Thursday, January 25, 2024

When Intuition Takes Off Like a Rocket, Trust It

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One of my goals for 2024 is to be more intentional in the time I set aside for meditation and intuitive practices. I'm trying to do my meditations in the morning instead of on an ad-hoc basis, now, and here is why: once I start working on a book edit or start up with the day's appointments or buying groceries or running errands, then the time I set aside for meditation gets smaller and smaller depending on how the day goes. 

Today was my first day trying it this year, and the result was phenomenal!

Photo courtesy of Unsplash

I closed myself into my study and sat in what I call the reading nook chair. I used a Tibetan singing bowl to clear my energetic field, then centered myself with some deep breathing. For any thoughts that cropped up (like an email I need to send later today), I thanked myself for the reminder and visualized myself tacking a note about it to a cork board to address later. The reminder will be there energetically (and as soon as I finish this post, I'll go send that email, LOL!), but this was not the time.

After a few moments, I pulled out my journal, a pen, and the deck of cards that I use to inspire receiving messages for the moment.

I took the deck and spread them out on a lap desk, continuing to breathe deeply. One of those cards started to look a little bit lighter. It had a little bit of a "pick me" feeling to it. So I pulled it out, but did not look at it, then scooped up the rest of the cards into a pile and put them aside. 

I held the card in my hands face down and continued to breathe and relax my body, and before long, an image formed in my mind of a rocket ship taking off from a NASA launch pad, complete with all the clouds that get kicked up when those huge engines crank up. I'm not an artist AT ALL, but here's the sketch I drew in my notebook after receiving that image:

What I drew in meditation—I promise it is not a pencil! 😂

And then I turned over the card. What do you see here? 

Card from Kim Chestney's Intuition Deck

Okay, it's a lighthouse, right? Not a rocket. 

But look at the general shape of it. It's long, thin, tall...much like a rocket ship. And there are some sort of clouds underneath it, right? Much like those engine clouds I drew. 

And then I softened my focus, breathed deep...and an entire segment of my forthcoming book about my near-death experience just fell out of my pen. 

This meditation experience is a wonderful reminder of how our intuitive language isn't meant to be literal a lot of the time (though it can be). Instead, our receptors are capable of getting the gist of something...in my case, the shape of something long and tall and thin with clouds under it. 

Turning over the card was just a fun little validation of trusting those receptors are working JUST FINE, and then letting the pen fly was an amazing, freeing experience. I often suffer from writers' block, and that rocket ship just blasted through it. 

This is one example of how using meditation and intuition for creative pursuits works for me, and I hope it's helpful to those of you who are just learning about how your own intuition works. 

Have you ever had something similar happen to you? Feel free to share in the comments! 

Have a wonderful day! 🚀





Wednesday, January 10, 2024

Book Series Recommendation: Oxford Key Mysteries by Lynn Morrison

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I did not do as much reading this past year as I did the years before, but the reading I did manage to get in was high quality. I'd like to start recommending books more here, especially as a couple of friends have recently asked me for recommendations. 

So, first up is the Oxford Key Mystery series by Lynn Morrison! 

This series has all the hallmarks of a British cozy with the addition of magic and wonder! Natalie lands a dream job in Oxford as the Head of Ceremonies (basically, an event planner), and while her first day on the job was expected to have a steep learning curve, she didn't realize dead bodies were going to be part of that. 

With the help of new friends and coworkers, ghosts, and a very special black cat (among others), Natalie tries to get to the bottom of the mystery...but the stakes are high as Oxford's magical field is in danger of being destroyed. 

Each book could be read separately, but I do recommend starting at the first and working your way up. The books are available individually on Amazon, but even better, the author has 2 box sets (1–3 and 4–6) up as well, which are well worth it. 

I hope you enjoy them. If you read them, let me know what you think! 



Saturday, December 30, 2023

The Annual Wrap-Up Post: 2023 in Review

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Wow, time flies! There are so many times I wanted to post quick updates here, and then ... didn't. I like to take the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve to do a little reflection on the past year, though, so without further ado, let's get started on the traditional year-end post. 

2023 was an interesting year on so many levels: 

I edited or proofread approximately 26 books this year. (See a portfolio here.) Many thanks to the clients who've hired me as well as to Inner Traditions for being such a great company to freelance for. 

I also edited nearly a million words of copy for monthly retainer clients who have regular marketing and other messaging, and beta read or served as an arc reader for more books than I can count (as I didn't track those stats, but it was in the dozens), plus I read approximately 58 books for fun this year (a lot fewer than previous years, but I was pretty busy).

