3/22/22, Hope
Hello Everyone,
I hope you’ve had a good week, and that some good things happened to you. Maybe Valentine’s Day got you off to a good start. I hope it went well!!!
It’s hard to find a suitable subject these days, with so many serious things going on. Fashion Week, in any city, pales by comparison, or cute shoes, or even my dogs. These are serious times. As we go through our daily lives in our various cities in countries where we are safe, our ordinary lives and problems are in sharp contrast to the horrors of war that we see on the news from Ukraine, where an unthinkable battle/war is being waged, where innocent women and children, and ordinary civilians are losing their lives and their homes and their country is buried under debris from the bombs, the images we see are heartbreaking, and millions are fleeing, while being peppered with bombs. It is more than sobering to watch, and the children break my heart.
In England, France and the US, we’ve moved into a new phase with Covid, where tests are no longer required, vaccine passes are no longer necessary, and masks have been dropped—only to be warned on the news that it’s too soon, and that there is a new variant, Ba.2, which is thought to be THIRTY TIMES more contagious than Omicron, which was something like 50 times more contagious than the one before. So how are we supposed to feel relaxed with that lurking? I am keeping my mask on any time I go out, and am feeling squeamish about very public places, and won’t go to indoor restaurants. In France there are still 100,000 cases a day, and in Germany 300,000. That doesn’t sound like it’s over to me.
War and Pestilence, it still sounds biblical to me.
But even with that going on, I took a card my daughter sent me to be framed, I had publishing and legal and insurance meetings today, seeing my accountant tomorrow, when I’m not writing, I have to do all the grown up very boring stuff that keeps life on track and sure isn’t fun. I dropped by to see a friend today, and bought cute plates for our Easter brunch.
Life is a strange mixed bag of ordinary tasks sometimes, with HUGE issues to ponder in the world, like Covid and Ukraine. While I sit quietly at my desk tonight, writing to you, someone is crawling out of the debris of a bombed burned out building, a child is crying, people are hungry and thirsty and freezing cold….the harsh realities of life woven in with the ordinary tasks, and then a brief, fleeting happy tender moment, of friendship, of love, and hope, a smile, a hug from a child, and my dogs snoring next to me when I finally get to bed at night.
We have to seize the beauty where we see it, and catch the rays of sunlight and moonbeams when they happen….and always in the midst of tedium, and chaos, and even heartbreak, somehow we have to see a ray of hope, and hang onto that.
Be safe, and well, and happy, and careful, with all my love, Danielle
Leave a Comment
If you would like to make a comment, please fill out the form below.
Hello Danielle,
I have now read about six of your books, and I have to say that most were great.
My name is Virginia Crandall, and I am attempting to publish my eighth manuscript with a new publishing company. My previous books were published by Amazon and my autobio. by Barnes and Noble. I am finding it a lot more difficult to publish with a publisher that offers new authors a small advance. Do you have any advice for me as I feel like this is ‘mission impossible’?
I have the feeling that competition is a lot more fierce than it used to be. Can that be true?
Thank you in advance for your input.
Virginia L. Crandall
Hello Danielle,
I have now read about six of your books, and I have to say that most were great.
My name is Virginia Crandall, and I am attempting to publish my eighth manuscript with a new publishing company. My previous books were published by Amazon and my autobio. by Barnes and Noble. I am finding it a lot more difficult to publish with a publisher that offers new authors a small advance. Do you have any advice for me as I feel like this is ‘mission impossible’?
I have the feeling that competition is a lot more fierce than it used to be. Can that be true?
Thank you in advance for your input.
Virginia L. Crandall
It’s quite a challenge to navigate through all that.
Et comme si ça ne suffisait pas, il y a les autres choses dans tant de pays, comme par exemple les enfants qui errent dans les rues, et qui sont utilisés par les passants en échange d’un peu de drogue.
Personally, what gives me sanity is the Serenity Prayer.
“Courage to change the things I can”…
Recently, I felt so helpless, I decided to start mentoring a young teenager. A tiny, tiny little bit like Ginny Carter does in your wonderful book, BLUE.
How much joy and pride she is bringing me! I’m curious to get to know her favourite Youtubers, and it keeps me young!! And how fun to try and pinpoint books she could like. BTW she loves dogs, and I plan to get her one of your Minnie books in French (hard to find though. Les éditeurs, il est temps de réimprimer!). If all else falls, I’ll get a copy in English and translate it to her, one page at a time. A good exercice for both of us.
“Change the things we can.” With a friend, we were discussing stopping by a Ukrainian church to ask about what we can do. Even a small bill, perhaps given every week—it’s the gift of care, of solidarity. I’m saying to myself: let’s not minimize the moved surprise [uh! sounds weird. La surprise émue] of a priest hearing a knock on the door, and seeing a total stranger sharing a little bit of warmth. And who knows what those 20$ might do. Perhaps, of course, not much at all. Or perhaps, help a family purchase a piece of wood that will hold a bullet that otherwise would have gone through the window. Or maybe this kind of small actions will just help us manage our anxiety a little better and keep smiling.
“Change the things we can”: every single one of your books is likely to bring strength. Comfort. Company. Values. And happiness. They do to me, and to so many others.
Thank you so, so immensely!
Avec affection, Beatrice
p.s. I too think we sort of have some responsibility to keep going in the name of the ones who cannot, or who cannot at the moment. For the ones who die young, who suffer, and so on. To keep going responsibly, in solidarity, in order to honor this gift that we were given.
Going out in small gatherings is honoring life. And why not keep the mask: after all we have quite a collection, why not show them. I know of a restaurant owner who keeps asking for vaccination proof! Why not! In my opinion, he will rightfully attract heedful customers.
p.p.s. I am sorry that this was a very long comment. J’ai pris beaucoup de place. Bonne journée!
Your books have really helped me get through Covid-19 It is a wonderful escape and you are a wonderful author. Thank you
Thank you, Danielle,
“We have to seize the beauty where we see it, and catch the rays of sunlight and moonbeams when they happen….and always in the midst of tedium, and chaos, and even heartbreak, somehow we have to see a ray of hope, and hang onto that.”
The light is there.
Amen!
Rob Scott