Vegas Reflections: My Mid-year Author Business Check-in

A love letter to publishing, personal growth & purpose

At the 2025 Historical Novel Society Conference book signing ..

This is a love letter.

Just spent the last week in Vegas. First at the 2025 Historical Novel Society’s Conference and now extending my stay a few days to do a Hubby Getaway. I am still processing a firehose of insights and impressions I plan to share in the future.

But for now, as it turns out, I’ve discovered these back-to-back events are an excellent backdrop for the Midyear Check-in on my author/personal business plan (Wednesday, July 2 is the midpoint in 2025 to be exact).

Yes, I know doing a business plan sounds like a throwback to my Corporate America days—not to mention a mid-year checkin!—, but in this life chapter when the best laid plans can get a curveball, my mantra is No Regrets. Focus on What Matters and then Move On, if needed.

So here goes. I’m sparing you the full Midyear Check-in to give you just three examples. With a nod to the HNS Conference and my husband at a blackjack table as I write this, here are illustrations of the potent mix of Skill, Gambling and Creativity of this week.

What am I proud of so far this year?

Published my book! That’s a biggie since it entailed not just the time (seven years) to achieve it, but the stakes. I quit my job to do it. I jettisoned a professional identity (senior marketing exec) that took decades to earn, all to listen to an inner voice that said (gulp), “It’s time to write.” My writing skills have miles to go but I’m gratified my book has either won or been a recent finalist in writing contests. Evidence of Skill.

What challenges have I overcome?

Overcoming fear that I wouldn’t make connections with people and community near our second home in Arizona is a big one. Going west was one of those The Universe Smiles on You moments when we found the house two years ago to be close to our grandkids. I’ve been fearful of being lonely and starting over in a new ‘hood, especially because decades-deep friends and neighbors in St. Louis are so dear. In my head I can see the wisdom of not allowing fear to hold me back. In my heart, I had to feel it. I’ll call this an example of Gambling.

Where can I see my personal growth most clearly?

Sometimes it feels like all I do is repeat Fifth Grade over and over! According to my wise elementary-school-teaching sister, fifth grade is a threshold to a broader worldview in which the kids’ life experience is expansive enough to contemplate a larger world outside their own.

I am trying to follow curiosity’s lead, trusting that it’s a guide for my own evolution. One of the beautiful things I’ve learned about not needing to chase a corporate career is using the mental space formerly taken up by defensive political alliances and capitalist getting-ahead measures to explore new ideas. I’m putting this in the Creativity category. For example in the past six months, I’m . .

• (Still) learning how to craft story.

  
  

• Showing my children and grandchildren who I am by what I do in front of them (making up games, having difficult conversations, appreciating their learning).

  
  

• Speaking up for values like love, generosity, kindness and more in a world that feels like too many compromises are creating a slippery slope toward dysfunction.

  
  

If I’m doing this right, I hope this Midyear Checkin is not so much points on a business plan. I hope they spur me to a life lived intentionally. Gosh, friends, this journey—so short—I want to make it an unfolding love letter.

To myself, to my loved ones, to you—

Bring it on, 2025!

We’ve barely begun!