by Mlissa | May 21, 2026 | Kyle Busch, Nascar, Racing
I am at a loss for words.
My racing fan heart hurts.
He was my driver. He’d been my driver since he showed up in Nascar. I was frustrated at losses, angry at wrecks, thrilled at the wins. He was brash and rude and in your face and human. He made mistakes, my enemies on the track, and racing fans loved to hate him. He was a devoted father, brother, husband, son.
And he’s gone. He died today. Nearly a week since he won the truck race in Dover. Since he took his final bow at the finish line.
There’s something about that word… Final. Those words… Final bow. Part of me can’t believe it. Part of me is…
I spent hundreds of hours over the years watching him race, on television, in the stands. I stood for hours to meet him, to get his autograph. I spent hours and hours wearing a Kyle Busch hoodie in coffee shops and bookstores writing my first books. I spent a small fortune on merchandise, on die cast cars.
He was my inspiration for Cam Carter… the racing side of Cam Carter, at least.
He’s been a part of our lives for a couple of decades now… I would’ve never known who he was if my son’s favorite thing in the world hadn’t been Nascar. My first driver was Bobby Labonte. My second driver after Bobby was Kyle’s older brother, Kurt. But Kyle Busch was the one I gave my racing fan heart to… And now, he’s gone and I’m heartbroken.
Rest in peace, Kyle.
by Mlissa | Nov 12, 2025 | Baking, In the kitchen with...
I’ve been baking this year. And y’all have my son to thank for it.
It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed baking at all, but this year that love has started to come back and I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed it and how happy it’s made me to get in the kitchen and make a mess again.
Earlier this year, my son came to me with a recipe he’d seen on X or YouTube for No-Bake Boston Cream Pie Bars and asked if we could make them. We not me. So, I said yes and the next day, we made them, devoured them and the next week, made another batch.
After those, he asked if we could make Brookies. I again said yes, and we got in the kitchen a couple of days later and spent a couple of hours making brownies and chocolate chip cookie dough and in the end had the most amazing and decadent brownies/chocolate chip cookie bars ever.
There’s a whole list of things we want to make, but there are things I want to make too, just because I’ve missed it so much.
I’m not much of a cookie baker, but I was browsing Pinterest and found a recipe for Gingerdoodles. Snickerdoodles + Gingerbread spices = Gingerdoodles.
They were gone in less than two days. And they were delicious. Soft and chewy and just wonderful.
Being in the kitchen for me was something I’d do when I was stuck on a story. I’d bake cupcakes or brownies or cookies or bread or muffins. I’d do it all from scratch because following a recipe allowed my brain to work in one way and relax in other ways. When all was said and done, I had usually figured out where the story needed to go and I had some sweet treat to show for it. Baking was a form of therapy for me.
But somewhere along the way, over the last decade or so, I’d lost that, even more so the last six or seven years.
A lot of things have happened, have changed in my life, in all our lives and I was just barely hanging on, just trying to make it through the days. Writing was overwhelming. Baking was overwhelming. Most everything to me was overwhelming except taking a drive and standing on top of a mountain and looking out at the Blue Ridge and breathing some air that wasn’t threatening to choke me.
Baking these last few months has been a real joy and I haven’t been able to say that about anything at all in a very long time.
The other thing that’s been a real joy… Writing. I’m finding my way back into creating stories, creating characters, creating love where before there was nothing more than…nothing.
Joy is necessary. Joy is something I’ve been missing and right now, we could all use more than a little joy.
The next two things we’re going to bake are Buckeye Brownies and Gingerbread Latte cookies. Sourdough bread is on my list, too, but I might have to wait until December or January to start on that.
Oh, and here’s a picture…
You’ve gotta wonder, too… What books are all these treats going into because if we know anything at all about me, treats and coffee make it into my books and if I’m in the kitchen this much…
Anyway…
What are you baking this year?
Lissa
by Mlissa | Oct 20, 2025 | writing
Starting today…
There are 11 days left in October and it’s been a real shitty writing month for me. There have been some personal things going on and the mood just hasn’t been there. Mostly, I’d rather sleep or sit outside and stare out at the trees and mountains… However, if we count journaling, and I totally think we should, then I’ve written a more than enough to classify it as a novelette.
So, I decided that I needed a writing challenge. And… I was thinking of finding a NaNoWriMo-like challenge for November because there are a number of them that I’ve seen pop up the last few weeks, the latest being https://nanowrimo2.com, but I’ve also been curious about one that author AK Mulford does a few times a year that’s a 3Day30K writing challenge that takes place on Discord. That one intimidates me, but at the same time, I’m intrigued. Could I do that without driving myself over the edge?
But what I’m going to do right now and through the 30th of October is write around 1667 words a day for 10 days and then I’ll see where I am and what kind of challenge I want to pursue in November.
Wish me luck, y’all.
Lissa
by Mlissa | Oct 14, 2025 | Inspiration, Life
The title of this post is a line from the movie Something’s Gotta Give. And it’s a line that even before I saw the movie, was part of me, was part of my make up, was part of how I get to that place of creativity, that state of just…flow.
Diane Keaton was one of my favorites. I didn’t know much more than her name before I saw her in Father of the Bride in 1991. There was something about her smile, her facial expressions, her laugh, her side-eye glances that caught and held me. From then on, I was a fan. Causal for a while, but a fan and if she was in it, I wanted to see it.
When Something’s Gotta Give came out I fell in love with her, the movie, Keanu Reeves, Frances McDormand… It was funny and heartfelt and I felt connected as a writer and as a person who likes to dream of reinvention and that lovely effortlessness both Diane Keaton brought to the character of Erica.
I was deeply saddened when I learned over the weekend that she’d passed away. It was like a light went out in the world at the same time we desperately need those lights to shine brighter and more brilliant in the current darkness.
Since Sunday, I have been watching some of her rom coms that I loved… I know there are the classics like Annie Hall and The Godfather movies, but her rom coms are where I found her…
Father of the Bride
First Wive’s Club
Because I Said So
Morning Glory
Book Club 1 & 2
Something’s Gotta Give (this one will make me laugh and cry at the same time)
She was one of a kind. That glorious smile. That incredible individuality and style. That infectious laugh.
From Something’s Gotta Give: “Do you know what this is, Harry? This is heartbroken.”
Lissa
