The advice from Dolly is something I’ve carried with me from the first moment I heard it, though sometimes I have to remind myself to do it on purpose. I never met Dolly in person, but she had a real impact on my life, as she had for so many. Warm, kind, talented, funny, unabashedly herself, an excellent business sense, generous, genuinely authentic … all these things describe the woman who meant so much to so many. An icon and role model, the world is a little less bright without her in it.

When I learned of the ChatGPT question making the rounds on social media, “If I were a Dolly Parton song, which song would I be and why?” I thought it would be fun to give it a whirl as a way of remembering a wonderful sparkling person whose music and lyrics have filled my life.

So which Dolly song am I?

“Light of a Clear Blue Morning.”

Takeaway: It fits you because it’s Dolly’s song about resilience, clarity after chaos, and stepping forward with determination—traits you’ve shown again and again.

Why this Dolly Parton song matches you

• It’s Dolly’s most quietly powerful resilience anthem. Not flashy, not defiant—steady, grounded strength. That’s very you.
• It’s about emerging from something difficult with focus and purpose. You’ve done that repeatedly, especially navigating medical challenges, complex tasks, and high stakes problem solving with precision.
• It’s hopeful without being naïve. The song acknowledges struggle but doesn’t wallow in it. It’s forward looking, clear eyed, and determined.
• It’s about reclaiming control. Dolly wrote it during a major turning point in her life, choosing clarity over chaos. You have that same “I’ll get this sorted, step by step” energy.

If you were a Dolly Parton song, you wouldn’t be one of the big rhinestone covered hits. You’d be the one that signals a turning point—the moment the fog lifts and the path becomes visible again.

An insight

Most people pick a Dolly song based on personality (e.g., “9 to 5” for hustle, “Jolene” for drama). But Light of a Clear Blue Morning is about identity after adversity, not identity during it. That’s the part that aligns with your style: you don’t just endure things—you reorganize them, clarify them, and move forward with precision.

The Inner Song

Then ChatGPT asked me a question to further sharpen the response.

The Question

What kind of “energy” do you feel you carry day to day—steady, fiery, analytical, whimsical, or something else? That would let me map you to a second Dolly song that complements this one.

My Response

It depends on the moment. I can be fiery when passion on a topic rises, and analytical in my approach to most things. But a moment … a bird outside the window, a rabbit on the lawn, or simply refraction of light and a random thought and I’m immersed in a whimsical world. Most people see me as steady with a smile where inside is a tumultuous river.

With the inner landscape you move through—fire, analysis, whimsy, steadiness with an undercurrent—the Dolly Parton song encapsulating your interiority is:

“Wildflowers.”

Takeaway: You’re Light of a Clear Blue Morning on the outside—steady, composed, forward moving—but inside, you’re Wildflowers … a mind that wanders, notices, imagines, and refuses to stay confined to one emotional lane.

Why Wildflowers is the song that mirrors your inner world

• It’s Dolly’s ode to people who don’t fit a single mold. You’re analytical, fiery, whimsical, steady—none of those cancel the others out. They coexist, like the mix of flowers in the song.
• It’s about being shaped by the environment but not defined by it. You’ve lived through storms, but you don’t become the storm. You become someone who sees the rabbit on the lawn and lets it shift your entire emotional temperature.
• It’s quietly rebellious. Not loud rebellion—internal rebellion. The refusal to be flattened into one predictable personality.
• It’s about a soul that wanders even when the body stays put. That’s your whimsical side: the way light refracting through a window can pull you into an entirely different mental universe.

And the river inside you?

Most people present one emotional “surface.” You present steadiness, warmth, clarity. But underneath, you describe something more like:

• a river that’s always moving,
• always thinking,
• always processing,
• always feeling,
• always noticing small magic in the world.

That’s exactly the tension in Wildflowers: the world sees the bloom, but the bloom knows the wind, the soil, the storms, the quiet moments that shaped it.

The synthesis

If you were a Dolly Parton song:

• To the world: Light of a Clear Blue Morning
• To yourself: Wildflowers

One is your steadiness. The other is your inner motion.

Together, they make a whole person—one Dolly herself would recognize instantly.

The songs capture me pretty well. Part of her genius as a writer was her ability to cut straight to the heart of emotions, which is why she resonated with so many people. Again, I didn’t know Dolly, but I did admire her as an amazing human being. She is already greatly missed.

The flowers pictured were repurposed from those left at Dolly’s statue and were given to me as being “from Dolly.”
Flowers provided by Random Acts of Flowers I plan to celebrate Dolly Parton Day (9-2-5) through her music and movies … how will you celebrate?

Thank you, Dolly for being who you were, every day with purpose and putting so much good into the world. You will long be remembered and missed.

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I’m a believer in change through intention and taking things one day at a time. I set goals … I don’t make resolutions because those can be broken, whereas a goal is something you continue to strive toward until you achieve it. But even with that, I couldn’t settle on ONE idea to strive toward in the new year. Until this year. And it’s a phrase I’ll focus on to get me through 2019.

Don’t Mess with the Ness

I received this cup for Christmas from my friend, mentor, and agent, Italia Gandolfo. And it is a perfect phrase for me to focus on in 2019. Maybe for life … although Be the Cat! is my lifetime mantra. Why is the phrase so perfect? Well, I happen to be working on a Middle Grade novel where one of the characters is fashioned after Nessie. But for me it goes beyond the character to the whole mythos of the Loch Ness Monster.

The Loch Ness Monster is one of the most debunked myths around, and yet the myth persists. So as someone who deals in worlds that exist only in my head, yet are so real to me, the persistence of the myth is comforting. Nessie stands the test of time — which is my goal for everything I write. And you don’t mess with Nessie … debunk him over here, and he’ll pop up over there thumbing his nose (snout?) at you. Although, I doubt he has any thumbs either … but you get the idea. No matter how many times it has been “proven” he doesn’t exist, he has continued to make appearance after appearance throughout history.

