Sunflowers for Tina #lifeisgood

From my kitchen, in Los Angeles

I met Tina Downey two years ago via the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  New to blogging at that time, I had no clue as to what I was doing, clicking away on blogs, hoping for the best, learning all about tagging, the importance of content and so on.

I found Tina’s blog, somehow, commented and immediately received a lengthy comment. Tina was an extraordinary welcoming presence from the start, and while encouraged by two writer friends to sign up for the Challenge, it was ultimately Tina who pulled me across that line, helped me take the first step into the world of blogging. It is because of her that I am still blogging today.

We exchanged several emails, and bonded over stories from our childhood, our European descent (Tina grew up in Sweden, I grew up in Romania). While I never met Tina in person, I consider her a dear blogging friend. One of the best. 

Thank you, Tina, for everything.

You will be missed, my dear friend, but not forgotten!

IWSG — Reading and Tina

“Writing is hard. Painting is hard. Competing at sports is hard. Everything interesting is hard. The risk of failure is what makes the challenge interesting. “ ~ Unknown

Today — first Wednesday of the month — is Insecure Writer’s Support Group day, but first a detour:

Tina Downey was a frequent poster at the IWSG. She also hosted the blog hop, in addition to her own Life is Good blog, and did a million other duties, all the while encouraging blogger friends along the way, emailing, keeping in touch, commenting, being the wonderful human being she was.

IWSG, the Challenge, and all that Tina had a hand in will never be the same without her, but as they say in theater … the show must go on, no matter how heavy our hearts now that Tina has departed our world.

In Tina’s memory, the A to Z Team is hosting a sunflower tribute on September 8, 2014 — Sunflowers for Tina. Click here if you’d like to see how it works and add your name to the list. Hope to see you on Monday, September 8. 

What am I feeling insecure about these days, as a writer? Oh, so many things, but mostly not writing as much as I’d like to. Life is too crazy. Hectic. I know: there’s no one to blame, but yours truly. Still, I have to complain here. I just have to. Forgive me. Will try to remedy the situation as soon as possible.

On a bright side, I’ve been reading a lot. Two Pulitzer Prize winners back to back: The Goldfinch and A Visit from The Goon Squad. Very different books, both good, but as it often is the case with literary works, one must be patient, allow the plot to develop, allow the writer to paint her world, bring her characters to life slowly. Literary anything, as someone said, is a labor of love.

But a girl can only take so much literary work back to back. Now, I’m reading Brad Thor’s Black List — a thriller. Extremely fast paced, very interesting, thought-provoking.

And reading, dear friend, is the self-administered medicine for my insecurities these days. A temporary drug.

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Image courtesy: wikimedia commons