Julie's Musings | Julie Saffrin

HORSES, CARROTS, AND A CITY GIRL

November 3, 2016 • Julie Saffrin • 2 Comments

I’m in the Black Hills staying at my friend’s guest ranch just outside of Hill City. Barbara Majchrzak and I have each looked forward to this time set apart to do some serious writing at a cabin at the guest ranch she and her husband own. I first met Barbara 14 years ago at the Minnesota Christian Writers Guild, a wonderful organization for fellow writers in the Twin Cities area. We became friends and through the years have become each other’s cheerleaders as we each pursue our writing endeavors. Barb’s plan is get as close to finishing her next novel…

BlessBack® Finds a Home in Covet Crate, a Subscription Box for Women

November 3, 2016 • Julie Saffrin • 6 Comments

Several weeks ago, a young woman contacted me via the contact page of my website, https://juliesaffrin.com. She owns a subscription box service, Covet Crate, geared toward professional women, and she wondered if I would be interested in having my book, BlessBack®: Thank Those Who Shaped Your Life, be a part of its November box. I couldn’t have been more surprised, or grateful. All sorts of online subscription box services exist, geared to a person’s preference. Some boxes are beauty and make-up related, others are food or sewing related – there’s even one for DIYers. I subscribe to Stitch Fix, a…

A VISIT WITH FOUND ART SCULPTOR KAREN O’KANE

September 7, 2016 • Julie Saffrin • 2 Comments

Today’s guest is Karen O’Kane, a writing friend of mine who had her art exhibit featured in the Fine Arts building at the 2016 Minnesota State Fair. More than 2,600 people entered their artwork into this year’s juried competition. Karen’s artwork was one of the 300 accepted into the exhibit. Here’s her story. Thanks for joining me on the blog today, Karen. I’m so happy that your piece was selected for the Fine Arts Exhibit! Congratulations. You and I met in July 2014 in your driveway on our way with two others to Montana for a writing retreat. I remember well the…

GOOD-BYE LANDLINE, SNIFF-SNIFF

August 26, 2016 • Julie Saffrin • 8 Comments

tip·ping point noun the point at which a series of small changes or incidents becomes significant enough to cause a larger, more important change. The fourteenth political call of the day on Tuesday, August 22, 2016, was the tipping point that gave me permission to cancel my landline. For three years, my husband has tried to persuade me to “cut the cord” on our landlines and just live in a world of communicating with our cell phones. I was hesitant. “What if someone needs to reach us but doesn’t have our cell phone numbers?” “What if a storm…

A CARPENTER WHO TAUGHT A GIRL HOW TO WRITE

July 22, 2016 • Julie Saffrin • 5 Comments

For those of you following this blog, you know that July 2016 marks the 15th anniversary of my father’s entering into eternity. Earlier this month, in Summertime Blues in July, I wrote about seeing my father be ushered into glory in 2001 as well as his and my favorite color, blue. Thanks to so many of you who sent me your encouraging words as to that blog. I am profoundly grateful to you, my readers, for your choosing to read this blog and for your kind words. For today’s blog, I’d like to thank Southern Writers Magazine and especially Annette Cole…

NICE, FRANCE AND THE WINNER OF EBOOK GIVEAWAY

July 15, 2016 • Julie Saffrin • 2 Comments

Thinking about Nice, France today and the horribleness of the terrorist attack along the Promenade Des Anglais. Eighty-four people were killed by a madman, at least 10 of them children, on Bastille Day 2016. This image is a symbol of my heart going out to France and those who grieving. Hard to announce the winner of the ebook giveaway in light of France’s tragedy. But I do want to thank of you who who left comments for a chance to win Sue Russell’s latest release, An Iron Yoke. It was meaningful that so many people read this blog post. Sue…

AN INTERVIEW WITH BRITISH AUTHOR SUE RUSSELL OF KENT COUNTY, UK

July 11, 2016 • Julie Saffrin • 12 Comments

In the course of doing research on British novelist Sue Russell, I learned of her having played the piano for a ballet school, scrubbed steps in hospitals, volunteered as a Samaritan for 17 years, and taught English in Indonesia. But what fascinated me most, from a writer’s viewpoint, was discovering Sue knew she wanted to be a writer when she was a young girl. I couldn’t help but smile when I read that by 12 she had a handful of rejection slips. Ahh, to quote another British writer, Jane Austen, the half agonies and half hopes of a writer. Decades later, Sue’s friends put up a challenge.…

SUMMERTIME BLUES IN JULY

July 3, 2016 • Julie Saffrin • 8 Comments

Today my father, Donald Trewartha, has been gone for 15 years. So this blog post will be a little bit nostalgic and blue. Blue because of Dad’s and my mutual love of our favorite fruit, blueberries, our favorite color, blue, and because of a little wonder that I was a witness to, both on the day my father died and today. My dad was 73 when he passed away. While all who knew him were sad to see him go, all of us hated to see him suffering from Alzheimer’s and knew he was going to Heaven. His last days…

A VISIT TO CANNON FALLS

July 2, 2016 • Julie Saffrin • 8 Comments

If you’re a reader of my blog, you’ll know I love to go adventuring on a my Townie bike. (If you want to, you can read about another bike ride, the Central Lakes bike trail, my husband and I took in September 2013.) Last week, I had some time to gallivant with my husband, Rick, so we drove to Cannon Falls to bike part of the Cannon Valley Trail. I’ve been many times to the Country Kitchen in Cannon Falls to meet my writing friend, Joy DeKok there for our brainstorming sessions, but I never knew there were falls in the…

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