Welcome, Colleen!
The Importance of the
Uncomfortable In-Between
Have you ever suffered the agony of being in between jobs, college and a job, relationships, or sizes? You’re neither here nor there, suddenly in a void somewhere in the middle. For me, it’s in between books that scares me the most. And because I’ve suffered the in-between as an employee, graduate, lover, or someone beyond one-size-fits-all, as a writer I know how to endure when one familiar world is gone and the next is nowhere in sight. Here is what I’ve learned.
Knee jerk reactions to the common in-betweens:
Between jobs: “I’ll never get another. I’ll starve to death!”
Between college and a job: “Well, there are four years of my life and gobs of money I’ll never get back.”
Between relationships: “I can’t live without him/her!”
Between sizes: “Some people really are big boned and I’m one of them.”
Me between books: “No characters will ever inspire me like those did. Ever. I’ll be the equivalent of a one-hit-wonder.” Pretty much the sum of all of the above in-between reactions.
Temptations during the common in-betweens:
Between jobs: Never rest until you nail down the next. Avoid eating. Food costs money. Drink and serve only tap water.
Between college and a job: Remodel your parents’ basement since this is where you’ll spend your adult years.
Between relationships: Vacillate from hating yourself to hating your ex. Or from vowing to never love again to frantically searching for a quick replacement.
Between sizes: To buy clothes that don’t fit, either the size you want to be or to disguise the one you are.
Me between books: Write pure tripe and pretend it’s good. Pretty much like dating the first person who comes along.
Realities of the common in-betweens:
Between jobs: It’s a temporary unshackled time you’ll never get back once you’re hired.
Between college and a job: College was hard, so rest. De-stress without resorting to any of the regrettable ways you did as a student. Employers read social media.
Between relationships: Your identity has shifted from being part of a whole to a whole. You will feel unanchored, invalidated, insecure, angry, and desperate until you let go of what’s behind without latching onto someone new, and heal.
Between sizes: You’re your own worst critic. The rest of us are fretting over our own sizes.
Me between books: Attaching to new characters won’t happen until the prior ones are out of my psyche and soul. Pretty much like rebounding.
An inspiring tree that has grown through adversity.
Hard learned lessons about the common in-betweens:
Between jobs: Relish this time. Don’t panic. Live today the way you’ll wish you would have once you can never get it back.
Between college and a job: Relish this time. Don’t panic. It’s your bridge between yesterday and tomorrow.
Between relationships: Relish this time. Don’t panic. Learn to know, like, enjoy, and be comfortable with you so you can fit the next relationship to you instead of fitting yourself to whatever comes along.
Between sizes: Relish this time. Don’t panic. Dress with purpose…don’t repurpose.
Me in between books: Relish this time. Don’t panic. Let the old voices die down so the new voices can be heard. Pretty much like all of the above.
Bottom line: Don’t let desperation, uncertainty, limbo, or fear rob you of satisfaction, new highs, direction, confidence, and fun. Don’t drag yesterday’s baggage into tomorrow. Live in the moment!
Thank you for sharing, Colleen - I appreciated hearing this positive take on the in-betweens! Now let’s talk about your book!
Whispers behind doors…
Annabelle Crouse is determined to reopen her great-grandmother’s boarded up house—and her shunned life. Many years earlier, after an unexplained absence, Julianne was relegated to a separate home by a rigidly unforgiving husband, and the Crouse women have suffered the disgrace of her assumed guilt ever since.
Despite her family’s strong disapproval, Annabelle is driven to pursue her mission through cobwebs and dust, finding the clues and the coded story left behind by her great-grandmother—Why did she go? And why did she return? Annabelle has to know.
Only one person, a man she grew up with but never noticed, stands with Annabelle as she discovers the parallels between her story and her great-grandmother’s—two women, generations apart, experiencing what love truly is.
Buy the Amazon #1 Bestseller “Mine to Tell.”
Excerpt:
“Mine to tell,” Kyle said suddenly. It was a jolt. I was yanked from my mental tumble into a pit of unredemption. Alex looked up too, a quizzical expression on his face. “Julianne left a story behind,” Kyle continued. “Some of it speculation and rumors by people who don’t know, and the rest of it by her own hand. It was a love story. One that was countered with suffering.”
We were all quiet. I looked at him, my heart melting as I heard his masculine voice speak of love and suffering. I wanted to lean across the table and hug him, but I was too afraid.
Alex leaned back in his chair. “What my father went through didn’t feel like love when we were little.”
“But maybe it was,” Kyle persisted, his tone smooth and even. “Does love always turn out the way we want it to?” Then he looked at me. “Julianne Crouse was a fine woman. We haven’t finished her story, but she suffered, and she was fine indeed.”
Tears came to my eyes. “Thank you,” I squeaked. Kyle stood and walked around the table to me. He helped me stand as he thanked them for their time. He retrieved Julianne’s picture, took my hand, and together we went to the door, Alex and his wife following us.
“I hope you’re right,” Alex said, running his hand through his thin, brittle hair as we stepped outside. “My father had some things to come to terms with, but he was a good man. A better man later in life, when he told us he was sorry. I never knew for what.”
