Mary J. McCoy-Dressel

I’m not in the mood to be inspired today but maybe this is the time I need to find some.

You might remember when I began the 52-Week Blog Challenge Blog Hop in February with the topic of “My Best Friend.” It had been the perfect time to write the post about my best friend, Margaret, because of her illness and before we knew they could no longer do anything for her.

She had been in Hospice Care since February. In the beginning, she sounded so upbeat and felt better than she had in years. Hospice nurses started out coming twice a week but changed it to only once a week. The last two weeks showed a rapid decline. I’m sorry and sad to say she passed away Saturday morning. My inspirational quote for today is personal and comes from Margaret. She believed it with all her heart.

If you don’t use your gift of writing, you’ll lose your God-given talent.

You see, she knew I’d been writing all my life. She said this to me a few years ago when I worked and didn’t have time, excuse me, didn’t make time to write as often as I should. I believe it might’ve been when I started writing Howdy, Ma’am, which is a whole story in itself. Of course, being my best friend, she figured if I wanted to be a writer, I’d be a writer, and I’d be freaking good at being a writer.

She constantly encouraged me, as did other friends. I understood what it meant to have a husband and a young stepdaughter to share my time with, but I did work on my book as often as I could, which meant sharing a computer with two other people—one of them a preteen. Life changed and I became single again with no responsibilities except for taking care of myself and my job.

I dove into writing, including each evening—all evening after work. Retirement came along shortly after, bringing me to a new location–back to my hometown where I finished the book. Not to mention it sure turned out to be good therapy. Then I started writing Hey, Cowboy, the second book in the Bull Rider Series. I haven’t stopped writing daily since. Well, nearly every day.

She didn’t read most of my books because she didn’t like cursing or open-door love scenes. When I wrote Cowboy Boss and his Destiny, I wrote a revised edition for her and removed what she wouldn’t like. (This is the lightest of all my books anyway.) I didn’t take the time to revise all my books for her, though once she said it would be nice if I did, but better if I didn’t add what she didn’t like in the first place. I bet she’s looking down and rolling her eyes at me right now for saying that.

Her words of inspiration come back to me all the time, so this is why I chose to use her quote today.

I’ve turned off sharing for this post. This is more personal and not necessary to share with the world outside of my blog. Take time to enjoy those you love, and don’t throw away your talents. I’ll be back later this week with some better news.