One of the my tag lines for Long Live the Suicide King is “life is sweet.” Because life is very sweet indeed! Here’s a growing list of reasons, gathered at conferences, conventions, and signings:
- Music, art, writing, and drawing
- Sports, songs, friends, and writing
- Reading teen fiction!
- The freedom to speak, think, and write
- Equal opportunities to power
- Photography
- Learning something new every day!
- Animals
- Love
- The outdoors
- Writing and creating stories
- Bike riding
- Books
- Friends
- Opportunity
- Video games
- People
-
Anime and Hayao Miyazaki
- Family and friends
- Volleyball
- Only live once
- Laughter
- Friends
- Soccer!
- Internet friends
- Bacon
- Chocolate
- The Mortal Instruments series
- The drama department
- Pictures, photography, and reading
- Dogs
- People who make you laugh
- Water
- Children
-
Crisp autumn days
- Dark chocolate with merlot
- Two great kids
- Kids (mine)
- Sunshine and smiles
- Writing conferences!
- Time to read a great book
- Colorado sunsets
- The rolling smoothness of the ballpoint pen
-
Cats
- Cats and books
- Three grandchildren eager to see me after the conference
- Every day is an opportunity to take my story in a new direction!
- Getting close to typing “the end”
- Functioning genitals
- Daylight savings time
- Love is what creates life and makes life worth living
- Colorful flowers
- Recognizing having a skill/talent as good as any singer on The Voice
- Poetry
- Watching your child read a book for the first time
- Woody Allen
- Laughter, especially from children
- Puppies and good food and wine!
- Gin and literature
- Sleep
- Reading
- Books at the beach!
- Sitting outside with dogs, friends, wine, and books
- Pastries and 74/no humidity weather
- Sex, food, and all the awesome
-
Comic books, Captain America, costumes
Midnight snacks and kittens
- Sunrises, laughter, and autumn
- Seeing your favorite band live and petting dogs
- Anime, hot guys, food, Marvel, and books Rainy days and chocolate
-
Kittens and puppies
- Life is good in itself; a new change every day, every moment!
- Books are an amazing thing about life!
- Cuddling with a puggle
- A really squishy, wrinkly puggle named Walter
- Kayaking with the water flies on a glassy-surfaced lake
- Henry and my grandchildren and my great-grandchild, and how well I lived my life, not how long
- Watching our kids mature
- When two beers don’t give me a headache
- Summer walks around the lakes in Minnesota
- Seeing my friend and family every day
- The outdoors and being with people we love
- Cold beers and Aaron Ritchey books!
- Family, friends and sunshine!
- Morning in the summer before 12 p.m.
-
Music
- Watching my kids running free on a warm summer day
- Grandkids and family
- So many stages of life–kid, teens, military, broken-hearted–so many drugs and liquor (many years), Nancy, grandkids, happy as hell now.
- There’s always a new day; let go and let God.
- My daily 20-mile bike commute
- Life is full of music
- Meeting new people
- The scents and colors in the springtime
- Love, beauty, hope, awe, belonging, and baseball
- The phenomenal biodiversity around us–life is a miracle!
- Good friends–old and new
- Sunsets and sunrises at the ocean
- Saladelia meatballs and my friend Aaron
- My wife Carol and riding my motorcycle (with Carol)
- Star Trek and my husband
- Expressing life through writing
- Sweaty, passionate love-making
- The journey
- Being able to write
- The first cup of coffee in the morning
- Being with someone who understands you
- Living out your dreams
-
Tea
- The day I got my very own KitchenAid–the gift that keeps on giving!
- Sharing experiences with others
- The beach!!
- My daughters
- Firefly, Joss Whedon, laughter, humor
- The ever-changing clouds over Pikes Peak
- Discovery
- Anything Colorado: mountains, skiing, snow
- Spec fic
- Smiles, laughter
- The magic of writing something and not knowing why and then in chapter 20 it all makes sense; awesome subconscious
-
Waking up and seeing the mountains every day
- Dance then make love with my husband of 26 years
- Life is good. Period.
- This beautiful planet
- Sex
- Powerful lesbian feminists
- You meet the best, most wonderful people–if you allow yourself to be open to it
- Classical music
- Brisk walk on a cool morning
- Tea and puppy dogs
- Colorful pens, ipods
- Singing along with my favorite music
- Chat with my good friends
- Wine and cheese…while hiking
-
Driving along on the highway with the window down on a crisp, sunny, fall day. Happy to be alive.
- Travel, Asia, how significant others–yowza!
- Top Ramen and champagne
- Kitten paws, daffodils, and laughter
- Star Trek, the universe, baseball, grandkids
- Designing a cool game and playing with friends
- Good music and sunshine
- Puppies
- My family and a good book on a snow day
- Just being alive
- The wind
- Stories
- Open G slide guitar
- Seeing stars
- Walking around in the evening
- Sleeping until noon. Or later.
- Spending a day surrounded by writers
- Tool–Pearl Jam
- Hiking in the mountains on a gorgeous day
- Flying at night
- Creating our own worlds!
- Perseverance and the song “Madness” by Muse
- Married to my best friend
-
“Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
- Science is the language of creation
- Give more than you take!
- I love you
- All our senses
- Exploring this God-given universe
- It’s as easy as we make it to be
- Cats and dogs
- Others
- Dandelions under chins
- Children, teaching, theatre
- Seeing your teenager make a “good choice”, thumbs-up decision with your guidance
- a really well-cooked steak
- naps, and yes, I have kids
- cuddling beneath a soft blanket with a good book
- Having AMR’s email address
- The moon!
- Kids
- Writing! Art harder, mother f@cker!
- youtube videos of kittens fitting in oddly shaped containers
- hearing my children laugh hysterically at a good joke
- Every day I can make the choice to write…whether I do or not, eh…
- Always something new to learn
- West Wing!
- The beauty and majesty of nature
- coffee next to a warm fire
- chocolate labs
- horizontal mambo
Life is sweet because of warm memories of old friends and the memories we have yet to make.
Coincidentally, last night I finished up Alicia Howie’s beautiful book about death and then picked up Aaron’s book on death, The Suicide King (hmmmm theme on my nightstand…. friend writers writing about death! – our way of defying it, right? Making ourselves immortal and all?). Anyway, life is beautiful because Aaron! Your book is so fun with a sharp and perfect voice on the character who is too authentic. 🙂 Hope you are OK now. No for real, Deb is a lucky publisher for getting ahold of this one! Life is beautiful as is the book beside my pillow