Mary J. McCoy-Dressel

Sensual western romance. Heartwarming stories. Strong family ties.
Mary J. McCoy-Dressel
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    • #AmWriting A Grateful Heart #MFRWauthor #WritersLife

      Posted at 9:17 am by Mary J. McCoy-Dressel, on December 14, 2018
      Mary J McCoy-Dressel, Western Romance author, #MFRWauthor Blog Post on Being Grateful, A Grateful Heart

      #MFRWauthor Week 50: I’m Grateful For:

      Oh, boy. Get ready!

      A Grateful Heart.

      This is a topic I didn’t want to write about because it puts my heart on the spot. With our 52-Week Blog Challenge almost over, I didn’t want to skip this week, so here I am.

      There are so many things I’m grateful for each day.

      Where shall I begin without making this an autobiography? Haha. Don’t worry, I’m teasing.

      Strength: Since my early beginning—I learned in order to survive—I had to be strong. I’m grateful for that strength. Basically, I’m grateful that I know God, and that he has, and does protect me in life or death situations.

      Each Day: Some years ago, I had a severe back injury and again two years ago. Ten months ago, I had some scary health news. I’m grateful for each day I can rise and shine to a normal life.

      This one gets to me and can make me cry bittersweet tears. It might sound silly to you. I’m grateful for my empathy—that I cry over Kodak Moment commercials, humans being kind to one another and to animals. Happy endings. This stuff melts my heart in ways I can’t control, nor do I want to. I’m grateful to experience this emotion.

      Children: I’m grateful for my oldest son. He’s one of the first best things that happened to me—he changed my life. To this day, I’m grateful he can live his life with strength and passion in whatever he does.

      I’m grateful for my youngest son who changed my life in other ways. I’m grateful for his compassion and joy for life. I’m grateful that he has found the most wonderful woman to go through life with—my daughter-in-law, Christie.

      Friends: Of course, I have to say how grateful I am for the fantastic friends I’ve had and still have in my life.

      Love: I’m grateful to have known true love and to have been loved.

      I didn’t know I could go on and on with this topic until I put my fingers on the keyboard and started typing, but I’ll only mention a couple more things yet I’m leaving out so much.

      Reading and WRITING: I’m grateful for my READERS, and those I work with in my writing career. Every single day, I’m grateful and thankful for this gift I get to do full-time, and yes, I call it a gift.

      However, concerning writing full time… I’ve learned that dreams can come true, and I’m learning now that dreams can end. If I have another publishing year like 2018, I’ll reluctantly force myself to be grateful for a new kind of job. I’m not a quitter, and I’ll never stop writing, but my days of writing for publication will come to an end if that happens. I’ll still finish the book commitments I have planned for 2019. No matter what though, I’ll always be grateful for the ability to put sentences together to create a story.

      I hope it goes without saying, but I’m grateful to have you here visiting and reading my posts. Thank you.


      Check out this week’s post about the Kindle Book Review #Giveaway where I’m one of the sponsoring authors. No purchase necessary to enter for a chance to win a $500 Amazon eGift Card.

      This Blog Hop Challenge is counting down. If you haven’t visited the other authors participating, I’d say this is a good week do check them out.

      Enjoy your weekend.

      Mary J McCoy-Dressel Books, 52 Week Blog Challenge Blog Post Week 24 Don't Take it Away,

      Featured and Top Image is from Pixabay.

      Posted in #AmWriting, #MFRWauthor, 52-week blog challenge | 9 Comments | Tagged #WritersLife, children, Gratitude, love, Mary J McCoy-Dressel, readers, Strength, western romance, writing
    • Week 44 #MFRWauthor 52-Week Blog Hop Challenge

      Posted at 1:00 pm by Mary J. McCoy-Dressel, on November 3, 2017

      This post is late because I wasn’t sure there would be a post today. How could I not continue the roll I’ve been on with so few weeks left? OMG, it almost hurts to say “so few weeks left” in the year. I’m publishing two books this month, and I’m so busy, but no busier than most others at this time of year. So, folks, here I go…

      Week 44: A Person Who Inspires Me.

      This topic does not have one answer. The world inspires me. Music inspires me. Life inspires me.

      You’re asking me for a person who inspires me?

      In Life:

      My boys, Chris and Jim, inspire me. They are strong and have faced many obstacles in their lives. They’ve faced hurts and have known happiness. Somehow, they always find their way. They are strong. Both of them are there for me in my time of need–both positive and negative needs. Both of them tell me how proud they are when I publish a book, or when I have come through the crap life has thrown at me. They’re grown men now and face what life throws at them so they understand. I can only hope to be an inspiration to them, as well. They inspire me.

      Copyright: creativembers

      Copyright: creativembers

      In My Writing Life:

      Other authors inspire me and always have from as far back as I can remember. I’d look at a book in my hands while I dwelled on the author’s name. I dreamed… I knew. One day I’d have my name on books like they did–as they do. Maybe one day, at least one person can be inspired by me as an author.

       

      In Friendships:

      My friends inspire me. What would life be like if I didn’t have their shoulders to lean on? Their ear to listen? Their smiles and pats on the back? I’ve lost a BEST friend. I do know what it’s like. Fortunately, I have other friends. Patti and Karen are two friends who inspire me. I dedicated one of my books to them.

      It’s no surprise that I colored outside of the lines with this post and didn’t stick to a person who inspires me. If I thought about it and wanted to write a longer post, I bet I could come up with more, but for now, this will do because y’all have other authors to visit, if you choose to follow me on this Marketing for Romance Writers 52-Week Challenge Blog Hop.

