Criticism made Easy

 

"Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body; it calls attention to the development of an unhealthy state of things. If it is heeded in time, danger may be averted; if it is suppressed, a fatal distemper may develop."  ― Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill was my husband's 5^th cousin, a few times removed. He was also half-America because his mother was the New York heiress, Jennie Jerome. The town of Jerome, Arizona, is named after Keith's family, and we went there almost fifty years ago on our honeymoon.

This month, I truly learned how tough it is to take criticism. I used a paid editor after writing my first two middle-grade books, Sleep Warrior and Murder at the Magic Kingdom. Yes, I paid someone to inflict pain upon my fragile ego.

This process is similar to using a physical trainer. Almost three years ago, I paid someone to tell me I was fat. No, actually, my insurance company paid for it via a benefit called Silver Sneakers. To be fair, she didn't actually call me fat. Instead, she said that I was mostly made up of fat instead of muscle. She put me on a program to build back the muscle that we all start losing after we turn 40. That program has worked, and I've created a more efficient body with a much higher muscle ratio, and now I burn calories better.  I'm not sure if I can change my brain to write better. I'm a storyteller but not very good at English. Sometimes, I think it is my second language – with muttering and stuttering being my first.

There is no other way to describe the professional editing process other than humbling and humiliating. It is like she takes a shotgun at my work and completely blows it up, leaving hundreds of holes. When I got my last book back, I immediately decided to quit writing, thinking, "I don't need this...I will NEVER learn how to write..." 

Then I dusted myself off and got to work rewriting and rewriting. It was hard because I didn't understand her level of editing. With her MFA in English, she is so over my head. For example, she says in places, "This seems like a very granular tangent."  What the heck does that mean? Then there are "dangling modifiers" and "You need to go a level deeper and give context."  

I spend a lot of time after I get her notes just trying to figure out what she is telling me. Yes, I could have merely asked her, but then I wouldn't be learning.  I need to do my own research so that I can understand in the future.  When I'm done with my rewrites I'm very proud of my book and I end up agreeing with 100% of the changes she suggests.  I'm already planning my 3rd book and figuring out when I can get it to her for another round of pain!

My paid editor is Mary Kole of GoodStory. I found her by reading her fantastic book: "Writing Irresistible Kidlit: The Ultimate Guide to Crafting Fiction for Young Adult and Middle Grade Readers." I have read it over nine times during the past year. I did ALL the exercises in the book, including waiting 90 days before submitting my work. I'm in the process of reading all the middle-grade books she recommends as I continue to learn this craft.  Mary Kole is a former literary agent for the Andrea Brown Literary Agency and Movable Type Literary. She received an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of San Francisco and interned in the children's editorial department at Chronicle Books. https://www.goodstorycompany.com/

When I sold my software company three years ago, I was great at debugging and testing computer code. I like to think I was at the level of Mary Kole in my industry in spotting problems with programs and making suggestions on how to fix them. I learned to write code so I could easily spot the lines that had the "bug" and even perform and test my design. Now, I wonder if I'll ever be at this level in my new career, but I'm willing to spend the time and money to get this right.  

I am learning to take criticism; it isn't easy but I agree with Winston…it is necessary.

If you’re interested in critiquing my latest book, Murder in the Magic Kingdom here is the link where you can read the PDF version and I promise - I can take your criticism!

https://www.yogaiteach.com/MurderattheMagicKingdomPDF.pdf

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Mark Twain said, “Write what you know.”

 

Mark Twain said, “Write what you know.” I have done that for many years; writing about computers and accounting, but it is hard to be emotional about either one. My latest book, Murder at the Magic Kingdom is about two things I know well; all things Disney and an older brother who I thought would murder me someday. He once left a message on my answering machine that if I ever returned to Escondido, he’d kill me. This was after Mom died and I played it for my dad who said that Stan sounded drunk, but he’d make sure it wouldn’t happen again – and it didn’t. I didn’t return to Escondido until after Stan died in 2014. The saying, “Never speak ill of the dead” since dead people can no longer hurt us, or defend themselves, it is better to forget their bad actions and remember only their good ones. But what if there were no good ones? 