I grew as a person, too, working hard to become a Certified Intuition Master Practitioner through Intuition Lab. Many thanks to Kim Chestney for her friendship and mentoring, and also many thanks to my fellow students, especially my study group, who were so instrumental in my growth as an intuitive. I will be joining the Intuition Lab faculty in a larger role in 2024. Come join us



By the way, be on the lookout for Kim's new book, The Illumination Code, coming out in 2024. You might recognize one of the contributors in a tiny piece of this book. I also learned that one of my fellow Intuition Lab friends lives nearby, so she and I have been having fun going out and exploring the area. 

My friend Jessica and I explored a haunted local restaurant.


I joined a writing accountability group and am finally making progress on two books. The first book is what I learned after a near-death experience (which caused me to turn my life around). The second is about my paranormal experiences throughout life. I decided to write it because I often get into conversations with people about paranormal things, and I realized I actually have enough to make a full book (maybe two), so why not? It's truly my hope to finally publish at least one of these in 2024. 

Also, I went on approximately 10 hospice visits this year, and hope to do at least the same next year. I really appreciate my fellow members in the Long Bay Threshold Singers and have enjoyed getting to know them better, too. One of my fellow singers invited me into a recording studio to record a song she'd written, too, so that was fun!

My friend Charly and I after recording her song at a studio.


I also was able to take several trips:
  • To Charlotte for the annual ConCarolinas convention, featuring paranormal, writing, comics, gaming, sci-fi, geek and tech tracks. I think this is quickly becoming my "home" convention despite the fact that it's 3 hours away. I really enjoy everything on offer and everyone I've met there is so nice.
  • A 2-week trip up and down the east coast with my parents to see family and family friends. We stopped in several places in Maryland, New York, Connecticut, and Virginia. This was a really special time for my family.
  • The 2023 Dogman Conference in Fort Worth, TX, put on by Josh Turner (Paranormal Round Table) and Ken Gerhard (UnXplained, The Proof is Out There, and other shows). They and their team did an amazing job, the presenters were all fabulous, and I met so many wonderful people, including finally meeting 2 clients in person (Josh and Lyle Blackburn)
2023 Dogman Conference, Fort Worth, TX
me with friends (L-R, Top to Bottom):
Glenn Haskins, Nellie Turner, Lyle Blackburn
The Nunnellys, Darrel Denton & Martin Groves, Barton Nunnelly
Craig Woolheater, Latisha Nunnelly, Josh Turner
Ken Gerhard, Dinner Companions, Ron Morehead & Keri Campbell


  • A trip to Houghton Lake, Michigan, for the 5th annual Michigan UFO Contact 👽 conference put on by Deb and Arjay DeRousse and Mike Smith. They and their team also did an amazing job, and I've already booked my room for next year. I met so many cool people there, plus I got to spend quality time with friends.
Me with some of my friends at
MI UFO CON 2023
in Houghton Lake, Michigan
Jamilah Simmons-McKenzie, Rev. Michael Carter,
Andrea Perron, Lyn Bowling and Maizy,
and Deb DeRousse

  • A quick weekend jaunt to Greenville, SC to see Lyle Blackburn's band, Ghoultown, with my Dad. As Lyle mentioned to my father that night, we'd worked together for years without ever meeting, then this year we got to see each other twice in two months. (That's what happens when one person is in Texas and the other on the East Coast.) Also chalk this trip up to my first editor shout-out during a rock concert! 👍 It was a nice dad/daughter trip, and while there, we stopped and paid our respects to my first mother-in-law, a lovely woman who died too young and is interred with her ancestors in a historic cemetery. 
Dad and I had a fun time seeing
Lyle Blackburn and his bandmates
on tour within driving
distance of where we live!

I even got to march in a Christmas Parade, which had the feel of a small-town Hallmark Movie in disguise! 




While the year did have its downsides, too (all years do!), I feel incredibly lucky and blessed that this is my life. No matter what lumps happened in 2023 or prior years, I will always move forward into a new year with hope, looking forward to what is to come, whatever that may be, rather than doom a year before it even begins (which I often see online). I think it's in people's nature to fear what's coming if they've suffered in a year, but for me, I choose to remain positive but realistic. I know 2024 will have challenges ... it wouldn't be life without them ... but I still embrace it all! 

Wishing you all an amazing, happy, healthy, abundant, and beautiful 2024. Happy New Year! 💛


Monday, May 15, 2023

The Sweetest Hospice Visit

(Following links on this blog may result in my earning a small fee. As an Amazon associate I may earn from qualifying purchases.)  

I volunteer at hospices as a threshold singer through the international organization, Threshold Choir, founded by Kate Munger. Today’s song visit at the hospice is still on my mind because of one of the recipients who I’m still smiling about hours later. She’s 92, I believe she said, and she was a respite patient (meaning she’s there to give her caregiver a couple of days’ break, but she’s not in her final hours or anything). 

