MARY E THOMPSON

it's a curvy road to happily ever after

All About ME

Let It Rain

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The parking lot outside my building, in the rain!
The parking lot outside my building, in the rain!

As a kid, I was good at making things up. I lied more than most people, and no I don’t advocate it, just telling the truth (now). I guess in a way it was preparing me for life as an author where telling stories is a way of life. In elementary school my third grade teacher had us fill a composition book with stories – you remember those ugly black and white marbled cover books. I hated those things because you can’t flip the cover all the way around without breaking the binding (don’t ask how I know). Anyway, I think that class helped me love writing and gave me the foundation for it, even though it took me another 25 years to realize it! One of the stories we had to write was about the weather or being outside. I don’t know exactly what the topic was, but I remember writing a detailed story about how much I loved the rain.

What’s funny is I realized as I wrote that I was writing the truth.

After that essay I loved the rain. I know I wrote about how quiet it is in the rain because everyone else is hiding indoors and how nice it always smells after it rains. Even the sound of rain is soothing, as long as there’s no thunder. Outside my apartment right now, it’s raining. It’s been raining since last night sometime. When I dropped princess off at school this morning she was disappointed that it was going to rain because it would mean she couldn’t go on the playground at school, but for me, no big deal. I’m not an outdoorsy sort of person. I hate bugs, dirt, and sunshine. I’m a weird one. But the rain always makes things fresh and new. In the rain, the bugs are hiding and the dirt is washed away. And of course the sunshine is hiding. It’s odd to me how something that seemed right in front of me my whole life was something I hid from. The rain has brought out the writer in me again and whenever it rains I say a little prayer of thanks that I found my true calling. I also find myself grateful that I never stopped looking for what made me happy. Next time you feel a little lost, wait for the rain, and let it wash away all the extra stuff until you find the real you. It worked for me!

What’s your favorite weather?

How Well Do You Know Me?

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Today we’re going to play a little game. I’m going to ask the questions and you’re going to guess the answers. It’s supposed to be fun! All the answers are at the end for you to see how well you know me!

Questions

1. How many jobs have I had?

2. How long have I been married?

3. How many kids did I want / hope to have?

4. What is my favorite / lucky number?

5. Do I have a tattoo?

6. What is my favorite gem / precious stone?

7. How many pillows do I sleep with?

8. What is my favorite food?

9. What is my favorite office supply?

10. What is my dream vehicle?

Answers

Do you have all your guesses? Let’s see how many you got right!

1. I’ve had five jobs in my life. My first job was working as a day camp counselor for my town’s rec center. I lasted a week, and then broke my leg whitewater rafting. It’s hard to chase kids on crutches so I quit. My second job was working for Motorola on their production line. My third job was working in the office at my college as an office assistant. My fourth job was my engineering career – I started as an intern and finished as an engineer. This is my fifth job, and hopefully my last!

2. May 1 is my tenth anniversary!

3. I always wanted four kids. A friend in high school’s parents got divorced and there were arguments over where the three kids would live. I decided I wanted four kids so if I got divorced we could each keep two of them so none of the kids would be alone. As an adult I’ve decided I’m not cut out for four kids and I don’t want to get divorced! Two works!

4. My favorite number is 7 but I like a lot of other ones too. I’m a big numbers person.

5. Yes! I have a daisy tattoo, but you won’t ever see it. Yep, it’s on my butt. I do plan to get others though. Hubby already drew one for me and I have a second one that I’m planning on (hopefully soon). One day I want to get a tattoo for the baby I lost also.

6. My birthstone is a diamond so you would think I’d love them. They’re gorgeous, but not right for me. I love diamonds as accents with my black pearls! My engagement ring has a black pearl as the center stone and I have a full set that I wore on my wedding day. I think they’re beautiful and unique.

7. Six! I’m thinking about adding a seventh, but for now six is okay. It’s a good thing we have a king sized bed!

8. Cheese. Hands down. I am obsessed with cheese.

9. Post-it notes. My desk is covered in them and I always keep a full supply. I think I’ve got about ten unopened packs right now. I use them for everything.

10. Audi Q5. I think they’re great vehicles. My mom just got one and I’m terribly jealous, but she deserves it. It’s a very nice vehicle and one day I hope to have one!

So how many did you get right?

I’d love to know more about you. Leave a comment below telling me something fun about you! And don’t forget to tell me how many answers you got right!

Ten Facts About Me

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My Family Christmas 2013
My Family Christmas 2013

It’s time to get personal. If you’ve read my about page, you know a bit about me, but I know there’s still things you don’t know. I figured if you’re reading this, you might want to get to know me a little better. If not, that’s cool.

So I’m going to tell you ten things about me that you may or may not know. Then I want you to tell me something about yourself. I love getting to know my readers. You are so important to me because without you, I wouldn’t be able to do this. So share!

1. I’ve been married for ten years and a mom for almost six and still feel like I’m not old enough for that kind of responsibility. I’ll be 34 in a few weeks, but I’m still fakin’ it! I told my hubby that I’m finally getting used to being married so maybe in four more years I’ll be used to being a mom. Who knows!

2. I listen almost exclusively to country music. In middle school one of my best friends had two older cousins that listened to country music and got me into it. It helped that I thought they were cute! Even in New York, I always listened to country music, but being in South Carolina, it’s everywhere, and I love it!

3. I’m a cat person. I have two cats, Abigail and Zada, and begged my parents to get me a cat when I was seven. I love dogs, but I can’t handle the responsibility of a dog. Cats are easy, especially with how much we get out to visit family.