I don’t have any pleasant memories of growing up with my bully of an older brother, Stan. Some might remember that I had a silver front tooth; my brother hit me and broke my bottom front tooth right after the permanent tooth had grown in. Later, I got a natural cap. I’m claustrophobic from years of being shoved and locked into a small built-in closet. My folks said I bruised easy, had constant bloody noses, and ran into a lot of things – but oddly, this all stopped when I moved far away after I grew up. I never lived in Escondido again.

You might wonder about my parents; how could they allow this? Stan was handsome, charming, and adored by my parents. He was a crafty liar and had tons of good friends and lots and lots of girlfriends. He beat up his first wife and she ran away with her baby daughter to Texas and never returned. His second wife left him constantly after beatings, but would also return to him; she loved him too much to stay away. He was a charmer.

I was the opposite; gangly, shy, stuttering, and a constant crybaby. I had big ears that Mom tried to hide, an overbite from sucking my thumb, and terribly uncoordinated. Mom used to say that if you looked at me cross-eyed, I broke out crying or claimed I was so clumsy that I’d trip over a bobby pin in the carpet.

No wonder my parents loved Stan more. I look at this picture and see myself biting my lip and holding my hands together. Along with everything else, I constantly shook, a tangled mess of nerves – so I hid it by holding my hands together. Somehow, I outgrew it all. My head grew into my big nose and ears. I got braces, played athletics and to this day, do yoga to improve my balance. I worked on the stutter, and forced myself to speak up for myself – almost to a point where I never shut up now!

 Stan and I were one IQ point away from each other – at least that is what my mother said when she explained that my A’s and Bs and Stan’s Ds and Fs had nothing to do with brains. I was good in school; I did my homework, studied for tests, and tried to be the teacher’s pet; desperate for some validation. 

If you know some kid that is getting bullied by their sibling; please intervene and stop it.  It is not okay.   I use the pain of my childhood to write to help middle school kids get through what was the most difficult part of growing up. 

If you’re interested in critiquing my latest book, Murder in the Magic Kingdom here is the link where you can read the PDF version for the next month while I’m getting various friends to peer review it before sending it off to editors.  

https://www.yogaiteach.com/MurderattheMagicKingdomPDF.pdf

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My Head to Clearer Thinking

 My Head to Clearer Thinking

Growing up, being in 4-H was a big part of my life. I learned public speaking through demonstrations and holding various offices in the club. I made life-long friends from different schools, like Kathy Tomac who was older and went to Escondido High, and Leslee Woods who was younger. Later, I decorated Kathy’s 4-tier wedding cake as a wedding present.  

I learned “accounting” by keeping a record book and determining a profit/loss after raising a sheep and then selling it at the livestock auction.  I went on to be an accountant/CPA.

I ended up being a computer consultant and performed training seminars around the world.  At one speaking engagement, I shared the speaker's lounge with former First Lady Barbara Bush.  She was the keynote speaker and I was only a "breakout" session speaker - but wow!  She was right there in the same room - but of course, surrounded by guys in dark suits with guns, so I sat quietly and ate my free granola bar in awe.

In high school, 4-H was a VERY embarrassing thing for a "semi-cool kid" like me at OGHS - if we were considered cool? I dated a football player and my best friend was best friends with a truly cool kid, Anne McLeod.  Anne was a cheerleader, homecoming princess, etc.  You might wonder why I was best friends with a person who had another best friend?  That was because my football player boyfriend was very jealous – of even my best friend.  He was especially jealous of my 4-H guy friends.  But when I met my husband Keith, he ended up becoming friends with my guy 4-H friends, Cliff and Danah - even selected them as groomsmen.  After we got married, Keith and I went on to be the Hi-4-H leaders for the next few years. Then after we moved to Arizona where Keith helped bring Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station online, I was a leader for sheep, rabbits and photography.  4-H is an unusual youth club; the organization is administered by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) - through the University system's Extension Service. I can still remember the pledge

