New Opportunities

The last few weeks, seemingly out of nowhere, a number of new opportunities knocked on my door.

A few have happened within my family and will stay there.

But several others involve sharing on my part, so I'm sharing here.

First of all, I'm thankful for my sister Karen at the Downers Grove Library for connecting me with VampCon Chicago, even though it was canceled at the last minute. 

It still led to covering a Skype story with Bram Stoker descendant Dacre Stoker, which was tons of fun, considering my love for the vampire genre in general and Dracula in particular. 

And then a fellow writer, whom I've not (yet) met (she runs the group 

"All Things Literary, Grammar and Writing" on Facebook), asked me to reach out to the owner of Audiophil's Records in Joliet to participate in the store's first "Panic in the Plaza" event at the end of this month, which has greatly consoled me over the loss of VampCon.

But first, WriteOn Joliet will participate in its first group author fest at the White Oak Library in Crest Hill, thanks to my co-leader and local celebrity Tom Hernandez for suggesting it. I had participated in the fest twice just as BryonySeries, but it's WriteOn Joliet's first time at an author fest as a group.

And then the following Wednesday, I will participate in a small "speed networking" event for the teen members Fearless Females, a unique partnership between Joliet Central High School and the Zonta Club of Joliet. The very gracious invitation was waiting for me on bleary morning when I signed into my email, which woke me up better than my dark roast coffee.

At the beginning of November, I will participate in a career fair at St. Dennis School in Lockport, the invitation that started the slew of blessings.

Finally, I was invited to appear on this podcast, which will air (hopefully) in time to promote WriteOn Joliet's third annual anthology release party on Nov. 15 at The Book Market in Crest Hill.

Every one of these opportunities is a very different opportunity to share various aspects of my writings from various angles.

And this morning, when every sentence I'm writing is interspersed with a yawn (the silent scream for more coffee, right?), I'm very humbled that each of these people felt I had something valuable to share, and I pray that I live up to the expectations when each of the times arrive.

Have a most blessed day: readers, writers, and BryonySeries fans. 

Illustration by Kathleen Rose Van Pelt for "Bryony."