 She was asleep when we walked in, and we often do sing in super soft, lullaby voices as they sleep as long as the nursing staff has given us the go-ahead. We walked in and put down our chairs (we carry little stools so we can sit at the foot of the bed) and before we could sit, she woke up, looked at us like we were crazy, then shouted “WHO ARE YOU?!” When our song leader tried to answer, she shouted “WHAT? I CAN’T HEAR YOU!” 

We ascertained through a variety of lip reading, shouting, and flailing attempts at hand signals that she’s deaf as post and doesn’t wear her hearing aids because “THEY DON’T WORK ANYWAY.” But we did figure out that she could hear us if we were right next to her and shouted near her, so when we finally managed to communicate who we were and what we were doing in her room, she got herself all sat up again and invited us to stay and sing. 

And sing we did! Instead of our usual soft lullaby voices, we closed the door a bit so as not to disturb the entire building and proceeded to belt at the top of our lungs old songs that she’d know the lyrics to: "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," "You Are My Sunshine," and other popular songs were a hit, and she actually sang along with us and in tune! It absolutely made her day, she clapped along and smiled and tapped her little feet, and offered us whatever pastry was on her plate (we declined), and told us a bit about herself, and then she wanted to know where we sing. 

 “Here.” 

 “Not up in Wilmington?” 

 “No. Here and down into Myrtle Beach.” 

 “Oh? Well, this is a nice place. It’s new, you know. And it’s not like I’ve seen the whole place, but I’ve been here since Thursday, and this room is nice, the food is nice, and everyone has just been so nice. Yes, it’s a nice place …. well, that’s an odd thing to say about somewhere you go to die, but you know what I mean. It’s just really nice.” 

And she’s right. The facility I sing in is small: seven patient rooms. It’s built in a large circle so that every room has an outdoor patio with rocking chairs. There’s an indoor courtyard of pollinator plants in the center of the circle. The patient rooms are like large efficiency apartments minus the appliances, with plenty of space for family and visitors, including a sleeping couch and recliner/twin for family to sleep on and a large bathroom. In the common areas, there is a large lounge with a piano, and a large kitchen stocked with complimentary foods so families don’t have to find somewhere to eat or leave their loved one for too long. There’s a playground, and an indoor play area for children, too. It’s an amazing facility, and I can only hope to be so lucky that if I have to go somewhere else to die, it’s in a place like that. This is the kind of place with a wait list. But what a gift they give to the dying and their families. 

After our voices were spent, our little friend held out her hands for each of us to take hers, and she gave us each a squeeze. I utterly ADORED her. This is soul work, simple and true.

Sunday, May 7, 2023

Having Fun with Smart Devices

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Recent Adventures with AI via a Smart Device

(In this case, an Amazon Echo)


Me: Alexa, play Boudica by Enya

Alexa: I can’t find that song. Playing songs by similar artists on Amazon Music.  
🎵🎶 MOVE! B**ch, get out the way…

Me: . . .

Alexa: 🎵🎶 …get out the way, b**ch, get out the way!

Me: ALEXA!

Alexa: . . .

Me: NO.

Alexa: 🎵🎶MOVE! B**ch, get out the way!

Me: ALEXA!

Alexa: . . .

Me: STOP.

Alexa: . . . 

Me: Alexa, play Boudica by Enya

Alexa: Playing Enya and similar artists on Amazon Music. 
🎵🎶 SAIL AWAY, SAIL AWAY, SAIL AWAY!

Me: 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Monday, May 1, 2023

How Gratitude Overcame a Case of the Don't Wannas

(I made this post on Conscious Commons today, and thought I'd share it here as well.) 

Today I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I didn't get enough sleep, and I was annoyed that I had been woken up by an early alarm for a physical therapy session. Asleep on my feet, travel mug full of coffee in hand, and feeling a case of the "don't wannas," I headed out to my car to go to PT.... ...and then remembered that they've closed my road for maintenance, and I'd have to go the "long way around," making my five-minute commute a fifteen-minute commute, which would most definitely make me late for the appointment. I grumped and groaned and stressed as I started out of my driveway. And then I remembered to have gratitude for my situation: - I can go to PT and have someone help me with my pain. - My insurance will pay for the appointments. - I have a car I can drive, and the landscape is beautiful as I take the long way around. - It's a gorgeous, sunny day! I rolled down the windows and let the fresh spring air refresh my spirit. - This fair trade coffee sure is tasty! ...and so on. By the time I arrived at my appointment, my attitude was adjusted, my mood was lifted, and most importantly, I didn't go in and sour anyone else's Monday with a bad attitude. 


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Additional Thoughts about Memorial Day

(Following links on this blog may result in my earning a small fee. As an Amazon associate I may earn from qualifying purchases.) In my last...