“Freedom means you are unobstructed in living your life as you choose.
Anything else is a form of slavery.” ~ Wayne Dyer
How do you picture freedom?
Author: J. Kelland Perry
In 2010, my husband and I left the city to escape to rural life in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, and we're savoring every moment.
I update my blog with everything I love through prose and photography, as well as posts about writing. My first novel was released in March 2016 and its sequel was released in March 2017. My third novel, The Women of Wild Cove, was published in September 2025, this time of the speculative genre.
Friday Bouquet #11
I’ve been following Elizabeth from Almost Spring nearly as long as I’ve been blogging. She writes eloquently as a woman blindsided when her husband leaves their marriage, and tells how her life is transforming from “We to Me.”
In her own words:
I am a 59-year-old woman surviving the pain of the collapse of my 37 year marriage that occurred suddenly through no choice of my own. I survived the first six months by living in today and enjoying the moments of a glorious summer.
…When that first summer ended, when the days became shorter, the mornings colder and I could see the winter approaching, I began to wonder how I would survive the darkness, the cold, the grey skies and the impending gloom of winter. Then I thought to myself – ‘why?’ It is almost spring… So too with my current life situation.”
I chose one of her posts from last month because it illustrates how far Elizabeth has come on her emotional journey. You might like to follow her too, if you’re in a similar situation. Click on the link below to read about her, and don’t forget to mention Jennifer sent you.
Comments are disabled here in hopes you will visit and comment on her blog.
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone.
❤
*Image:Courtesy[StuartMiles]FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Hello, December – Goodbye, Nano!
Where did November go, people? Don’t get me wrong, I am happy – but a little surprised – that December is already here. You see, I’ve been busy: for the first time, I have successfully completed the National Novel Writing Month Challenge, and I did it two days before the end-of-the-month deadline.
Was it difficult to write 50 thousand words in 28 days, you may ask?
What do you think?
After sitting still for so long, it was wonderful to have the freedom to get up and move around again. But I have to confess: I felt a tad wobbly at first.
This is how I walked Friday evening when I finished:
Joking aside, I am super happy I took on the challenge, and would recommend Nanowrimo to anyone who wants to see results in a short period of time. It is an effective way to kick procrastination and writer’s block to the curb, especially if you have a writing buddy who is as determined as you are. Wendy kept me accountable, and we both finished with days to spare.
So now I have a first draft of the Calmer Girls sequel, minus a couple of concluding chapters that I will finish this month. Those chapters, along with the additions that will go in when I begin editing in January, should bring the word count up to 70 thousand plus.
The Nano website suggested I treat myself to a T-shirt showing off their logo, but I did better than that. Being Black Friday, I got Santa to order me a new camera online for Christmas, saving himself over $200 in the process.
This is me now:
Did you take part in Nanowrimo this year?
Have you ever challenged yourself with a creative deadline and won?
Please share your experience with me. 🙂
To Sea by Virtue
One sunny afternoon last month, we accompanied friends aboard the Virtue, their Beneteau 400 sailing vessel.
We were only too happy to share in the enjoyment of the October sea and sky.
“Throw off the bowlines. Sail away from safe harbor. Catch the wind in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain
“I never get tired of the blue sky.” – Vincent Van Gogh
“Roll on, deep and dark blue ocean, roll… Man marks the earth with ruin, but his control stops with the shore.” – Lord Byron
“Long may your big jib draw.” – legendary Newfoundland saying meaning good wishes for the future
“I wanted freedom, open air and adventure. I found it on the sea.” – Alaine Gerbault
“How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is quite clearly Ocean.”
– Arthur C. Clarke
“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.”
– William Arthur Ward
“When you realize how perfect everything is you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky.” – Buddha
“The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.” – Jacques Yves Cousteau
“I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and sky; and all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by.” – John Masefield
Have you ever gone sailing on a beautiful day such as this?
Smiling at Death
I’m too tired from novel writing to come up with anything of my own this week, so I’m sharing a post from Journey Into Poetry. Christine is one of my favorite bloggers for the poems she writes.
Here is one I found especially moving. Love and miss you, Dad. x
Your whole life was wrapped around you
on that day,
propped up on a pillowy white cloud,
a few extra ones, cool, crisp
arranged in a special way,
a privilege for the dying.
