Happy Thanksgiving! (and the Gratitude Tree)

Thanksgiving is a time for showing gratitude. What are you thankful for?

What traditions get you excited when it comes to Thanksgiving? Of course, there’s the food and with my family … the Gratitude Tree.

My brother, his wife, my mother and I eat the traditional turkey, mashed potatoes and green bean casserole lunch at her assisted living center, and then we usually get coffee after. But our tradition became extra special three years ago.

The activities director came up with the idea of leaving leaves or other fall-shaped cutouts on the tables and asked the residents (there’s about 75) to write down one or more things that make them feel grateful. Once they have something, they then place the cutouts on fake Christmas trees or centerpieces, depending on the year. I call whatever it is the Gratitude Tree.

Each year, I put my dog and coffee, but this year, I think I need to be more creative.

What should I say? My business? My writing? Reading? My fairly new car? My dog (yes, I already mentioned her—she’s a 12-pound miniature dachshund named Zoey)? My brother? My parents? My friends? Poetry? Nature?

I could go on and on.

It’s important to show gratitude daily, and health professionals often recommend gratitude journals to make it a regular practice. Plus, writing down something helps put it to memory.

I’m grateful for my dozens of journals and notepads, because I love to write however and wherever I go. I guess my top gratitude would be #writing. What’s yours? What makes you feel thankful?

Anyway, I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving with family, friends, joy and gratitude!

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A RISE-ing Taste of Authorship

Shelley Widhalm of Shell’s Ink Services holds up a copy of Northern Colorado Writers’ 2019 anthology, “RISE,” featuring her short story “Quiet Refusal,” during the book launch party Nov. 8 at Gilded Goat Brewing Co. in Fort Collins, Colo. (Photo by Genese Carsrud)

Have you glimpsed your longtime dream and realized you still have work to do? Lots of work.

I did just that when I attended the launch party Nov. 8 at a Fort Collins, Colo., brewery for the publication of Northern Colorado Writers’ anthology, “RISE, An Anthology of Change,” released Oct. 8 by Northern Colorado Writers, LLC. The anthology features short fiction, narrative nonfiction/ memoir, and poetry from more than 35 writers, and it is up for the 2020 Colorado Book Awards.

The Launch Party

The party was at the Gilded Goat Brewing Co., and I walked in to the buzz of Friday night fun, went upstairs and saw a few fellow writer friends. We exchanged copies of our books to sign, and a couple of clever writers had bookmarks and their own marketing materials to go along with NCW’s stickers promoting the book.

Readers, too, sought signatures, going around the room looking for name badges stating “Writer” or “Editor.” I had “Fiction” on mine. It was my first time signing a book, and it was pretty exciting.

My brother, Brian Widhalm, his wife, Kim, and their friends, Shane and Genese Carsrud, and Shane’s mother, Sherri Carsrud, also came, showing their support. Sherri bought a copy, and we took turns getting photos of us holding up the book.

I put the event on Facebook and immediately got lots of Likes. I realized maybe a few people are interested in my writing, so I figured, umm, maybe I should self-publish, alongside my attempts to get traditionally published. Writers are advised to separate out their work, so anything self-published isn’t something to pitch to agents, unless the book hits the best seller list, then the rules change.

Quiet Refusal

My short story appears on p. 90 and is called “Quiet Refusal.” In 2,500 words, it gives voice to a 93-year-old woman named Christina Walker who stutters following a stroke and can’t get her words out. She believes her children refuse to listen to her need not to be sent to an assisted living facility, and she makes every effort to make them hear.

The book I’m considering self-publishing is a novel I wrote a few years ago about an old man and a young woman who also have trouble being heard and end up saving each other through their uncanny friendship.

If I do self-publish, I’ll have to promote, promote, promote! And also do more of what I love, writing! There’s where the dream comes in—I’ve wanted to be a traditionally published author since second grade and have been working on it since (off and on), publishing short stories, submitting my novels to agent and not giving up.

Anyway, here’s to “RISE” and to dreams!

Where to Get Copies

Copies of “RISE” are available on Amazon .

Short story ‘Quiet Refusal’ publishes in ‘RISE’

Shelley Widhalm’s short story “Quiet Refusal” is one of the featured creative works in Northern Colorado Writers’ new anthology, “RISE.”

Northern Colorado Writers will celebrate Nov. 8 the launch of its new anthology “RISE, An Anthology of Change” at the local Gilded Goat Brewing Co.

My short story, “Quiet Refusal,” was among the short fiction, narrative nonfiction/ memoir, and poetry selected via juried entries for the anthology—more than 35 writers have their work featured.

My work is a 2,500-word story about a 93-year-old woman named Christina Walker who believes her children refuse to listen to her need not to be sent to an assisted living facility.

It starts with these words: “I absolutely refuse to move into that assisted living place. I’ve been around too long to have people tell me what to do with my life, especially my own children. I raised them to have manners, and here I am lying in this nursing home with my muscles not obeying my mind, my mouth swallowing my words, and my brain not letting them come together into sentences. I keep telling the nurses where I want to go—just the one word I can get out—pronouncing the “h” with a long, stuttering sound, so my house becomes h-ho-ome.”

Short Story Inspiration

I wrote the story because my mother lives in an assisted living facility, so I have familiarity with the setting, but also because the character came to me full of a big personality but without much of a voice, as she struggles to get out her words.

I visit my mom every other week and feel my heart break a little as I watch seniors with dementia struggle to find their rooms and those with health conditions shuffle as they walk. I usually bring along my dog, Zoey, a 12-pound, long-haired miniature dachshund, and I get stopped for requests to pet her. It’s almost like she’s a therapy dog as the residents smile and tell stories about their own pets.

I’m rambling, yes, but the main point is, please join me and the other writers as we celebrate this new publication. The book is up for the 2020 Colorado Book Awards, and royalties from its sale will help support a new RISE scholarship for aspiring writers to be able to attend the annual NCW conference for free.

“I’m so excited to share this book with, well, everyone in the wide world,” said Amy Rivers, director of NCW, in a letter to the authors about the publication. “It’s full of really inspiring and entertaining pieces.”

Launch Party Details

The 2019 RISE! Anthology Launch Party/ Holiday Celebration will be 6-9 p.m. at the Gilded Goat, 3500 S. College Ave., No. 194, in Fort Collins, Colo. There will be food, drinks and merriment, along with books for sale at a special event rate and authors available to sign their works. The event is free.