I pledge my head to clearer thinking,

my heart to greater loyalty,

my hands to larger service,

and my health to better living,

for my club, my community, my country, and my world (world was added in the 1970s)

A clear head?  That was hard as we left childhood and became teenagers. 4-H might have been okay at Escondido High which had FFA and lots of farm kids and many 4-H kids went there for their Ag program like my neighbor, Danah.  But at OGHS I rarely mentioned 4-H at school and didn't hang out with any of them - but my 4-H friendships were genuine. I am still in touch with Danah’s mother who was our neighbor on La Honda the person who got me involved in 4-H. Danah passed away many, many years ago, but I still think of him often.  His cousin, little Leslie is now a successful real estate agent in Texas, married to the Sheriff.  In my 1971 4-H story that we had to complete each year, I write, “In January, Leslie Woods – 9 years old asked me to help her with her demonstration. I ended [up] giving it with her. I feel “demonstration” is a very valuable activity. It not only builds public speaking courage but also allows members to share their knowledge. I helped Peggy Frazee with Hi-4H Novice Demonstration Day and was the Mistress of Ceremony.”

 

Over the years as a computer programmer, whenever the discussion turned towards levels of “nerdiness” as a kid -  I would rank at the top when I pulled out this 6th-grade picture.  

I thought I looked pretty tough in my 4-H uniform that was supposed to be worn with white pants, but schools at that time required girls to wear dresses.  This was before 4-H created a scarf/dress uniform- which I later I liked. Since I couldn’t wear my 4-H pants, I had to wear a skirt and looked major dorky in my class picture!  

Today, I’m writer of MG – Middle-Grade fiction. I remember vividly 6^th grade and my desire to fit in at school. I remember the pain of being picked on. 

 

I had a tyrant of an older brother who was charming and gorgeous to others, but abusive to me. I had big ears and a big nose. I stuttered when I was tired or excited. My brother lasted one year in 4-H and quit because it wasn’t cool.  He was no longer friends with our neighbor, Danah, and I jumped in to fill that gap.  I loved Danah until the day he died. My best of times was roaming around the fair with Kathy Tomac, Danah, and Cliff.

 

To this day, I still sew, grow food and decorate cakes (a few of my 4-H projects) but don’t raise sheep anymore. I have a tiny yard that I use to learn how to grow food.

My senior year, I was the recipient of the Junior Livestock Auction scholarship which helped pay for my first year of college. My plan after high school was to attend CalPoly where I had a scholarship and teach the world how to grow food...but a slight diversion happened. Now that I’m retired, I'm trying to get back to agriculture and always have 2-3 backyard experiments going. My goal is to find the best salt-tolerant crops to feed a hungry world.  I’ve signed up to be a Master Gardener with the University of Florida Extension Service and hope to complete that in the fall.  I think that is rather a full circle  - writing about middle school when I was in so much pain - and remembering 4-H and the friends that helped me survive. 

If you want to follow my writing and gardening trek - please subscribe to my free quarterly newsletter (next issue is July) at www.sandijerome.com and Subscribe to my YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/sandijerome/about

 

Teachers make a Difference

 

Mrs. Dankowsky and Mr. Alstrum were my two favorite teachers. I had Mrs. Dankowsky for two years; 2nd and 3rd grade. She had done such a good job fixing my stutter in 2nd grade that my mom insisted she stay our teacher for the next year.  I'm the person in the center of the photo - 2nd row, 4th from our lovely teacher.

Mr. Alstrum was my civics teacher for my senior year. He left my high school 22 years later and then became a middle-grade teacher until he retired. We email each other about once a month and I asked him to read my middle-grade fantasy book based on my Cherokee ancestors and he said, “Thanks for letting me read Sleep Warrior. I enjoyed the complexity of the plot and was impressed with the depth and breadth of knowledge readers will gain from it, as well as its contemporary relevance. I’m overwhelmed by the creativity and research that is so evident!”  I'm trying to get it published and will probably get lots of rejection emails, but this comment means so much.  If you want to read it, just send me an email to sandi.jerome@gmail.com.