How could your tiny fragile frame
have carried so much,
braved storms at sea,
ministered prayers from pulpit.
The swimming lessons you gave me;
you had the patience of Job.
And the turnip faces you carved
for Halloween, they were perfect;
(you would have cringed at pumpkins.)
But then you could do everything in my eyes;
you knew everything too.
I remember you trying to
show me how to use a slide rule;
I still haven’t a clue.
And there,
on a warm day, early May
in a special bed for the dying,
lay all of that,
your whole life in a cradle of time,
and it weighed next to nothing –
except for your smile.
Your…
View original post 82 more words
Imagine (and a Birthday)
This is the last in the series of my best loved Peace Songs.
It’s also my beautiful sister’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Lynn. Love you lots! ❤
Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion, too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you will join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You, you may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you will join us
And the world will live as one
written by John Lennon
Peace Train
Written by Cat Stevens
If There’s A God In Heaven (What’s He Waiting For?)
Torn from their families
Mothers go hungry
To feed their children
But children go hungry
There’s so many big men
They’re out making millions
When poverty’s profits
Just blame the children
If there’s a God in heaven
What’s he waiting for?
If he can’t hear the children
Then he must see the war
But it seems to me
That he leads his lambs
To the slaughter house
And not the promised land
Dying for causes
They don’t understand
We’ve been taking their futures
Right out of their hands
They need the handouts
To hold back the tears
There’s so many crying
But so few that hear
If there’s a God in heaven
What’s he waiting for?
If he can’t hear the children
Then he must see the war
But it seems to me
That he leads his lambs
To the slaughter house
And not the promised land
If there’s a God in heaven
What’s he waiting for?
If he can’t hear the children
Then he must see the war
But it seems to me
That he leads his lambs
To the slaughter house
And not the promised land
If there’s a God in heaven
Well, what’s he waiting for?
If there’s a God in heaven
What’s he waiting for?
Repeat
Written by Elton John, Bernie Taupin, and Davey Johnstone
Historic Grand Bank
It seems the older I get, the more I treasure the chance to travel around this province. Even when I visit a Newfoundland community I’ve been in before, it’s as if I see it with new and more appreciative eyes.
Earlier this week, I accompanied Paul on one of his little road trips for work, this time on the Burin Peninsula Heritage Run. Our destination was the vibrant town of Grand Bank. I hadn’t been there in over a decade.
It was a rainy trip. But Good Fortune smiled down, the sun came out as soon as we got there, and so did my trusty camera.
The authentic old buildings and heritage architecture I found especially charming. I’ll let the pictures tell the story of what I loved about historic Grand Bank.
And Old meets New:
Where do you like to go for a road trip?
Writing, writing, and more writing? Write on!
Hi, everyone. I thought I’d pass along a quick update today about my novel and what has happened lately in my life as an author.
I am encouraged by the reception Calmer Girls has gotten in the publishing world. In particular, I am now patiently waiting on those who have expressed interest in my query, synopsis and sample chapters, and who subsequently requested the full manuscript for review. (Yay!)
Of course, my optimism is tempered with caution and awareness of the reality that these are only first steps. The road to getting traditionally published is a long, slow and arduous one for many new authors, and I am no exception. I read yesterday of a successful novelist who endured TWENTY-NINE rejections before his first book was picked up. And it ultimately made it to the New York Times best-seller list!
So now while my manuscript is out of my hands, I continue on with the sequel. In that area I have made progress, but not as much as I would like due to life getting in the way (Funny how that always seems to happen!).
For this reason, I am considering taking part in National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo as it is called. This is a yearly internet event that takes place in November, not only nationally but all over the world. The object is to write 50,000 words of a first draft in 30 days, which means participants write an average of 1667 words a day.
Awesome? Terrifying? Doable? Impossible? You tell me.
If I do indeed sign up, some of my activities will no doubt have to be curtailed or relegated to the back burner. My Friday Bouquet will be suspended for the time being, and my other blog posts will be brief. I won’t be able to read others’ blogs as much as I am used to. But I shall return, my lovelies!
What do you think of such a project? Are you taking part in NaNoWriMo this year? If you are, tell me all about it below. We can give each other moral support. 🙂
Explore Further:
One Wild Word: Get ready for NaNoWriMo by choosing your novel’s story question
Jennifer's Journal 