short post by Jason Lengstorf (the Yak-Shaving guy from last week) tapping into the french cooking tradition of “mis en place.”

5. Music: I love cello music and have been following Sheku Kanneh-Mason for a while. His new album dropped last week and here is a song. And if you are on Spotify, this is the link to the album.

6. Rebecca’s Magic Monday video: I made you a two-minute video in a tree after a hike and included a beautiful hawk way up in the sky with a reminder to look for clues in nature.

Thanks, as always for reading and following!

Here’s how you can help:

1. Share this post with friends via social or email.
2. Check out my book The Amazing Adventures of Selma Calderón or ask your local library to order it here or here
3. Send a text or note to someone with gratitude for them being in your life.

Stay tuned next week for a short video with Mama Chelo’s Guacamole recipe.

I appreciate you and your heart. Look for the magic in everyday life. There are clues everywhere!