Good grief and grits and gravy! Where has the time gone?

Earlier this month, Rice and I took our oldest, Alex, to Boulder, Colorado, to celebrate where she was born a big-fat 40 years ago. We flew into Denver and started our trip with a stop at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre, which was stunning. I can only imagine the acoustics during concerts.

Our trip was a quick one, though. No time for concerts, or even for seeing some of our oldest and dearest friends. But what a treat to visit old haunts with our firstborn—Mork and Mindy’s house, Chautauqua Park, and the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder. Not to mention parts of the Rocky Mountain National Park and the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park.

Back home, our grandkids celebrated their last day of the school year, just two days ago! In a new but popular neighborhood tradition, parents (and also we grandparents) welcomed kids home at the bus stop, pelting them with water balloons, squirt guns, and an occasional gush from a garden hose. The pool opened for the season, and the Kona Ice truck delivered sweet treats at the park.

Oh, yeah. The joys—and chaos--of summer are upon us.

In between all the fun, I’ve tried to stick to my writing schedule…but to show myself grace when I take time for loved ones and nature and other surprises not on the agenda. Production and marketing tasks for my debut novel, scheduled for a fall release, need attention. And my humorous travelogue scheduled for spring 2025 is not going to finish itself.  But as Steve Miller has said: “Time keeps on slippin’ (slippin’ slippin’)….” Yikes!

It’s all good, though. Things will get done. Or they won’t.

Remind me I said that, okay? Because in the end what matters is the journey. I’m so very blessed to be still rockin’ my journey at this stage in the game.

Cheers, y’all ~ J

dreamed of doing that same thing. Through a romanticized lens, we saw this era of sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll as OUR time…to experience our sexual awakening, to focus on peace and love, and to imagine a lifestyle filled with freedom and meaning.

Sharon’s journey takes place over several years, first from Connecticut to California, then back east to Boston, then north to Montreal. At one point, while partying with a group of new friends in Quebec, she realizes, “[This] wasn’t my home. I didn’t know where I belonged.”

Eventually, Sharon does find home—back in Connecticut, after learning to forgive her parents and accept that only she can control her life. That isn’t a spoiler, my friend. Because life (and memoir) is always about the journey more than the destination.

Plenty of story unfolds during Sharon’s adventures in this age of Aquarius, events like the Manson murders, the Kent State shootings, and the fall of the Nixon administration. Yet the early seventies also ushered in growing support for the crucial work of Betty Friedan, Shirley Chisholm, and Gloria Steinem. With an honesty many writers would rather avoid, Sharon shares how some of these cultural events affected her life. “I’ve always said it was a good thing we had girls,” she remembers hearing her mother say to her father. “Because I have no idea how we would have paid for boys to go to college.”

That, folks, is the way it was.

This mashup of things “oh-so-seventies” ranges from the pain that women really were considered lesser citizens…to the joy of a young girl hitchhiking to Chicago to experience the Rolling Stones live.

Check out this poignant tale of one woman’s journey to learn self-value and move on through forgiveness, of self and others. (Oh, and you also might enjoy Sharon’s debut novel, THE SHUTDOWN LIST, launching in June 2024.) You can order either of the books here:

This month’s surprise is a surprise to me, too, as I share the cover of my September debut novel, SECRETS OF THE BLUE MOON. It may start popping up on social media posts here and there, even though its release isn’t scheduled until early September. Because it only seems fair (to me) that newsletter subscribers should be the first to see it, here it is:

I hope you like it as much as I do. I’m especially fond of the awesome shadow of the cat on the right. My awesome cover artist, Elizabeth Mackey, and I agreed: No way could we leave Onyx off the cover!

And here’s a request to go along with this surprise.

IF…IF…IF you’re interested and have the time, I’m looking for some folks to read a complimentary advanced review copy of the book and leave a review on Amazon close to its release day of September 6th. (Well, maybe leave a review if you like it. If it’s not your jam, we don’t have to talk about it—one-on-one or in a review. How does that sound?)

As for what the book’s about, it’s a little bit ghost story…and a little bit satire. Mostly, though, it’s a tale of the universal journey most women (and plenty of men) undergo at some point to regain their sense of hope and purpose. Here’s its logline:

A grieving woman battles her own personal ghosts

as she chronicles the haunted history of a quaint Georgia town.

If you’d like to be part of my street team, Jan’s Pub Buds, please email me at jan@janheidrichrice.com so I can send you next steps.

Kind thanks for your consideration! J