As I remember him in high school, he wasn’t one to hand out compliments; you’ll notice when he signed my yearbook that put quotes around "good" student and he mentioned “when you were there” because I cut class a lot. High school was easy for me and I easily got bored and preferred to read the text instead of sitting in class.  But his class was worth attending.  I went to OGHS in the 1970s. Escondido was a Republican stronghold and Richard Nixon had just taken office as President; serving the whole time while I was in high school.  In my senior year, as some of my male classmates worried about going to Vietnam, the debate about the war took center stage in our civics class.  

It was taught by these two amazing guys; Bill Rutledge Jr., and Stan Alstrum.  I was the photo editor for the yearbook and staged this photo because they were always "fighting." 

They moved back the partition between two classrooms and “team” taught two classes together.  I think it was a first for OGHS.  As you can see in this picture; Mr. Alstrum tended to be the more liberal guy (eschewing the tie) and Mr. Rutledge was the more conservative.  Mr. Rutledge was raised in a Navy home.  My best friend, Laura liked Mr. Rutledge best, having worked with him and the swim team. She was also raised like my husband in a conservative military family. We often had heated debates since she was raised Republican (Nixon) and my family was long-time farming/labor union Democrats (Kennedy.)

Mr. Alstrum was voted our favorite teacher by our class.  Partway through my senior year, I was already accepted at Cal Poly and all scholarships had been applied for.  I had enough credits to graduate, but some obscure school rule said I had to take a minimum of 4 classes my last semester.  When I complained to Mr. Alstrum, he suggested that I be his teacher’s assistant for period 4, which was his lunch hour.  This enabled me to get to work by 11AM and work the day shift at Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlor to save money for college.

The debates offered by these two amazing teachers helped me see both sides; since I adored both of them.  To this day, I don’t take a liberal or conservative view of anything; instead, I use the skills these two guys taught me to investigate the full issue and then debate the pros can cons.    Sadly Mr. Rutledge died early in 1990 at 47 – with Mr. Alstrum as his friend to the end. 

Teachers truly make a difference in our lives and I hope they know how much we appreciate them!  I have an offer on YouTube for free books for teachers or other school employees.

https://youtu.be/mZKzqtWIzuk

 

Risks vs Reward - April 2022 Quarterly Newsletter

 

Risk vs. Reward

I use a "risk vs rewards" concept to make decisions.  I suffer from huge  FOMO  - fear of missing out, so when it comes to doing something that I want - I weigh the risks.  For my birthday, I wanted to go on the Wild Africa Trek at Disney's Animal Kingdom.  It comes with lots and lots of risks, here is a small excerpt of the warnings; For your safety, you should be in good health and free from high blood pressure; heart, back or neck problems; motion sickness or other conditions that could be aggravated by this adventure. Expectant mothers should not participate. The safety harnesses used for this experience may prohibit Guests of certain body shapes or sizes from participating.  You must have physical stamina, comfort with heights, and the surefootedness to negotiate small hills, foliage and unsteady rope bridges on this tour. 

For me the biggest risk was no bathroom access for over 3 hours - and they give us a free water bottle and constantly remind us to hydrate!  What a risk for an old lady with a tiny bladder!  But I did it and the reward was worth the risks.  I got to see my favorite animals up close and personal.  We went behind the scenes of Disney's Animal Kingdom and got to eat an amazing meal out on the savannah amongst the animals.  This was a big bucket list item for Keith.  He had originally wanted to go on a real African safari,  but downgraded it to this.  He worked very hard over the past five years to recover from his stroke and regain his balance to enable him to make this excursion.  He minimized the risks to enable this reward.

