Please welcome special guest Peg Brantley!

 Gettin’ Out Much? 

Hello, Fellow Non-Travelers! As I write this, I was supposed to be in Chile beginning an adventure in South America. Instead, I’m in cold and snowy Colorado where we’re solidly into our Teasin’ Season.

Anxious much? 

I was reminded recently about the power of deep breathing exercises. Long, focused inhales…hold for two counts…longer controlled exhales. Go ahead, try a couple. I’ll wait. I can feel the tension leave my body when I breathe like this. The trick is to remember the trick.

Suzanne Giesemann suggests that when you’re looking at your life as it is today, omit your "Shoulds", "Have Tos" and "Musts". Replacing those words with “I would prefer” can help give voice to what you’d rather have going on in your life while acknowledging your lack of control.

Giesemann also recommends that when you’re presented with a piece of news that is devastating, some overwhelming statistic, for example, that threatens to suck you into an unwelcome place, say “Isn’t that interesting.” This phrase takes you to neutral. You’re above judgment.

I was talking to a friend the other day and she said, “We can’t clean ourselves out of this.” At first I was shocked, then sat stunned realizing she was probably right. It would’ve been the perfect time to say, “Isn’t that interesting.” I guess this is one more trick to remember.

Unproductive much? 

Lisa Cooper Ellison wrote a piece for Jane Friedman’s blog that I read today. Ellison eloquently says that writing requires heart space. A place where we can dig down and pull up our feelings and our memories and our humanity to create characters and stories.

It can be painful to write deep POV. Cathartic yes, but you have to believe you’re in a safe place to bring your feelings to the surface where you can dust them off or poke them or do whatever you have to do to create that intense connection with readers. Heart space is that safe place.

But what happens when our heart space is filled with COVID-19 statistics,

the awareness that no one knows what’s going to happen next,worry about loved ones who might be more susceptible to the virus, wondering how much longer your food supply will last. How much longer your supply of toilet paper and cleaning supplies will last.  

Over the last three weeks I’ve read some good books, stopped reading some that weren’t so good, listened to a couple of good audio books, stopped streaming a popular show because I didn’t like it and found others I thoroughly enjoyed. And almost always, COVID-19 is running in my brain background.



I haven’t done a lick of work on my story.

Then yesterday, Seth Godin’s blog said this:

“We know how things are. How could we not?

And we see the emotional rut that so many have fallen into as well.

The question is: Will you embrace an emotional posture that models how you’d like to feel instead? Today, this day, we only get it once. How do you want today to feel on an emotional level?

It takes effort.

But it’s a choice.

We can’t change how things are, but we can change how we will approach today.

And yes, an attitude can spread. Begin with us.”


I hope you find some things in this post that are helpful. Things you can use today. Thoughts that will help pave the way back to whatever your adventure plans and hopes were as we rolled into 2020.

Marlyn, thanks for thinking of me and inviting me to spend a few minutes with you and your friends. This opportunity you handed me came at just the right time, allowing me to make the choice to get back to some work.




Peg Brantley is a multi-award winning author who considers herself a conversation starter. She likes to take current social issues that are important to her and share them through her books.

With the intent to bring credibility to her stories, Peg is a graduate of the Aurora Citizens’ Police Academy, participated in the Writers’ Police Academy, has interviewed crime scene investigators, FBI agents, human trafficking experts, obtained her Concealed Carry Permit, studied diverse topics from arson dogs to Santeria, and hunted down real life locations that show up in her books.

A Colorado native, Peg Brantley and her husband make their home southeast of Denver, sharing it over time with the occasional pair of mallard ducks and their babies, snapping turtles, peacocks, assorted other birds, foxes, a deer named Cedric, and a bichon named McKenzie.




You can learn more about Peg’s books at http://www.pegbrantley.com or meet up with her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pegbrantleyauthorpage.

It’s all better with friends.