4. I’m a Cock! That’s a Gamecock. I graduated from the University of South Carolina, just like Paige, Brooke, and Tiffany in my Love On Deck series. In college sports USC usually refers to Southern California, but for us Gamecocks it’s an insult because our USC was a college in 1801, 49 years before California was even a state and 79 years before University of Southern California was founded.

5. I was adopted. You know this if you’ve read More Than Adopted (available for free to my subscribers), but if you haven’t read it, it might be a surprise. My parents took me home from the hospital when I was four days old and I’ve always lived with them. I don’t know my birth parents, but they wrote me letters when I was born. They loved me very much and were willing to give me a chance at a life they couldn’t provide when I was born (they were 20 and 24 but both in college).

6. I have an older sister and a younger brother, neither of whom were adopted. Yep, it’s weird. After my sister, my parents were told they couldn’t have more kids. When they adopted me, four years after my sister was born, they figured we were it. But my brother was a surprise. He’s 17 months younger than me.

7. I have 2.5 kids, just like the typical American family. Huh? I can hear it. I have two kids that live with me and one baby that I lost in my first trimester. I know he’s growing up in heaven and waiting for when we can meet, but I hope it’s not for a while. I have a lot I want to do here.

8. Writing romance novels is my fourth career. I went to college to be a chemical engineer and had that as my paid job for almost twelve years. I wasn’t ever happy so I started a business as a wedding planner then as a working mom’s advocate before going after my true passion and writing romance novels. If I have my say, this will be my last career!

9. When my husband and I started dating we agreed he would be a stay at home dad. He’d always wanted to do it and I was set on working. Unfortunately too many poor money choices left us in too much debt for it to happen, but maybe one day. We’re still hopeful he’ll get to live his dream!

10. The day I met my husband I knew he was someone special. If someone had told me we would get married that day, I would have believed it. But, it took three weeks before I knew his name, four months before I knew he wasn’t dating our classmate, six months before we started flirting heavily, and nine months until our first date. And yep, I asked him out, three times before he said yes.

I hope you enjoyed getting to know a little more about me. I really do want to learn about you. Leave a comment below if there’s something you’d love to share!

When Life Gets In The Way

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January was a hard month for me. If you follow me on Facebook you already know that. I didn’t have one week during all of January that allowed me to work. It sucked. But it reminded me why I do this.

Crash

We spent the first few days on January on vacation – still visiting family from Christmas. It was great. It was bitter sweet since we were leaving. But it was a nice end to our vacation.

The first week we were home princess’s school was closed on Monday, had a half day Tuesday (because of the cold weather), she was sick Wednesday and hubby hit a deer. The rest of my week involved dealing with insurance and repair shops to figure out what we needed to do to get the car fixed. And yes, that’s a picture of it above.

The following week princess was sick again on Monday. Tuesday we took the car to the repair shop and I spent the rest of the week shuttling everyone around since we were down to one car. When I only get about five hours of work on a normal day, cutting that hurt my productivity. A lot.

The next week princess was off school again on Monday (and we picked up hubby’s repaired car) then I got really sick. I spent Tuesday at the doctor’s office and getting meds, Wednesday sleeping, Thursday and Friday trying to figure out which end was up.

The last week of January brought two and a half more snow days.

All total, in the four plus weeks of January, I had exactly four full days to work and another six partial days. How do you get anything done? I certainly didn’t.

The most frustrating part for me is that I wanted to publish Work For It. I was really excited to get the book out. But I still haven’t even finished it. I’m hoping it’ll be out next week, but I don’t know if that’ll happen either.

2014 is my year of Growth. I look at every experience as one I can learn and grow from. I learned in January that life doesn’t always happen the way we want. I also learned I need to take care of myself and that being able to work from home is a blessing. Yeah, it’s hard for us. Money is tight. But this is truly the best situation for our family. And I’m grateful we have it.

I guess all this is to tell you that I haven’t disappeared. I’m working hard on getting things together. You’ll see me more active on social media and back to publishing soon. Even better, next month I’ll be releasing my next book which will be free on all platforms!

Thanks for sticking around!

Today, I’m Thankful

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thankful

I’m reminded every year of all the wonderful things in my life. Thanksgiving, of all days, I have to remember that more than ever.

My family splits holidays every year so this year I’m not with my parents, siblings and their families, and my dad’s family (my mom’s family lives in Tennessee). They will all be together, but my family will be with my husband’s family for Thanksgiving. Even though I’ll miss my family, I’m still thankful that they will be together, thinking of us.

I’m also thankful for my in-laws. They are very caring, loving people and I’m lucky to have them in my life.

I’m most thankful for my husband and my kids. They are everything to me. They inspire me every day and I love them more than they realize.

I’m thankful for the opportunity to write. I was fortunate to lose my job in January 2013 which was the push I needed to start my writing career. I love writing and I can’t believe I get to do it all the time.

I’m thankful for our friends and the kids’ teachers and their friends. I’m thankful for the kind people we encounter every day. I’m thankful for the fun we have together and the ability to spend time together. I’m thankful for our faith and our ability to practice that faith freely. I’m thankful for having a place to live and enough money to pay for our expenses.

I know there’s a lot more. But I just want to remember the amazing people and things in our lives. Thank you to my readers. I am definitely thankful for you!

Hello world!

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Hi! Welcome to my new blog. I’m really excited about this since I’m a writer, but also because this is a true expression of my passion – writing.

This blog will showcase my thoughts, my ideas, my writing life, and teasers about my books. Stick around, find me on Facebook, and we’ll get to know each other!