Profit Accounting Guide

Now, I am embarking on another huge risk; becoming a full-time writer.  I spent the past fifty years working my way up the ladder in the automotive technology world.  I would often make a few jokes; trying to get car dealers interested in technology is like trying to get nuns to like pornography and yes, most car dealers are highly qualified and have a PHD, which stands for "papa had a dealership."  That career had lots of risks, but the rewards were numerous and you can read about that in my free Profit Accounting Guide below.  But I was able to minimize the risks in that career by becoming highly qualified; earning my accounting degree and CPA, learning computer programming, and training myself on dozens of different DMS systems (the software that runs dealerships and communicates with the factory.)  I ended up designing my own  DMS, DealerStar and sold that three years ago to a bigger company, DealerTeam.  To hear more about this journey and maybe help your accounting skills, it is now available on Amazon. 

https://www.amazon.com/Profit-Accounting-Guide-Profit-focused-Dealership-ebook/dp/B09YYJ93ZV

Amazing Animals of Disney's Animal Kingdom

But now I take a new risk and I have been diving into it over the past few years in my free time while turning over my company to the new management.  I tested the waters of self-publishing and wrote a non-fiction book about one of my passions; the Amazing Animals of Disney's Animal Kingdom.  Here is a download link below to look at the pre-final copy that I'll upload to Ingram and Amazon on April 30th.  If you'd like to be in the acknowledgements - just send me an email to sandi.jerome@gmail.com with your comments, suggestions, blurbs, etc.  I have been handing out free copies at the park to the cast members and guests and the reception has been wonderful. 

Sleep Warrior

During the Covid lock down, I gave my granddaughter the job of teaching me fiction by having her convert my award-winning screenplay, Princess Quest into a novel and used the wonderful graphics of my other granddaughter, Tulaasi (who did the graphics for the free Profit Accounting Guide above) and the graphics of my best friend, Laura.  Again, we self-published.   I found that book publishing and promotion takes away from what I truly love; telling stories.  

One of my passions is genealogy and I try to write a Facebook posting every week called Throwback Thursdays to share in my two family groups; The Phillips Family and Nellesen Family. It is great having 36 first cousins and thousands of 2nd and 3rd.  When I was researching the Native Americans on my paternal grandmother's maternal side (Phillips;) I found the Native American that we trace our roots to; Clarissa Phillips.  She became the dream spirit superhero of my first fiction book, Sleep Warrior - for the middle school audience.   

I think the time is right for this type of book.  On page 28 this month of Anadisgoi, Official publication of the Cherokee Nation  https://issuu.com/anadisgoi/docs/no.13_anadisgoi_winter_spring_2022 there is an article about the Marvel Voices Heritage - Indigenous Voices that will have a Cherokee character in a future series.  This is the artwork created by a member of the Cherokee Nation.    

My own novel, Sleep Warrior is about a preteen girl, Aya, who is half Cherokee, but looks like she is right off of the ‘res’ as the kids at her new huge public middle school in Asheville, NC refer to her. After moving from Oregon during the summer, Aya hasn’t been able to make friends like her twin brother, Alec. When the ever-popular mean girl, Chrissy, makes fun of her brother’s severe stutter, Aya gets Alec to smile again with some clever revenge, but it comes at a price.  

To make matters worse, Aya starts sleepwalking. She discovers that her ancient Cherokee ancestor, Clarissa, is taking over her body each night.  Clarissa is your typical superhero; flying around on a talking bear, saving a little girl from drowning, rescuing a hiker, and now she wants to expose the danger of a new dam.  Aya desperately wants her body back and to fit in at her new school.  With the help of another Cherokee kid at school and two talking bears, Aya discovers that sometimes to fit in, you need to find your own tribe.

I am looking for family and friends (old and new) to read this and provide me with a critique or review of the book.  Please send your comments to sandi.jerome@gmail.com.  It has been a long time since I've been around middle schoolers; my own granddaughters are now grown in their 20s, so my only input is listening and observing them at the Disney Parks which we frequent a few times a week as Annual Passholders.  Please download a free copy here.  Download PDF link - https://www.sandijerome.com/free/SleepWarriorSandiJerome.pdf

Now comes my big risk.  I will be having this critiqued at the SCBWI conference next month and also be sending out query letters to agents and publishers.  I have minimized the risk by reading a fantastic book over 9 times and doing ALL the exercises; including waiting 90 days.   It is by Mary Kole - Writing Irresistible Kidlit: The Ultimate Guide to Crafting Fiction for Young Adult and Middle Grade Readers 

