Joan Reeves: Window Over the Desk by Liz Flaherty

I'm thrilled to welcome my friend Liz Flaherty to SlingWords.

Liz is one of my favorite authors whether I'm reading a romance she's written or her blog Window Over the Sink.

Today, Liz is sharing an excerpt from her new book Window Over the Desk.

Come along with me and let me introduce you to Liz and to her new book.

Meet Liz Flaherty

Retired from the post office, Liz Flaherty spends non-writing time sewing, quilting, and wanting to travel. The author of 20-some books and her husband Duane share an old farmhouse in North Central Indiana that they talk about leaving.

However, that would require clearing baseball trophies from the attic and dusting the pictures of the Magnificent Seven, their grandchildren, so they’ll probably stay where they are.

Liz can be reached at lizkflaherty@gmail.com or found at http://lizflaherty.net or on Social Media at these locations:

https://www.facebook.com/lizkflaherty/

https://www.facebook.com/authorlizflaherty

https://twitter.com/LizFlaherty1

https://www.instagram.com/lizkflaherty/

https://www.pinterest.com/lizkf/_saved/

Window Over the Desk

“I love the opening scene. In my mind, it’s full and rich and will hook a reader so absolutely that she will be unable to stop reading even to go to work or fold the laundry.

"In quilting, when you sew a seam, you “set” it with the iron so it’s flat and flawless (in theory). My first scene is that to me. It sets the story on my heart so I have to tell it.

"It acquaints me with the people in the story, with the house’s front porch, with the dog named Ma...with the dog.

"Usually, by the time the book is done, the opening scene is either gone or rewritten beyond recognition. Doesn’t matter—it set the seam.” – Liz Flaherty, Window Over the Desk

Genesis of Window Over the Desk

In 2020, I released the first collection of Window Over the Sink columns. It was for my family, really, and to give my own ego a boost. (Any writer who says she doesn’t need that now and then is lying, by the way.)

It was so much fun.

Which is why I decided to open the Window Over the Desk. My view out this particular window is a favorite—even today, when I’m drying…things…on the clothesline. Also today, the hay bales in the field that have given me pleasure for several weeks have been gathered and stored for the long winter.

I hope the essays in this book give you some pleasant reading time over that winter. I hope they make you remember things, laugh sometimes, and refill your cup and sit down and read “just one more.”

As I mention way more often than is necessary, I’m kind of old. The years have dimmed some reflections through the window, brightened others, and changed a whole bunch of them. What a trip it’s been.

So many of my columns and blogs over the years have been about writing, and I tried to leave them out of the books of essays.

However, about halfway through the last book, I realized I was leaving out not only essays I valued, but an integral part of myself.

So, in Window Over the Desk, there are several chapters dedicated to writers, to writing, to talking about quitting writing, to how much I hate writing, and how much I love it. I think every writer I know will identify with The Writing Pane, and I hope everyone else enjoys it, too.

Thanks—again—for joining me on the journey.

Giveaway! Giveaway!

Liz is giving away a Christmas ornament and a backlist paperback to a commenter who shares her favorite Christmas movie with us.

To enter, all you need to do is leave a comment with your email addy written out, not as a hot link.

Liz will select a winner by random draw and notify the lucky reader by email.

Excerpt from Window Over the Desk

I thought for a long time that in order for my work to be credible, someone needed to be reading it. Someone needed to be paying me for it. Those are things I would always prefer, but credibility comes from within, doesn’t it? Do I write better when I have an audience? Yeah, I think so. Do I write better if there’s a paycheck attached? Not always. So, no, I won’t retire until I can’t operate a keyboard anymore.

You don’t “get over” losing people, do you? I think it gets better, but the getting better takes effort. It doesn’t mean you don’t talk about the ones you loved or that you don’t remember things. It doesn’t even mean you remember only the good things. What it means is, if they had a place in your heart while they were living, they still have it.

Having an empty nest means your life is, for the most part, your own again, and it’s up to you what you make of it. For us, live music, coffee shops, and writers’ groups have been new and exciting beginnings, including the friends, experiences, and good times I mentioned above.

Not being ready doesn’t stop things from happening. Life doesn’t go on hold until you’re ready to start living it again. It stops briefly, breathlessly, and waits for you to catch up. Do that. Don’t let it go on without you.