      Marketing for Romance Writers (and many other genres) celebrated its eleventh year birthday this week. Its creator is Kayelle Allen. Many volunteers help to keep the organization running smoothly. Kayelle is an inspiration.

      Have a nice weekend. Thanks for reading.

      Posted in #AmWriting, #MFRWauthor, 52-week blog challenge | 14 Comments | Tagged #MFRWauthor, #WritersLife, 52-week blog challenge, Authors Life, blog hop, children, cowboys, inspiration, life, Marketing for Romance Writers, Mary J McCoy-Dressel, Western Romance Author
    • Sharing Time with Family & Friends, or Not: Thanksgiving

      Posted at 1:26 pm by Mary J. McCoy-Dressel, on November 25, 2015

      Times change. Life moves forward. Who gets a bit sentimental during the holidays? I do.

      Thanksgiving

      People always ask where I’m going, or they want to know what I’ll be doing for Thanksgiving. Don’t get me wrong. I appreciate their concern. Sometimes I get accused of being a recluse because I don’t have a problem to stay at home and do my job. Write.

      It wasn’t always like this when I had my own family. Well, I still have a family, but one boy is across the country. My youngest son is in a serious relationship, and they do this holiday with her family. Yes, they have invited me to join them.

      What do you think my advice is to others when I know they’ll be alone?

      “Don’t stay home alone. Go and enjoy dinner with friends.”

      It’s easy to give advice. Ask my oldest son in California how many years I’ve told him that.

      Now, he says it to me. image_thumb.png

      I remember the first Thanksgiving dinner when one of my kids wasn’t there. The oldest went to a football game with his best friend (Go Lions!), so it was different with only three of us there instead of four—five if we count my single brother-in-law. That’s when I realized the days of having our family Thanksgiving dinners together were numbered as the kids grew older.

      Allegheny River

      Back in those days, my family sometimes went to our cottage in Pennsylvania in the Allegheny National Forest in the Allegheny Mountains. My husband’s entire family would be there at the family cottage across from us. We always had fun.

      After my married brother-in-law got divorced, I was the only female so you know what my job was, but truly, I didn’t mind cooking for everyone. At least one brother-in-law would always come for dinner anyway. Luckily, my husband (now ex-husband) knew how to cook, and he’d always lend a hand.

      Times change. Life moves forward.

      If you celebrate Thanksgiving, are you spending time with your immediate family this year? Tons of relatives? Friends? Going out? Staying home?

      Whatever it is you’ll be doing, please enjoy yourself.

      For the record, I am not staying home alone this year.

      Happy Thanksgiving.

      I’ve removed Sharing buttons for this post.

      Posted in #AmWriting | 6 Comments | Tagged #AuthorsLife, author, children, family, Family dinners, Growing Up, Holidays, thanksgiving, Thanksgiving 2015
    • Tribute to an Online Friendship R.I.P.

      Posted at 12:31 pm by Mary J. McCoy-Dressel, on March 25, 2012

      It’s Sunday again and time for another Stream of Consciousness five minute brain dump. Fadra, our host, has been giving us prompts to work with. I love that she does this because some Sundays, I honestly#SOCsundaycan’t come up with a brain dump, at least not a five minute dump. Ask me on a week day or Saturday and I might be able to write a brain dump.

      I love the prompt for today which asks the question about what we won’t write about in our blogs. I can write about this, but today I am choosing another topic. Read on to see what my choice is today.

       

      Last night before shutting down my laptop for the night, I remembered I wanted to check out a friend’s Facebook page to see why I haven’t read anything about his new books or goings on in his life. When I met him through Facebook three or four years ago, his author page said he had published over forty books. I thought that was marvelous, and I could learn a lot from someone who published that many books. It’s true, I learned a lot from him. One thing I took away from our online friendship was how he inspired so many people. How he could tell one-liner, hilarious jokes. He always made me laugh. I learned about the many different stories he wrote. One of his novel series was about a heroine named Chloe, called the Chloe Files, and he always left excerpts about her escapades. She seemed real, and to many people who read her, she was real. Horror was a biggie for Howard, yet, he wrote children’s books, too, in the horror genre, on their level. He also wrote westerns under a pen name, using his middle name as the pen name for that genre.

      I even considered asking my school if they’d consider having him come to talk about his books to our students in middle school. Kids can’t get enough of the books he writes. Or, I should say, wrote. I learned last night he passed away. My heart sank. No, I never met him personally, but he was a terrific person, both as a man and as an author. He left behind a loving wife and a family who loved him. He meant so much to his author friends, as well, me being one of them. He passed away in January. This is March and I just found out and I feel awful. It’s been some time now that I kept wondering why I never saw his daily posts. But, I would get distracted and forgot to go to his page. A lesson learned: Don’t put off till tomorrow what you can do today. My heart is saddened. Rest in Peace Howard/Lance Hopkins. You will be missed.  Links to his work are included below.

      Howard Hopkins at Amazon

      Official Website Howard/Lance Hopkins

      Howard Hopkins Facebook Author Page

      This is my five minute write for today. #SOCSunday

      Go here for your own: All Things Fadra

      Middle Graphic from Glitter-Graphics.com

      Posted in Uncategorized | 10 Comments | Tagged author, children, chloe files, friend, horror, howard hopkins, lance hopkins, mary j mccoy dressel, rest in peace, sci-fi
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    • Daily Prompt: Canopy Walk
      Daily Prompt: Canopy Walk
    • Sharing Time with Family & Friends, or Not: Thanksgiving
      Sharing Time with Family & Friends, or Not: Thanksgiving
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      Revisions? Questions Answered

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