I’m now eight months away from being pension eligible by age. Eight months from today, I will turn 55, and then I will be able to start drawing on my retirement pay every month for the rest of my life. I’ve been looking forward to that date ever since I left teaching to concentrate on my writing career. Of course, I don’t look forward to getting older, but I do look forward to having a steady income again.
These thoughts have been in my head lately, and then I read the news that Lisa Marie Presley passed away from a heart attack yesterday at the age of 54. That’s my age. She was only a few weeks shy of turning 55.
That’s wrong, don’t you think? As we know, though, life isn’t fair, and it throws all kinds of crap at us, but I still think it’s wrong for her to have died from a heart attack at the age of 54.
Naturally, I think that, and naturally it hit me hard since I’m 54. It’s sobering and humbling. And scary.
I have so many plans and hopes and dreams, as I’m sure she did, too. That’s all we can do, though, isn’t it? Keep focusing on those dreams.
That’s what I’ll be doing these next eight months and for however long I have after those eight months pass. I’m hoping for many, many more years because I have so much that I want to accomplish with my writing.
I also want to travel a lot, read a lot of the books I own, be there for my kids and any future grandkids I might have, and so much more.
A few months ago, I began writing a story about a woman who hears a long-distance dedication that she was meant to hear decades prior but that she didn’t hear then. The story is about the impact that song has on her all these years later and the choices she makes because of it.
The story is still in its infancy and not even close to complete. It’s one of four works in progress that I’m trying to decide which to complete next. Due to Lisa Marie Presley’s untimely death and the music legend that was her father, I am going to share the VERY ROUGH beginning of this story with my paying subscribers.
If you are not yet a paid subscriber, please consider upgrading to paid. Paying subscribers receive first looks at new pieces as well as pieces of my novels that they’d otherwise have to buy the book to read. If I can get more paid subscribers, there will be more benefits that I can offer. Remember, I’m still eight months away from a regular paycheck — I owe my ability to work on my writing full time to my wonderful boyfriend, Kim, who has shouldered the bulk of our finances these past months, so every paying subscriber is a boon to me.
In honor of Lisa Marie Presley’s memory and her father’s legacy, here is the beginning — in ROUGH DRAFT form — of a work I’m calling “Distant Dedication” right now. If you like it, please leave a comment. Thanks.
Tammy
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