by Iona Morrison | May 10, 2015
I give you a small taste of Not for Sale.
Jessie cleared her throat. “I believe the one who can tell you the most is Abigail. She saw it, which is another good reason we need to find her. This morning she sent me a picture showing me her surroundings. Are there some abandoned cabins in the area where you can still hear the ocean?” Jessie looked at her notes. “She showed me many trees and a road that was more of an overgrown pathway.”
“More than a few, I’m sure.” Matt looked …skeptical.
“Sent you a picture, how?” Dylan looked at her, puzzled.
“In my mind…I know, weird, huh?” She smiled at his expression. “It must be the drinking water in this town.” She looked at her phone when it buzzed, reading a new text. “But don’t fry your brains trying to figure it out. I can’t, and it’s happening to me.” Amusement lit up her eyes. “By the way, Frank’s in the parking lot if you want to get started.”
They’re here!!!! Not for Sale print books are now up on Amazon.
by Iona Morrison | Apr 7, 2015
I like real people. You know the type. People who aren’t afraid to say that their lives are often a mess. I can relate to these people, I’m one of them. I know what it’s like to succeed and to fail. I’ve been in the in-group and just as quickly in the out feeling like a misfit, one of the weird. I used to worry about impressing others and living up to some unseen expectations. But if I can speak frankly for a moment, I like freedom more than the precarious sense of belonging where rules can change tomorrow. I may talk too much at times, or be too quiet in the next, and on occasion get carried away on a subject that I’m wildly passionate about.
There is a certain beauty in the ugliness and mess of life. It comes with its own hard lessons on what’s important and what’s not. I think this is what the world is begging for, real people, loving passionately, and living their simple real lives.
by Iona Morrison | Mar 15, 2015
I like new ideas, yes, even radical ones. The kind of statements that reach inside of you and grab you. They stop you in your tracks, make you think, and often change the way you think. They shake things up, and make you question your own thoughts on a subject, which can be a good thing. (Even when those around you think you’ve lost your ever loving mind.)
With a twenty-four news cycle, every book imaginable on all most every subject, and the internet I’ll be honest it’s easy not to ever question or think for myself. That’s why I love it when something comes along that grabs my attention and stirs me to consider something other than the way I’ve always seen it. My favorite teachers through the years were not the ones who told me what to think but those who challenged me to think. They’d get in my face when I gave a cliché answer and ask me what I really believed on the subject. I had to dig deep and would be surprised by my own answers.
If I’ve learned one thing in life it is that the longer I live the less I know, no one has the corner on all the truth, and questions, contrary to what I was taught, are very good. By asking them I have often found a new position to think from or sometimes it simply strengthens the one I already have. In no way have new ideas or questions diminished me, but they have challenged me.
The good that has come from being open to new possibilities is that I can hear someone who believes different from me and not become defensive. I can listen, hear another perspective, and walk away having learned something new about another person. In some ways it eliminates the fear of those that are different and obliterates the me verses you and us against them mentality.
I spent many years in a rigid system in which I was right and others who didn’t see it the same way were wrong. I was in they were out. I had it they didn’t and the list goes on. (As if I could possibly know.) But, life has its own way of challenging us by throwing everything our way at once and such was the case with me. For the first time I found that my pat answers weren’t enough, I had questions, and I needed to think through the new ideas I was hearing. I was stopped in my tracks, grabbed by those ideas, which changed little and yet changed the way I saw everything. I’ll admit that I’m cool with it, I’m a little less arrogant, and a tad nicer to be around.
by Iona Morrison | Feb 7, 2015
It’s February and time is marching on. What once seemed like a routine medical appointment for my husband turned into a scary month of tests and waiting. Several times we heard that terrible C word that makes your heart beat rapidly, your mouth feel dry, and your stomach turn flip flops. We began a roller coaster ride of waiting with our minds thinking of every scenario they could conjure up. Sleep at times was very far away and distant when we needed it most.
Before we ever made it to the consultation for my husband, one of his younger brothers had a heart attack and heart surgery to put in two stints. Wow, can I just say the last few weeks have been a whirlwind and somewhat of a blur. I know that I lived them with raw emotions and vulnerability, but the details are somewhat fuzzy. Just breathe I reminded myself often.
My husbands consultation with the doctor was better than we had hoped for. It is in the early stages and is very, small. The doctor was amazed it had been seen and wondered how they had caught it. His brother is going to be okay with a few lifestyle changes. I think it might be time to let down for a moment and truly breathe a sigh of relief from a very grateful heart. Of coarse, we have the procedure still do go through, so we are gearing up for that.
My husband is my greatest fan and has supported my writing since day one. So he was excited with me through the midst of his own personal crisis, when I received the cover for my second novel, “Not for Sale“. Life is messy, its filled with good and bad, and happy and sad. Sometimes going on all at the same time. But, it’s never more sweet than when you think it could be over. Savoring the moment that I’m living in is my plan for now and breathing just breathing.
by Iona Morrison | Jan 1, 2015
A quick glance back at 2014 tells me I had a very good year. My first novel The Harvest Clubwas released on September 5. In October I signed the contract for my second book Not for Sale. I can’t say that it fulfilled a life long dream, as a matter-of-fact it only came to be a dream a few years ago. I thought for sure I would write a nonfiction self-help style book, but a writing class, after losing my job, changed even that for me. I fell in love with fiction and found I had all these characters alive in me who had stories they wanted to tell. Fiction captured my imagination, which brought with it a joy, and passion for writing.
2014 also handed me an unexpected gift in a chance meeting. I was wrapped in a big hug and a hurt from the past was shaken from my heart. Moments like this do not happen often in life, so I am taking this gift with a smile and a deep sense of gratefulness. 2014 held a few other special surprises and firsts. I awakened to see a whole world that exists outside of my small world, with people who have none of what I have. I can pretend they’re not there or that I’m not in some way connected to them but that doesn’t change the facts. My only recourse is to learn to treat others the way that I would wish to be treated. Reminding myself that life can change in a moment for anyone for good or bad.
2014 also brought with it some big changes in my thinking about faith, my goals in life, and even my politics. I’m convinced if you don’t live it in love you won’t be able to give it away. No one will want it. I’m saying no more fad diets please, no starving or feasting just eating to live. No new fitness trends, but moving, walking, and stretching as long as I can. I want to live simply so others can simply live; to let laughter and writing intermingle in my days. Oh, and this is an absolute must, I want to enjoy this precious life with the people I love. I hope in this new year you will find many of your dreams coming true and it will give you an unexpected treasure or two to file away in memories to savor.