I made the decision to change from self-publishing to being a PAL - Published and Listed author.  This means that a major publishing house has published my book.  I was a "PAL author" in 1990 when I wrote a computer manual for Lotus 1-2-3 (a popular spreadsheet program before Excel.)  I was lucky; I came up with an idea and sent out 3 query letters.  This was before the Internet so everything was snail mail and 2 letters came back as invalid addresses.  The 3rd one ended up with a phone call from an editor at Compute! Books saying he was publishing my book!  It was exciting and I used the money to buy a laser printer which cost more than my car.  But now, I go into the other "R" arena and the risk of rejection since the children's book market is huge.  My new question for myself;  is it worth the risk AND rejection?  The risk of my finite time left on this earth, the humiliation of criticism and rejection for the reward of being a PAL author again?  Yes, it is - because I have so many stories to tell and I get up wanting to write.  

I hope you like this Sleep Warrior story and if you're not already,  please Subscribe to my Quarterly Newsletter - I'm changing this from monthly to Quarterly to give me more time to write.  I will send you a link for this update; next time in July 2022 and maybe some more FREE things to download. Go to https://www.sandijerome.com/subscribe.html and enter your email address and then click Subscribe.  You'll get an email from SmilingEagle (our self-publishing venture) to Opt-In after you click the Subscribe button.  That email might be in your SPAM.  

Thank you for reading!

Sandi

https://www.sandijerome.com

  

 

 

Finding your Roots

 

Finding your Roots

 Genealogy is one of my hobbies that I inherited from my mother.  I wish I had inherited her buxom body, blond German hair and flair for cooking, but I got this instead.  I tend to look more like my dad’s side of the family.  But my mother loved genealogy.  She had huge family charts in the dining room that I now have.  At each family reunion, she went armed with a notebook and would record each new child and seek out the elders for more information about her ancestors. 

I joined Ancestry.com in 2010; over a decade ago.  It took me a few years to learn it, but now with that tool and Newspapers.com – I have discovered my “roots.”  One of the things that always puzzled me was my Native American; Cherokee heritage. My Grandma Mabel Phillips Cook ended up dying on the Cherokee Nation reservation in Oklahoma.  It is difficult to determine my exact Cherokee blood percentage because we have Native Americans on both sides of my father’s family.  Some of our ancestors were adopted; but the Cherokee nation treats them as tribe members.

I have been writing most of my life; first screenplays and now fantasy fiction for the Middle Grade audience.  My latest work, Sleep Warrior is about a young Cherokee Princess, Clarissa who takes over the body of her great, great, great, great, great granddaughter and becomes a superhero.  It is roughly based on Clarissa Wright – my actual 4 times great grandmother and the grandmother of Moses Phillips.  William Phillips – Grandma Rees’ first husband (my father’s grandfather) died tragically in Orange, CA in 1944 in a car accident.  William’s father was Moses Phillips and the person who did the most work registering all our ancestors (like my Grandmother Mabel Phillips Cook) into the Cherokee Nation.  

Moses was born in 1852 in Going Snake District in the Indian Territory.   His family is from South Carolina, North Carolina and TN – two areas where the Cherokee were removed, along with Georgia, after gold was discovered.  Moses’ grandfather, Elijah Phillips was born in 1805 in South Carolina and his wife Clarissa Wright was from Cherokee, TN (now Cherokee, NC) and part of the Wolf Clan.  She died in 1836. This is an important date, since she was only 33 years old at the time. Between 1836 and 1839 of an estimated 16,000 members of the Cherokee Nation were removed from their lands in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama to the Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma.)  This Cherokee removal, part of the Trail of Tears, refers to the forced relocation where the tribes were marched on foot from the east to Oklahoma without adequate food, water, or protection from the heat and cold. The resultant deaths along the way and at the end of the movement of an estimated 4,000 Cherokee.  We don’t know where Moses’ father, John Phillips was born since the records during this period are sparse and he died young at 35. 

Frustrated in not being able to learn more about Clarissa and her son who was only 12 when she died, I decided to make it up; thus the start of my fiction book, Sleep Warrior.

