Thanksgiving and the Valla Series

I feel very blessed to have spent my Thanksgiving surrounded by family. As some of you know, I don’t enjoy cooking. My husband and I order a lot of carryout; otherwise, we would live off of frozen pizzas and mac&cheese. I really wanted to contribute more than just store-bought rolls at Thanksgiving this year, so I offered to make mashed potatoes. They’re simple enough! Well, I made them for both sides of the family. (we have two meals for Thanksgiving.) So I begged my husband to help me peel and prep two ten pound bags of potatoes. My husband is less of a cook than I am. I mean, he thinks I’m talented because I can toast frozen waffles. Anyway, we made three and a half crockpots worth of potatoes (they turned out pretty good), but more than that, we made memories. We also created a huge mess in our kitchen! Next year, I’m probably taking rolls.

Recently, I dove back into the Valla series. It feels like a huge undertaking, but it’s good to be back. For a while, I was really struggling to continue this story after my friend and editor passed away. This will be the first book I write without her. Normally, I like to have a vague outline of what is going to happen in the story and then change it as needed while I write, but I was missing huge chunks. My vague outline was looking pretty nonexistent. Then something wonderful happened. 

My friend invited me to a private yoga party with a group of friends. It was relaxation yoga with deep stretches and tension relief. That’s basically the only yoga I do, and it was awesome. 

Did you know trees communicate with each other? They do. It’s pretty cool, and it’s something Cathy (my editor and friend) talked about. She wanted her daughter to plant a tree after she passed away. Her daughter did. It’s her mom tree, and I can’t wait to see it come alive in the Spring. Without knowing any of this, the yoga instructor had us get in a circle, join hands and do tree pose, using each other to balance--communicating without words. It was beautiful, and I felt Cathy in that moment. I wasn’t the only one. Cathy’s daughter stood next to me. It was her party. There were a lot of things that happened during this yoga session that were truly amazing.

At the end of the session, we spent time in savasana, or corpse pose, which is basically getting comfy lying on our backs with our eyes closed and meditating. So, there I was lying on my back with a blanket for a pillow, a bolster under my knees, and a sleeping mask covering my eyes. Did I mention it was awesome? With the mats, it was somewhat reminiscent of preschool naptime. 

It was during this point of relaxation that I solved all of the world’s problems. Okay, maybe not the world’s problems, but I did figure out the rest of book four in the Valla series. It all came together in my mind, making perfect sense! I have a lot more confidence in meeting my deadlines now. All because my friend is awesome and thought to do yoga with her friends for her birthday!