janmorrill

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Review of The Magical Red Kimono

My friend and fellow author, Kathleen Rodgers, posted an insightful review of The Magical Red Kimono on her blog last night. After receiving and reading her copy of my book, she told me she was going to post a review on her blog (as well as Instagram, Book Bub and Amazon!) I was grateful of course, but not surprised. Kathleen has always been supportive and motivational to me, as well as many…

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Now Available on Amazon - The Magical Red Kimono

The Magical Red Kimono tells the story of Sachi and Jubie, two little girls who discover that magic can happen when they embrace their differences. Inspired by characters from Jan Morrill’s historical fiction, The Red Kimono, The Magical Red Kimono features Sachi sharing her kimono with Jubie and teaching her a Japanese dance. As Sachi introduces her Japanese culture to her best friend, readers…

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Book Birthday: The Magical Red Kimono

Tomorrow, April 24, is Release Day for my first children’s book, The Magical Red Kimono. An author waiting for a book release is like a child waiting for Santa to come on Christmas Eve! How to pass the time, how to pass the time? How about I give you a little background on the book? I first started writing it in 2013, shortly after the publication of my historical fiction, The Red Kimono.…

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Tuscany: Day (I've Lost Count)

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Tuscany Days 2 & 3: Autumn

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Tuscany Day 1

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Day 24: Awe-someness

I’m sitting at DFW Airport with 7 hours to wait before I meetup with my writer friends with whom I’ll be traveling to Italy for an 8-day writers’ retreat at Poggio al Casone, a winery bed & breakfast. I’ve been looking forward to this trip to spend time with old friends, to inspire some new writing and to visit Italy again. A couple of nights ago, Steve and I went to dinner at one of our…

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Day 23: Homecoming

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Day 22: Brothers

This morning, I’m at a hotel in Lexington, Kentucky, waiting to attend the funeral of my Uncle Johnny. He was my dad’s youngest brother and the last of the Marler boys in my dad’s generation. Uncle Johnny was a loving, warm, funny, kind man. His smile had a gentleness, but his eyes had a mischievous sparkle. He and the oldest brother, LeRoy, used to tell wonderful stories about their childhood,…

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Day 21: AI Generated Writing Prompt

I have no idea what to write about today. Or, maybe it’s more accurate to say I have too many things to write about and I can’t choose just one. So I thought I’d experiment and ask AI to show me a picture of a writing prompt. This is the FIRST time I’ve used AI. Call me old, but so far, I’ve had some hesitation to use it, but I’m open to any comments to convince me otherwise. 🙂 However, I saw…

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Day 20: A Single Sunbeam of Wonder

For the last few weeks, I’ve had the thought I’d like to get a piece of art with a heron on it for our guest bedroom. I can’t say for sure why. Maybe a heron’s grace as it takes flight brings me a sense of both peace and awe. Maybe I’ve always been attracted to a heron’s patience as it watches the water, still as a statue, until it sees its next morsel swim by. Maybe it’s just because a heron…

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Day 19: Virtue Vignette - Transcendence

Steve has an old, well-worn, multi-Post-It-notated book called Character Strengths and Virtues by Christopher Peterson and Martin E.P. Seligman. It may be a book written primarily for those studying psychology or social work, but to a writer, it’s an interesting study of “character.” The character virtues covered in the book include: Wisdom and…

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Day 18: App Experiment

It’s late (for me) on Saturday night and I haven’t written a single word today because I volunteered with Literary Cleveland’s Inkubator Conference. I will write more about the conference as it takes place during next week, but for now, I wanted to make sure I maintain my 18-day record. Until tomorrow’s post, sleep well!

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Day 17: Conundrums

I had been off Facebook for some time prior to starting these daily blog posts. I had even taken the app off my phone to strengthen my resistance to mindless scrolling, usually through posts from pages I hadn’t even “liked.” Now, even though Facebook continues to be one of the best ways to promote my blog, I’m tempted again to take a break. More and more, it’s filled with political commentary,…

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Day 16: The Ingenuity of a Goody-Two-Shoes

I had fun writing a “Spring” scene today. I’ve mentioned before that my memoir is a work of creative non-fiction. Since much of the story takes place 2-5 decades ago, I don’t remember a lot of the non-fiction details, such as exact conversations, what the weather was like, etc. So, that’s where the creative part comes in. I have no doubt some of the characters in my memoir would remember parts…

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Day 15 - Love Matters

Today’s Word Count: So far, 689 words. I’m at the library now, a place that has become one of my favorite writing spaces. I put on my AirPods and tune in to instrumental soundtracks (today, it’s Keiko Matsui) and like magic, my fingers begin to fly. Something about listening to instrumental music seems to block out all the mental messages that often toss my creativity into a quicksand pit where…

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Day 14 - Unrequited

Word Count: 552 Today I went to the library and wrote 552 words. That’s approximately two pages, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but I also did some editing. These 552 words were written in the “Spring” section of my memoir-in-progress. At this time, it’s titled Unrequited, but as most authors know, once a work is accepted for publication, the publisher often changes the name. The Red Kimono…