Your Dying Spouse 151 - Missing Ewe {FMF}

Time for Five Minute Friday, the weekly keyword-inspired timed writing challenge hosted by Kate Motaung ( who graciously gave me the word ahead of time...thanks, Kate!

The word is MISS.

Not feeling up to much today, so here goes...

There once was a lamb named Shiloh
who loved her corn and her milo.
She followed afar
that culinary star
and last seen, lived in a silo.

Posting that leaves me feeling a bit sheepish.

This week was also the launch of my new novel, Emerald Isle. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the FMF community, for keeping my head in the game, and my eyes up. And I owe a lot to others, too, as you'll read below.

Emerald Isle is about  finding the faith and hope to overcome a devastating loss, only to have to face the hard truth that sometimes God asks more than we think we can possibly give.

It's on Kindle now; a physical version will come. Please click on the cover below to go to Amazon, and learn a bit more about it.

Thanks to the hard work a dear friend I've never met, Carol Ashby, let me introduce...drum roll, please...

The paragraphs that follow come from Monday's post; not having the energy to rewrite them I just pasted them. 

Yes, Emerald Isle made it out of the shadows. It's about love and hope and death and second chances.

I's about life. 

But mainly, for me, it's about people who will pick you up when you can't walk another step, and carry you over the finish line.

I was out of strength, and, to tell the truth, out of hope.

And I did the most important thing I could have done, even though I didn't know I was doing it. I asked for help.

In participating in the blog run by the agents of the Books and Such literary agency (of which I am not a client...I don't have an agent), I mentioned that I had some work that probably, due to my physical situation, would not see the light of day.

It wasn't a cry for help or reassurance; I don't do that easily. And while there may have been some self-pity involved (some?), I don't think that was the motivator. I've seen things that are way more deserving of pity than me.

It was, as close as I can say now, with hindsight, a warning...don't  wait too long. Some day tomorrow won't come.

At any rate, the Books and Such blog community leapt to my aid, with encouragement, and in Carol's case, with editing expertise.

I cannot tell y'all how humbled I am.

Emerald Isle meant a lot to me when I wrote it; it still does. But even more, the lesson I have learned here has changed my life, even this close to its ending.

I learned that when God opens the doors of Heaven's treasurehouses, what rains down is love. We have only to accept it.

If you can, please do leave a comment. I am trying to answer all, and I am failing, but please know this - I read and treasure each one.

Below are my recent releases on Kindle -please excuse their presence in the body of the blog. I haven't the energy to get them up as 'buttons' in the sidebar. You can click on the covers to go to the Amazon links (they're 99 cents each). And if you'd like a free PDF, please email me at tempusfugit02 (at) gmail (dot) com, and I'll gladly send them