HAPPY TWENTIES (2020)!

Earlier in Jayspeak, I wrote about “decades” and added a photograph that was taken during the year 1937, 1947, 1957 and so forth during the years that I was born and then turned 10, 20, 30, and so forth, ending with the year that I turned 80.  Well, this is a different kind of “decade.  The world and the calendar as we know it, is going into the next decade from the Teens (2010’s) into the Twenties (2020).  So, it seems special to me.  Thus, it is a time of looking back and looking forward for me – for all of us, I guess. 

I have read a lot of posts on social media and heard a lot of friends say that 2019 was difficult for them.  They are glad to be moving into the’20’s.  I am definitely excited about the upcoming year. That doesn’t mean that I also don’t have a LOT of concerns.  But, in this post, I want to focus on some of the good things that happened during the teens for me and some of the things that I am planning to make happen during the Twenties.  (I don’t like the word “hoping”.  Long story.  Hope is “passive” to me.  Plans are “taking action”)

During the Teens, things that come to mind (without details) – Steve and I moved to Encino from the Westside.  Law Offices of Jay W. MacIntosh gained momentum.  I wrote and published seven (7) books.  I sold a photograph to Getty Images.  I had surgery for melanoma on my face and a hysterectomy.  My sister Patricia died.  Steve and I moved to Nice, France.  We went to Paris for Christmas. Steve died. I had two knee surgeries on the same knee.  Well, that list doesn’t include very much at all – just a few things that come to mind.

Plan for the Twenties, things that come to mind (without details) – Move to Paris. Write more books.  Stay alive. 

Haha!  That’s it!!!!!  Most of all, I want to stay alive.  I plan to spend time keeping healthy.  I have so many things I still want to do and want to see and interesting people I want to meet. It all requires good health and keep breathing (as Mama Dorough would say).  

So ….. I will now indulge in some shameless self-promotion (without details).  Actually, I am very proud of my books that are out there for all the world to see.  I think they are interesting though I am definitely biased.  Each book took time and most of all, a willingness to say what I was thinking and feeling at that point in time, without censoring myself.  Or remain silent. I have always said what I think, most of the time, even though most people don’t appreciate my being candid or think it is appropriate thing to do.  It doesn’t mean it is true.  It just means that is what I think.  And goodness knows I am not always correct.  

If you have a problem with my blurting out things or don’t care what I did or what I think, don’t read the Journals, especially “Janet Tallulah”.  If you are curious, it is for sale on amazon and on Smashwords in paperback and kindle.  I made a new cover for it.

If that is too long for you, there are two more “candid” Journals – “Journal of Janet Tallulah, Volume 1” and “Journal of Janet Tallulah”, Volume 2.  These Journals cover a lot of the same time period as “Janet Tallulah”, although each one is different.  New professional covers from the originals flower covers.

I had so many photographs of lovely roses that I took when Steve and I lived in Westwood and Encino, California, that I published two books – one longer than the other, adding favorite quotes to a picture.  I wanted to make the paperback pictures glossy and in color, but that was too expensive for my pocketbook at the time.  So, those paperbacks require some imagination.  I commend the kindle version because there is color.  New pretty professional covers. ? “Moments in Time” is shorter than “Capturing Beauty”.  I love them both.  

Next is “Jayspeak on the Cote d’Azure.”  It is a series of my posts that I did for almost a year after Steve’s death – with pictures.  Of course, I love it.  It is very personal, too.  And, in this book, the Kindle version has the pictures in color.  Adds a nice touch. New Cover.

The last book is one that I wrote when I was in my twenties – My Master’s Degree dissertation.  “George Bernard Shaw’s Life Force Philosophy”.   It was a requirement for my MA in Drama from the University of Georgia.  I was already searching for meaning to life when I was very young.  My favorite philosopher was the French Philosopher, Henri Bergson and his life force philosophy.  Still is.  New cover.

 

That’s it!  I am currently working on “After Steve Died” It is a current journal   – and several other projects of interest to me.  Writing brings me joy.  

Bottom line – none of us know what the future holds for any of us.  The Plan is – 4 weeks from Wednesday, January 1, I will move to Paris.  The Lease is signed; the Movers are booked.  After that, who knows?  Happy New Year, Everyone!  Thank you for reading my blog.

In closing, I am posting the last New Years’ message, dated December 29, 2015, from Steve to his friends. At that point in time, neither one of us imagined………  I post this to honor his memory, with a LOT of love in my heart.