Chapter 42 - End of an Era

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."

This is a hard blog for me to write, but not a surprising one, I think, for those who know me. I have decided after eight years of writing a weekly (mostly) blog, I am done. It is not because I have decided not to read any longer or even that I have run out of words but mostly because I am off on new adventures and ending this chapter of my writing life.

Over the past 8 1/2 years I have published 421 blogs, recommended over 2,000 books and written a tad more than 250,000 words. To my author friends, that number of words is nothing as they routinely write 80,000 to 90,000 words per book. But for me, writing a weekly blog, it has been a lot. I can honestly say I've enjoyed it.

I originally started to write Beach Walk Book Talks under the encouragement of my friend and business partner, Norma. She thought it would be a good way to get my writing out and to engage customers. For a long time you could find a link to it from our book store website and on bookmarks handed out in the store. Family and friends encouraged me as well. After we sold the store in June, 2022 they suggested I should keep on writing it. During the past years readers have shared many happenings in my life - the loss of my mom, great family vacations, the growth of my grandchildren, my memories of childhood and growing up in a small town, and my remarkable friendships which I've kept for more than 50 years. I'm grateful that you've been on the journey with me and I thank you for that!

So I don't know what is in store next. We will be traveling more. I will, of course, continue to read as many books as I can fit in each year. We will visit the kids and grands more often, I think. I'll check off more items on my life list. Maybe I'll finally get through my TBR room! Who knows? While you will still be able to read the past blogs through the end of next year if you want, at least for the foreseeable I am not going to be writing a book blog.

"And suddenly you know: it's time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings."