Ampersand Gazette #99
Welcome to the Ampersand Gazette, a metaphysical take on some of the news of the day. If you know others like us, who want to create a world that includes and works for everyone, please feel free to share this newsletter. The sign-up is here. And now, on with the latest …
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Well, there are all kinds of ways and means to learn in this life, and here’s a little goodie just for fun. To say “plot twist” in Latin is insidias torquent. To say “plot twist within a plot twist” is res gestae intra res gestae.
Once again, Belovèd, you are receiving an unusual Gazette.
I was scheduled for some out-patient surgery a week ago Friday, and spent all day Wednesday in pre-op doctors’ appointments. My PCP discovered that there was fluid building up in my lungs, and so, tossed me back into the ER, which promptly hauled me into the hospital for a week, wherein I did, finally, have my surgery.
I got home late Thursday with a to-do list from the doctors that was taller than me, and less than zero stamina.
All that is rapidly changing, but whoa! Talk about slowing down. Letting others help. Asking for what I need.
As I draft this on the morning of my 68th Birthday, I am reminded yet again that Barbra Streisand is right: people who need people are the luckiest people in the world.
For sure this experience has made me a grateful person all over again.
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Here’s a universal affirmation. It works every time, for everyone, always and forever …
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I’m happy to announce that Impending Decision, the fifth Boots & Boas Romance, should be live as an ebook and in print on Amazon this week. Here’s the cover:
And the series blurb:
Boots & Boas
Boots & Boas are butch-femme romances based in Boston about
The Butch Brigade, queer buddies seriously committed to their chosen family.
Think “Queer as Folk” meets “Cheers.”
Now, add a parade of scintillating femmes and all the challenges of everyday LGBTQ+ life.
As well as the book blurb:
Impending Decision
A one-note butch. A multi-hyphenate femme. A record-breaking disappointment.
Jamie Jenkins, Esq. loves the law. In fact, the law is his beloved, his mistress, his one and his only. For efficiency’s sake, Jamie has a deep-seated habit of dating his paralegals. Jayne is no exception.
Jayne Jordyn Jewell, who in her heart of hearts is a classical jazz singer, has, in fact, been that paralegal for eight years. At work, the two are golden. So good, in fact, that Jamie has paid in full for Jayne to go to law school, and she is mere weeks away from graduating. On the personal front, things are a lot more … tarnished. It takes Jayne a long time to figure out just how neglected she is, and even longer to decide what to do about it.
She’s approaching a day of serious reckoning when an unexpected relapse sends everything in her world spiraling—downward. Then, whilst she is ill, Jayne is offered the biggest gig of her lifelong singing career. On Christmas Eve, at Club Café, to be the headline entertainment at a private invitation-only party for two of the top music producers in the world.
Can Jamie get out of his own way to show up for the femme who always, but always shows up for him, or will Jayne be singing her heart out solo, a legal widow for the rest of time?
You want to make an indie author happy? Choose one of my series, and read all of them. Then review all of them. That’s the way others find books.
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Tony Amato is my favorite editor for lots of reasons, but mostly because he has an uncanny ability to seek, find, recognize, and polish the truth of a writer’s voice. One of the reasons I am so motivated to get over this malaise and GET BETTER is so that I can go back to working with him on the final Subversive Lovelies book, Jaq Direct. There’s a good reason he calls what he does book-husbanding. And he can do it for any genre.
Seriously, this is the guy. He’s edited my books for more than 20 years, so I ought to know. Find him here. Oh, and here’s his substack Subscribe here.
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Are you waiting for a sign?
How about this one?
When I got sprung from the hospital,
the first thing my dreaming mind
showed me was this image.
I have them in all the colors of the chakras.
I envision myself standing in the midst
of this beaming-from-all-directions energy,
and soak in it for healing.
If this one speaks to you, use it, and if you’re
desirous of another chakra color,
email me, and I’ll send it along, my gift.
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If you are inclined to add your prayers
for my renewed health and well-being,
please let them reflect the notion
that …
I AM SUPERHEALTHY.
You know as well as I do that this process
will take as long as it takes no matter how
urgently I want it resolved.
And remember,
EVERYTHING ALWAYS WORKS IN MY FAVOR.
AND NOT ONLY MINE.
YOURS, TOO.
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I am, without doubt, certain that And is the secret to all we desire.
Let’s commit to practicing And ever more diligently, shall we?
Until next time,
Be Ampersand