I am Smiling

 

This month, Keith and I celebrated 49 years of marriage and on the same day, 49 days to retirement. I will be a full time writer and Keith will be my editor. We sure are smiling!

On the Nellesen family Facebook, someone said that Grandma never smiled. She was a stout German no-fuss woman that probably didn't see a need. My mom used to say that I was a happy baby; I would just sit and smile and I didn’t talk or walk for a long time. Sure enough, my baby book says that I smiled at 4 weeks when most babies don’t smile until 8 weeks and laughed at 7 weeks. I was almost 2 years old before I walked and talked. I sure made up for that! Most days, I walk 5-6 miles every AM on my treadmill and then go to the Disney Parks on other days and walk 4-5 miles.

Getting back to Grandma, I do like these pictures, especially on my wedding day when she gave me something “borrowed” – her cross. She kept teasing me to make sure I gave it back after the ceremony; otherwise it wouldn’t be borrowed anymore! It sure made me smile and after looking at my own pictures; it is hard to find one where I am not smiling. I guess I'm just a happy person!

I will be even happier in 49 days. That is when I retire from a long career working in the car industry; first as an accountant, CFO, and then owning a software company that provided software to the car industry. I sold that company over three years ago to a guy from my hometown of Escondido. It is an amazing coincidence; one of my early investors suggested in 2015 that I talk to a young man that was also a software developer. After staying in touch for few years, we decided to meet and he mentioned that he was going back to his hometown for his grandmother's birthday - Escondido! With his unusual last name, I realized his father was a good friend of my brother. We agreed to fly to Rancho Bernardo and take the meeting. We were so impressed that a few months later we sold the majority interest in our company and agreed to stick around for a few years. They merged the two companies at the end of 2021 and we set a retirement date of April 2022 since Keith would start drawing Social Security in May and for me, the next April.

I have been testing various new occupations since I figured out the end was near; yoga instructor, writer, YouTube vlogger (Owen the Giraffe,), screenwriter, spinach grower, software developer (yogaiteach) and have settled on the one that I wake up the most anxious to start doing for the day; writing.   Please visit sandijerome.com to see more and click on Books or my Author page on Amazon.

As a "hobby" I have been writing screenplays for decades with some small successes; but to actually be a screenwriter is a different story.  Screenwriters have to take meetings, make revisions suggested by trust fund kids who call themselves “producers.”  I don’t ever see us being a part of the Hollywood scene.  But writing is there in me; it is my passion.  I have settled on two areas; “how to” and middle school fantasy fiction.  I enjoyed learning how to write novels while working on Princess Quest with Chandra during her forced lockdown in Hawaii. Poor Chandra, she arrives in Hawaii after being in Europe and Asia for almost 5 years and immediately goes into a lockdown.  I think Chandra was a good teacher and hopefully I’m improving with my next book.

I am also learning from a KitLit expert (which is what Middle Grade and Young Adult is nicknamed) a former Literary Agent and Editor.  One of the things that she recommends is that the protagonists be the same age as the readers.  That meant that I had to rewrite Princess Quest. My main characters, Kira and Henry they needed to start out at 10 years old and go on the Quest at 12. Makes more sense with them playing hide and go seek at the beginning.   The other is to make it appeal to both boys and girls.  I changed the cover to feature a map that appeals to boys…go figure because they certainly don’t like to use them as adults.  I added myself as an author.

During our past five years after moving from the Treasure Coast of Florida (Port St. Lucie) to the Central Orlando area (Clermont) we have been Florida Resident Annual Passholders. That meant that every free moment, we could to to my favorite park, Disney's Animal Kingdom. It is actually a zoo. I started sketching the animals to use the other side of my brain and learning more about them. Eventually I had enough for a book. I'm busy handing out free copies to Disney cast members and guests to get input and make any corrections. Then I will create the final version and "publish" it on May 1st when I have more time after retirement.

My dad always said, if you love your work, you never need to retire. I love this new job and I'm already working on two more books in my free time. I am smiling and happy. If you visit our "company" website, www.smilingeagle.com - you'll see how I got the title of this month's blog.