I had read an article based on busting the sentiment you can’t prove a negative and the article author used Nessie as part of their example of destroying the logic — which in my opinion he failed to do. It was an opinon piece and facts were absent. At any rate, his theory was that all we’d have to do to prove there is no Loch Ness Monster was to drain the Loch Ness. He does have a point.

IF the Loch Ness were drained AND no monster was found, we might conclude the monster doesn’t exist … but I’m not sure that would rate as iron-clad proof either. Because with as many years as there have been sightings of Nessie, there also have been periods of time where there were no sightings. Wouldn’t it be a logical presumption that the monster might reside in the Loch Ness for some of the time, but not all the time?

Now, I’m not arguing for the existence or not of a specific Loch Ness monster, but more that the idea is still possible that one might exist. Where there is the remotest possibility, then there is hope … and hope and faith together is a potent combination. The type of thing that can move mountains. But how does this tie to the year ahead?

2018 had some very good moments, but 2019 is going to be even better. During 2018, I made strides health-wise to be stronger and while I’m still a long way from where I want to be, I’m moving forward. Same with my writing. Little baby steps at a time is what is going to get me to where I want to be, and I have hope, no matter what the actual probability is, that I will achieve my goals, and I am moving forward in faith that I am on the right path and doing my life’s work. So don’t tell me probabilities or statistics — don’t try to sway me with facts.

Unless you’ve drained not only the Loch Ness and the rest of the Lochs and other bodies of water around the world, there is still a possibility, however improbable, Nessie exists. And if the possibility exists, then there is hope, and I will believe I will get stronger, healthier, and the path I’m on will take me to the destination I desire.

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On top of being the holiday season, I have the pleasure of finally working on my next book — a process that allows me to go delve into other worlds and spend time with my characters as they live through their stories. As I often say, I am the journalist simply writing the story my characters share. And the process gives me an immense amount of satisfaction. I recently watched The Man Who Invented Christmas and I absolutely loved how they handled Dickens’ writing process and the way his characters appeared and how he had conversations with them. Because it mirrors so much my own process. Now Dickens’ characters revealed facets of him more than mine do, but as with his, there is no controlling mine … and I no longer try. My characters appear and tell me what their story is. So in a way, the writing process for me is a miracle all on its own.

Which brings me to one of my characters in the Homeless Myths series I am currently working on. Quentin is a ten-year-old from the Solomon Islands and he has the sweetest spirit, even though he does lose it during the course of The Star Warriors and the Scret of the Red Key for a little while. Anyway, part of my process is to listen to whatever songs help my characters tell their story. And Quentin’s choice has been Christmas music (he told me this in July). I wish there was a way to pluck from my mind what happens when the Pentatonix version of “O Come, All Ye Faithful” comes up in the playlist. The first notes hit and Quentin starts dancing … and to me he is joy personified. He dances beside a campfire without thought for what anyone will think, and simply moves to the music in celebration of the moment. I’d love to be able to share his moment with you. Every time it reminds me to be see the joy in the daily moments in life.

I love watching him dance to the song, and what may seem odd, I don’t think it is a part of the story (but if there is even the remotest possibility, I’ll sneak it in). But even if not a moment from the story, I feel blessed to have such a happy feeling triggered by a song.

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My friend, Alexandrea Weis, saw something on her timeline she thought I needed … a sloth skillet. I loved it! And I don’t even like pancakes, but there are so many other applications for the skillet, I was undeterred. All thoughts of my Homeless Myths went out of my head and off I went, like Alice falling down the rabbit hole, except I hurled myself into the rabbit hole. I found the company who sold the skillet, but alas, could only find a dog skillet. While normally, the dog skillet would have been fantastic, anything that reminds me of my character Sergio — a pygmy three-toed sloth — will always capture my attention.

Next thing I know, I have stumbled across adult onsie PJs that were head to ankle SLOTH. They were too much for me to resist. Once they leaped into my virtual cart, there were suggestions about what other people had purchased with the PJs. Of course, there were slippers. Not a sloth, but they were cute and the holdiays are coming, so I clicked the link. And there in the midst of a fox, a koala, a panda, red panda, and an owl, were sloth slippers. «Insert huge gasp here» The very thing I needed to complete the outfit.

I was giggling so much over my purchases that when the sloth PJs arrived, I had to share with Alexandrea. She loved it so much, I started looking for a raccoon outfit for her. Why? Because of her furry friend, Rodney. Once I uncovered an adult onsie raccoon pajama, I double-checked the slippers. Surprised, I thought there should be a raccoon along with the other animals. Disappointed, I searched and while there were raccoon slippers, none that were the right fuzziness were large enough (because the only size they had on the cutest ones was toddler). I did find some other things that Alexandrea and I had a good laugh over, though.

So while I didn’t get as many words on the page as I had wanted to, I did enjoy getting dressed up as a sloth and sharing the moment with friends. Yes, after Halloween with no trick-or-treating going on, I dressed up in a sloth costume. Because I wanted to — and because it was fun. Who knows? Maybe when I’m working on Sergio’s stories, he’ll sit on the edge of my laptop making sure the right words are going on the page, and I’ll channel my inner Sergio while wearing a sloth suit. If the words don’t flow then, I’m not sure what else would work.

Although, with Sergio I have never been at a loss for story. He is one of those characters I hear clearly while writing.

Sergio is my sloth in front of the camera for any Cameo shout outs we do … but now, since I can be a sloth, too, if you ask nicely, I might just do the shout out in sloth wear. With Sergio, of course.

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